Knock Off Hubs?

Hey Check this out see pic, this was on the their front page.

I could not find this on their site. Is good ol’ Phil getting in to flask a la Maxi-car hubs. Any one got some close contacts?

Ciao,
Jack

Note: There has been some off line communications concerning these hubs! Secret stuff!  More info forthcoming. 

Cotton Bar Tape

Recommended by Jack Gabus:

Newbaum's Cotton Bar Tape Details

This tape is made in the USA of highly durable milled cotton cloth.

We use eco-friendly dyes for a lower impact on the environment.
We think you'll love the tactile feel of cotton over any synthetic tape on the market, plus maybe you'll feel better, because you are using a product made with renewable natural resources.

- Adhesive back for easy wrapping

- 14 colors

- 10 ft x 3/4" rolls

- Available in individual rolls or POP boxes of 10

Update March 8, 2009: Bike shops are beginning to receive their first shipments.
If you are a bike shop you can now order from The Hawley Co. and The Merry Sales Co.
E-mail us a newbaums(at)yahoo.com for additional information.

Rivendell Bikes, Walnut Creek, CA
Box Dog Bikes, San Francisco, CA
Missing Link Bicycle Cooperative, Berkeley, CA
Corner Cycles, Falmouth, MA
Vic's Classic Bikes, Louisville, KY
Velo Cult, San Diego, CA
The Bicycle Church, Santa Cruz, CA
Bikerowave Cooperative, Los Angeles, CA
Orange 20 Bikes, Los Angeles, CA
Open Road Bicycle Shop, Pasadena, CA
Elliot Bay Cycles, Seattle, WA
North Portland Bikeworks, Portland, OR
Cory the Bike Fixer, Milwaukee, WI
ASUCD Bike Barn, Davis, CA
Urbanistic Tea and Bike Shop, Denver, CO
2020 Cycles, Seattle, WA

Whiplash? Anyone?

Carmelita Bars

For Penny, who's probably still having sugar withdrawal from this afternoon.

These things are great frozen, so you have to gnaw off a corner to get at them:
Carmelitas

2 C. flour
1 (12 oz) bag chocolate chips
2 C. oatmeal
1 C. pecans, chopped
1 ½ C. brown sugar
1 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
3 sticks butter
1 jar Mrs. Richardson carmel ice cream topping
1/2 C. flour

Mix 2 cups flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, soda and salt with melted butter. Press half of the crumbs into a 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the nuts and chocolate chips over baked crumbs. Mix ½ cup flour with carmel topping, then drizzle over chocolate chips and nuts. Crumble remaining half of crumbs over the top. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting. Store cool.

What Darwin Got Wrong

"Jerry Fodor now hopes to do something similar to Darwinism in biology. Fodor has been making sceptical remarks about Darwinian ideas for decades. Three years ago he wrote a direct attack on Darwinian evolutionary theory in the LRB,* and he has now published What Darwin Got Wrong, along with Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini. Fodor and Piattelli-Palmarini believe that they can replicate Chomsky’s demolition job on Skinner because ‘Skinner’s account of learning and Darwin’s account of evolution are identical in all but name.’ As we shall see, ‘identical’ is quite a stretch, but there is a real analogy. First, both theories draw on an externalist or ‘outside-in’ pattern of explanation, in which the structure or behaviour of living things is seen as a consequence of their environments. Second, both rely on a process that can be described loosely as ‘trial and error’. New variations are produced in a spontaneous and unintelligent way, and a few successful variants are kept while others are discarded. This resemblance between the theories was recognised by Skinner himself, who saw Darwinism and behaviourism as dovetailing together. And Chomsky, the great critic of behaviourism, shows no enthusiasm for mainstream evolutionary theory, especially when applied to psychological traits." more

In Defense of Trek

In a comment earlier today regarding the Ugly Dog Contest, a Mr. Jackson Gabus cited this as "real lug set".

Who Owns You?

After our our recent foray into the bizarro world of Libertarianism, I thought this might be of interest to others. (I couldn't decide whether or not to capitalize "birazzo world". After all, I did give "libertarianism" that weight.)

"Several years ago, while attending a street festival in the small town of Tucker, Georgia, I came across a booth sponsored by the local libertarian society. At the time, I did not realize that my encounter would generate my next book. I only remember being struck by the question asked of everyone who visited the booth that day: “So who owns you?”

