Author: Bike Hermit®

Categories
Touring Bike Accessories

Touring Bike Propping and Sun Screening

riding in the high desert
Hermitat

One would think a lonesome bike hermit would have desert travel down to a science.
One would be wrong. Sunburned skin on my forehead and nose is flaking off a week after the Owyhee Uplands tour. There were blisters on the backs of my hands after the first day. SPF 33 sunscreen is no match for the desert sun at a mile above sea level. Hands, arms, legs, the back of the neck, ears and noses need to be physically shaded via long sleeve shirts, pants and hats. Desert dwellers in Mexico, North Africa and the Middle East know this, and they know that loose fitting full coverage clothing actually keeps them cooler than say, cutoffs and t-shirts. The air circulates next to the skin under the garment and evaporates the sweat- that’s a pretty neat physiological design.

riding in the desert
Ron models good desert cyclo-touring apparel. I gotta get me one of those Adventure Cycling caps

 

bike hermit with sun shirt
This shirt- my "safari" shirt- is made of synthetic material and has a vented yoke. The collar folds up too.

 

I invented this. I am going to call it the Ultra-Light Power-Screen. I'm going to write a business plan and put it on KickStarter to raise money and go into production. Soon.

 

bandanas used for sun mitts
I fashioned these mitts out of a bandana to screen the backs of my hands and my wrists from the sun.

 

Lisa, who has extensive adventure travel experience, came up with a solution to keep the sun off her thighs. I tried it and it actually works better than you might think- when riding, the wind presses the bandana down and keeps it in place.

For my birthday Sky King bought me a Click-Stand.
I had a good opportunity to test it with a loaded bike, and I have to say it solves the problem of what to do with the bike when taking a break. The Click-Stand is a portable, folding bicycle stand which, when folded, is between seven and ten inches in length. Mine weighs about 110 grams. For ultra-light touring the Click-Stand could double as a support for a rain fly or shelter. When used as a bike stand, the maker recommends using the supplied, small bungie straps to hold the brake levers closed so the bike won’t roll off the stand. I will not contradict that, but I can say that simply strapping a toe clip strap around the down tube and front tire to keep the wheel from turning works too.

Click_Stand supporting loaded touring bike
Click-Stand in use

Using a traditional kickstand is possible with a loaded touring bike but one needs to be careful. The type of kickstand that is held in place by sandwiching the chainstays between two plates with a bolt through the middle can actually crush the chain stays, especially the more ubiquitous, one legged kickstand. A two-legged kickstand is better. Such a design helps reduce the potential for chainstay flex compared to that which a loaded bike leaning on a kickstand single leg can impose. Even so, care needs to be taken not to tighten the sandwich bolt too tight. And the bolt needs to be checked regularly to make sure it is not coming loose. One bonus of the two-legged design is that the rear wheel is held a little ways off the ground, making maintenance and repairs much easier.

Loaded LHT with two-legged kickstand
Olive likes her two-legged Pletscher kickstand.
Categories
Oregon Our Trips

Owyhee Uplands Backcountry Byway

A picture says 1000 words. Here’s a bunch of words. It would be impossible to describe this trip otherwise. Thanks to all the participants and to the photographers and videographers.

Owyhee Bylands
No Phone, No Pool, No Pets…



The Great Owyhee Uplands Bicycle Tour from Tad Jones on Vimeo.

1st Annual Owyhee Uplands Back Country Byway

More information on the BLM site.

Categories
Drivetrain Touring Bicycles Touring Bike Components

A Trio of Tough, Top-Notch Tires

We travel, in a week, to the high desert south of Boise for a three day ride on mostly unpaved roads. For the rough, loose surfaces we have outfitted our bikes with wider tires. More air volume at lower pressures is going to make for a smoother ride and a wide footprint will float over the loose sections.
On the Long Haul Trucker I am running the Schwalbe Big Apple 29 x 2 tires. I have always been impressed with the way the Big Apple tires transform the ride on any bike and I’m looking forward to this test of their toughness.
Sky King will be riding the Grand Bois Hetre tires from Compass Bicycles. So far she is liking the way the Hetres perform on her 650b Rivendell Bleriot.
Julie opted for the Schwalbe Marathon Mondial in 26 x 2. The beefiest tire of the three the Mondial also has a more aggressive tread pattern.

line up of three tires
Left to right: Schwalbe Big Apple, Grand Bois Hetre, Schwalbe Marathon Mondial
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three tires
Tableau of Thickset Treads

riding in the Boise foothills
Sky King and Sky putting the Grand Bois Hetres through the paces.

