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Salsa El Mariachi as 1×9

Published February 4, 2012

This morning I finished converting my single speed Salsa El Mariachi to a 1×9 (one chainring, normal 9-speed cassette) setup with a rigid fork which I think might be nice for springtime dirt road rides. Reusing the old (and relatively light) rear wheel from the Titus meant that this setup is essentially the same weight as when the bike was a single speed. There’s probably a couple more ounces now, but the scale shows it around 26 pounds before and after, so this is a nice treat.

To complete this build I used the following:

· Salsa Ring Dinger (Bash guard / chain guide.)
· N-Gear Jump Stop
· SRAM X9 Long Cage Rear Derailleur (2010)
· SRAM X9 Trigger Shifter (2010)
· DT Swiss X370 / X470 Wheel (old wheel from the Titus Racer X 29er)
· Generic Bottom Bracket Cable Guide
· Jagwire L3 Housing and Caps
· SRAM PC-991 Chain (Leftover / Spare)
· Shimano LX-level 11-34 Cassette

Of all these parts the only bits that I had to purchase were the Jump Stop, shifter, and cassette which were purchased from Amazon, the MMBA Forum, and the MMBA Expo (respectively). Pete helped me out with the bottom bracket cable guide, as he apparently has a stash of them. Everything else was laying around the house leftover from other projects or bikes. Total out of pocket cost for this project was less than $60.

Tomorrow’s plans are for dirt road riding, so to test everything out I set off from home and did a nice paved route up to Stony Creek and back, totaling just under 35 miles. I ended up stopping off twice to visit a friend who works at local fire stations; these (and in particular some of the tools there) were pretty nifty to see. The ride went well overall, and I was able to ride pleasantly fast (for me), regularly seeing 20MPH+ including a 36MPH+ downhill just outside of Stony Creek.

So far the bike is working out really well. With a 34t chainring I had a quite pleasant gearing, spinning out only when on longer/faster downhills. For most things that I did today it was a quite sufficient gearing, and something that I could also see myself enjoying on most local trails.

The knobby Racing Ralph is probably a bit more than needed as a front tire, but for now it’s what’s on the bike so I’ll leave it there. Perhaps I’ll switch to something a bit lower knob in a few days, but we’ll see (Kenda Slant Six, maybe?). For now I’m just hoping to enjoy riding dirt roads on a rigid geared bike with normal MTB-type tires. If we can’t have snow and/or frozen trails and/or properly dry trails dirt roads will have to do.

Here’s two more photos of the El Mariachi in its new 1×9 configuration:

· Sitting against a (unused this year, I presume) piece of snow plow equipment near some local condos.
· Detail of the 1×9 drivetrain.

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Kegged Beer Cooler Upgrades In Progress…

Published February 2, 2012

Upgrades to the Kegged Beer Cooler are coming along very nicely. While not quite complete I’ve build, finished, and fitted a pine and poplar collar, and acquired and installed some taps. I still have to work out the drip tray, insulation inside the collar, and a few other random bits, but it’s almost set.

A year ago when first built it I figured that maybe one day I’d add taps, and a year later I’ve done so. After using a few friends’ taps and getting some nice ideas from how another friend built a collar I figured I’d go for it.

I feel really happy, proud, and fortunate that I have the means and abilities to do so. Growing up my dad and mom would let me help out with a bunch of things that they were working on. From both that and just being allowed to play with things I learned how to try and that it’s okay if things don’t always go right because you can learn and move on. These are very important things to know and I wholly believe that it helps me with most everything I do.

Now, hopefully I can finish off the kegged beer cooler / kegerator successfully and not end up with foaming taps or a poor quality drip tray or something…

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MMBA Expo, Good Swap Meet Finds

Published January 29, 2012

Today was the MMBA Annual Expo in Lansing, MI, and part of this included the swap meet where people will bring spare/old parts to sell. There’s a few parts that I’ve been casually keeping an eye out for, and today a bunch of those found their way home with me. Spending a grand total of $40 I happened to acquire…

…a new CamelBak bladder for my trail work pack. (Only 1.5L, but it should be fine…): $10
…a nearly-new Shimano LX 11-34 cassette for the (temporary?) 1×9 conversion I’m planning for the El Mariachi: $10
…a 1.0mm Surly Toob: $10
…a Continental 26×1.75″ Hometrainer tire, in the original orange: $5

Thus far I’m really happy with all these purchases. Each was something that I needed, and each was something that someone was looking to get rid of. The Continental Hometrainer tire seems to be particularly great as It doesn’t make a chirping / squeaking sound while on the trainer, which results in an overall quieter ride.

I also thought that the expo came out rather well. (Nice job, Di!) I particularly liked how all the swap meet people were scattered amongst the vendors instead of in a swap meet ghetto at the back like they seemed to be last year. The snow and venue out in Lansing made for a long day, with ~1.75 hours of driving to get there and ~2.5 to get to my parents house afterward, but it was all quite worthwhile. The positive validation for the snow tires was rewarding after all the rain we’ve been having.

