World Naked Bike Ride - Portland

The world naked bike ride, what can I say but, wow! I was not a hundred percent certain I would attend, but at 9:30 last night I wheeled out the door and headed to the industrial area north of downtown Portland. It was a bit chilly and windy out, but I met up with some other riders headed the same direction along the way. We could hear the music from about a quarter mile out and there was no turning back.

On arrival I was struck by the sheer volume of bikes locked up outside. There were people from every walk of life wandering around outside. Some were in costume, some were partially clothed, some were neither. Once inside, the scene was unbelievable. Great beer, live music, and a thousand sweaty dancing bodies to boot. About a half hour before the ride kickoff, the Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers marched through the warehouse and definitely kicked things up another notch (if that were at all possible). That led to the mass exodus to the bikes.

Once I had my bike and "prepped" for the ride, I headed out to the street where I was simply awe struck by the number of people. The cue went on as far as I could see. It was truly inspiring. The ride took off and headed through NW Portland and then down Burnside. The further we went the more the crowds of spectators grew. There were cheers and high fives all around along with the occasional bit of ass slapping. The sound of bicycle bells ringing constantly. We cleared the Burnside bridge out to Sandy and down to the Hawthorn bridge. --Just a thought here, riding a bicycle naked over a steel grated bridge creates a very interesting sensation--. We turned and headed back up toward Old Town where the ride ground down to the naked bike walk (--note: I heard that the rear portion of the pack was cut off from the bridge loop and forced in with the rest which caused the jam up). Once through the jam it was a smooth roll back to the party.

The people were amazing, and not just the cyclists. Props to all the bystanders that decided to make a show of solidarity by losing there clothes while standing on the side of the road cheering. It should also be noted that there was a HUGE amount of appreciation for Portland's finest for blocking traffic at the major intersections. All in all it was an amazing experience which I will definitely repeat.

There is a great write up at Bike Portland (probably NSFW due to the pics).

See you there next year!

Classy

Lotus 3000R Update

I made a couple changes to the Lotus over the past week or so. The big one is that I swapped out the handlebars for the drops that were originally on my Salsa. The 'Short and Shallow' bar is wider and more comfortable than the drop bar from the Lotus. What can I say... I have a wide stance. The width caused an unexpected issue with the brake cable length, so those got swapped out too.

So far: tires, tubes, cables, seat (re-use), handlebars (re-use), clipless pedals, and a seatpost bag for spare and tools. (Not too bad overall)

If I could change one thing that I did on it so far, I would have put tires with reflective sidewalls on it.

I think I am done working on this one for a while. It has been a pretty fun bike puttering around the neighborhood, but now I need to take it out on a longer ride.

Back to the other bikes...

Thoughts from the week

Trying to replace a 1" threaded headset is bothersome. Should have just gotten a threadless fork, headset, and stem.

Returning merchandise over the internets is also bothersome. If there is any question about compatibility, get it at LBS.

Frame saver is messy.


On the up side, bike projects are moving forward. Pics to follow.

Scotchlite 680

Late addition to the Christmas list. I think totally covering the bike is overkill, but I definitely want to add some of this to my ride.


Bright Bike from Michael Mandiberg on Vimeo.

Just watch

via EcoVelo

Bike Craft IV (follow up)

Bike Craft was last Wednesday and was nothing short of amazing. The Lucky Lab was packed wall to wall with people and the beer was flowing. Tons of local vendors showing off their goods. A special treat for me was getting to meet the DeJerks in person. All in all, great people, great stuff, great times!


(The work DeJerk!)


(Thanks for sharing your pretzels O-bearded one!)

And to whoever was baking mass quantities of cinnamon bread in southeast Wednesday night, it smelled great!

Bike Craft IV

BikeCraft IV will be December 10, from 5:30pm to close at Roots Organic Brewing at 1520 SE 7th Ave (just south of Hawthorne) in Portland.

Check out the full vendor list!

Should be quite awesome. Really looking forward to seeing the DeJerks there!

via Bike Portland

Lotus 3000

This old steed came from a Sears store around 1991. I was looking for some info online and came up with almost zilch. I got this for my dad and it sat in his garage unridden until recently. I reclaimed it, cleaned it up, added new tires, pedals, and a seat off of one of my other bikes. It is a great bike but I'm not sure if I will keep it or sell it off to fund other bike projects... At any rate, I thought I would share.

Treadmill Bike

Only $2500 Canadian! Found at Bike Forest. Do NOT miss the treadmill bike 'sweet jumps' video at the end of the article.

Triple the fun?

Not sure why, but there have been a lot of trikes popping up on the radar. I figured I would post a few.

Lunatrike over at Bicycle Design


Mitka Trike at LikeCool


Titanium Tricycle at Gizmodo


Neal Fegan custom from the Manifest Show


...but none come close in cool points to the Vanilla

XtraLove

I saw this pic over at one of my favorite blogs, Copenhagen Cycle Chic. The photo is by Derek Pearson who does some pretty fancy stuff with a camera. The subject matter had me thinking I should introduce a project of my own. I have a very slowly progressing xtracycle. I have an older Lotus (1990) mountain bike that I am converting. It will not likely be as hot as the chopper in the pic, but it should be fun. So far I have stripped all its parts and hinted heavily that a free radical is all I want for Christmas. I will post pics and updates as it progresses. For now, enjoy the links.

Copenhagen Cycle Chic
Xtracycle

Updated: Manifest Show Weekend

Update: Pics from the show posted here.

All in all, a spectacular weekend alternating between biking, drinking, and eating (all the PDX staples). Scott, Kav, and Ashley from Seattle, Kat from Eugene, and Anna from here in Portland made for a full house. I could not have asked for a better group to ride with.

Scott posted some great pics over at sweetbike.org. I am playing around with SmugMug. Once I get the account set up I will post the gallery of pics I shot at the show.

Special props to Dean for showing us a great time Saturday night.

We need to do this again sooner rather than later.