THE HEAD LANDS (in paradise)

I had the day off and decided to accompany my buddy Nick to the Headlands in Marin. He was camping out there for the night and I was just along for the ride. Basically summer has started here, I mean, I know it hasn't and it'll be nasty again, but today was something else. STOKED DONUTS!

I decided to try all B&W today. Seems old-timey still.

Airplane view on coastal trail

Paradise stuff
No technical riding here, just wide crushed granite trail. It's kinda nice because you can zone out and take in the view.
Nick paradise slurpin. Can't really see it here, but that's an old Bruce Gordon he's sitting on. We'll get some more pics of that up here soon.
Up top. My stumpy stand-in, and SF peeking in.

Catching up. Cockpit Swaps, Shop Shots, Rivendell Ridge, High Art, Rarities and Weirdos.

Brian's Hunk, getting a new Nitto Bullmoose. I think these were Riv only and of limited production. Brian set up a bare version so you can see the big brass fillets. Radical.

Much swoopier than the old versions
Then out for a test ride in shell ridge.
No technical stuff for us, but the gnarlitude lies in the view.
Ridge running

My stumpy got a new cockpit as well
Not sure how she feels set up like this. It's a little weird at first. The bars are 48cm Nitto Rm -013 dirt drops, on a Nitto dirt drop riser stem. I'm also tryin' out those wiggly new Tektro levers.
I ended up just using the Shimano 8 speed bar-end shifters in friction mode, but I seriously considered these little gems from Kelly. What a smart idea!

Top view shows the bend on the bars. Unlike many dirt drops, these only bend outward below the brake lever so that the lever sits in it's normal position and not tilted as it is on say the On One Midge/Origin 8 Gary bar
A younger me would think that this is such a dorky set up...
Such a nice bike!
The old cockpit, resting in peace
And since I was in the shop I figured I'd snap a few pics.
Campy stash, pretty, but not very useful to me, at least for the moment...
Sugino AT (aero tech) crankset with a XTR outer ring
1" Kooka threadless stem
Grandma's saddle
Bar jumble
Oakland pride, shifter bits

I also spotted this interesting bike recently. Those who follow this blog know that I have been considering making a monster cross/ghetto 29er out of an old hybrid, and this is a prime example. It's a Miyata triplecross. Lugged steel, and has pretty good clearance for tires. It was running 35's as it was and there was plenty of room for a larger tire. Maybe a 45? Sorry about the phone pics here.
lugs and a pump peg
It looks tight, but there is some space.

Nice details
Another interesting note is this Stumpy spotted on craigslist recently. It's hard to make out a year because of the crappy pics but the last one is the real money shot. It's the Team San Jose model. I dug around and there was nothing on that model. It could be an ultra rare model as Specialized is from San Jose, and this bike was listed in San Jose. Not sure about that fork, but I'd love to see a better pic!

The High Art Part
Also, my ameture photograph, flash and all, of a sweet Cinelli poster. I can't be positive but it looks like a naked Princess Leia on a Cinelli mixte. Everything about this stokes me out. That bike is probably more rare than a Team San Jose Stumpy.

Then there's this great poster made by Brooke Budner for the Greenhorns. Click the pic to link

Lastly I found this Japanese flicker page. There's some bmx stuff in there too, but mostly rad nice 80's MTBs and great pics. Check the pic below and more HERE.

Like minded

I found this guy's Flicker page recently. He has a bunch of nice pics of his project bikes, quite a few of which are old timey mtbs built up with big ballooner tires. He's done some real nice rebuilds and modernizing to make really functional and good looking bikes. Check it here.

Ramblings

I saw an old Trek 790 on the street the other day and I got kinda stoked out on it. Ever since Jonny made his "Beast of the East" 26er-to-29er conversion, I've been curious about the ghetto niner. Here's a link to some pics of the 790. The 790 takes 700c wheels already so it wouldn't need any super janky conversion, just the biggest tires that would fit, which, according to a poster on a forum is 45c or 1.8". Not bad. I guess that's just a monster cross, but either way, it'd be fun to fool around with and crash into trees.
I also was looking around a lugged fork crowns recently and was reminded of the so sweet Mb-1 crown that was used in '93/'94. That's a guess on the dates, but close.

This is the one that was the model for that great crown that Pacenti makes. The Pacenti crown has 2.9" tire clearance, which is so, so, so, awesome. I want one. It might be part of the plan to fix my newly broken fork on my '84 Ridgerunner. Last time I bent the fork the guy at the shop who discovered the bent steerer said "maybe no more jumping." But what the hell is the point right? Anyway, pics to follow when I take the fork out to survey the damage.
Oh, also found this pic recently on another blog that shows an exploded Suntour bottom bracket, the same one that is on the Mt. Fuji Limited that I just finished working on. It's an interesting example of an early cartridge bearing bottom bracket. (I lost the link to the page I found this on but I'll post a link if I find it again.)
Pretty neat. The one on the Fuji was still buttery after 25 years.
Been thinking and talking about this recently. Tough guy stuff...

MTBro tire smooch

New Years Day Dirt Doggin'

As Jonny pointed out, repeatedly, there was something magical about the light. I wish my cellcam picked it up better, but I think it's got some sort of anti-magic filter (it was cheap, ok?) It looks like nice light, none the less.

It made doing our usual loop like a new dirt dogging experience - yes, a magical experience - that livened up our old standby loops, namely Backwards Redwood, The Ewok Needle (which we Thread), Jurassic Park, Pathway To The Wizard's Circle, that part of Big Trees I don't have a cool name for, Sunset, and good old J. Miller in general.

We felt motivated to take a few Inspiration Breaks.

Notice this Stumpjumper's hi-tech pump mounting rig.

That's merely inspirational tobacco, btw.

We ended our ride in the best light of the first day of the year.

NYE SAM P/ Darby's Fuji

Nye Camping, just a short pedal out to Samuel P Taylor State Park. What nice line of bikes in the woods!

Tacos

The Fuji is finished (I think). I cleaned it all up, put on a new chain and freewheel, changed some cables and housing, a new used seat, and new rear tire that is a closer match to the one on the front. The other changes I talk about below. While I had the wheels off for truing, I noticed that the Suntour XC hubs are cartridge bearing models. Pretty sweet. I also feel pretty good about the fender line; its not perfect but good enough for me.
The fender install was a real bastard, I guess it kinda always is though. I found these mystery fenders at REI marked way down and missing most of the original hardware. I was pretty amped though, because I had a bunch of fender hardware laying around from an old wood fender project. The stays and R clips are Velo Orange, while the top clip is Honjo.
The Honjo part is graceful, but I had to jank on a little extra length.
Also from VO, I had this little Rando Rack that I got a year ago hoping that it would fit my Rivendell. It turned out to be impossible to fit the thing on the Riv because of the huge tire clearance. I've tried several bikes since and it fit terribly on those too. Since this frame has the roller cams, the rack stays are able to clear the brakes.
I had to get crafty again here, as the provided P clamps are way too small. These are just copper tube straps from the hardware store manhandled into shape with a little electrical tape to protect the paint.


I pulled the stem while going through everything, and it is indeed a Nitto.
Ritchey Riser bars, and those Origin8 grips that have sawdust (cork?) in them.
Pretty passable for a commuter...