Rumble in the Desert…

Sorry for the lack of posts...

I've been super busy with work and other stuff...

I'm headed down to the Mojave Desert...

...for a little full moon celebration...

with my SoCal friends...

I'll be back and posting regularly around 7 July!

Tikit Front Fender with Struts…

photo: Gareth Dent

Gareth posted a nice article on his blog about replacing the stock fender on his Tikit with a more conventional one that uses fender struts to support the lower part of the fender.   I haven’t had any issues with my stock fender that would motivate me to change it, but it’s good to know your options…=-)

Bio Mass Facility Victoria BC

Found this green energy plant while out Trucking...

Click on image for larger version...

Click on image for larger version...

Click on image for larger version...

Facility exterior...

Kurt enjoying some enviro porn...

Best Odyssey

Marshall Islands...

The Best Odyssey is a kiteboarding, surfing, SUP, paragliding and sailing extravaganza.  They’ve got amazing photos and videos.  If you want to kill an evening check it out…=-)

My Kiteboard Quiver…

I love my Naish kites...

Here’s an outline of the kiteboarding kites and boards I use and why.

Kites:

Your kite provides you the power to move around on the water and how it handles is critical for your kiteboarding experience.  If you are on a budget and have to cut corners do it anywhere, but here.  A poor quality kite is going to make your life hard and unpleasant.  Don’t buy junk!

I ride only Naish kites simply because they are the highest quality kites I’ve ever seen. The craftsmanship and thought that goes into these kites is clear and once you own one you won’t want to ride anything else. They are stable and easy to relaunch if you put them down on the water.  Their beginner kites are docile and as you move up their line up you get faster handling and more power.

2010 Naish Cult...

My Naish kites:

• 12m Code 2008 [16-23 knots]
• 9m Code 2008 [23-30 knots]
• 6m Cult 2009 [30-37 knots]

The Code is a discontinued Naish model that was aimed at the new kiteboarder.  Accordingly it is safe, stable and easy to use.  The handling isn’t too sporty, but more than enough for your first couple seasons until your skills develop.

The Cult is the model that replaced the Code in Naish’s kite line up and is their beginner/intermediate kite.  It is more performance oriented than the Code, but is so stable and easy to use it’s fine for a new kiteboarder.  When I add new kites to my quiver I’ll be buying Cults as they are the perfect balance of ease of use and performance for me for the next few years.

You’ll notice I have 3 kites.  That’s pretty standard for a full quiver.  You can get by with 1 kite or 2, but you won’t always be able to kite when there is wind and you won’t always be riding a good size for the current conditions.  If you are riding a kite that’s too small for conditions you’ll be struggling to get enough power to ride.  If you are riding a kite that’s too big for conditions you’ll have too much power which is just as tough to ride and can be dangerous.  Modern kites have a broad range of usable wind speed.  Easily 10-15 knots for a lot of kites.  However, at the extreme ends of their ranges they aren’t a lot of fun to use.  That’s why I’ve listed about a 7 knot speed range for my kites above.  I can fly them outside these ranges, but I prefer not to.

A basic rule of thumb for kiting is with:

• one kite you’ll be kiting 50% of the time when it’s rideable
• two kites you’ll be kiting 75% of the time when it’s rideable
• three kites you’ll be riding 95% of the time when it’s rideable

Naish control bar and lines...

Control Bar and Lines:

You are attached to your kite via some kevlar lines that run from your kite to a control bar that you use to steer the kite.  Except for advanced riders doing wild tricks you will hook up your control bar to your harness so the kite pulls directly on your body and you don’t have to hold on for dear life while riding.  This is nice and lets you control the kite with one finger from each hand if you want.

Two important features of your control bar are:

• main safety release which lets you detach your kite from your harness in an emergency.
• secondary safety release on a flexible leash that retains your kite in a depowered state when you use the main release.  When you use this secondary safety release you are totally freed from the kite and lines when needed in an emergency.

Naish makes a great control bar designed especially for their kites.  I have 3 bars one for each kite. I tend to use just one bar and move it from kite to kite.  This gives me 2 spare bars.  That’s probably one more than I need, but bars/lines bought with a kite are much cheaper than buying separately.

