New stuff in the shop

We’ve just added three new books to the shop, all very different.






First up is The Boulder by Francis Sanzaro, published by the Stone Country Press. What does it mean for us to be involved in bouldering? How does it’s movement and sporting challenges relate to other activities like Parkour, dance, gymnastics, martial arts, or even art disciplines like painting. Are you doing it to engage in a sport? Simply play on rocks? Compete with others? Enjoy movement. Possibly all of these and many more reasons besides.




The boulder explores the philosophy of bouldering, what it can mean for boulderers and how we can use and examination of this to improve both our bouldering and what we take from it. For many readers, discovering bouldering will no doubt have changed your life. But surely starting out in a new found activity isn’t the end of the story? There are many life changes to be found as you learn more and more about what bouldering is doing for you. I would expect most readers to be helped along this path. It’s in the shop here.






Next is Fiva by Gordon Stainforth, which is only recently out but fast accumulating a big reputation for a brilliant read. Gordon was previously more famous for his excellent photography books. Eyes to the Hills was one of the first mountain books I borrowed from my library as a 15 year old novice climber. We don’t tend to get many mountaineering stories in the shop, but Gordon’s big win with this book at the Banff Mountain festival in November prompted us to check it out and we were impressed. I won’t say too much about it other than it describes a death-on-a-stick epic on Troll Wall in Norway. If you know anything about how serious the Troll Wall is, the Fiva route sounds particularly toe-curling just to read about. Much recommended by us if you like reading about proper adventures. It’s in the shop here.






Finally, and with some satisfaction I can finally report that we have the first stock of the new Scottish Sport Climbs guidebook by the SMC. I wrote a reasonable chunk of the text myself, and since I first had a draft of ‘my’ crags completed in November 2004, I can appreciate as much as anyone how long it’s been in coming. A more substantial introduction to the book is coming in another post in a minute, but for now the book is in the shop here.

An Igleheart and a 'Sex Hub'

At the New England Bicycle Expoa couple of weekends ago, I had the pleasure of meeting legendary New England framebuilder Christopher Igleheart and briefly test riding one of his bicycles - an upright commuter model called the Yoyodyne. One cool thing about this bike - aside from it being an Igleheart - was the3-speed Sturmey Archer S3X hub - aka "the sex hub." Several people I know have set up their bikes with this hub and their feedback has been intriguing, so I wanted to try for myself. And what better way than on an Igleheart bike?



Located just North of Boston, Mr. Igleheart - like many local builders - traces his professional beginnings to the legacy of Fat City Cycles, where he started as an apprentice welder in the 1980s. By 1994 he had established Igleheart Custom Frames as an independent operation, spcialising in TIG-welded steel. In the chaotic environment of the Bicycle Expo, a sense of calm presided over the crowded Igleheart booth. The man is very comfortable with his work and discusses it in a way that communicates his experience and versatility. Road bikes, mountain bikes, transportation bikes and even randonneuring bikes - he knows them all, executing them in his distinct aesthetic.

Unfortunately, I somewhat dropped the ball on photographing this beautiful bicycle. The high noon light was unflattering from every angle, the background I chose was too busy, and people kept coming up to ask about the bike and distracting me. The results are washed out and entirely unworthy of the Yoyodyne, so I did what I usually do with ruined pictures: upped the contrast and at least tried to make them atmospherically interesting.

The Yoyodyne is designed as a fun and comfortable city bike. This particular one has a green frame and an orange fork, which is an unexpectedly pleasing colour combination.

ColumbusZona is a comfortable all-around tubing that contributes to a plush ride quality. The welds are very cleanly done. The segmented fork is one of my favourite fork designs and I never tire of its various iterations from different New England framebuilders.

Components cater to urban commuting, combining good quality and budget considerations: single crankset,Soma stem and Oxford swept-back handlebars, cork grips, simple city brake lever, brass bell, and a front rack. [edited to add: I just learned that the price for this complete bicycle is $1900 - good deal!]

Cardiff leather saddle with copper rivets. You can't see this very well here, but the seat post has a special feature that allows the top of it to be easily detached and reattached, without having to re-adjust saddle position.

And of course, the exciting 3-speed fixed gear hub. A testament to just how distracted I was, I even failed to capture the "S3X" label. It's on the other side.

Sturmey Archerhas a new gear shifter for 3 and 5-speed hubs that is versatile in that it can be used both on upright and drop handlebars. I found it a little difficult to budge in comparison to the traditional trigger shifter, but perhaps that can be adjusted.

It's difficult to properly test ride a bicycle at a crowded Bike Expo, but I made a half dozen laps on it around the large parking lot in the back of the building, as well as cycled up and down the long driveway a few times. With a constant stream of cars coming and going it was like a slower version of actual urban cycling.

The ride quality of the bicycle felt familiar as soon as I began pedaling. Cushy and easy to handle, it was not unlike a vintageRaleigh Sports - only more responsive, 1/3 of the weight, and made of far nicer tubing. I would feel comfortable riding it in city traffic. However, I would need a longer test ride to determine how it handles potholes at speed.

