Fixin

Some shots of my fixed gear commute to work. Went on the first mountain bike ride of the year this weekend, I will have some pics and an update later on.

- JB

Thursday Riding

J.H.



Pain Face of mile 90 headwind



Hairy legs



Bike Path'n



The illusive "creeper" snake (actually I have no idea what kind of snake it is but it was huge....thats what she said?)



The BMC posing with Abe



New Salem



Vitamin water fuel up



Petersburg, IL



The hills surrounding Petersburg

Met up with John Halterman, aka John Assaulterman, aka the Haltermaniac around 6:30 a.m. on the bike path. We then made our way to the west side of town with our BMCs and took farmingdale road out of town. We proceeded to ride to Salisbury where John turned around at 30 miles in. I kept riding into the hills and eventually made it to the historic Lincoln New Salem site and into downtown Petersburg. I grabbed a green tea vitamin water and headed back the same way I had came in. Took the bike path to Chatham and grabbed some more food and drink at the bike shop. Road out of Chatham and did the 20 mile loop we normally ride for the Wednesday night road ride. Around mile 90 my legs severely started to cramp as the temperature was in the 85 to 90 degree range with the sun pounding down on me. Longer rides definitely call for lots of electrolytes. Came back around the lake and squeezed the last five miles in to get home. Total of 105 miles for the day in about 5 hours 30 minutes of ride time (15 minutes stop time). Good to have the haltermaniac along for some company this morning, saw a huge snake, road some nice hills, and good to get out on a longer ride without the constant rain we have been having. My goal is to start pushing the distance longer and longer. Next I want to ride 120 to 125 miles and keep putting in the heavy mileage. Get out and get riding! Have a good memorial day weekend.

- JB

Problem Solving

Broken Simplex



Problem solved



T.E.T lug



Old specialites cranks



Drilled Mafac levers



Mouth watering Mafac Canti's



Super Champs



These hubs gave me a Phil Woody

We had an awesome bike come in to the shop the other day. This was a beautifully lugged T.E.T frame built in the 70's. The bike was well equipped with phil wood hubs built on some super champion rims. Mafac brakes and levers, Dura-Ace headset, 3T stem, old school french cranks, and a broken simplex front derailleur. The problem being that there was a cable stop on the frame with housing running directly to the front derailleur. With newer front derailleurs there is normally no cable stop and the exposed cable runs from the stop on the down tube to a guide under the bottom bracket then directly to the front derailleur. We had to come up with a solution to combine new and old technology. The innovators at Problem Solvers make a cable housing stop that clamps to the seat tube so that you can run a short piece of housing and still have the cable come out where it needs to be.

- JB

Busy

The summer rush is back on!

Pistol

The pistola build.....the pictures say enough. Awesome bike.

- JB

Com-mutant

Been commuting to work as much as possible. Lots of rain and bad weather have kept me off the bike longer than I would have liked to be. Looking forward to sporting the new Wheel Fast kit tomorrow and enjoying a nice group ride. Will have to postpone the riding this weekend to attend my best friend Tom Welsh's wedding and be the best man. But afterward I plan on hitting a 100 to 120 mile ride and doing some 200+ mile weeks. Bike to work week is this week....make it happen.

- JB

Hand Built

4X



Chukker...its whats for dinner

At Wheel Fast we had a weekend warrior break or crack (including a QBP built salsa delgado) three rear wheels. The solution was simple....a hand-built wheelset. Matt and I looked at the options and found a wider (25 mm) and heavier version of the Velocity Deep V called the Chukker. This thing was BEEFY....and we built it up 4 cross. This was a very stout rear wheel and we will see how it handles over the next few months. Hand-built is the only way to ride!

- JB

Gravel Metric

The Gravel Metric Invitation from OC Imageworks on Vimeo.

If you are in DeKalb May 30th....ride with my buds at NCC.

- JB

Clothing

Wheel Fast clothing has arrived!!! Check out the Wheel Fast website for some more pictures.

- JB

Tarmac

Tarmac build for Joseph House of Chicago, IL.....this thing looks fast, lets hope Joe can pedal it fast.

- JB

Solicitor

We don't take kindly to solicitors at Wheel Fast Bicycle Co.

Mari-hot-chi

Full dis-assembly



Finished product



Eccentric overhaul



Best setup known to man



Sotto Vocce King



Green accents all over

Finally got the El Mariachi in the shop to do some spring cleaning. I took the whole bike apart and sprayed some frame saver in every tube and allowed to dry for several hours. Then I cleaned and greased every nut and bolt on the bike. The most interesting part was taking the eccentric BB out and seeing how it worked and overhauling it. It is fairly simple but very complex at the same time, I cleaned it out and regreased every joint and thread on it. I also installed my new Chris King headset. The bike is an amazing ride with the Titec H-Bar and Ergon grip setup...which is by far the best thing I have ever ridden. I hope to do some longer (over 50 mile) gravel rides on this bike with a 2:1 gear and also get some mountain biking in this year with a 32:18 ratio, and to complete the bike with the White Industries Eno Dos freewheel. For those of us who live on the flatlands...don't forget about those mountain bikes, they need love too!

- JB

Campin'

Three of my favorite things....booze, bikes, btents

Went camping this weekend with my girlfriend and her family at Lake Sangchris, commuted to work 5 days this week (two were to the campsite). Friday night a strong tailwind carried me to the campground at a quick pace with speeds averaging over 20 mph. Winds raged through the night and the temperature dropped to 40 degrees that night. Went back and fourth whether or not to ride in to work with the 25 mph headwind for 18 miles from the campsite. Finally decided it would be some good training and went for it. About 4 miles into the ride I was asking myself why?...Why would I put myself through this agony of riding into such a hard wind in near freezing temperatures with the wind, getting rained on at times, when I was offered a ride. Well I love to be on my bike and made it to work in about an hour and twenty minutes. After work rode back to the campground and the hard work I had put in during the morning hours paid off and again I sailed back to the campsite. Another freezing cold night, with great food, cold beers, and better company....rode about 30 miles on Sunday afternoon with clear sunny skies to end the week with 200 miles. Feel satisfied with that, remember bike to work week coming up, if you aren't a commuter you should seriously consider it.

- JB

Dirty Laundry

Cycling means lots of laundry.....

100 miles for the week so far, hope to get in another hundred by Sunday. Enjoy some nice weather and ride your bicycles.

- JB

Group

Mackers Gary D, Gina, and Lindsey.... and Flavor Dave sneakin in



Peleton



Cruisin



Stretched out crossing the road



Main group

The Wednesday night rides have started!

Do you feel yourself wondering what to do on Wednesday evenings?

Are you bored of riding alone?

Do you think the New City World Championship is a little overkill?

If the answer to these questions is yes then come ride with your favorite fellas at Wheel Fast Bicycle Co. Wednesday evening at 6 pm. Be there or..... don't......we will just have a great time without you.

- JB

Completes

Casheroll SS



SS Waterford

Some cool builds we have done at Wheel Fast Bicycle Co.

Let us build you something!

- JB

Lawyer

An interesting take on the "lawyer" tabs. These tabs were put on forks to prevent the front wheel from falling out if the quick release skewer came loose...and called lawyer tabs because many companies were required to make these tabs mandatory after wheels fell out of the fork and companies had to settle lawsuits in court. Raleigh's old lawyer tabs clamped entirely over the quick release skewer once it was attached to the fork. Everyone does things a little different....

- JB