Pipeline…

Starboard 2011 “The New”…

Starboard 2011 SUP Porn...

Starboard has several new race boards out for 2011.  I’ve been enjoying my Starboard The Ultimate Blend SUP, but have been yearning for more speed. The oddly named The New race board from Starboard looks like just the ticket for high speed paddling around Victoria.

Since Bellingham Kite Paddle Surf is a Starboard dealer [and just happens to have one of these boards in the showroom] I think I may have to have a chat with them…=-)

Is your hyperfold cable tensioned properly?

This video from Bike Friday shows you how to check if your hyperfold cable is correctly tensioned.  Worth a watch if you are a Tikiteer…=-)

Kite – Tikit

Kites at Cook St. beach, Victoria BC...

Sharon and I were biking downtown on Thursday and she commented on how windy it was.  It occurred to me folks might be kiteboarding down at the Cook St. beach so I checked the wind speed on ikitesurf.com and then the webcam at Big Wave Dave.  Sure enough the wind was wipping in the right direction and kites were in the water.

One Way Tikit on the beach...

At the top of the long & steep set of stairs own to the beach Sharon started to lock up her bike when she asked me if I thought  it was a safe location to leave it.  I said – probably, while folding my Tikit and carrying it down to the water were it would really be safe!  One of the benefits of being a Bike Friday owner…=-)

Ian with his Flysurfer kite...

We had a great, but chilly time watching 10 kiters and 1 windsurfer ripping it up.  The launch at Cook St. [aka Kook Street] is quite challenging with a short rocky beach butted up against a steep vertical 50′ cliff.  So I was happy just to watch for today and see how everyone launched and landed their kites.  If you are going to get  hurt kiteboarding it’s most likely during the launching/landing phase when there are all sorts of hard objects to hit!

2011 Ocean Rodeo Razor in action...

We got to see the new 2011 Ocean Rodeo Razor kite on the water.  It looks great and I’m keen to demo one when they hit the stores.  After about 2hrs we were frozen [didn't bring warm clothes!] so we packed it in.  I must admit it makes me really happy to live in a town where I can bike, SUP, kiteboard, sea kayak within a 5km radius from my house…=-)

Narrow beach at Cook St...

Showerpass Portland Jacket

Sharon about to ride to work...

Sharon has pretty much parked her car since moving to Victoria and been riding her bike everywhere she needs to go. Her interest in bike related gear has increased rapidly as her kms accumulate.  She found this sweet Showerpass Portland jacket at MEC and decided just because she needs a waterproof cycling jacket she didn’t have to look goofy!

MEC marketing spew:

The Portland is everything you might expect from a jacket named for such a hip town. It’s big on style and weatherproof performance, and built for serious cycling. The stealthy, bike-friendly features are well-concealed in a flattering fit and fashionable design.

• Waterproof soft shell fabric is 100% polyester.
• Drop down rear panel has 3M reflective tape and reflective piping accents.
• The weather-guard cuffs are gussetted.
• Hidden pit zips allow furtive venting.
• The chest pocket has an audio port so you can ride to your own soundtrack.
• The side gusset lets you adjust the fit and degree of flare.
• weight 610g [small]
• $235cdn

Showerpass Portland Jacket manufacturer’s webpage.

I’ll get Sharon to write up a review closer to Christmas once she has a few months under her belt.  So far she is stoked by the fit, features and quality of construction.

Mexi-Tikit!

No lock?...no problem just bring 'er in...=-)

CETMA Build…

CETMA Fork...

I’m posting my CETMA build photos on Flickr here. I’ll keep updating them and commenting on them as I go.

Pedal Power – CBC Documentary

Click on image to watch the video...

This video will only play for folks in Canada.

Installing hard to fit tires…

Note: I want to clearly state that I don’t recommend anyone use Marathon Plus tires unless:

1. you live in an active war zone
2. you live in thorn country
3. you get a flat every ride

…for everyone else it’s a bad choice, but there are other times when you’ll come across rims and tires that are hard to fit and this video’s tips will work for those situations equally well.

Liquid Force Envy

Photo: The Kiteboarder Magazine

Note: I wrote this post on Sunday 22 Aug and was about to post it when I lost my Wifi connection…so when I say today I’m talking about this past Sunday…=-)

I’m on my way south along the WA and OR coast to visit Bike Friday as well as CETMA bikes in Eugene OR. I stopped in at Bellingham Kite Paddle Surf [aka Bellingham Kiteboarding] and checked out some new 2011 gear from Liquid Force. Andy showed me the 2011 Envy kite and let me borrow a 2010 model to demo.