All of this struck me before I remembered about the bike being fixed gear. What I mean is that usually the fixed-gearness of a bicycle tends to dominate my impression of it, but here this was not the case. It felt more like a comfortable 3-speed, on which it just so happened that I didn't coast. This could be due to the bicycle's handling, or it could be due to the hub.

The ride with the S3X hub felt interesting, but I would say not entirely like a fixed gear bike. When I ride a single speed fixed gear, there is more to the sensation than merely not coasting. I feel like I have a direct connection to the drivetrain, and for me that is part of what makes riding fixed gear bikes enjoyable. This aspect is gone with the S3X: It basically feels like a nice 3-speed hub that does not allow you to coast. Shifting is easy and the gear spacing is just about perfect, but no matter what gear it is in, the feeling is not quite the same as single speed fixed gear.

One thing you have to watch out for with the S3X is that if not adjusted properly, the hub can "space out" and go into coasting mode for a millisecond's time at the end of each pedal revolution. Several people I know who've installed the S3X hub report this, and I experienced it as well - which makes me think that the adjustment has to be extremely precise in order for it not to happen.

While I like 3-speed hubs and I like fixed gear, I am not sure that the combination is for me, as it introduces a degree of complexity into both categories. But I still think it's a neat idea, and I am glad I tried it. In future, I hope to have the opportunity to learn more about Igleheart bicycles and to take one on a longer test ride. Many thanks to Mr. Igleheart for allowing me to ride the Yoyodyne!

Christmas Star

Smoothies All Around!

No sooner had I returned from New York over the weekend, than the Soma Smothie I'd been anticipating for review had arrived. So I took a break from the loop frame delirium of the New Amsterdam Bicycle Show and immediately took it for a spin. Soma roadbikes are not very common here on the East Coast. So imagine my surprise when on my way home I encountered another Smoothie!





As I stopped to snap some pictures at the end of my ride, these gentlemen recognised me and we had a nice chat about their 650B conversions - one a vintage Andre Bertin and the other a Soma Smoothie ES with a Bontrager fork. I am so happy to be back home! Where else but in Boston does one encounter this sort of thing?







But enough about other people's bikes for now, and here is more about the one I am riding. This Soma Smoothie is on loan for review directly from the manufacturer. It is a 52cm steel frameset that was built up to accommodate my Campagnolo lever preferences, which was very nice of them. Everything shown on the bike is directly from Soma, except for my bag and pedals.





I have not weighed the bike yet, but (without saddlebag) it feels pretty similar to my vintage Moser - so I'd say around 21lb.Described as a road/race frame, the Smoothie nonetheless has eyelets for fenders and clearances for 28mm tires.






One thing it does't have? Toe overlap! That's right: Here is a stock 52cm road/racing bike with no TCO. They exist. I wear size 37-38 shoes and with 23mm tires there is a boatload of clearance (well maybe it's a small boat, but still). I can definitely fit it with 25mms without a problem, maybe even 28mm.




The pearly white colourscheme is adaptable to a wide range of aesthetics, from classic to colourful to stark. The TIG welded frame will not satisfy lug lovers but is solid and smooth-jointed. It is a versatile, unobtrusive frameset. A carbon fork is available in place of the standard steel one for those wishing to go that route.






This is not a review, so I won't go over the details of the build at this stage. But as far as first impressions (and mind you this is after just 25 miles), a couple of things stand out: First, it is smooth - as advertised. And I am talking about ride quality: very comfy over bumps and I do not feel any road vibration. And second, it handles tamely and predictably. No twitchiness and very precise cornering at the moderate speeds maintained during my conservative "shake down" ride.








The Smothie ES owner I met on the road is very happy with his bicycle, which he's got outfitted with 32mm tires and fenders. I will refrain from writing more about the bike I have on loan until I ride it extensively, but at under $400 for the frame, I am impressed so far. We need more of these on the East Coast and I hope some local shops will carry floor models in the near future.

Cycling Clothes for the Lycra-Averse, Take 2

Last summer I wrote a post calledCycling Clothes for the Lycra-Averse, in which I explained my inability to wear synthetic fabrics (including lycra) and described my alternatives for sporty rides. These included leggings, gauzy tops and breezy mini-dresses made of natural fabrics. Those outfits worked for the gently paced and mostly flat 20 mile rides I did at the time. But this year, as my rides grew longer and more intense, these outfits soon became unsuitable. At this point I feel that I need proper cycling clothes, and here is why:



1. Seams: The "normal" cotton leggings I love so much have seams at the crotch. The seams are fine when cycling upright, or semi-upright, or even partly leaned over. But once I adopt a more aggressive cycling posture and travel that way for over 40 miles... let's just say the seams are not a friend to a lady's anatomy. Not at all. I do not necessarily need padded shorts, but I do need something with a generous placket down there that will re-route the seams away from the sensitive areas.



