reynolds does the trick

i've been working on my latest project, an old '82 bianchi super corsa frame that i'm cleaning up for a single speed/fixed around town bike.  when i got it it looked pretty beat up and there was a lot of rust on the chrome lugs.  over the years i've used steel wool, brass wool, brasso, noxon, and a few other concoctions to remove the rust, then i had heard that using aluminum foil with water works better.  i was skeptical... but tonight i tried it and low and behold it works! within a few minutes of light polishing most of the rust was gone.  props to reynolds wrap!

racing home

moi

spring burn

10th street

sounds like chuooch

                         
i just finished building this up over the weekend.  the frame is a mid '80s ciocc (sounds like 'chuooch') road/sport touring frame that i picked up off ebay last december.  it had a few rust spots and looked kinda rough but i cleaned it up.  after touching up the paint and polishing the chrome it looks pretty good now.  the odd thing about this frame (and the reason why i bought it) is that it has clearance for fat tires, which is kinda odd for this vintage of an italian frame.  to fit big tires you need long reach brakes, and on this frame the reach isn't the same the front and rear (another odd thing about it).  it needed a super long reach brake up front and the rear takes a medium reach.  instead of going with 'modern' centerpulls or dual pivots, i decided to go with a combo of a paul component racer for the front, and a racer medium for the rear.  the racer is paul's homage to the classic mafac centerpull brakes that were popular in the '50s and '60s.  i've always wanted a set because not only do they work really well, i just think they look so freaking cool.  the wheels (paul track hubs with torelli rims) were built by ep at the mwc (ep is the best around). i have it setup with a 44x16 fixed gear for around town, for gravel i'll run a 17t or 18t freewheel on the other side.  there's eyelets for fenders so i might put on a pair of silver sks's before the april showers come.

wrench time

rainy weather is good for working on bikes. here's a sneak peak at the new wheels.  the ciocc project is coming along well and hopefully i'll have it ready to ride this friday.

hint of spring

i almost missed a gorgeous 50+ degree day in february.  thanks to my friend johanna to calling me up for a ride.

white monday

if it's going to be cold then we might as well have some snow.  there's nothing i hate more at this time of year and that's the bone chilling winds we get.  when it snows it's not as windy and it's warmer, so that's why i like the snow :)  we didn't get much last night, maybe an inch and that was it, but it was enough to get all slushy before midnight and then freeze a few hours later.  it's kinda fun to ride around in IF you have the right tires.  this winter my 'snow' bike is my surly traveler's check with nokian/suomi hakkapeliitta W240s.  the 700x40c size is the widest they make for a cross tire but it's actually narrower, like 37c or so.  and that's even when mounted on my wide mavic a719 rims.  i wish suomi made it a bit wider, say 43-45c, and it'd be way better.  as long as we don't get a ton of snow i'll be alright running these skinny tires.  i'm running a 42x20 gear and it's perfect for these conditions.  if it dumps a foot next week then i will seriously miss having a 29er.  i used to ride a surly km with fat gazza extreme snow tires but i sold it quite a while ago with the plans to upgrade and just haven't gotten around to it yet.  anyways, here's to january being almost done!  :)  

62 tuesday

i can't complain with it being 62 in january.  i rode out to pioneer's for a few laps and to say hello to the bison.  afterwards i went for some delicious pho.  boy that stuff is good.  pho is perhaps the best post ride meal in the winter.

turbo skarks

these little guys are in the window at one of my favorite soup joints.  nothing like starting a friday with some moroccan tomato.  oh..  happy new year everyone.