Photo: The Kiteboarder Magazine

So I kept trucking south and ended up at Hood River OR today. Typically a 10m kite is way too much for the Columbia River Gorge’s epic winds, but things were light today which was a good test of the bigger size of the Envy.

Check out The Kiteboarder Magazine’s review of the 2010 Liquid Force Envy here.

Here is what I thought:

• build quality and attention to detail are excellent
• the kite backpack is one of the nicer ones I’ve used [great if you have to carry your gear a long ways]
• attractive design and graphics
• 3 strut design is very simple and pumps up fast
• single point inflation system is dead easy to use
• the kite and bar has a “goof proof” line setup so rigging was easy
• the bar was intuitive and the depower was easy to use while riding
• I tested out the chicken loop safety release before riding and it worked well [looks easy to reattach in the water]
• the kite was very easy to launch and fly
• it’s stable and responds well to bar input
• bar pressure was low
• wouldn’t back stall
• didn’t turn super fast, but my demo bar was on the small size
• wasn’t super powerful for a 10m, but provided consistent power
• I didn’t get to try the water relaunch of the kite

These are just some thoughts after one light-wind session on this kite so I reserve the right to change my mind when I get back home and try it in some stronger wind at Nitnaht.

My general feeling is that this is a great kite to start kiting on because it is stable, dependable and provides steady power. In your first season of kiteboarding you want a kite that sort of flies itself so you can worry about other things. The 3 strut design was easy to use and just simplifies everything about the kite.

The downsides to being really stable is that this isn’t the most responsive kite to fly and it’s not the best choice for big air or other more intermediate/advanced riding. Having said that you really don’t want any of those things when you start your kiting career and once you have a couple seasons under your belt it’s time for a kite upgrade. Liquid Force makes the Havoc to suit the needs of the more advanced rider.

Looking back at 2009 I would have been stoked to ride the Envy and it’s definitely a kite I would put Sharon on as she works on her skills. I’m going to take the 10m Envy home and play with it a bit more. I’d like more time to tune the kite and try it out in higher winds.

Envy info in video above is at 4:20-9:05 if you want to skip the rest.

Update: I’ve added some detailed shots of the 10m Liquid Force Envy to my Flickr here.  I’ll be taking more photos over the next few weeks and dump them in the same spot for anyone interested.

Electronic Rohloff Shifter

Electronic shifting for your Rohloff...

This new electronic push button shifting system has appeared on Australian EBay.  I have no experience with it and have not read any reviews, but I thought I would share it in case someone out there is in need of a Rohloff shifter for a drop bar or other type of non-flat bar install.

Box contents...

Since my Rohloffs are on flat bar bikes I’m pretty happy with my twist shifter and cables since it works well and is reliable – not to mention easy for me to service at home.

Shift motor attaches to Rohloff External Gear Mechanism...

However, I have tried a Rohloff with a drop bar bike and never found a solution I was really happy with so I can see where this product or at least something other than a twist shifter would make sense.

One of two shift buttons that can be placed anywhere you like...

The bike in these photos is a front wheel drive recumbent with drop bars.  So they have placed the shift buttons under each brake lever.  Although you could place them somewhere else you found convenient.

This control box connects the buttons and shift motor...

I’m assuming the battery is located in the box pictured above and has a capacity for 600-1000 shifts.  This may be only a few days of riding if you like to shift a lot and ride in stop and go traffic.  I’m also unsure how the battery life will be affected by cold temperatures and if the unit is waterproof.

Complete bike...

I’ll be interested to see if this product survives in what is a very small market given how few Rohloffs are out there [maybe 100,000+] and that a lot of people are using Rohloff’s for their reliability and low maintenance which could be adversely affected by adding this complex shifting mechanism to the mix.

Windfest 2010

T-shirt logo...

I attended 2 of the 3 days of Windfest this year and had a lot of fun.  I missed the band/party night Saturday; which by all accounts was EPIC!  I’ll definitely plan to be there for the whole thing next year.  A big thank you to everyone involved in making this event a reality.  I know how hard it is to pull off a big event at a remote location.

Event sponsors...

If you are an avid windsports junkie you should definitely plan to attend in August 2011.  The location at Lake Nitnaht [spelled correctly for the first time this year....lol!!] is spectacular and the wind howls down the lake making for some big smiles on the water.