A rare Bike Hermit sighting

Notice that none of the bikes have fenders. We removed them because, even on the Surlys where “fatties fit fine” there was no room for fenders with the new big tires. And anyway, after my experience with tumbleweeds on my recent two day trip down to Swan Falls, I might infer fenders to be dispensable and even unsuitable for off road touring. Stay tuned for updates… same bat time, same bat station.

Categories
Bags/Panniers/Racks Front Racks Touring Bike Accessories

Nitto M-12-2 Front Rack

The Bike Hermit likes his front bag because it is easy to reach even when riding and because it has a map case on the top for… maps. A “handlebar” bag, one that attaches only to the handlebar, is not ideal because it affects the steering of the bike too much. One that is supported on a low front rack is better. The Nitto M-12-2 rack is a tubular steel rack made in Tokyo, Japan by the Nitto company. It works on bikes with cantilever brakes and will support a front “rando bag” such as those made by Gilles Berthoud, Acorn or Swift. A person could just strap a dry sack or a tent or zip tie a basket on it too. Since the mounting points are up out of the way, “low-rider” racks and panniers can be used at the same time! The “-2” after M-12 references the two light mount braze-ons- one on either side of the rack.

Nitto M12 on Surly Long Haul Trucker
The Nitto M-12 front rack attaches to the cantilever brake bosses and the brake hole in the fork crown.

replacement brake stud for NItto M-12
Replace the button head brake bolt on the left with the double ended stud on the right.

Nitto M-12
The rack bolted to the replacement brake stud.

Berthoud GB28 on Nitto M-12
And now, Mr. Berthoud can come along!

Some minor tweaks may need to be made to get the rack arms or struts to line up with the respective holes and bolts, but these are made of tubular chrome-moly steel which can stand up to a small amount of judicial bending. Just be careful about bending the piece too far….make small incremental adjustments so that you won’t need to bend it back.

Categories
Surly Bikes Touring Bicycles

Bike Touring News Store, Frame Prep

When you purchase a Surly Bikes frame set from the Bike Touring News Store we make sure it is ready for you to start hanging parts on it. When we get a frame we take it out of the box and remove the protective packaging and inspect the frame for obvious damage. We use our frame alignment tools to check the alignment of the dropouts and of the frame itself. We chase the threads in the bottom bracket shell and in all the rack and fender braze-ons to clean out the paint over-spray. We face and ream the head tube so the headset will fit clean and straight. If you have an external bearing bottom bracket we will face the bottom bracket shell too.

Then we put all the protective packaging back on the bike and re-box it, making sure it will get to you in the same condition. We have never offered complete component kits for sale but we are beginning to add the components a la carte so you can get everything you need for your complete bike. And soon we hope to offer complete kits- which will do a couple things;
1) Make it easier and less expensive for the customer
2) Ensure compatibility of all the parts. 
So we’ll have that going for us.

chasing threads
Chasing the threads in the fork eyelets

headtube facing
Facing and reaming the head tube

Chasing bottom bracket threads
Chasing the bottom bracket shell threads

Categories
Crossroads

Bicycles and Social Objects

Phil equipped

If you have ever had a bicycle stolen you can relate to the flood of emotions and confusion that comes when you discover your bike is gone. First is confusion…”I thought I left it here”…. then disbelief, then rage- at yourself partly, but mostly at the low-life scumbag who felt entitled to your bike. If that person walked up to you and slapped you in the face or punched you in the stomach or spit on you I can’t imagine it would be more surprising.

When my bike was taken several years ago from in front of the local food coop- a.k.a. “the hippie store”- I was mostly mad at myself. I left it unlocked because I only needed one thing in the store and figured I would only be a few minutes. But that was all it took. I’ve always assumed that the thief was waiting that day for the sucker who would be stupid enough to do what I did. I also figured this sub-human was a drug addict who either immediately stripped the bike for sale or fenced it to someone who stripped it and/or took it far away. I never thought I would see it again.

By now, Dear Reader, you are guessing where this is going. And you are right. I saw my bike the other night and I talked to the current owner. I believed him when he told me he recently purchased the bike from a third party (for almost half of what I paid for it new nearly 20 years ago) for a couple of reasons. You need to understand a few things first. While not exactly a collector’s item, the bike and the brand have gained a cult following over the last two decades. They have not been made or sold since 1994. This bike, my bike, has a few distinguishing features which the weasel who took it didn’t even attempt to disguise. I have kept the serial number even though I didn’t check it for a match. Didn’t need to.

Imagine my surprise.....

This is partly a story about branding and how objects, i.e. “social objects” can take on lives of their own.

