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Thursday, March 4

The Return of the Return of the Phantom Stranger

There's no doubt in my mind. It's back... the Phantom Stranger just can't stay away. At least I'm catching it early, but then again what difference does it make. I'm already doing everything I can, and it still came anyways.

Even though I've been wearing shoes as opposed to sandals all winter my left pinkie toe has still decided to turn on me.

It's puffy and red and somewhat contorted looking... sorta resembling a simple balloon animal. I can remember the day it crept in through an unlocked back door (the Mustache ride), and I long for the day that it takes its leave.

In a totally unrelated bit of news a concerned citizen felt like it would be a good thing for me to have a Feedback Sports Alping digital hanging scale (with 55lb capacity). As if I needed to have one more thing to play with I believe the perpetrator's purpose was to confound me with yet one more way to fall into the anal abyss that is bike geekdom. It was out of the box and weighing bikes in a matter of minutes. Of course I weighed the new Meatplow first, but I'm saving that for last.

The Fastest Bike in the World

That's none to shabby considering the threaded fork/headset, SPD pedals, wire bead tires, hoopty handlebar, and cheap front wheel. I imagine it gained some weight recently when the SLR saddle broke and I had to replace it with a death bin Flite (not shown). BTW: Why was I keeping a broken railed Flite, a missing railed coverless Flite, and a torn leather cover in the death bin?

Who knows...

How 'bout my clapped out DeBernardi Road bike that I would love to replace with something fancier to hang on my wall?

Twenty pounds even? Not as bad as I thought, but considering I replaced the heavy Shimano 600 8 speed STI shifters with downtube jobbies (that work even though they're 7 speed) and some Cane Creek levers and the fact that the wheels are ultralight climbing wheels that's probably where it should be. Long live single pivot calipers!!! Anyways, that's kinda sad when I compare it to this:


The old titanium Thylacine, built up with a heavy Phil Wood fixed hub, shitty Bontrager front wheel, Misfit bar/stem combo, and some $9 wire bead cross tires. Sad day indeed when it crushes the road bike in the weight department. No wonder I grab this bike as a last resort before I grab the road bike as an even lastier resort.

The Death Stick

Wow. That would be a heavy bike, at least for a single speed hardtail... for me. All that weight comes from the addition of the 5"+ travel fork and two beefy tires (1,400+ grams for the front). I guess it doesn't matter how heavy it is since I built this bike to play in the mountains of NC, and they're gonna be covered with a glacier till 2012 when the world ends.

And the one you've all been waiting for.... The Meatplow:

Hmmm... not quite Fuzzy's 17lb carbon scooter is it? Well when (if??) I get my crabon frok that should drop @ 1.25lbs, so I might just flirt with a sub twenty pound build. That's hot. The scale did verify that my bike would be 30 grams lighter with a 31.6 Thomson post as opposed to the MOOTSpost/drilled out Cane Creek shim as shown, but it would be 15 grams heavier if the shim wasn't drilled out. This scale is going to drive me crazy.

12 comments:

CB2 said...

What tires do you have on the Niner; I thought it would have been a wee bit lighter?

Anonymous said...

^Agreed.

Thats 1.89 pounds higher than I previously estimated.

Quite a bit for a small frame. Do you know how much extra wattage it takes to climb a 7% grade for 3 miles carrying 1.89 additional pounds?

No?

either do I.

cornfed said...

30 grams?! Just like my damn tires...


wv:w8weenie

brado1 said...

Save some weight, Get rid of the piggy


weeee weeee weeeee


wv:chngues

dicky said...

Worn out'esqe Rampage up front/newer Ignitor in the rear. Gonna swap the Ignitor for a Crossmark when I start racing (assuming it's dry) and the Rampage might be replaced with something WTB'esque.

Anonymous said...

You guys really think that is heavy?

I thought the scale needs calibrated. All of those weights seem low to me.



wv- suplens

dicky said...

Are you trying to mess with me? Can't you just let me be happy?

Peter Keiller said...

with perverted looking piggies like those WTF does it matter what you bike weighs?

really, do you need a 17lb bike to ride around in circles with bears dressed in tuxedos and lobster boy?

freak.

Anonymous said...

Check the weight on that thing you call a toe vs. your other foot- Now that's interesting!

Anonymous said...

21 pounds for a durable looking rig is good. I'm envious.

Doug Brummett said...

Must be nice to be a midget. My road bike(90's vintage lugged Rock Lobster) weighed in heavier than your heaviest bike. My version of the death stick is about twice the weight of your lightest rig. Have fun obsessing over weight. I am gonna go grab another beer.

Anonymous said...

You could have the pink toe amputated-you don't really need it.