Wash your bike!

The blog Belgian Knee Warmers has a great write up on washing your bike. Read it, do it, ride it, repeat.

"I learned to wash bikes in 1990 from a journeyman mechanic who had just returned from a tour of duty with the 7-11 team. He was a master mechanic in every sense of the word. He carried a suitcase that looked all the spy novel to house his tools of the trade."

3 steps to win every Ebay auction

So I like to Ebay. I like it because you can get weird stuff that hasn't been made in decades. You can get new stuff for a lot less than you'd pay in a store. I like it because its like the world's largest mall with all kinds of crap. Bonus: you don't need to get out of your pajamas. But you all already know all of that.

What you might not know is how to win something easily on Ebay with just a few small steps. Here are my 3 keys... for how to win an auction:

1. Know how much something is worth.
You'll need to know how much something is worth if you hope to win it (or else get rich and bid $100,000 for everything). One way of doing this is to look at the completed auctions listing on the left side column of the page. Another, is to watch a like item or multiple versions of the same item for a few weeks in order to get an idea of what something usually sells for. By doing this, you will know what's in your price range. I recently guessed the price of a Voodoo, Ultegra equipped cyclocross bike at $850 4 days before the end of the auction. The auction ended at $830. My estimate was right on, and because of this, I would have been able to put up a competitive bid.

2. Never bid at even numbers or whole amounts.
I always bid weird amounts i.e. $57.77 or $126.66. Normal people bid $125.00, but if you've bid 126.66, you're more likely to win the item so long as you had number one above correct. Dont think in multiples of fives or tens like we commonly do in the world, this way you can risk less for items. I usually figure out my max price, then add $2.77 or so.

3. Use Esnipe.com
Check out Esnipe.com. Its easy, after you set up your account, you tell esnipe what auction you're interested in, then how much you're willing to pay (see above) then thats it. Esnipe will do the rest....it will bid on your behalf at a predetermined time before the auctions end. I go with the default time of 6 seconds. Why its cool: 1) it will prevent you from spending more for an item than you think its worth, or than you can afford, by preventing bidding wars. You enter your price, walk away, and come back hours later to find out if you were the high bidder. 2) for auctions that end at 1pm on a monday, when youre at work and cant login, esnipe takes care of it all for you.

Am I missing something? What are your ebay tricks?

Custom Cross #19: Yash's Hampsten

Good morning, my name is Yash Katsumi and I visit your site quite a bit. I just recently had a Hampsten Mudpig built by Hampsten via Co-Motion.

2007 Hampsten MudPig

Frame: Size 54cm, Reynolds 853 Tubing with a Pearly Mica White Paint
Fork: Alpha Q CX-20 painted

Wheels:
Race Wheels 1: Fast Fast Fast conditions...
Wheels: Shimano 6600 Ultegra hubs, DT spokes, Velocity Escape Tubular Rim
Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace 7700 12-27
Tires: Dugast Typhoon 700X30

Race Wheels 2: Little rougher conditions...
Wheels: Reynolds Solitude Wheelset
Tires: Schwalbe 700x35 Fast Freddy Lite
Cassette: SRAM 970 12-26

Drivetrain
Shifters:Shimano Dura-Ace STI, 7700
Front: Derailleur Shimano Dura-Ace 7700
Rear: Derailleur Shimano Dura-Ace 7700
Crank: Shimano Dura-Ace Ten speed with 48/38 FSA Rings
Bottom Bracket: Dura-Ace Ten speed
Pedals: EggBeaters Sl

Components
Saddle: 2007 Specialized Alias 143mm
Seat Post: Ritchey WCS Aluminum
Handlebars: Ritchey WCS Aluminum Classic Bend 44cm, OS
Stem: Thomson X2 Silver 100mm
Headset: Chris King 1.125" Silver
Cable Hanger: IRD Long Drop
Brakeset: Shimano BR-550 with SwissStop GHP brake pads and Salsa Wide Yoke

Total weight 14 pounds + some number X.

I took it for a quick ride last night after building it. After riding a track bike for 4 months, it felt strange to have gears and to ride so upright. The bike feels twitchier than my specialized and I feel that I am more confident going around those slippery 180’s. There is some toe overlap, actually there appears to be a lot more than on my specialized, but I think it should be okay.

Some neat things: The rear brake boss is pretty trick, and it is not drilled to accept water bottle cages.

The frame is a Hampsten, built by Co-Motion.

Custom Cross #18: Chuck's Sadilah

Recently, Sadilah frames has been added to the database of custom cyclocross frame builders. Here is Chuck's own Sadilah bike.

"The graphics are actually real... graffiti. Photos of actual graffiti were resized and made into decals. By the way, I am the builder and the painter of this bike. If you liked it, please check out some of my other frames at www.sadilah.com"






Columbus Zona tubing
Davidson Carbon Rear end
Velocity wheels
Campy Centaur throughout


If you have a custom welded cyclocross frame or a cyclocross bike under 18 pounds, email it to me at plusonelap at gmail dot com

Ebay craziness

I would have paid $120, not $257. Crazy. But it would have looked so sick on there.

Colnago: Waiting for packages

So, you'd be surprised how hard it is not to spend $80 on an Italian Octalink bottom bracket these days. I bought the Dura Ace 7700 cranks, which look so sweet, they have that retro Campy cleanliness to them, but they take the Octalink. Anyway, I got one on order, and it should be here in days, hours, any moment now.

