Calhoun Cycle Shopcast

Here are some pics from the our evening art exhibition from Ms. Leierwood’s Southwest High School art class.

Miss Leierwood captaining "Got Ice"

Inspiring High School kids to do things is a real challenge. Add to that that what you want them to do is create and express. Good luck with that, eh? Well, an art teacher at Southwest High School here in Minneapolis is succeeding. Ms. Leierwood motivates her students to create art in ways that connect with them. Artbikes is one of her units. Drawings with sports related themes are another unit. She even gets the kids out riding the Artbikes in a local favorite parade called The May Day Parade (put on by The Heart of the Beast Theater). I believe that extra credit is awarded for the kids brave enough to ride in the parade.

2010 May Day Parade

Tonite at the shop Ms. Leierwood will be showcasing some of her students work in a gallery exhibition from 7:00 – 9:00. There will be a variety of Artbikes available to check out as well as drawings created in class at Southwest High. Word on the street is that Bill Eggert of Evolutionary Transport will be joining in the fun.

Here are some pictures from The May Day Parade as well as a Bike Expo earlier this spring:

The Almanzo 100 is a gravel road century. It was a natural that Derek and I would do a century on gravel at some point. A bit of a stretch for us to do a race that is a gravel road century, but the Almanzo 100 is a well run race (thanks to Chris Skogen’s efforts) that starts just south of Rochester Minnesota.

The ride started at the Spring Valley High School at 9am. I don’t know how many riders showed up at the start, but 450 were signed up and I see that 267 finished. It was a mass start which made for a pretty cool roll out. At the beginning of the ride I was a bit full of myself, but by mile 50 that had more than worn away and by mile 70 Derek was dragging me along. I kept hearing in the back of my head “why didn’t you get more miles in this spring?”. I don’t think we would have been much faster had I been more prepared, but the finish would never have been in doubt.

Here’s a movie with some pictures and video of the ride:

Over the years we’ve had opportunities to have a hand in some interesting projects. The Evolutionary Transport trike is a very interesting human powered vehicle that recently came in for some work. The inventor (Bill) has had us build a few wheels over the past year or so and when he’d drop off parts we’d hear bits and pieces about the invention. Last week one of his vehicles ended up in the shop for a shifter set up. Test riding was the easiest way for us to determine if we did the repair properly!

Quality Bike Product is one of the largest cycle distributors in the US and each year for one weekend in February they have a big industry show called Frostbike.

This year’s shop ride to Frostbike was well above zero the whole way and we suffered no flats. Sweet!

The event was well attended as always and basically is a who’s who in the bike components and accessories world. Civia Bikes come from QBP so we got to check out the full 2010 Civia line up which is looking very impressive. Henry is a sales rep for Schwalbe that has visited us in the past. He gave us all a nice run through the Schwalbe products. For products of interest it seemed that lights were a bright spot (ha!). Portland Design Works looks like an up and coming parts and accessories company that will be good to have around.

The lunch was spectacular and the ride both ways was a fun one. Riding with a group of friends is an absolute blast and being 10 of us there were big smiles all around! Here’s a video of the ride and event.

We ended with pizza and a Brompton seminar back at the shop. Brompton is looking especially good for 2010!

We just recently saw the first rear hinge wear to the point of needing replacement on a Brompton bicycle. It takes many, many miles for the rear hinge to need replacing, so it’s no surprise that it took five years before we saw a single one (and the owner is a daily commuter even in the salty Minnesota winters). If you’re riding your Brompton as your main mode of transport, you may need to eventually replace the rear hinge. This is a repair that is best handled by a bike shop with a top notch service department that is familiar with Brompton Bikes. If you don’t have anyone near you capable of doing the job (or in ownership of the needed tools), then your lucky the Brompton is so easy to ship as we’d be happy to do the repair for you professionally and promptly get your Brompton back on your doorstep.

The Brompton Bushing Kit includes all the parts that need replacing, the necessary allen wrench, instructions and a drill bit. (Used to drill off the head of one or both of the bolts.) For tools, the service department will have a Brompton specific rear hinge reamer and some Loctite . It’s not necessary, but it’ll make it easier to remove the old bushings using a 13/32-inch tap.

We spent a fair bit of time researching the processes before we actually did it, but once our ducks were in a row the repair went smoothly and fairly quickly. The first step is to inspect the bushings to determine if they need replacing.