2. Fluttering: Breezy tops are great for letting air circulate. But at speeds over 16mph or so, they begin to flutter against my skin in a way that feels like Chinese water torture and drives me nuts. I want something that is tighter around my body and will not flutter.



3. Stuff getting caught on/in the bike: I know that there are ladies out there who wear cute little dresses and "skorts" on diamond-frame roadbikes. Bravo to you, I mean that! I, however, seem to have a talent for getting the hems of skirts, the tails of long shirts, and even the bottoms of loose shorts, stuck in various bicycle components and on the nose of the saddle when I mount or dismount a diamond frame roadbike. Therefore I have been moving towards wearing tighter clothing when doing this kind of cycling.



4. The "wet rag" effect: If I wear tighter cotton clothing to prevent the fluttering and the catching issues, I am faced with another problem. Cotton dries very slowly once it is wet, which means that if the clothing is snug and you sweat on a long and intense ride, it will plaster itself all over you like a heavy wet rag. This becomes extremely uncomfortable, especially when there are temperature variations. Just imagine cycling wrapped in a wet washcloth!



In short, I understand that tight, seamless, moisture-wicking lycra cycling clothing were created for a reason. But while I understand that, I still cannot wear it due to my skin's rejection of synthetic fabrics (before anybody asks, I did give it a try). Many have suggested wool as an alternative, but after having already spent money on the lycra, I needed to recover and save up before giving the wool stuff a try. Last time I tried to wear wool next to my skin, it felt itchy and the memory of that is still strong. I am told the new merino is different, and I am slowly working up to believing that. In the meantime, my solution has been silk tops, and partly synthetic running tights.



Silk has similar temperature regulating and moisture wicking properties as wool, and it dries almost instantly when you sweat. I have several long sleeve silk tees, as well as a silk sports-bra (from Wintersilks), and that is what I've been wearing. When we think of silk, we tend to imagine a slippery satiny material, but in actuality it exists in "normal" textures as well. The top I am wearing here feels like a jersey-knit long-sleeve tee. It has been great in the oppressive heat and humidity so far, and it almost does not flutter. The bottoms are Champion leggings designed for running. They are made from a cotton-spandex-lycra mix that is not quite as bad against my skin as 100% lycra, but still has wicking properties and, most importantly a seamless placket around the crotch. The placket is not as large as I would ideally like, but it's been all right for now.



This iteration of my "lycra-averse" outfit has been working on rides of up to 50 miles at a time so far, but I suspect that I will need something even more serious for longer rides. So there will probably be aCycling Clothes for the Lycra-Averse, Take 3when I finally get real cycling shorts and jersey in wool.

No Car, Must Travel

It has been two and a half months now without the car - pretty much the entire winter. For the most part we did not miss it. But now that the blizzards have subsided, it is time to get things done. We'll start going on photoshoots and other trips again soon, and there are other ways in which we will need it as well. This weekend was our first experiment with alternative options.



I needed to get to Harris Cyclery (10 miles away) to drop off a bicycle along with some extra wheels and rims, since they'll be building new wheels for the Bella Ciao Superba prototype and also replacing the headset. After considering various options, we decided to take a taxi there with all the stuff, then take the commuter train back. Ordering the taxi, we specified that there would be two people plus a bicycle. Nevertheless, they sent a small sedan and great fun was had by all as we stuffed both me and the bicycle in the back seat. Still, we managed to fit everything in and arrived at Harris without incident. The fee for the taxi was reasonable.Total time for the trip, including calling and waiting for a taxi, wrangling in the bicycle, and the drive itself: 1 hour. Had we rented a car, it probably would have taken longer than the taxi, as a result of having to first go and get the rental.Had we driven our own car, it would have taken 30 minutes.



After getting done everything that we needed done, we had several hours to kill before heading back. The Saturday train schedule limited our choice for when to travel considerably: There was basically one train in the early afternoon and another late at night. So we test rode some Moultons and wandered around the three shops on the Main street, beforeheading for the Commuter Rail station.



We arrived several minutes early. The station is outdoors and the train was 7 minutes late. In freezing temperatures, that wait is more difficult to endure than it sounds. The other people on the platform looked miserable as they paced back and forth to keep warm and cursed the train's (apparently habitual) lateness.



But finally it arrived, and thankfully it was warm inside. The numbness in my face began to subside as we headed toward Boston. Once in the city, we transferred to the subway, then walked home from the station.



Total time for the trip, including waiting for the commuter train, transferring onto the subway line and walking home: 1 hour 15 minutes. But if we include the time wasted because of the spotty train schedule, then the return trip was really over 3 hours. Had we driven our own car, it would have been 30 minutes.In other words, an activity that would have taken us a total of two hours had we used our private vehicle, wound up taking up half of our day - which is not exactly a success story. Next time we will give car rental or zipcar a go, but it is too bad that public transportation in the greater Boston area is not more convenient.

Rain Clouds

Recently it seems like everytime I look out there are beautiful clouds in the sky. I can't take photos of all of them and this is just a few. The first one shows a curtain of rain as it moves across the desert.