Penny Melt Down

Got a bunch of old pennies form before1 1982? "A penny minted before 1982 is ninety-five per cent copper—which, at recent prices, is approximately two and a half cents’ worth- Newyorker.com" of actual money. Hell even if you've got brand new pennies, their still worth more melted down as raw copper. A penny cost 1.7 cents to produce.

Get ready to throw out your iPhone!

Yep, its that time again, it seems there is a new iPhone coming out in June. Officially none of this news is more than rumors, but lets face it Steve jobs was planning this back when he delivered the original keynote presentation for the iPhone, more than a year ago, "He specifically said (video clip) that Apple plans on making "3G phones and all sorts of amazing things in the future-Mac Rumors" So yah, apparently the new new iPhone has new technology...

"There's been so much talk about the possibility of the "3G" iPhone, it can be hard to keep up with all the rumors. First of all, "3G" technology promises broadband-like speeds over wireless cellular networks. At present, the iPhone only offers 2.5G (EDGE) speeds, which means your web pages and email download at relatively slower speeds.-Mac Rumors" blah, blah, blah... ok they made it faster. Didn't see that one coming oh yah, and they are giving it a new chip! "newly announced 3G chipsets promise to address these power issues-Mac Rumors"

So what does this all mean? Well parents of over spoiled children brace your self for a lot of winning. Surely across the country the cry will ring out, "MOM! you have to knit me a new 3G iPhone, this old 2G one sucks, I'm Totally throwing it out!

Face Your Pockets

This is my submission to the face your pockets project site. Its pretty cool and worth checking out, these are a few other submissions from the site I thought were cool.

The process.

Place the objects on the scanner. Place your face/part of it on the scanner as well. Aaaaand scan it! Send us the picture you've got to:

faceyourpockets@gmail.com

(Don't forget to mention your name and occupation. Also the email should include the list of objects you've scanned - keys, granny's photo, gum etc.)

Is This BSNYC?

After reading today's post I'm beginning to think so

New Dura Ace- New Frontiers In Uglyness

Internal cable routing? Gasp. Were could they go from here? perhaps moving to single thumb lever, double tap shifting system. Thusly allowing they brake levers to return to their sole proper function, braking.

It seems that the brake calipers have also goten, a new more unrefined robo-cop esque make over

And perhaps the biggest shocker of them all, (you may have seen this before) a carbon fiber crank, manufactured by Shimano! But fear not alloy loyalist, its merely an aluminum crankset warped in carbon fiber.

Fixed Gear Rig of Death

Atlantic Surf

last week the outer banks were looking very nice.

And Puerto Rico was looking huge.

Another Grim Milestone

4,000 troops have now died in the Iraq war, Misson Acomplished indeed and all of that for the low, low price of ###
Iraq War Cost

Bikes with Aerospokes

I think the best thing about this collection is that none of these bikes seem to use the wheels for the intended purpose. With the exception of maybe the first bike, if it were actually ridden on a track. Instead of some place where it is almost totally inappropriate, like say a cold, icy, windy city street.

I got spitballed

Sometimes being a bike commuter in America sucks. No one driving really gives a shit about you. To them you are just another obstacle slowing their progress towards another 5 dollar cup of Starbucks, which they will drive their raised up chromed out SUV 2 miles to get. Its even worse when you are road bike commuter, as society in general here views men in tight shorts as slightly below mimes & Trekies who dress up as Klingons. So ridding, to work on my road bike, in full roadie kit Im occasionally rudely beeped at by passing cars (yes I know your there, asshole & yes Im in your way so deal with it), or shouted obscenities at by young school children on busses. But never before today had I actually been assaulted with a moving object. I got hit with a spitball & I remember it well. A slow driving purple Scion, an extremely subtle feeling of impact, & the kid in the back seat turning around & staring at me as they drove away. At first I didn't know what happened. It wasn't until I got home and took of the helmet and got a good look at the spit ball, now dry logged onto the side of it. At first I was angry, insulted, & pissed of at the world in general. But when you think about it, its actually kind of impressive. This kid from a moving vehicle hit another moving target & got the spit ball to stick. I bet the little bastard couldn't do it again if he tried.

Ground Zero

Yesterday marked the beginning of the 5th year for the Iraq war. While contemplating this I came across these photos, which I shot at ground zero during a high school field trip in October of 01. I remember turing on the TV in school just im time to see this happen:

Straight outa Taipei

This photo you are looking at is from the Taipei international bike show. And yes that is a Frame with Ultegra SL printed on it, yep a Shimano frame with a seatmast on it and mid-hi level components. What does it all mean? I have no idea, my guess is such a brazenly mediocre re-brand might cause a rift in the space time continuum sucking you in as the sacrificial ghost bike rider of collapsed hedge funds and angry foreclosed defaulties of the sub prime mortgage crisis.

