Papa Got a New Pair of Shoes!

I had been looking for a pair of new cycling shoes for the past several months.  Last year I had just finished building up my sweet F. Moser Leader Ax and wanted something special.

 One main decision makers in the process was that I do not like the look of the modern shoe with the straps and clips.  I began to wonder if there were a nice leather cycle shoe out there.  After all my best hiking boots are leather (in good shape and more that 20 years old), my nicest and most comfortable dress shoe is leather (italian i might add) and my old rock climbing shoes have a leather upper. Why not my bike shoe too?

Like any modern aged asshole with an internet connection, I googled, 'leather cycling shoe'.  It didn't take too long before I found that Dromarti is making and selling just what I wanted.  Then this spring, Bicycling magazine features the shoe in a 'gear' issue.   Time to pull the trigger.

 After figuring out that my size 10 American foot needed a size 43 European shoe I ordered the 'Sportivo' in black.  Martin Scofield soon got back to me that the order would be delayed a month due to a back order issue and that payment would held until the shoes shipped.  I was not in a big hurry so I was not at all worried about this.

My shoes were shipped and arrived about 4 weeks later.  Much to my initial disappointment I received the shoe in brown, not the black I had ordered or was indicated on the enclosed order forms.  Although after looking at them for a while, I realized that it was a 'good' mistake.  I contacted Martin, told him of the error and my decision.  He promptly refunded me the cost difference. 

Brown does have more of a 'classic' look and ultimately that was I was going for.  The leather is soft right out of the box and has that sweet, sweet ' im gonna get high sniffing the leather' odor.  The contrasting light brown interior is beautiful.

I have only had a chance to use them for one ride so far.  It has been cold and these are not for cold weather.  The fit is tight laterally across my foot so extra socks are not an option.  I squoze my foot in there with the laces fully loose, adjusted the tongue and tightened them while weighting my foot.  If there is one thing I have learned about leather, and shoes in particular, is to set them up perfectly the first time, because you will never undo a bad crease or slanted tounge.  

I set out on the initial ride.  The fit reminds me of my rock climbing shoes or ice skates, tight enough to make your foot muscles tired but all  in the name of performance. Regardless of the tight fit I found them very comfortable and had no issues with hots spots.  The heel cup, a common problem area, was unnoticeable.  Im sure it wont take long for the leather to form to my foot,stretch a bit, and be super comfortable. Especially if they get wet and I ride until they dry.  After all I had the same experience with my hiking boots. 

Be warned, by purchasing these shoes you are importing them into the US and will be subject to duty import fees.  Mine were an extra 56$ that I was not planning on; fuck you very much.  Even still, the total cost is about the same as a similar high quality 'modern' sytle shoes like Sidi.

Here are some links to other reviews.  BIKE RUMOR, 

URBAN VELO,  PROLLY IS NOT PROBABLY.

RIDE ON.

F. Moser buildup continued.

The previous posts to this story are HERE and HERE. 
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Today I had my 3oclock appointment at Port City Bikes  (FB) with Peter and Percy to start the build up of my Moser Leader AX.  I had learned that the frame has taken a special spot on the wall for protection and perhaps admiration.  Regardless today it came down and Percy and I added parts while Peter order some additional items for it.  

Added today were: 

•  2007 Campagnolo Record bottom bracket. 
• 07' Campy Record crank. 53-39 with 11-23 in the rear.
• 07' Campy Record rear deraileur
• 07' Campy Chorus breaks
• 07' Campy Record hubs were placed into the dropouts. The rims are due to arrive.
• 10' Ritchey WCS seat post

It was a great experience again building up a bike from the frame. I had done it as a kid to get my 1986 RL Osborn General Pro, which I still have in my shed, 24 year later. I'm thinking the Moser will be around that long too and spending the money to build is will be worth it.

And hanging out in the shop cleaning parts and shootin' the shit about bikes, movies and with customers was pretty relaxing and a great way to skip work for two hours.  I am really looking forward now to seeing the remainder of the parts to come in.

Kerekpar uzleti dolgok (part 2)

Part 1 in case your late to the party.

 The frame made it home in one piece in only about 7 days.  I unboxed it and brought it down to the basement shop.   First thing I did was re-attach the fork. Then clean it really well and inspect the whole thing.  I do not see any major problem.  I find some numbers stamped in the bottom bracket, that I believe are indicating frame size (54) and some short model numbers and/or year 95. I weighed it without the fork, 1,885 grams (4lbs 2.5 oz., includes headset and cartridge bearings). 

 Next was to use the great interwebz to learn more about this F. Moser with the 51.515 on the label, with real short chain stays and a frame routed rear brake cable portal in the top tube.  To start there are a couple of website stickered onto the stays: CicliMoser.com, the Moser company web site and Matuzmaster.hu. a Hungarian bike web site.  Through those two sites plus other images appearing in google searches and ebay searches I am fairly comfortable in saying that the frame is the 'Leader AX' model, a light steel tubing, silver brazed, chromed under the paint, made for racing. The only thing that is not right is that originally the bike used a 'quill' style seat post and a previous owner had modified the post with a hole and cut to use a seat clamp.  Probably to reduce weight.  I don't know, but I do not think it will pose a problem.

