Preparing For Sandy

So...The National Weather Service says we're about to get hit with the "storm of the century."  

To be fair, the NWS says Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy is doing things no other storm has done. Still, after the dire warnings we got about Hurricane Irene last year, I, like many other New Yorkers, are skeptical.


Still, I'm getting ready.   You know. flashlights, non-perishable foods...and my allen keys.  And screwdrivers.  And cable tensioners and cutters.  And, yes, chocolate!

Then, after I finish working on my bikes, I'll read some papers.  I've got time:   The college will be closed tomorrow!

Freak Bikes

With Halloween only a few days away, I thought it might be fun to look at some "freak bikes".

Turns out, there's a page filled with images of them.

This bike caught my eye.  It was posted on Bike Thing.  The blog's author, Tyler Stickley, says, "You suck at Photoshop when you make a monstrosity like this."

The ovalized wheel alone is enough to make this the Thalidomide Baby of bicycles.  

But I wonder:  Who is pedals what on this bike?  And how does one rider's shift affect another rider's ride?

At least we know only one person can ride--and pedal--this thing:

From Yabai Bicycle Club's blog.

I can just see a member of the NYPD's Bike Patrol riding this--in 1888 or thereabouts!  Said officer might have been chasing this guy:

From Tree Hugger.

The Trek Changes Its Status, But Remains A Single

I've made a change to the Trek 560 I recently built.

As you may recall from earlier posts, I'd equipped the bike with a Velosteel rear coaster brake hub.  Well, I swapped it for a single speed rear hub.

  

I might use the Velosteel hub on another bike, perhaps an old mixte or mountain bike.  I hadn't quite gotten used to its idiosyncrasies   They include the "dead" pedal stroke of half a pedal revolution I experienced when I started pedaling again after braking and that when I backpedaled, it seemed that the hub had to find its "sweet spot" before the brake engaged.  (Other coaster brakes I've ridden would stop the bike as soon as I backpedaled.)  I suppose that if I rode the hub more (I put about 200 miles on it.) I'd get used to it.

But even if I were to grow accustomed to, and like, riding with the hub, I don't think I would have wanted to keep it on the Trek--assuming, of course, I decide to keep the Trek. It's a good bike, but a little bit too large for me.  Plus, for a winter/beater bike, I think I'd rather have something that can accept wider tires.

One thing you might have noticed is that some of the spokes are silver and some are black.

I didn't plan it that way:  It just happened that I had 28 silver and 12 black spokes in the length I needed, and the wheel needed 36 spokes. I used all of the black spokes and 24 of the silver ones.  So, every third spoke is black.

Somehow I think that might actually be a selling point!