Kite bag and pump...

Pump:

The kites used for water kiteboarding [vs. land or snow kiting] are inflatable.  This keeps the floating when they hit the water and provides an extra measure of safety if things go wrong as you can turn your kite into a raft and float in to shore.

Every time you use your kite you’ll be pumping it up and for a large kite like my 12m it takes a lot of pumping to put enough air inside.  To make matters worse the sand and grit typically found at kiting beaches loves to get in your pump and wear out the seals.

I’ve got 2 Naish pumps which are very efficient and easy to use.  Definitely the best kite pumps I’ve seen.  You always want a spare pump as your are dead in the water if you can’t pump up your kite.

Repair Kit:

My Naish kites came with a repair kit including:

• patches for the inflatable kite bladder
• spare air valves
• patches for the kite canopy

I haven’t had to use any of these yet, but if you are far from a repair shop an emergency kit could be the difference between kiting or driving home.

Ocean Rodeo Mako...

Boards:

After your kites your boards are the next most critical items in your quiver.  I’d recommend buying a quality name brand board, but since technology doesn’t change that fast in this area you can save $$$ by getting a used board or a new board that’s a couple years old.

My boards:

• Ocean Rodeo Mako Freeride [40cm x 140cm]
• Roberto Ricci Designs Placebo [ 47xm x 144cm]

RRD Placebo...

The OR Mako is my everyday board.  It rides upwind really well and due to the rounded tail is very smooth on the choppy water that occurs when it gets really windy.  This board features a lot of rocker [tip to tip curvature] as well as a ton of concave [edge to edge curvature] which combined with only one fin on each end makes it handle very differently from a more typical kite board like the RRD Placebo.  The Mako is loose and easy to spin/maneuver when you don’t dig in an edge making it a lot of fun to play around on.  When you do push the edge into the water the concave really helps it bite and drive upwind.

The RRD Placebo is a big board and although the measurements seem not a lot greater than the Mako the more rectangular outline, lack of any concave and much less rocker give it more surface area in the water at any given time.  This means you need less power from the kite to ride.  This board is easy to ride and great for light wind conditions where the Mako would just sink.  The downside is the weight and size make it less fun to play on than the Mako.

If I was going to do it all over again I’d probably buy a Mako King which is OR’s bigger light wind board.  That would give me the benefits of having a big board combined with the same handling and feel as my smaller Mako.

Besides having a spare in case you damage your main board the benefit of two boards is that the size of your board determines how big a kite you need to use to generate enough power to ride.  Having a smaller and a larger board essentially gives you two “gears” for any one kite. This means you can fine tune your ride very easily.  Rigging up a kite takes 15-20mins, but swapping a board takes only 2 mins.  So if you are out on a small kite and need more power the easy thing to do is come in and grab your bigger board.  Since boards are much cheaper than kites you can also make do with less kites by having a few boards at your disposal saving a lot of $$$.

Bindings...

Bindings:

You need a set of two foot pads and two straps to attach your board to your feet.  These bindings are quite important for an enjoyable ride and there are lots of designs out there.  When you are buying a board pay attention to the bindings.  If they aren’t going to work for you consider that replacing them can cost $100-$200.  I’m using the stock OR and RRD bindings.  They both work well so I have no complaints.

Ocean Rodeo Rise XPD

RAAM 2010 Recumbents…

Photo: Velonews.com

There are several recumbent riders racing the 2010 edition of Race Across America [aka. RAAM].  Most notably Barbra Buatois the french rider shown above who is currently the 1st place female in the race.

Dana Liberman, owner of Bent Up Cycles and all around nice guy, is part of a 4 man recumbent men’s team.  They are going strong and currently in 3rd place for their division.

Photo: RAAM

Tim Woudenberg is racing solo on a recumbent in the men’s 50-59 age group. He’s currently in first place in that group.

Photo: Sandy Earl

Sandy Earl was racing in the solo women’s division, but has DNF’d – although it’s not yet clear what the reason was for her departure from the race.