The captions explain the work we do:

Links Regarding This Job:
Brompton Instructions (pdf)
Rear Hinge Bushing Kit
Brompton Specific Reamer

Retail space is expensive, so Calhoun Cycle has worked super hard from day one to make the most of our space. My Dad would have said that we are capable of squeezing blood out of a turnip (this would have been a compliment ; )

In our original basement rental/retail space we had the rafters stuffed with an elaborate helmet storage system. People walked down into that shop and laughed because they had seen ads in Recumbent Cyclist News where we touted ourselves as a Recumbent Super Store (which we were in great part to stuffing the corners and rafters as well as friends basements with merchandise). 10-1/2 years ago we moved into a 1000 square feet with a full basement. It felt huge, but midway through the second year we were having to do a lot to maximize our space and eventually got a warehouse space to let some pressure off the retail space.

Yesterday we grew by over double our current space and nabbed a doorway directly into the coffee shop on the corner! 2010 is starting out BIG at Calhoun Cycle and this is hugely exciting. We’re sad to see the flower shop move out (Luna Vinca had been in that space for 10 years), but it has created a great opportunity for Calhoun Cycle.

It’s no secret around here that Velo Vision Magazine pays attention to what’s happening in the cycling world and to see the latest issue’s (#36) cover is sweet. The Cover picture sells a story by Richard Peace in which he critiques 3 cargo bikes after having tested all three rather extensively.

There’s a whole lot of fun in Velo Vision #36. We’re pretty partial to the Richard’s review of three cargo bikes that he tested. The cargo bikes he rode were the Larry vs. Harry Bullitt, Madsen kg271 and a Yuba Mundo.

Here are a few Headlines of Velo Vision #36

Workbikes special! Richard Peace puts three two-wheel load-carriers through real-world tests. Under the spotlight are the Bullitt Clockwork, the Madsen kg271 and the Yuba Mundo, the last with an Ezee electric assist system.
Dropping in on dealers: another three reports from specialist dealers across the country: London Recumbents, Futurecycles, Bikes and Trailers. What you’ll find if you visit yourself…
Review: Villiers custom frame. It’s here at last – a lovely test bed bike frame built by Paul Villiers to our own Velo Vision design. We look back on the custom ordering process, and the end result.
Review: Catrike Dash. This medium-sized recumbent trike for teens or for the shorter rider is put through its paces by riders who appreciate its proportions…
Review: FreeParable T1 Trailer. An impressive new bike trailer from Taiwan which transforms into a smart, baggage-handler-proof suitcase.
Short reviews: Books, chains, trousers, bells, puncture fluid…
Reader bikes: Streetmachine recumbent, doing up a DIY trike…
Report: London show: A brief reports on new products at Cycle 2009.
Feature: Touring with dogs: How lack of pet-sitters led a couple to tour with two dogs on board – and how they cope.
Regular features: News, Letters, and the best specialist advertising!

The shopcast has moved under the wing of our mothership! Nothing is going away, but our URL is different. If you subscribe to an RSS feed from us please update the feed as the old feed won’t be updating.

www.calhouncycleshopcast.com will be stop being updated (and redirects to our new URL)

www.calhouncycle.com/shopcast is the new home of our blog

If you subscribe via post rss feed Click Here

If you subscribe via e-mail rss Click Here

If you subscribe to comments rss Click Here

The Flickr Picture of the Day rss feeds have not changed (Photo rss here, Photo e-mail rss here).

The RANS Stratus XP has been a popular bike in the shop for years. With its’ supple long wheelbase, low pedal height and dual 26″ wheels the XP makes a great every day ride as well as cross country touring bike. As a well designed bike out of the box, it’s definitely a fine candidate for customizing. We’ve done a number of super upgrades over the years, but this recent project was particularly sweet!

Year after year, Steve gets many, many miles on his bikes. He does a lot of both commuting and touring. After a couple of great years on the Stratus XP he realized that this bike fit his needs very well and is worth investing in some sweet upgrades to make it even better.

For starters, he had us add an impressive Rohloff rear hub with it’s 14 internal gears to simplify the drivetrain and eliminate gear overlap. A 48-tooth chainring with a 16-tooth rear cog give it a whopping 21 to 114 gear-inch range. The front chainguard is his original 52-tooth chainring with the teeth machined off. Cool. The chaintubes are made from PTFE tubing. He also upgraded his brakes to Avid BB-7. We were all impressed by the project and took some photos to share with you:

You can also check out a video of the bike here.