A Local Bike Shop & Bike Lust

We’ve popped in and out of local bike shop Paradise Garage on our excursions to Gallery Hop and when we just visit the Short North.  To be quite honest the very first time we stopped in after it opened, I thought it felt a bit snobby and didn’t seem very inclusive, I now know I was a jerky monkey and completely wrong. Over time as we visited I began to realize what it was they were aiming for, to get urbanites on bikes and loving it. Then, each time we visited found my first initial reaction being worn to nothing, and a new appreciation for this gem of Columbus arose.  The staff is super cool, helpful, and damn-it they love bikes and they love Columbus. They carry a variety of local goods from Octopus Cycling Caps to local screen printers Ohio Bandits (of which I now own their Ohio Roots design)

The bike selection is eclectic and consists of smaller companies, many from Europe. Lots of fixies, but also a great selection of 3-speeds and some geared rides like the Redline Metro 9 (See image below & click it for info- dig it!)

They have oodles of accessories for your urban commuting and excursions, lights, bells, helmets, locks, fenders, etc. There is also a keen selection of clothing to outfit you so you look just as good as your bike while cruising through this great city.

But I also fell in love there last night and the cool thing is my wife isn’t bothered one bit. See, it happens to be a bike and it tops my bike list of lust. It’s the Pashley Guv’nor 3-speed (remember my bad knee), hand built in England from a design they originally released in the 1930’s. It’s a dream to be sure, but with a price tag that keeps is so…for now. Peep the link to the Pashley site and prepare to lose your heart to a bike. Ch-Ch-Check it out> Pashley Gov’nor

So, if by chance any of you at Paradise Garage happen to read this blog, you have a most happy customer who will be frequenting your establishment.

Viva La Velo!

Peace, Patrick

I’ve also included a video that features Tim Curry singing “Paradise Garage” about the late 70’s New York club of the same name. I don’t know if the bike shop owners were influenced by this but enjoy!!!

Gangster Boogie: My Ride

I’ve never posted an image of my ride so here it is. It’s the Specialized Langster Chicago edition. I’ve had it since I lived in Utah, but it saw very little ride time until recently. I was hooked on my OG Langster, but the gearing(48×16) on that monster is too f-ing big for my commute and it smashed my legs, plus I’ve got a knee that’s seen much action and injury in my life, so the doc says arthritis is a guarantee. The gearing on the Gangster is 42×16 which is managable right now, more spinning, less grinding. My legs feel better for it. So I hope you dig the pics and I also included a Schooly D track “Gangster Boogie”, because, well it a sick track from back in the day (I’m old enough to say it,  ’cause I was a teen when it came out LOL)  and it pops into my head, along with NWA’s “Gangster Gangster” everytime I climb in the saddle…good stuff, yo!

Chicago, punk!

Gangster Boogie!!!

Thanks for viewing – Patrick SSD Crew

No Fluke…Legs Rebel

Riding yesterday, I found out that the good feeling of the new gearing and the Egg Beaters, weren’t a fluke. It felt good riding and I’m glad to be back in the saddle. It was a “warmer” morning, and since I left the house a little later, I got to see more people at the bus stops. I usually smile and say “good  morning” to everyone I see en route to work, some I say nothing to because, well, they have the feeling of unfriendly, some just stare when I say it, a few respond reluctantly, and there are those who are pleasantly surprised, smile and return the salutation. I very rarely see another bicycle commuter, except for a guy who works in the building near us, but other than that….nada. Okay, on the reality tip, about a little more than half way through my morning commute, my legs realized what was happening and pretty much did what they could to make the last bit as hard as possible. LEGS Local #614 had a quick meeting and decided they disagreed with the current working conditions I had them in and called a strike, bastards. Sssooo……..

….Today is a day of rest for the legs and I’ll be back on the bike tomorrow, plus I have to do some computer design stuff for work, and update their blog. I don’t take my lap top with me when I ride becasue it weighs like 40 lbs…no, I jest, but it’s too damn heavy to have on my back.  Maybe I need to get a rack with some panniers, hell it may be completely different now that I’m not grinding too big a gear. I’ll have to give it a whirl next week.  So, no biking today which is too bad cause there’s a nice rain outside, but that’s cool, cause it’s supposed to rain tomorrow also, so I’ll get wet then.

Brew Side Note: Last week end my wife and I were in the right place at the right time. Shopping at Krogers, I was looking to see if there was any beer on sale I may want. My wife pointed to a 12 pack sampler of Great Lakes Brewing, she thought the price seemed a bit, well, low. See it normally runs $16, but the sale price $7.09…what the eff, we peeped the UPC code, same one. We grabbed two and headed to the checkout assuming it was a mistake. Scan…$7.09…ch-ching. I went back a couple of days later to see if they had any left,  it was a mistake and they corrected it, it was now $14. Oh well, we pretty much got two free six packs….hell 24 beers for less than the price of 2 six packs. Life is good.