No matter how the race ends for these riders just showing up ready to race RAAM is an amazing accomplishment.  It’s hard to fully grasp the effort and investment of time/$$ these folks will have put into this event by the time they cross the finish line.

BTW – there is also a trike rider on a mixed bent/DF team called Team FARA.

Scorcher Porn…

Reflective sidewall bling...

I love my Greenspeed Scorchers.  I run them in 349 [16″] and 406 [20″] sizes on my Bike Friday Tikit and New World Tourist folders.  They are fast, comfortable, grippy and so far have been flat free in 4 cumulative riding seasons.  If I was going to complain about something it would be the plain jane looks of the Scorcher and the lame sidewall logo.

Old style Scorcher sidewall...

Kurt recently bought some new Scorchers from Bent Up Cycles for the Season Tikit he’s been riding. I was surprised and stoked to see a new version of the sidewall on the Scorchers when they came in.  They are funky looking, in a good way, and the reflective stripe is a nice feature.  Although I should note that this material is not as reflective as the material used on Schwalbe tires. Having said that I don’t think sidewall reflective stripes are a major safety benefit as much as they look cool.

I love the smell of fresh rubber in the morning...=-)

I don’t know if Greenspeed is selling both versions or if the reflective sidewall Scorchers are a new model that will replace the old style.  I need some new Scorchers for my Tikit so I’ll be crossing my fingers that I get some pimped out Scorchers like Kurt!…=-)

Scorchers work awesome so they might as well look awesome!

Going bent Ver 4.0?

Catrike Expedition...

I’m starting to get the hankering to ride a recumbent again.  No specific goals this time other than to try something new and see what I think.  This will be my fourth venture into the bent world.

My Recumbent resume:

1. Vision R40 SWB was my first bent. I never felt at home with the handling and sold it after 1 season.  Then I took a couple years off bents altogether.
2. BikeE CLWB was my second bent and a lot of fun, but I got the dreaded recumbutt after more than an hour in the saddle and the performance was not remarkable.  I took another couple years off at this point as well.
3. I started back up with a Volae Expedition high racer, then tried a Challenge Taifun and Fujin SL SWB low racers.  There was also a RANS Rocket SWB and a Challenge Hurricane in the mix for my riding partner.  I sold all my bents in late 2008 so I’m coming up on 2 years bentless.
4. The question is what bent to get and why?

The two front runners for my next bent are:

The Catrike Expedition shown in the photo above.

• I’ve always been intrigued by trikes and in particular the space frame design of the Catrike seems like a beautiful form and function mix.
• I’m pretty sure the go cart like handling and low slung riding position will be a ton of fun.
• This is about as different as it gets when it comes to my previous recumbents.

The RANS X-Stream shown in the photo below.

• I’ve never really “got” the LWB style recumbents until I saw the X-Stream.
• It looks fast, comfortable and easy to start/stop.
• I like the higher riding position for mixing it up with traffic as well as for riding with folks on DFs.
• My previous RANS Rocket was a sweet well made bent as was the RANS Street Crank Forward I had.

RANS X-Stream

I’m not in any rush to make a decision as I’ve got a busy summer ahead of me, but I thought I would throw out my ideas so far and get some feedback to incorporate into the process.  If you’ve got some thoughts about either bent or a totally different make/model I’m open to hearing from you.

Weekend triathlon…

Just got back from an 8hr kiteboarding marathon weekend…okay so 8hrs over two days isn’t really overly hardcore, but my last day of kiting was in early January and my kiting fitness has declined!  I’m looking forward to being able to crank out 5hrs+ a day on the water day after day.  For now I’ll have to be happy just being on the water with some solid steady thermal winds.  As a bonus I had a great SUP session Saturday AM and got to crank around on my MTB all weekend in the campground at Lake Nihtnat on Vancouver Island.  Life is good…

Light wind trainer kite fun...

Surly 1×1 Moment…

...loving the fixed gear.

Why you shouldn’t let me…

The garage....errr....living room...

…house sit in your million dollar home!…=-)

Why I love the internet…

My hack job modified Heckler seatstay brace...

