that’s whacked

climbing castle crags

Saturday, Sep 5. 2009  –  Category: Outdoors

last weekend wendy, keisuke, alisa and i headed up to Castle Crags to climb Six Toe Crack (the same route i climbed last year with jaime & zac). as with last year, it was fantastic. the weather was beautiful, the sky was clear of any clouds and a deep blue, and we had a great time.

i took some photos from the whole weekend, including hanging out at the awesome little B&B the night before, the climbing, and of the drive home.

alisa put some photos up on her Tumblr too.

First official ride on the Schwinn

Wednesday, Sep 2. 2009  –  Category: Outdoors

Chucked the too-long brakes, salvaged one of the original ones, replaced it with the new brake cable + lever + pads, finangled it back onto the frame (front brake only!) and did what any sensible rider wouldn’t do:

rode it into work.

And it rode! The seat angle was too steep, the brake required me to manhandle it with two hands for quick stopping, but it sure rode. Was a trippy sensation riding a single-speed… I kept reaching for some gear shifters and not finding any. I ordered some new brake calipers that should be arriving soon. I also got the new crankset (Pake 46T-165mm) and chain today. Looking at all the tools needed to get the bottom bracket and crankset on though, I’m inclined to just take it to Wheels of Justice or Tip Top Bikes and have them install those.

Next up: powdercoating the frame. Found a place in South San Francisco called West Coast Powdercoating that’ll do frame + fork for $120. I’m going to take it over there next week and get this baby done up right… so time to strip the frame back down again!

New Schwinn parts arrived

Tuesday, Sep 1. 2009  –  Category: Outdoors

Got a whole bunch of new parts for the Schwinn yesterday… the seatpost (Wald 13/16″) and rail clamp, the saddle (Brooks B17 leather narrow), brakes (Tektro RX 4.1), brake calipers (Pyramid), and bottom bracket (Shimano UN54).

Sadly the brake calipers have way too long a reach… apparently they are 61-94mm. I’m guessing I need about a 50-55mm on the rear and maybe as short as a 40-45 on the front. Gonna have to take measurements tonight and see.