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to each other, as oppo­sed to tal­king to some­body else. Human beings are social ani­mals. We like to socia­lize. But if you think about it, there needs to be a rea­son for it to hap­pen in the first place. That rea­son, that “node” in the social net­work, is what we call the Social Object. -Hugh Macleod

These bicycles have become social objects. They bring people together on the interwebs and in person. Well made enough to be ridden hard, then stolen and re-sold untold times and then to turn up at a meeting of two generations of bicycle geeks gathering to see and listen to the originator of the phenomenon (who was here on a book tour stop), the bikes were too quirky to conform to the mainstream market which was and still is created by advertising money, and they never really sold that well. Originally one of the social gestures of the company was a catalog that had tons of general information about bicycles along with drawings and pictures. The catalog is now shared and re-published many places, such as Sheldon Brown’s site. and they are sold, by themselves, on eBay. Reading Hugh Macleod always makes me re-examine our business ideas with the Bike Touring News store. If we can’t create a social object with lots of social gestures then there is no reason for us to be in business.

The day after finding my bike I called the police. I filed a police report originally and I still have the serial number. Here is what I learned:

-first of all, there is a five year statute of limitations for grand theft so I have no legal recourse, and

-second, since I did claim the stolen bike on my insurance policy and was compensated for it, I no longer had any claim to it at that time.    

I could follow up with the current owner and try to unwind events and maybe possibly even locate the insect who stole it from me. But what would I do then? All sorts of things come to mind, all of them being criminal on my part at this time. And I don’t have the time or the energy to work up that much bitterness anymore. The guy who has the bike would have been too young 10 years ago to have stolen it and anyway, someone who realized what it was is probably not the type of person who would have stolen it. So, I’m just going to let it go and realize that the bike is with somebody who appreciates it. But I can still dream about what I would have done to that s.o.b. had I caught him in the act.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Advocacy/Awareness

Build It, Bike It, Be a Part of It

UGGR Rider
Photo from the Adventure Cycling website

From Adventure Cycling we received this email today:
Dear Member Club or Shop-

I’m writing today to invite you to help Adventure Cycling Association spread the word about our 3rd annual Build It. Bike It. Be a Part of It. fundraising campaign for the U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS). The campaign kicked off May 1, 2012 and runs through May 31. May is also National Bike Month, and what better way to celebrate than by supporting the creation of a national system of cycling routes?

Last year, we raised more than $32,000 for the project. This year, we’ve upped our fundraising goal significantly, hoping to raise $50,000 as well as spark excitement about the progress so far.

Here are the details:
The U.S. Bicycle Route System is a visionary project similar to the national and international cycling systems blossoming across the globe. Adventure Cycling is working with dozens of state agencies, national organizations, nonprofits, volunteers, and the U.S. Congress to realize this vision.

Here is what you can do right now: (If you do share this project, let me know and we will add a linked listing listing to your club or shop on our project page!)

I’m hoping that today and tomorrow you can help us get the word out about some cool offers for people who donate to our campaign in the next few days — these donations will also help us meet our matching challenge from TeamEstrogen.com, so donors will double their impact. Here’s the skinny:

We’ve raised over $4700 in 10 days, but we have a long way to go to make our $50,000 goal by the end of May.

Can you help us get the word out today about two special offers for anyone wishing to donate? Basically, anyone who donates $25 or more before Saturday, May 12 at 11:59 EST will be entered to win a Brooks B-17 Saddle. And, if they donate at least $50, they will receive a Walz cycling cap designed specifically for the campaign, while supplies last. If you would be willing to share this message on your blog or Facebook page today or tomorrow, that would be great!

Here’s sample text for you to use — feel free to edit to fit your style and voice:

Support the U.S. Bicycle Route System & Win
Here’s a chance to help the future of cycling in America and an opportunity to win some great prizes.

For the month of May, Adventure Cycling Association is conducting its 3rd annual Build It. Bike It. Be a Part of It. fundraiser to raise money and support for the implementation of the U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS). This national network of bicycle routes will help people travel short and long distances by bike.

Donate $25 or more before Saturday, May 12 at 11:59 EST, and you will be entered to win a Brooks B-17 Saddle. And, if you donate at least $50, you will receive a Walz cycling cap designed specifically for the campaign, while supplies last. Better yet, you’ll also be directly impacting the future of bicycling in America.

Adventure Cycling still has $2,230 to go before they meet this week’s fundraising challenge from TeamEstrogen.com. So, when you donate you’ll double your impact!

Please donate today.

Adventure Cycling is offering many more prizes and fundraising challenges throughout the campaign. To keep track of these offers and to support the project: like the U.S. Bicycle Route System on Facebook or follow it on Twitter, or learn about other ways to get involved.