Ride Safe!

Peace, Patrick – SSD Crew

I Actually Enjoyed It…

Okay, here’s a confession. One of the reasons I wasn’t riding, was that well, to be quite honest, I didn’t enjoy the commute. The main thing being that my bike set up just made it too much work and it was uncomfortable. So, I’ve tried various set ups, like handle bars, saddle position, pedals(cage and clips), etc. Turns out it was the gearing, I was running, strained my legs and just made for an unpleasant experience. I switched between two bikes, both SS and fixed. The fixed, at this point, was too hard on my bad knee, and the gearing on the SS was, frankly, too big for long haul commuting. The set up I rode yesterday seems to be the ticket. My legs weren’t  hammered when I arrived at work, a little bit, but that’s to be expected after not riding since March. The same goes for the ride home. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m feeling it today, but my mood and body are better. I am currently riding a 42×16 set up with Egg Beater pedals (love). We’ll see how today goes, make sure our ride yesterday wasn’t a fluke.

Here’s a bit of cool art from

~ibrokemyumbrella

Peace, Patrick – SSD Crew

B2WW – Bike 2 Work Week 2009

Here we are folks, it’s bike to work week here in Columbus and I’m more than late in getting this info posted. Sorry! Life has a way of getting in the way. I didn’t ride yesterday, Monday, obligations at work kept me off my bike, but I’m on it today and for the rest of the week. I also haven’t been riding. *hangs head in shame* I let myself get into a routine that didn’t include my bike and for that I received 40 lashings with a used bike tube.

So, all of the info you may ever need to known about bike to work week is at the link provided. Ride On – Ride Safe!

click me > B2WW09 : Bike 2 Work Week 2009

Me, I’ll be attempting to make computer time so I can post here more often.

Thanks for reading, Patrick – SSD Crew

The Commute: Sore Legs, Bad Brakes, and A Wind Whipping

Sorry, I haven’t posted since my last one about 2 weeks ago. Well, As of that last post, that weeks commute failed miserably…I rode one day…my head hangs in shame.  This week however, I have made up for that quite well thank you. I have found out a couple things about me and my bike…and the commute. Monday was a good day, but lots of roadkill to dodge…a bird, two opossums, and a squirrel…I think. I always feel sad when I come across that, but it was a good day none the less. Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day, turned into a very long riding day. I commuted to work, got home and my wife asked if I wanted to ride back into to downtown to get dinner and stop at the local brewery for a pint ( I love her). So, being warmed up from the ride home, and not realizing how tired I was, we saddled up and headed out on a beautiful St. Pat’s Day. It was rush hour traffic, but the ride was smooth and with no troubles. We got to German Village, ate at Chipotle ( used our free burrito bag…yyyuuummm) and then headed to the north side of down town to Barley’s Ale House. My legs were feeling the effects of the day already, and we still had to pedal home. We rolled into Barley’s which was surprisingly not crowded, but that was just fine with us. We grabbed a table and I ordered our beers. I got the Barley’s Irish Rogue (on Tuesdays you get a 20oz for the price of a 16oz…hell yea) and my wife got Barley’s Frambwha!? (<click the lick to check it out) We drank out beers had some good conversation, realized how tired we were, headed home. The ride home was a drag, my legs were burnt. All in all, I did about 35+ miles on that day…which turned into a gimme for Wed, so I took a day off of riding to give my legs a rest. I rode on Thursday, but on the way home my legs were, again, not happy…plus the added wind whipping kicked my ass.  So, Friday is an off day for riding. I’m looking into a different gearing set up than the one I currently have. I think I’m pushing too big a gear (48×16) everyday, and my legs aren’t getting a chance to recover proper, so I’m doing more damage than good at this point. More on the gearing thing this week end as I prepare my other bike with easier gearing (42x 16 or 18) and fixed. We’ll see.  I’ll also be posting some pictures this weekend of stuff I came across on my commute.