HP Velo Factory Tour…

From BROL…

KSi900r Adjustable Seatpost…

My Santa Cruz Nomad with a KSi900r installed...

One of the products that really revolutionized my mountain biking was a Crank Brothers Joplin adjustable seatpost.  When mine broke recently and had to be sent back for repair I was shocked how much using a rigid seatpost negatively affected my ride.

Sharon's Nomad...

When Sharon decided to get a mountain bike I figured she needed to have an adjustable seatpost on her bike as well so I moved my Joplin 3″ seatpost over to her Santa Cruz Nomad.

Remote lever cable enters from rear of post...

I looked at the Crank Brothers Joplin 4″ travel seatpost, but I wasn’t confident I wouldn’t experience the same failure that I had with my Joplin 3″ post.  I had read some good reviews for the KSi900r 5″ post and I found a local source in Calgary [Western Motorsports] that was selling them for ~$220cdn – a much lower price then the Joplin. I decided it was worth trying a KS post and seeing what I thought.

KSi900r at max 5" extension...

Installation of the post was a breeze with the remote lever and cable coming preassembled in the box. The saddle mounts with two bolts which took a little longer to deal with than the Joplin’s single bolt setup, but I don’t swap saddles often so this isn’t too important to me.

KSi900r lowered...

Note the cunning use of a zip tie just above the seatpost QR to keep the remote cable away from the rear tire.

Remote bar mounted lever...

The Kind Shock remote lever [red component in photo above] isn’t as easy to use as the Joplin’s lever, but it’s not awful.  If I don’t love it in the long run I can replace it with a Joplin remote lever since the post itself doesn’t care how you pull the cable.

I’m looking forward to having 5″ of travel with this post vs. the 3″ my Joplin had available.

Specifications:

• diameter = 30.9mm
• weight = 546g
• adjustment range = 125mm
• length = 385mm
• warranty = 2 years

I’ll be even happier if this post is still working fine in a couple years…=-)

Bellingham Kite Paddle Surf

Inside this modest storefront is kiteboarding heaven...=-)

So how does a kiteboarder living in Victoria British Columbia end up with his LKBS [local kiteboarding shop] located in another country?  Well it’s simple living on an island has some upsides and some downsides.  One of the downsides is the lack of a local kiteboarding shop.  There is a surf shop in Victoria that is supposedly a kiteboard dealer, but when I went there the staff knew nothing about kiteboarding and just pointed me to a dusty box of random parts that were horribly overpriced.

*sigh*

So I knew I had to look elsewhere and I ended up at Bellingham Kite Paddle Surf [aka Bellingham Kiteboarding] for a bunch of reasons:

• best prices I could find online
• enthusiastic knowledgeable staff
• great selection of gear and lots of stock
• free shipping in the US and  to Canada [for orders over $300USD]
• awesome customer service

I wish my living room looked like this!

I’m definitely not a lowest price at all costs kind of guy, but if you give me the lowest prices and great service you have my attention.  To give you an example of why I’m so stoked about Bellingham Kite Paddle Surf when I was in Baja this past winter I was unhappy with my kiteboard.  I demo’d an Ocean Rodeo Mako 140 and loved it, but there were none for sale in Mexico.  I found them online in the US, but shipping and customs was so much money and hassles I gave up.  I figured I’d just grab one on my drive home.  Of course that meant 6 more weeks of riding a board I didn’t love.  Then someone suggested I contact the folks at Bellingham Kiteboarding.  I fired off an email letting them know I needed a Mako bad!  7 days later they had a brand new one in my hands on a beach in Mexico.  Not only did they give me a lower price than anything else I found online – they arranged for a customer to who was flying to Mexico to bring it to me.  No shipping cost and no customs hassles.  Keep in mind I had never bought anything from them before and I never even spoke to anyone at the shop other than through email. Awesome!  The best part was I got to spend the rest of my trip riding a board I was totally stoked to hit the waves with.

Anyways if I seem enthusiastic about these guys I hope you can appreciate why…=-)

SUP

One of the major kiteboard brands they carry is Ocean Rodeo.  Which is funny because OR’s HQ is in Victoria BC…lol…so I live in Victoria and I buy my Ocean Rodeo gear from Bellingham WA then I ride it on Vancouver Island…=-)  I could buy my gear directly from Ocean Rodeo, but it’s actually cheaper to buy it from Bellingham Kite Paddle Surf. Go figure.

