Andy Hampsten’s 1988 Huffy Giro d’Italia

I love this look at Andy Hampsten’s bicycle from 1988. That’s it.

DIY Bike Repair

Here is a bicycle repair person in Karen, a small town outside of Nairobi. He’s made up his own tools (truing stand, etc.) to repair bikes. Fun to watch, if you’re into bikes.

Oh, one more thing – I won’t be updating this blog for the next two weeks, since I’m heading to Hawaii to get married. See you in a bit!

Contre la Montre

Found this beautiful video.

Bicycling Update

Went for a 27 mile ride today with a friend of mine, and the knees feel pretty good. Some of the hills that I encountered today seemed a lot less steep than when I started earlier this summer. I’m still in terrible shape, but I seem to be able to climb a little bit faster.

I do need to get some cold weather gear. It was 55 degrees out today, and the shorts and short-sleeve jersey seem almost perfect. I think my next purchase may be a set of arm and leg warmers, so I can take them off if I start overheating. I may also start looking around for a decent cycling jacket.

GPS Rides

Mesmerizing look at someone’s bicycle rides around Toronto. (via Ben Palmer’s tumblr)

Internet Retail

The integrated brake/shifter (“brifter”) on my new bicycle broke. I was trying to adjust it and unfortunately there was a problem and it stopped working. I sent it back to them and am hoping that they will send me a replacement.

In my search for a replacement, before I contacted Shimano, I looked online to find the part. The part in question is a Shimano Tiagra ST-4500/4501 shifter. It looks like QBP is out of the part. If you didn’t know, QBP has a monopoly on bicycle part distribution in the US.

I found the part at an online “bike store” and ordered it. The reviews on the store I ordered from were mixed. After waiting 10 days, and no bike part, I got an email from them that they were crediting me back because they did not have the bike part in stock.

I’m pretty sure that the bike store doesn’t keep any in stock. They basically put a the QBP catalog online with a slight markup over wholesale price. When they get orders they order from QBP. They probably order from QBP twice a week, and it adds 2-3 days to any order for shipping.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with this business model, as long as the clients are kept aware of the delay in shipping. Also, if the distributor is out of stock, the store should let the client know ASAP that the order cannot be fulfilled.

This is a very similar business model to most online jewelry stores. It is actually becoming unusual to see retailers assuming the holding costs for inventory. You can pass that on to the client in terms of longer shipping/fulfillment time.

Rear Derailleur Adjustment

I was having some issues with adjusting the rear derailleur on my new bicycle. I found the greatest tutorial on Youtube. It worked like a charm.

Versus TDF Crash reel

Versus is using this video of John-Lee Augustyn in their promo reel to highlight the excitement of the TDF. I’m going to be on Mont Ventoux for the tour this year. There is enough drama, excitement and suspense in the tour that you shouldn’t need to use crashes ala Nascar to build a plot.

I guess this type of material is for those people who have short attention spans and can’t stay focused for 200 km / 5 hr stages.

Handlebars

I need to find a new pair of handlebars for my bicycle. Either that, or I will have to find a stem that fits the head tube. Since the bike is a Schwinn from the 80s, it has very irregular sizing. The handlebars I have right now are fine, but they really stretch me out.

I have a friend at a bike shop who recommends a pair of swept back bars that should help me out. My only worry is that I will lose leverage, and therefore control, when riding it with my fixie. Also, my bike right now has British racing bars, and I am afraid the bike will start looking like a Franken-bike.

Le Tour and Teamwork

The doping scandals in the tour this year have really made it painful to watch. Michael Rasmussen had a phenomenal climb up the Col d’ Aubisque in Stage 16. However, as strong as it was, it was completely eclipsed when his team withdrew him from the race for missing mandatory drug tests.

The Discovery Channel team has done really well. They have three riders in the top 10 of the General Classification (GC). Alberto Contador (Rookie Phenom), Levi Leipheimer (Experienced Winner) and Yaroslav Popovych (also Experienced Winner).

I was watching the 17 stage today, which is a relatively flat stage. Naturally, Team Disco was trying to protect Contador and his position on top of the GC. What astonished me was that Levi Leipheimer (#3 in GC) and Popovych (#8 in GC) were taking turns going to the back of the peloton and bringing up water from the support cars. This is normally a task reserved for the domestiques! I think it is safe to say that Team Discovery Channel might be the only ones worth of having “Team” in front of their sponsor name.