A Shameless Plug

Chris Kvale only makes about six frames a year. At this point in his life he doesn't like to be hurried and enjoys spending a little time visiting with friends who drop by. In between frames he also does a number of resprays and restorations of vintage frames. When I picked up #1103, I noticed there was a boxed up frame with an address in England. I suspect this kind of work is what actually keeps the doors open and supports his frame building habit.

What does this have to do with the Lake Breeze Inn? The inn goes back in the Raley family to 1859 and Chris's wife Marcia inherited it. So for two months in the summer, when you want Chris to be cutting, grinding and filing your frame, he's riding his bike and living the good life on the Keweenaw Peninsula. You want to spend some time up in the U.P. and take a ride with Chris? Call 612-721-5891 or 906-289-4514 for reservations.

Photos used with permission.

Blog

People at the family gathering asked what's with the blog, why haven't I been writing more.

I just haven't got anything to say.

Moody’s Downgrades US Credit Rating

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – The US economy suffered another setback today as Moody’s downgraded the US’s credit rating to “It’s Complicated.”

At the Treasury Department, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner acknowledged that an “It’s Complicated” rating was not ideal but added that he was hopeful it would not affect the Chinese government’s level of interest in Treasury bonds.

“We have sent a friend request to China this morning,” Sec. Geithner told reporters.  “We are still waiting for them to friend us back.”

But in an extraordinary step, the Chinese government announced today that it was “blocking” the United States, suggesting that its relationship with US Treasuries was at an end.

Perhaps attempting to soften the blow, the Chinese government later issued this official statement: “It’s not you, it’s us.”

In other economic news, the US added jobs in the auto sector, which for many Americans is now the same thing as the housing sector.

The Believing Brain

"As a back-of-the-envelope calculation within an order-of-magnitude accuracy, we can safely say that over the past ten thousand years of history humans have created about ten thousand different religions and about one thousand gods," Mr. Shermer writes. He lists more than a dozen gods, from Amon Ra to Zeus, and wonders how one of them can be true and the rest false. "As skeptics like to say, everyone is an atheist about these gods; some of us just go one god further."  A Trick of the Mind

Orbison - Crying

One of my mother's favorites. Roy Orbison wasn't performing full time by 1988, but for this one they pulled together a pretty high profile back-up group: Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, etc. and a female chorus of k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes, and Bonnie Raitt. His voice was getting a little thin in the high range by then, but only by Orbison standards. 

Racking My Brain

Here's a couple of things to think about. Any and all thoughts on front racks are needed and welcome.

Do You Need a "Thought for the Day"?

...here you go:

"If you can think of times in your life that you’ve treated people with extraordinary decency and love, and pure uninterested concern, just because they were valuable as human beings. The ability to do that with ourselves. To treat ourselves the way we would treat a really good, precious friend. Or a tiny child of ours that we absolutely loved more than life itself. And I think it’s probably possible to achieve that. I think part of the job we’re here for is to learn how to do it. I know that sounds a little pious." -- David Foster Wallace

The Dutch Way: Bicycles and Fresh Bread

link

1959 Albert Lea Wilson Strike

Klunking

I don't much care for mountain biking, but I know a whole bunch of you guys live for it. Got this from the Mimbres Man who got it from someone else, who got it from anther guy, who got it from  his grandfather.

Chris Kvale Cycles #1103 Specs

Fork and frame:

• Columbus Zona .08/.05/.08 tubeset
• Seat tube: 61.5cm cl of BB to top of top tube
• Top tube: 57.0cm
• Chainstay: 46.0 cm
• Head angle: 72 1/2 degrees
• Seat angle: 72 1/2 degrees
• Frame drop: 8.2 cm
• Fork rake: 4.5 cm
• Dupont Imron two-part epoxy: 43938 Cream with white pearl clearcoat & 51078 Red panels (no pearl). The clearcoat yellowed the cream color slightly compared to the color sample, which I quite like as it plays well with the yellow graphics and cable housing)

Frame fitments:

• Henry James bottom bracket shell
• Richard Sachs Rene Singer lugset (seatlug extremely modified)
• Kirk Pacenti double-plate crown
• Keith Anderson stainless insert dropouts
• Chris Kvale cable guides

Components:

• Phil Wood titanium bottom bracket
• Campagnolo track crankset with Campy chainring guard (both to be stripped and polished)
• Campagnolo C-Record rear derailleur (polished)
• MKS Sylvan Prime touring pedals with Bruce Gordon ti toe clips
• Velo Orange Grand Cru headset
• Paul Racer rear brake (polished)
• Paul Neo-Retro front brake (polished)
• Velo Orange Grand Cru straddle hangers
• Dia-Comp front cable stop
• Velo Orange Porteur bars (drilled w/internal cable stops added)
• Vintage CLB porteur brake levers (filed, sanded, polished)
• Nitto Jaguar post (stripped and polished)
• Selle San Marco Regal saddle
• Phil Wood hubs (1st generation)
• Super Champion Model 58 rims
• IRD freewheel
• Honjo 45mm "Le Paon" fenders
• (Nitto Pearl stem, to be replaced with the custom Dominguez stem with side mounted Simplex shifter)
• Silca pump with Campagnolo head
• Jagwire cables with Sunlite lined housings - a dead match to the graphics
• Nitto bottle cages (eventually to hold Hiawatha Cyclery bottles, which are just so cool)
• A shitload of Campagnolo hex nuts ;-)

Chris Kvale: Ol' Blood On Ivory

As she stands right now - I don't have the bars wrapped because I am saving some really nice leather wraps I got from Tom Sanders, and getting good nickle plating on the stem has proven to be a real hassle. It is presently visiting a plater recommended by Joe Bell, who really ought to know. The front rack is pretty heavy handed and also it doesn't sit horizontally because the Paul brake mounting hardware protrudes quite a bit and kicks it up. This winter I'll have a more delicate rack made, probably by Vincent Dominguez - maybe a rear rack too. Other than that it's pretty much wrapped up except for stripping and buffing the crank, polishing the fenders and brake handles and general dinking around with it.

As they are set right now the brake levers will hit the top bar.  Has anyone got a source for a 2" or 3" lace-on black leather protector for the tube?