Like any good carnival barker, the young libertarian who asked this knew from experience that it was an effective opener. It catches you off-guard. It forces you to stop and think. The correct answer, as I soon discovered, was that we own ourselves. We are not owned by the state, the church, or even by God. We are our own property, to dispose of as we wish, in any way we want. We can throw ourselves off a cliff. We can move to Nepal. We can stand at street corners and beg. It is all up to us, because we all own ourselves."

more

Sisters on the Fourth, Memories, and Dance Steps

Those crazy Hanson sisters, Anita, Lorna, Linda and Joylene on the 4th of July. Bob and Florence did well. Kurt couldn't make it because he is in South America. In the evening we dug out an old slide projector and looked at slides of their life from 1959 until they were young newlyweds. Bittersweet, seeing all those young people who have been ambushed by the years, and their aunts and uncles, parents and grandparents who have all passed on. Looking at the pictures projected on the wall it seemed like yesterday, all of them happy, gathered around the Christmas trees and on carefree camping trips. But the lights came back on, reality returned and it was a lifetime of memories ago.

We live on a metaphor, a circular road to nowhere. It is not a one-way metaphor though; if on the rare occasion two travelers chance to meet head to head, grille to grille, life becomes a game of chicken or stubbornness and one of the drivers is forced to pull into a driveway and let'em pass by. Here Carolyn Chesterman uses the street to give dance lessons, while her Tim looks on in amused disbelief. I don't think this is a metaphor for anything, but it does illustrate how hectic our traffic is. In the past, basketball hoops hung over the street. Games of horse or half court were completed without ever being uninterrupted by a single passing car.

Tim and Carolyn share most of our holidays. They are technically not family, but there has been a move about to initiate formal adoption procedures. Today they packed his "new" Heron bicycle in their wagon and headed back to Stillwater. May he ride it in good health for many years. 

Nothin'

Ugly Dog Contest

Good ideas gone wrong:  Tony claims that the Trek 660 has the ugliest seat-cluster ever. Maybe. mw and I think the Heron merits this honor. I'll admit that the Trek is...ahhh...heavy-handed, but the Heron is also ham-fisted and chunky, PLUS it only lines up with the seat stay on one size, which I feel gives it an edge.

Vote early and vote often, or nominate your other contenders.

Barbaric Byrd

Okay, I didn't like Robert Byrd. He was a walking, talking pork barrel. A nasty, pompous, petty little person who should have retired 20 years ago, but he loved his power. A Gollum of a man. So on the occasion of his death, I give you:

Heron, Going Away Pictures

Heron Bicycles was started in 1997 as a joint venture between Waterford Precision Cycles, Rivendell Bicycle Works, and Rona Components. Waterford manufactured the frames in its Wisconsin factory while Rivendell sold them through its mail order operation. Eventually Ted Durant, owner of Rona Components, bought out the other joint venture partners and became sole owner. Waterford continued to manufacture the frames for Ted on a contract basis while Rivendell became an official Heron dealer along with several bike shops. In early 2001, Ted decided to halt production of the Heron frames to focus on other matters. Todd Kuzma, owner of Tullio’s Big Dog Cyclery – a Heron dealer, began discussions with Ted to purchase the company and resume production. Heron Bicycles was sold to Todd Kuzma in January 2002, and production at the Waterford plant began soon thereafter. Yeah, well that went down too. Now Greg Parker at Bicycle Classics, obviously a glutton for punishment, is preparing another run at it. More power to the man for living his dream.

This is the last Heron made THE FIRST TIME! A 531 Heron Road. It's a good bike. Somewhere along the line I had Chris Kvale respray it, so even with a few chips it's the best finished Heron in the world. It's been a languishing frame just hanging around the shop. I recently sold it to Tim Chesterman and had to put things back together with what I had laying around. I only had to buy a BB, stem and a chain. It's pretty much a Campagnolo bike, with Modolo brakes, Suntour shifters and a TA crankset. Top of the line stuff. IMHO. The tires aren't as big as they could be. They're 700-25s and it'll handle 700-30s, possibly 700-32s. (Write this down, Tim: 700-30.) At the price I sold it for I just couldn't put another $75 in tires for it. When he picks it up we'll adjust things, probably drop the bars a couple of inches, etc.

In an earlier iteration. The new bars are to the buyers spec. The seat, wheelset, stem and bars, and RD have been replaced. The wheels are now on my Colnago, the stem on my daughter's Goodrich, and the seat and rear dérailleur on my Mooney. Rule no.17: An unridden bike tends to give up it's parts.