When I revamped my buddy Sean’s Santa Cruz Heckler I had to modify the seatstay brace to allow clearance for fat 2.4″ rubber in the back. The mod worked, but it wasn’t particularly pretty.  I had posted the build pics on MTBR.com and one of the members took pitty on me and made me the brace shown below so Sean’s bike would be as good looking as it is nice to ride….sweet!  He not only made it for free, but wouldn’t accept any $$$ to cover shipping to me from the US.  Amazing…=-)

CNC'd Heckler bling...

www.pedouins.org

Now that's a touring bike!

I ran into these fine folks on their S and S coupled touring monster last weekend.  Very cool machine and an amazing journey for the whole family.  They’ve done 7000kms so far on their journey from Kentucky to the top of Alaska.

A family that bikes together...

Safe travels…

How many bikes do I have?

Surly 1x1

Santa Cruz Nomad

Surly Pugsley

Bike Friday New World Tourist

Surly Big Dummy...

Bike Friday Tikit...

Surly Long Haul Trucker...

Click on any photo to see more images of that bike…

Tikit Safety Brace Rolling…

Thumb on top...

The one fingered rolling technique shown in my post yesterday works for the new version of the Tikit rolling handle.  For the older style handle and safety brace I use two different grips shown above and below.

The top photo shows the thumb on top of the carrying handle.  This grip keeps my hand away from the safety brace and gives me the same control/comfort as I had without the brace in place.

The bottom photo shows my thumb wrapped around the brace which gives me more control over the Tikit laterally than the stock handle alone.  I don’t find touching the brace uncomfortable.  The brace has been in place for several months and I haven’t bothered to pad it.  I probably will pad it at some point when I have some cloth tape in my hand and I’m standing next to this bike – and I remember to do something~! Clearly it’s not a big deal…

Thumb wrapped around brace...

I get asked how much better the new style handle is by owners of older Tikits.  Is it worth upgrading?

My answer would be:

• I wouldn’t upgrade to the new handle if I had no other reason to do so…hence why my Season Tikit still has the old handle.
• However, if your bike has to go back to Bike Friday for some other work I would do the handle replacement at that time.
• If you are buying a Tikit and looking at an older model and a newer model I would give the newer handle the nod unless the cost savings was more than $300.

Thorn Sold – CETMA Ordered…

What me worried?

I was sad to strip my Thorn Nomad and pack it for shipment to its new owner, but on the plus side I placed an order for a CETMA cargo bike frame…=-)  I’m hoping to get her by early August and will be building up the following specification:

• CETMA cargo bike frame [white] with kickstand
• custom wooden box with waterproof cover
• Rohloff w/ 26″ Velocity Aeroheat rim *
• Chain tensioner
• 20″ Velocity Aeroheat front wheel
• Schwalbe Big Apple Tires 2.0″ width
• Deore V-brakes with Koolstop salmon pads *
• Avid Speed Dial levers *
• Titec H-bars *
• Ergon Grips *
• Brooks B17 saddle [black] *
• Shimano square taper cranks with Thorn 38T ring *
• Shimano square taper BB
• SRAM 8 spd chain *
• Planet Bike Fenders

Note: * indicates parts coming from Thorn Nomad.

As you can see most of the parts comes from my Thorn Nomad. So although it has been sold it will live on in spirit hauling stuff around town for me.  Even cooler the CETMA frame splits in two for travel/shipping/storage like the Thorn did.  The rest of the parts come from my spares bin so all I’ll need to buy is a chain tensioner and a 20″ Big Apple then I’ll be ready to complete the CETMA build.

Now I just have to be patient until August….=-)

Is the Tikit easy to roll?

 

Close up of of my one finger Jedi Tikit rolling technique shown in video...

 

Road Trip…

Nobody likes to road trip alone...

I’m headed out on a bit of a road trip for the next few days…so there won’t be much in the way of blog posts unless I get creative with my iPhone.  I’m not going alone…my good buddy Mr. Tikit found a spot tucked safely in the back seat…one of the advantages of a Bike Friday!…=-)