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Nitrile Gloves for Wet Brush Preservation

Published January 28, 2012

Wanting to reuse a foam brush for applying another coat of stain in a few hours I normally would cover it in plastic wrap so that it doesn’t dry out. Since I was wearing nitrile gloves while staining I instead removed one, turning it inside out while doing so, stuck the brush inside, and closed it off with a rubber band. This should be sufficient to keep it wet until the current coat has time to dry.

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Fruit of the Loom Boxer Briefs: El Salvador vs. India

Published January 24, 2012

This afternoon I received a package containing 8 packs (32 pairs) of underwear; Fruit of the Loom Boxer Briefs. While they were all purchased from Amazon at the same time, some of the packs were made in El Salvador and others in India. The ones from El Salvador are made of fabric from the US while the Indian ones apparently use domestic fabric.

The difference between the two can be seen in the image above, with the center/top pair being from India and the two side/top pairs being from El Salvador. The Indian fabric is a bit softer with a finer, less ribbed weave. I wonder which version will hold up longer.

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Tokyo Banana

Published January 22, 2012

Jeff recently visited Japan and brought Danielle and I these Tokyo Banana snacks. These are banana custard filled sponge cake and are excellent. Apparently these are one of the most popular souvenir gifts from Tokyo, and for good reason.

I particularly like the English writing on the front of the package which reads:

People gather to TOKYO from here and there with memories of their home. And then, TOKYO gets everyone’s home town. TOKYO BANANA.

I’m hoping that these’ll be available at local Japanese shops.

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Two Six Packs of Hopslam

Published January 21, 2012

Bell’s has released this year’s batch of Hopslam and per usual it’s not at all stores. Thanks to Jon Boughner pointing me to Busch’s in Rochester Hills I was able to pick up two six packs for $15.99/ea. I believe there were six or eight cases of it sitting on display just waiting to be purchased.

I’ve got one pack sitting in the fridge, and I’ll let the other sit (and age) in the basement until warm weather arrives. Hopslam is always a nice surprise for people when summer comes around.

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Official Map for Addison Oaks Mountain Bike Route

Published January 20, 2012

This afternoon an updated copy of my previous map of Oakland County’s Addison Oaks park’s Mountain Bike Route went live on DestinationOakland.com, Oakland County’s portal-ish website for “…all there is to see and do in Oakland County…”.

With some spare winter evenings and a few days off work around Christmas I was able to get the first version completed, and then after working with some great folks at OCPR this new version was developed. Beyond some readability and Point of Interest enhancements it now bears a DestinationOakland.com logo, my Trail Courtesy logo, and can be folded into quarters (for distribution in a map box) and still have all title and all logos visible.

I’m really happy with how it came out, and I’m particularly glad that Addison Oaks now has a usable map of the mountain bike route. It’ll be good for new people to find their way around, trail day work, and trail development proposals.

If you’d like to download a copy for yourself, it is available from either of these three locations: Addison Oaks Park Maps · Oakland County Park Maps · MMBA Trail Guide.

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The Brew Hauler

Published January 16, 2012

This past Saturday when I stopped at Cap N Cork to get some brewing supplies I also bought a Brew Hauler. This low-cost (~$12 or so) strap system made out of nylon webbing fits around a carboy making it much easier to carry. Instead of having to carefully lift a full (and potentially wet) carboy and hug it while carrying it around the house I can now just lift the nylon straps and carry it.

This worked well on the initial test of carrying a carboy of Chocolate Milk Stout from the laundry room into the bathtub where it’s fermenting, and I suspect it’ll work well after that. While looking up info on the product I did find this report of it not working right for one person, but I suspect that they didn’t have it set up quite right, resulting in the carboy sliding out one side of it. I’ll keep a careful eye on it, but it seems like it’ll be just fine.

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Another Proper Winter Bike Ride

Published January 15, 2012

Here’s a photo from down in the Seasonal Loops at River Bends during today’s ride. The creek is wider than ever and wasn’t worth riding at these temperatures, so I carefully walked across the bridge that someone had fashioned from a few old logs using the bike to help balance myself. With the logs being a bit wobbly it was rather interesting; I probably should have just ridden through the water.

This ride at River Bends happened when I was on the way home (by car) from a ride up at Addison Oaks and Bald Mountain – North Unit with a friend. He and I met up at Oakview Middle School to be between the two parks, rode over to Addison (where he hadn’t been in 10+ years), did a lap there, then went over to Bald Mountain and rode a lap of the east part of the North Unit (red trail). The weather out there was absolutely fantastic, with sunny, blue skies, not much wind, and a nice line down most of the trails. While a little more snow may have been fun, it’s hard to ask for better winter riding weather.

If you’re interested, here’s the lot of the photos that I took today:

· Roger’s Vassago Jabberwocky at Addison Oaks after the last of the initial climbing.
· Looking at the flaky, asbestos-like snow on the trail at Addison Oaks.
· Roger walking up Fall Line Hill (Telemark Hill) at Addison Oaks.
· Roger standing in front of Prince Lake as we rode the top of the levee.
· Me (Steve) standing on the levee in front of Prince Lake at Bald Mountain State Recreation Area while out riding with Roger.
· Heavily rutted single track at River Bends, likely caused by people riding muddy trail just before it froze.
· Mukluk leaned on an impromptu bridge in the floodplane / seasonal loops at River Bends.

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