Adventure Cycling is a great organization – they promote and facilitate riding and using bicycles. And they do it in many ways. Their maps are indispensable to anybody considering an extended tour in the US. Check out the Adventure Cycling site and, if you can, donate to this worthy cause.

Categories
Hermit's Workshop

Tool Kits For Bike Touring

Dear Bike Hermit,
You’re the coolest and this blog is the best. I want to be just like you so I want to get a super-cool King Cage Behold Tool Pouch. But I want to know what you carry in yours.
Thanks, and keep up the good work
Les in Tuscaloosa

Les in Tuscaloosa,
There are many people cooler than I am, and there are probably better blogs but thanks for your comments. I agree that the King Cage Behold Tool Pouch is super-cool, in fact I think it is one of the best ideas I have seen in a long time. In case you missed it I did this blog post about it a while back. But now that you mention it I realize I never talked about what can be carried in it. So here’s a list of what I carry in mine:
-A chain tool
-A cassette lock ring tool
-A spoke wrench
-A few links of chain and a quick connect coupler
-Spare bolts for seat post, racks and shoe cleats
-Spare bulbs and parts for my bike headlamps

Nothing I carry in the tool pouch will ever need to be accessed in a hurry, in fact those parts and tools may never need to be used at all, but if I ever need them they could be life savers. I did a blog post about the cassette lock ring tool that you might want to look at. If you don’t know what the other tools are for or how to use them… Google it, that’s what YouTube’s for brah. I read about a lot of people who go for extended tours and write proudly of barely knowing how to fix a flat tire. Don’t be that guy. Take your bike apart and put it back together. At least loosen the brake cables and the brake shoes and try to get them adjusted again. Do the same thing with the shift cables. Take a class at REI. Take the tires off the rims and put them back on. You can thank me later.

Oh, and carry the things you most likely will need at some point, such as spare tubes, tire levers, a multi-tool that has 4, 5 and 6mm hex wrenches and both kinds of screwdrivers, and a y-shaped socket wrench with 8, 9 and 10 mm sockets on it in an outer pocket of one of your bags where you can get to them quickly.

To make it easier for you there are now a couple of new package options on the Bike Touring News store. One option (Tool Kit #1) is for the tool pouch with all the tools I carry in mine…. minus the spare bolts and light bits and chain pieces. You’re on your own for those. The other option (Tool Kit #2) is to buy the whole caboodle which includes Tool Kit #1 plus the y-shaped socket tool, a multi tool with hex wrenches and screwdrivers, and a set of tire levers.

Hope this answers your question Les and remember the 7 P’s; Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

Best Regards,
Bike Hermit

Categories
Idaho

Celebration Park and Swan Falls Dam- Ride Report

Photo from the BLM website

Day One Tuesday, April 17
Boise to Celebration Park – Total distance; 43 miles

I stare at the 22 oz. Rogue Dead Guy Ale for about five minutes before deciding not to buy it because I don’t want to carry it the rest of the way to Celebration Park, and surely there will be be at least a convenience store in Melba where I can get a decent beer to drink as I set up camp. There is indeed a market in Melba but it looks pretty homemade and, no you can’t buy singles but there are tallboy cans so I buy one of the least offensive…24 ounces of PBR. I often wonder why out of the way places don’t stock flavorful beer, since the distributors are the same ones that deliver the Bud Lite. And, is it just me or do real men not drink micro-brews? Bike touring forces one to face the weighty, existential questions.

Boulder field
Boulders deposited by the Bonneville Flood

When the Bonneville Flood slammed through here a few years back, it tore chunks of volcanic rock the size of school buses off the walls of the Snake River Canyon. Bouncing along under water the chunks were rounded and smoothed and then deposited downstream…a jumble of huge boulders in the narrowest part of the canyon and a more even distribution of smaller boulders where the canyon widens out and the water slowed down.

I scout out what appears to be the best place to hang the hammock and get after it because the clouds are turning blacker and more menacing and I can see lightning to the north. I am ecstatic that the parking lot is empty and I will have the whole place to myself. Then a car comes fishtailing down the gravel road from the “east campground” and out the entrance road and after the dust settles I hear sounds of a beer blast coming from the same direction. Oh well, that’s what they make I-pods for.

Various Boy Scouts have made Eagle projects out of building structures at Celebration Park and so there is a network of boardwalks and decks and even an atlatl range. There are bathrooms and a visitor center and the place starts humming in the morning with park staff getting ready for the busloads of fifth and sixth graders coming that day. That entertains me for a while but, with peace and quite my main objectives for the trip, I decide to push off (quite literally as will soon become apparent)

The rain is coming, but I think we are ready.