Of coarse to escape this you will need to ride this bike, with its pink tape in the "power zone" so that you may break free of its pull by entering into the realm of ludacris speed, allowing you passage into an offshoot worm hole.

After all of this mucking about in the very fabric of space time you will likely be released directly into the middle of the ice age. In which case you will have to ride this bike, equiped with special roller blades (literally) which allow you to get your criterium carving going on, on ice.
For convince sake you may also want to pack this bike. To bring along for the trip, just encase you need a back up.

Vampire Weekend: A-Punk Viedo

SXSW: The Line for Vampire Weekend at the Parish...

I posted about Vampire Weekend, last Thursday & I've noticed lots of hit off search engines from people looking them up. So I'm bring y'all more, This is a photo from the line to get in to one of their concerts & this is a video for A-punk, start them both at different times for an instant remix!

Interesting Bike Lock Add Campaign

I saw this add campaign floating around on the internet a while back and I feel like today is a good day to post it. While it is very interesting, I can't tell you much about the company behind it, other than I think they are based out of Europe, possible England. Which is to bad because it really is an interesting, well designed, and thought out add. But it has one major short coming. I can for the life of me figure out what brand of locks created these adds, the logo is just to small and illegible. Perhaps these adds were intended for print. I'm not really sure but they do make quite a statement.


I would also like to add that while these adds definitely imply that they locks are very secure, they truth of the matter is that any determined bike thief could, either pick or break these locks in a matter of minutes. And also your lock is only as secure as thing that you lock it to, and on that note I will leave you with this image from an earlier post about securing bikes and the idea of a bike garage.

Vampire Weekend

This band is awesome. I've just heard about them, and only listened to their album a few times, but I already know I love it. Its the kind of album that makes me want to hop on my bike, ride to Cape Cod, rig up a sail boat, point it towards the Vineyard, land on the beach and then go surfing. Check out their music here on their website.

Caption this:

WESC Bikes

I recently visited the WESC store In LA where I saw these fixed gear bikes on display. For those of you who don't know WESC is a Swedish clothing manufacture who's brand is based in board-sports like skateboarding and snowboarding. It seems that they are now also making fixies. While I didn't test ride either of the bikes, the front brake (plus lack of back brake) and horizontal drop outs pretty much gave it away. One interesting thing about these fixed gear bikes that I haven't seen before, they actually look like they are designed for freestyle ridding. The BMX style handle bars , 26 inch tires, and relaxed geometry make this a bike that would be well suited to the way many people ride their fixed gear bikes. Although for that reason they may never catch on. Fixed gear riders seem to value impracticality. I don't know who manufactures the frames, but the graphic print on the bottom one looks prety cool

I'm also posting an update on an older post. I posted about this installation from when I visited the store two weeks ago, during last month. I am happy to see its growing along nicely looking good, nice work Geoff, looks cool.

More crazy pedals

Are you looking for the lightest possible pedal cleat system? Do you weigh your inertubes to see which one is lightest? Do you hate ridding in winter because your jacket is simply too heavy? Do you shave your entire body because you think losing the excess hair weight makes you faster? Then these pedals may be for you. (yes that thing below this is a pedal)

The pedals are made entirely out of 6-4 Titanium and are probably the most minimal solution possible. From what I have read about them, clipping in to these pedals takes some getting used to, you have to align the cleat just right over the center of the pedal. You can clip into any side of pedal due to its round design. But there is apparently not allot of feed back to let you know you are clipped in, ie. no load reassuring click like you get form keo's to let you know you are in there.

I found a product review on pez cycling news this is an excerpt from it talking about the weight of the pedals.

"The pedals themselves (both spindle and mech) are made from the less common (and more
expensive) 6-4 Titanium. The cleat is stainless with an engineered plastic surround. The pedals, cleats and screws came in at 160 grams on the Pez scale. Not bad considering the Speedplay Zero Ti come in at 164 grams for just the lollypop pedals alone, with no cleats or screws. While both companies state slightly different numbers, pretty much all bike parts weigh in different than stated, and these weights are very close (so acceptable variance…). pedals"

I also found this on the internet.

"Due to heavy military and aerospace use and a worldwide shortage of pre-preg carbon fiber materials, M2RACER was forced to close down in the summer of 2006."

So if you want a pair you'd better start looking on ebay.