It is currently at the shop and the building begins this week.  Ill list out the all the parts in the 'big reveal' post in a couple of weeks.

Wheel Build Success

I left work early yesterday because of this cold I have (poor me). After I got home I laid on the couch and watched The King of Kong. A very good documentary about the quest to get the world record score in Donkey Kong. I recommend streaming it via NetFlix.

Anyway, afterward, all alone in the house with just one dog, I decided that this was the perfect chance to pull out the rim, spokes, nipples and hub and lace up the wheel.  (The other dog is recovering from an expensive TPLO surgery. Alms for the poor?) I have laced a wheel in the past but it was two years ago and under bike guru consultation.  This time it was all solo and some help from a bike repair manual.  I used a standard 3 cross pattern.  It took me probably longer than it should but in about 90 minutes it was done except truing. 

• The rim is a gold, aluminum, Velocity Deep-V, 700c, 32 spoke with machined side walls. 
• Spokes are silver, steel, DT Swiss. 
• Hub is a silver, aluminum, Surly, 100mm O.L.D., 32 hole with solid axle.

Race Across the Sky

Yeah. this looks cool. I hope I will be able to add it to Nextflix.




I also added it to my cycling blog. Stone Temple Ccyling

Kinetic Cycle Trainer

I got Wife into cycling at the end of 2006. January 2007 rolls around and she is dyin' to keep riding and improve herself. So to make a long story short, we got a trainer. A Kinetic to be exact. {That's a picture of it to the left}

Well, we both have ridden the thing a lot. She much more than I. I prefer roads to hamster wheels and I have a fleet of bikes for the job. She just has the one and crappy snowy, wet roads are more of an issue for her.
So, she has been riding this thing during the off season like 3-6 times per week for and hour or so each time. Finally, something broke...well, broke is too hard a word, WORE OUT is more accurate. The threads on the L-bolt that keep tension on the wheel stripped. Too much loosening and re-tightening of the device...something we were recommended to do to keep tension off the wheel and device while not in use.

{This is the old L-bolt and knob}

Fortunately Kinetic has an AWESOME lifetime warranty. Wife called up Kinetic directly, described the problem and part on Wednesday afternoon. In the Saturday mail the new part had arrived. Only 3 DAYS!. Sweet.
I put the new part right in and she was on it a short while later. Lovin' it. And it was even more important this year because we currently have 42" of snow pack in the yard.

I would definitely recommend this trainer. The performance of the trainer is great and the customer service and response to our problem was super. If your interested, go to the Kinetic web site.

Raleigh update

I FINALLY got some sweet tires for the Raleigh. Then I took it with me to work last week and went for a spin around town and swung by Percy's to show it off. But it was one comment from 'dude' there that irked me. "Whats up with the double ring?" Well, I just didn't feel like doin' anything about it, and it functions perfectly. *grrrr*

So the next day I went to HomeDesperate and got a cutting kit for my Dremel. I had heard this could be done, so why not try it. Whats the worst thing that can happen? I toast a crap pair of cranks.

That night, I got a couple of beers, some goggles and set to 'er. The results aint that bad actually. And I only cut my thumb once and nicked crank arm once as well.

Blizzard '07-The Fall Out

What an extiting title, i can hear the deep boom of Ron Burgundy.. Cant you?

So, yeah...we got 12-inhces of snow. Shouldn't we have at about three of these storms by now? But youknow what..I dont care. There I said it. I got in more cycling than I have in the previous 2 or 3 combined. I cant wait to get back out there again. Untill then I will just have to ride the hamster wheel, watch "The Science of Lance Armstrong"-AGaiN and post pictures of last season.

Come onnnn March!

Cycle Trainers

so my wife calls me. 'HEY! guess what I'm borrowing? Two cycling trainers. and three Carmichale dvd training videos." Cool. so I get these yellow framed kinetic (i think) trainers set up and she tries it out first and got a really good work out. The next day I tried it out with her...so we are in there spinning along and I was just overpowering the thing...after 30 mins i stopped. I was getting sweaty but just not really worked. On tuesday wife...

*sidebar* at this point wife is on a mission to find a trainer. i got her into cycling this year and I have created a monster. which is great! but its all classic wifey this is awesome i want all the equipment now. Of course it has taken me years to get the shit i have, but somehow she has almost everything by the end of her first season. anyway... *

on tuesday she went to the LBS (local bike shop) and managed to bring home (without purchasing it mind you, just borrowing) a different model Kinetic trainer , who the guy at the store..swore i would not be able to over power.

Well, he was right. I busted my gnads last night for 30 mins. I suspect it will be purchased by the end of the week and my abs will be ripped by the end of February.