Besides Ocean Rodeo they also carry:

• Liquid Force kites, boards & harnesses
• Slingshot kites and boards
• Blade Kites [Trigger, Fat Lady and Prime] and Blade boards [Deuce and Sanchez]
• Liquid Force kites and boards
• Dakine & Mystic harnesses
• Hyperflex, NPX and Mystic wetsuits
• Starboard stand up paddle [SUP] boards
• Evergreen SUP boards
• longboards and mountain boards

So if you are in Canada or the US it’s definitely worth checking these folks out if you need kiteboarding or SUP gear.

MKS Half Clip Deep

MKS half toe clips...

I went down to Fairfield Bicycles last weekend and found they had the VO half clips I was looking for as well as the MKS units shown above.

MKS half clips on MKS QR pedals...

Although the MKS clips were double the cost of VO clips they were deeper which seemed preferable and at $29cdn they were within my budget.  Given the cost of shipping anything comparable I ordered online would have been as much if not more.

front view...

The clips went on in under 5 mins. Each attaches to the pedal with 2 bolts.  All the hardware and a hex key were provided.  Since the pedals are MKS as well everything went together easily.

The MKS clips add a bit of bling to the One Way Tikit...

The clips look nice and are quite stiff.  Their weight makes them hang from the pedals so there will be some scratching on the “nose” of each clip.

Using the MKS clips with my trail runners...

I tried the clips with my trail runners.  These shoes have a hard plastic insole and are quite slippery on anything less than BMX platforms with traction pins.  I have ridden the Bike Friday One Way Tikit with these shoes without clips and it wasn’t fun.  Using the half clips was much better.  Fairly easy to flip the pedal up and slide my foot into the clip without looking down.  While riding they keep the shoe positioned properly and don’t let it slip forward onto the plastic insole.

Front view of shoe in clip...

Naturally these half clips can only offer a limited amount of foot retention.  However, as I expected they provide enough security to make shoes I wasn’t comfortable riding in before work fine.  Most importantly to me they only add the slightest extra hassle getting in and almost no hassle pulling my foot out.

Clipped and ready to rip...

So far the only thing I would change if I could is make them about 1″ deeper horizontally so I could position my foot slightly further forward on the pedal.  Thanks to everyone to provided suggestions for my quest to add some toe clips to this bike…=-)

The ultimate cure…

...for injured ribs...

…ibuprofen and vodka!

Ortliebs on the Tikit Folding Rack…

Ortlieb mounted towards rear of rack...

I’ve been asked about mounting Ortliebs on the folding Bike Friday Tikit rack so here are some photos. Note that I use my Orliebs on several racks so I mount the upper/lower hooks in a middle position that works okay with all my racks, but isn’t necessarily ideal for any of them. If I was going to tour with my Tikit I’d take 5 mins and adjust the hooks to fit this rack better.

Ortlieb mounted towards the front...

Generally speaking I like to mount my panniers as far forward as the rack and heel clearance permit for better handling.  It’s worth playing with your bags/racks and trying out a few different options to see what you like best.

Bush Pig!

Bush Pig - motorized dirt board...

I think it is a sign of maturity and intelligence that I backed away quickly when the guys broke out a motorized offroad skateboard-thingy this weekend.  Health care may be free in Canada, but broken bones hurt just as much!  You won’t ever see a review for this so don’t ask…=-)

Specs:

• Engine: 43 cc 2-stroke (2 cycle) Gas/Oil Mix – 30:1 (TG43) and 50:1 (TLE43)
• Carburetor: Manual
• Safety: Safety Tether Stop Switch
• Transmission: Single Speed-Centrifugal Clutch
• Ignition Type: C.D.I.
• Spark Plug: BPM7A (NGK)
• Fuel Capacity: +/- 1L ( +/- 0.26G)
• Range: 1 hour +
• Brake: Disk Brake
• Weight Capacity: ~ 113Kg (~ 250lbs)
• Colors: Black with Blue, Silver with Orange (Coming soon: Red with Black, Yellow with Black, White with Red. Black with Green, and Blue with Black.)
• Weight: 22kg (45lbs)
• Length: 1.1m (3ft 6″)
• Height: 3cm (11.8″)
• Knobby Tires: 10″ x 2.75″
• Footing: Regular (Natural) or Goofy: You can change any time, only 3 bolts to change the side of the swing arm.
• Warranty: 90 day, manufacturers limited

We did nothing…