Day Two Wednesday, April 18
Celebration Park to Swan Falls Dam – Total Distance; 16 miles
Google Maps shows what looks like a road along the Snake River between Celebration Park and Swan Falls Dam. After maybe a mile or maybe two, motor vehicles are restricted and the road becomes double track and then single track and in places almost non-existent. I spend some time pushing the bike through loose sand encouraged by Wendell’s report after riding here last week that the loose sandy section is not too extensive. But with a loaded bike weighing probably close to 70 pounds and relatively skinny 700cx32 tires I end up pushing quite a bit. But there is no rush and the scenery is on par with that of southern Utah, so I push along and ride when the ground is firm enough.
Other sections of the path are interspersed with melon sized rocks which means I ride (scoot) with one foot clipped in and the other pushing. Even further on, where the trail occupies a narrow shelf between the river and the canyon walls, and is hemmed in by willow bushes, tumbleweeds have collected in the path. They are impossible to miss and every time I ride over one it attaches to fenders/chainrings/derailer/chain/wheels….so I am stopping every twenty or thirty feet to pull them out.
Motor vehicles are restricted over about eight of the twelve miles between Celebration Park and Swan Falls Dam. The last four miles to the dam are on gravel road. Swan Falls Dam is owned by Idaho Power and there is a day use area with boat ramps and picnic tables and bathrooms, but no camping. There is too much activity and noise around here anyway so I cook some lunch, refill the water bottles and head back down the gravel road and about half a mile down the car-less path and find a spot to pitch shelter just before the rain comes again.



Day Three, Thursday, April 19
Total Distance; 47 miles

I am in the heart of Morley Nelson Snake River Birds Of Prey National Conservation Area. Laying under my improvised shelter this morning, waiting for the rain to stop, I can hear many species. Crows (mostly), mourning doves, geese, ducks and loons? Sometimes I am sure I hear people but it is just the birds laughing at the old guy hiding under a tarp. Climbing up the switchbacks out of the canyon this morning I stop to watch a golden eagle floating overhead and he is soon joined by three others. The steepness of the terrain means that they are very close when they pass over and I watch them for several minutes. The whole time I spend watching, none of them flap their wings. Must be nice. Last night I startled a pair of pheasants before they startled me with their drum beat winged escape. I didn’t encounter any vampires but I did observe a couple of George Romero-esque zombies disguised as sight-seeing tourists.

The eight miles of trail along the river was definitely the highlight of the trip and made the jaunt more than worthwhile. When I do it again I will have a bike with fatter tires. A fat bike like the Surly Pugsley would be perfect and I think the whole trail would be rideable even with a loaded bike. 700×40 or 26″x2″ tires would be the minimum cross sections for tires through here I would think. Any bike capable of the whole trip without driving would necessarily be a compromise; one that can handle the off road sections while still being able to cruise on the pavement.

Categories
Touring Bicycles Tours and Rides

The Pilgrim And The Ogre

God’s first language is Silence. Everything else is a translation.
–Thomas Keating

The Bike Hermit’s alter-ego has been alive to witness April 17 fifty eight times as of today. In recognition a ceremonial excursion into the high desert has been planned. He will be taking Chief on a ride to Celebration Park south of Kuna tonight and then on to Swan Falls Dam on the Snake River before returning on Thursday. The chance of rain tonight and tomorrow is ever increasing and so the plan will have contingencies. There are less than 20 miles to cover between the two stopovers and so it should be workable even with the rain, although the preferred route along the Snake River to Swan Falls may not be passable if it rains too much, in which case an alternate route is available (at least I’m pretty sure there has to be a pub nearby).

loaded touring bike
Chief is chompin' at the bit.

Earlier, Travis came in to pick up his new Bob Yak trailer. His Surly Ogre frame is spaced for 135mm hubs, the ‘dropouts’ are just like Troll’s…rear load horizontals with a derailleur hanger, slotted disc brake mounts, M10 x 1mm threaded holes for mounting Surly Bill & Ted trailer-connecting hardware (or B.O.B. Nutz), and a dedicated anchoring point for a Rohloff OEM2 axle plate.

The right rear dropout on the Surly Ogre with a cut off section of solid steel axle inserted into the threaded trailer attachment hole

The Bob Nutz attached to the threaded axle bit.

Here is the Bob trailer attached to the Bob Nutz

The threaded holes in the dropouts will also accept the proprietary anchors for Surly’s own trailers, the Ted and the Bill. Like everything Surly these details are well thought out and very functional, which seems as though it should be easy to do but Surly is the only company that consistently gets it right i.m.h.o.