Thanks for reading … RIDE SAFE, Patrick

Winter Breaks, Birds Sing, and Laziness Vanquished

Yes, winter is beginning to break, song birds are slowly returning, and as for the vanquishing thing, well that’s a bit of a stretch. So, I haven’t completely vanquished laziness yet, but it has been since early January that I’ve been on my bike, sad, I know. When the really cold weather hit and the snow piled high, my 10+ mile commute looked less and less like a desire-able thing. Plus pushing the mountain bike in snow for that distance, much of in, near, and around traffic just didn’t jazz me. I’m okay with that, but I allowed the laziness to take root and they went deep. I could think of hundreds of reasons not to ride, my mind waged battle daily, and well it won. My bike has sat alone in the garage for the past two months, and damn-it it’s going to stop. I’ll be prepping the bike this weekend, putting on some new handle bars and getting it ready for the commute on Monday. My biggest concern now is, as I mentioned in a previous post, they have officially closed Clime Road, so all of that traffic is now on the only other out road here and that happens to be the one I ride on. Traffic has effectively doubled, if not tripled, on Alkire road, lines are long and room is scarce. The narrow train underpass(I’ll have to get a picture of it, it’s old) gets clogged with cars, making my travel a bit of a game of chance. All of my commuting skills will be called into play here. Then the stop light, which is a three-way, is all crazy. It was a bit insane before getting through, I now think I’ll be doing much traffic dodging, and probably some illegal stuff to maneuver through. It is what it is though, the road isn’t very bike friendly as it is and now, even less so. I’ll be posting often and I’ll have more pics, no promises, but that’s the plan.

Peace, Patrick

Tensegrity Bike is Held Together By Wires

“If Bucky Fuller designed a bike, it might look something like this idea from Romanian industrial designer Ionut Predescu. He calls it a Tensegrity frame, a term invented by Bucky and a portmanteau of Tensional Integrity…“

To read the full article that the excerpt above came from click > TreeHugger or on the image above

Get On A Bike Less Than $500

I hear people saying if only they could afford a bike, or find a good bike for less than $500 dollars, they might commute. Well, here are a few ideas, from new to used, here is a listing of bikes under $500…some may just be under $500, but they’re under. Most are fairly stripped down, but you then start adding accessories as you find you need them.

First off, if you’re in a tight spot financially start your search at a local thrift store. Many people donate bikes that are in good enough shape or they may only need minor repairs, but you can generally get into a bike for anywhere from $15 – $25 dollars. The down side to this is that it is just left to dumb luck or being able to check frequently. There are no guarantees that you’ll find a good bike, but it never hurts to check. I have two bikes that are thrift store finds, but we just happened to be there on the right day.
Second, see if you have any second hand bike shops in your area. I know here in Columbus we have a small handful. The bikes at these places cost more than the thrift store, but considerably less than a brand new bike.  My wife and I stopped in at one store here in Columbus called Once Ridden Bikes. Many of the bikes we looked at averaged $100 – $200. All of the bikes had been gone over, repaired, and were ready to be ridden out the door.  Mind you, it’s hit or miss, you just have to stop in and look to see if there is something you like and then if it’s in your size.

Third, is a brand new bike. Yes, you can get a brand new bike for under $500.  Many of the big mane manufacturers have bikes at the less than $500 price point.

Specialized bikes has the Globe Vienna in both men’s and women’s  there are two models from $420 – $500

Specialized Globe Carmel 26″ from $390 – $470

Trek has the FX in men’s and women’s models from $439 -$489

The Trek 7000 & 7100 range from $359 – $439

Swobo bikes has the Folsom 1 speed w/coaster brake for $479

Kona has the Africa One for $375 (Check out Kona Bike Town for the origins of this bike)

The Kona Smoke runs $425

Jamis Bikes has the Commuter 1 for $365

Jamis Bikes Citizen 1 is $415

GT Bikes has the Transeo 5.0 & 4.0 for $399 -$479

Giant Bikes has the Transend for $490

Those are just a few of the bikes that you can get for under $500. There are too many others to post them all here, so go do a bit of research based on what I have here.

Now, I purposely left out bikes from big box stores such as Target, Wal-Mart, or Meijer for one big reason, no real customer support and a total lack of good info about your purchase. I may be cracked, but you’ll get100% better service at your local bike shop, not only that, but better follow up sevice. Why? Because the folks at your local bike shop also ride bikes, the bikes their selling, so you’ll be better informed.

*EDIT: Dec 22 08* So, if you happen to be in a position where the best option for you to buy a bike is one of the big box stores, taken the time and have a wrench at your local bike shop take a look at it to make sure it is assembled correctly. The last thing anyone needs is to be injured on a new bike, because it was improperly assembled. I’m just looking out for you.

Hope this posts helps some of you.

RIDE SAFE!

Peace, Patrick

Local News: The Clime Road Project

For those of you here in Columbus who live on the southwest side of town, Clime road is undergoing it’s much talked about reconstruction and widening. The good news is that it will include a bike path, making travel on Clime less hazardous for bicyclist. Read the full article here > The Clime Road Project

Ride Safe!
Peace, Patrick