aerospokes

SF is a mecca for track bikes. it is the heart of many trends that have swept the nation and/or world, for better or worse. "fixie kids" (i loathe this word, along with any other forms or plays on the word "fixie," but i'll save that for its own separate entry some day) in other US cities and even other countries look to our fine city by the bay for inspiration. SF was the first to release a track bike specific video, setting forth an explosion of "crews" and various other videos documenting riders and their locales. its great.

one of said often-mocked trends is the re-introduction of the aerospoke wheel. its a five-spoked, carbon composite wheel made for aerodynamics. messengers used to buy cheap old carbon wheels from roadies because they were cheap and cool looking. cheap because they were yester-year's technology. they look cool while rolling, and are easy to put a beefy NY chain lock through them when locking up. anyways, aerospokes are HEAVY. like 5 lbs per wheel heavy. any aerodynamic advantage gained is null and void compared to the extra weight you are bolting to your bike. but they do look cool rolling.

my shop has recently started carrying these candy-colored products. the weird thing is, most of the customers coming out of the woodworks to buy them are either out-of-towners (this is a dying trend in SF, it boomed in 2005), or weird roadies from god-knows-where. one roadie removed his ksyrium SL (suuuuperlite wheel) to bolt on a black composite colored aerospoke. why? "aerodynamics," he said proudly after scoffing at all the hipster track bike riders in the city who are rocking THE EXACT SAME PRODUCT HE JUST BOUGHT.

here is a snippet of a conversation i had with a hyper, excited intern the other day.

intern: "wow, cool! so what are those aerospokes are made of again?"

ken: "carbon composite."

intern: "so thats a carbon weave, right?"

ken: "well, sort of. its carbon, but not woven. its mixed with glue and made in a mold, like plastic. basically, its like plastic."

intern: "so its super light, huh?"

ken: "no."

intern: "its not? why not? i thought it was supposed to be light??"

ken: "here." (i grabbed an aerospoke and a 27" cheapo spoked wheel and hand them to him.)

intern: "WHOA, this is really heavy! (he hands them to another intern) so why do people want them, because they are aerodynamic?"

ken: "people want them because they look cool. if they tell you its because they are aerodynamic, its because they don't want to admit that they look cool. they are aerodynamic under certain conditions, but not just riding around the city."

intern: "so these don't have to be trued, right?"

ken: "its not that they don't have to be trued, its that they can't be trued. (i grab the aerospoke and lead both interns to the truing stand, put the wheel in, and spin it. the wheel is rubbing both arms of the truing stand, totally out of whack) does that look true to you?"

intern: "oh my gosh?!"

ken: "exactly."

mission path alleycross race

sunday 10/25/08.
organized by dirtydave and friends, with tons of sponsors.

40+ riders, 7 were girls. most checkpoints had a dirt off-road type of path, and we jammed all over the mission, dogpatch, financial district, and potrero hill. clare got 20th (3rd girl), and i got 21st. it was SO FUCKING FUN!

here are some pics i lifted from other peoples flickrs(thank you if they are yours!), will update as more pop up.

i have become the comic book guy of bikes

well, sort of. basically. well, not really. those who know bikes will understand.

i've been reprimanded for lack of sensitivity in my workplace. this it the 3rd time in recent history that a customer called the non-profit that owns my shop to complain (i think both others are documented in my prior blogs). while the non-profit is great and very supportive of us, they aren't bike people. so everything has to be explained to them by my poor boss. sometimes they understand, but some things just don't make sense to them. it can be hard for us, since its almost like a language barrier.

here's an abbreviated version of what happened. sensitive guy comes in with a folding bike:

s.g.: "can you fix?"

ken: "no."

s.g.: "no?!"

ken: "yes, NO."

s.g.: "what do you mean NO?!"

ken: "bike shop = no work on dept. store bike. your fold bike = d.s.b. low quality part, no adjustment, no replacement parts, etc etc" (this is an age old argument)

s.g.: "OK OK i get it! BUT YOU WERE RUDE TO ME! YOU MADE ME FEEL LIKE CRAP! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN NICER! I DON'T WANT TO SUPPORT YOUR SHOP! YOU ARE LAME! WHAT YOU DID WAS LAAAMMMMEEEEE! YOU ARE JUST SO. . . . . . L A M E ! ! "

this rant went on for like 1 min nonstop. i tried to interject a sincere apology for my tone coming off as rude or whatever, but he didn't even take a breath to let me get 1 single word in.

i stopped talking. i realized that it was pointless to apologize because:
a) he wasn't listening;
b) he didn't care what i had to say; and
c) it was obvious he had very serious issues related to rejection rooted much much deeper than getting turned down by a fucking bike shop.

instead, i waved goodbye, told him to have a nice day, and pointed at my ears with a nod to show that i was listening.


if i get any more reprimands, i may be suspended without pay.

"i did macaframa the other day"

a dude told me that on the phone today. . .

dude: "do you have chainrings smaller than 46 teeth?"

me: "yes, why do you need it? what kind of bike or cranks do you have?"

dude: "i want to get a smaller chainring to have a lower gear. i have an IRO frame, and sugino messenger cranks."

me: "oh ok, its a track bike. its probably cheaper to buy a new cog to change your gear ratio than to buy a new chainring. you have a 130 bcd rather than a 144 true track bcd. 130 bcd chainrings in 1/8" can be pretty pricey. what is your gearing now?"

dude: "i've got 46x17. i was thinkin i could get a 44t chainring to make it easier to go downhill. or maybe a bigger cog. i did macaframa the other day, and i was spinning out on the hills."

me: (it took me a second to figure out that he meant he raced in the macaframa premiere alleycat. macaframa is not a verb.) "wait, you mean you were spinning too fast downhill?"

dude: "yeah, i want to not have to pedal so fast to be able to control my speed better downhill."

me: "oh ok i see. so what you really mean is that you want a higher gear ratio, so that you won't be spinning so fast downhill. therefore, you will need a larger chainring, or a smaller cog. the best way to control your speed downhill is to skip or skid. . . and if you run too big of a gear ratio, you won't be able to climb those hills anyway. . . ."

then i explained how gear ratios work (ie, bigger front ring = same effect as smaller rear cog), how to control speed while descending, what gearing is appropriate for SF for most people (i think he was from the burbs), etc.

this entire conversation must have lasted 15 minutes. he did macaframa.

bug detectives

are on the lookout.

this is funny

couldn't have said it better myself

"I hate the fact that people use the bicycle as a political tool. These days, I just want to ride my bike, and I like to think I write for people who want to do the same.

I am not out to save the planet, or ban automobiles. In my real life, I have cut back to one small car, but I did that for economic reasons, not political. A person can survive without a car if they wish, but that is not my wish. I enjoy the convenience of owning my own car.

Why is it, the extreme left wing, eco-nuts think they own the exclusive right to the bicycle? And why is it, if you ride a bicycle everyone thinks you are an extreme left wing, eco-nut?"

-dave moulton
(from his final blog entry-blog is finished, he's not dead or anything)