Also, you'd be surprised how hard it is to find white brake and shift housing at an LBS. I went to like 5 shops here in Portland and then called another 4 and no one had any. How hard is it to stock white? I guess pretty damn hard. So I ordered some off Ebay. That's on its way.

Stems: I really want a pantographed Colnago stem. There I said it. Am I willing to pay $120 for it, maybe. Thats how bad I want one. But in the meantime, I have a Cinelli quill that will work, also I have a chrome quill on its way from where else but ebay.

Saddles: You can see in the pic above what saddle I have right now, some Selle Royale white rubber thing. Fairly period, but been thinking about a chopped honey Brooks. Looks pretty cool. And the chopping makes it look a little less townie. If that makes sense.



Anyway, I cant do crap until I get the BB and the cables. All the other stuff, like the saddle and such can wait til a later date. I wanna get this thing built so it can be ridden.

2008 Colnago World Cup

Cyclingnews.com has a preview of the new 2008 Colnago "World Cup" all aluminum frame:

"Known as the winningest cyclocross bike ever, Colnago has introduced a new entry-level 'cross model, the World Cup, that will also be available this fall. World Cup has heat treated 6000 series triple butted Alu frame with Colnago's 'cross specific geometry and an affordable price. "

article at Cyclingnews.com

Few more custom frame builders to the list

I've been adding more custom framebuilders to the list. Marcroft cycles and Sadilah Handmade framesets are the newest additions.

Barriers

I shot this video like two years ago. The guy up front is Rich Maille. Note how quickly he comes into the barriers and how little he slows down.

btw---The mountain biker won the race.

Portlanders: Kruger's Kermesse Farm Crit

Looking for a way to transition back into cross season from being out on the road all spring and summer? Kruger's Kermesse Farm Crit might just be what you're looking for. Set your calendars for September 15th.

FMB Tubular Tires

An interesting thread developing over at Weightweenies here regarding the new FMB tubular tires. Zanconato Cycles as well as Molly Cameron have imported a bunch of them and will be selling them as a service to us US cross enthusiasts.

Ebay Watch: cyclocross forks

A couple of forks listed on Ebay that might appeal to the +1lap readers:

Reynolds CX fork

Alpha Q CX fork

Light Cross Bike #30: Ed's KHS

A KHS for the gallery, looks great Ed.







Specs are:

Wheels:32 hole Shimano XTR rear hub laced to Fir Quasar tubular rims with db Wheelsmith spokes and alloy nipples. The front hub is a Shimano Parralax. Tufo Tubulars.

Crank is an Ultegra and BB is an Ultegra. 42 tooth single speed chain ring.(no ramps or pins to make it shift) with FSA carbon chain guide and Third eye chain keeper

Short cage Ultegra 9 speed Derailleur and Ultegra 12/25 9 speed cassette
Shimano chain.
Right brake and shifter is Dura Ace, and left brake is a Tekro.
Handlebars are Weyless
Stem is a 110 Performance Forte
Pedals are Crank brothers candy ti.
Seatpost is a cnc machined Scandium Ti purchased from Plus One Lap (editors note: back when we sold these)
Saddle is a WTB.
Headset is FSA Orbit
Brakes are Shimano Canti's

... Bike weighs in at exactly 18 pounds by our scale.

Future upgrades will probably include a new cranks set and bottom bracket.

Custom Cross #17: Erik's Spot

This bike while stock geometry is a custom size because the tube set they used did not offer a long enough downtube for a frame this big. I also had them do disc only dropouts before almost anyone else I knew was doing SS disc mounts, especially on CX bikes.

Also I'll send info on my nearly 16lb '06 61cm Bianchi Cross Concept after I make one or two more mods.

Details:

frame manufacturer:
Spot Brand
frame model:
Cyclocross 61cm
fork:
Dimension Cross Disc
headset:
CK, not Calvin Klein
bottom bracket:
World Class Ti
cranks:
Race Face Turbine LP 175mm w/ 42t RF DH ring
pedals:
Speedplay Frog
chain:
KMC Z-410RB
freewheel/cog:
ACS Claws 18t
front rim:
Velocity Aerohead 32-hole
rear rim:
Velocity Aerohead 32-hole
front hub:
Spot Disc
rear hub:
Spot Disc
seatpost:
Thomson Laiiiid Back
saddle:
Selle Italia Flite
stem:
Thomson 110mm
bars:
Salsa Bell Lap 46cm
grips:
Cinelli Cork
brakes:
Avid Mechanical Road Disc
brake levers:
Campagnolo Record Carbon & Paul CrossLever
tires:
Vittoria Cross XG Pro 32c
words from the owner:
This bike literally came to me in a dream and two years later it happened thanks to a stolen road bike/insurance windfall. Spot built it custom for me, but it is essentially one size larger than they offer stock. It includes a Dimension Incredi-bell, Redline Chain Tensioners and is the Florida Cat IV State Cyclo-X Champion. It will eventually receive a Vicious Cycles or Spot Brand or Sibex Ti disc fork once I can afford one of them (feel free to email w/ a suggestion or opinion). I will likely remove the rear brake and install a 19tooth fixed cog on one side and retrofit a 20tooth on the disc side, but we'll see. Thanks for drooling, now wipe yourself off.

Erik DeKold
Bianchi USA

Light Bike #29: Jon's Ridley

Another sweet Ridley, this one's all carbon.



Ridley X-Night frame & Python fork,
Dura Ace 9 speed shifters, deraillieurs,
FSA Mega-Exo carbon cranks,
TRP carbon brakes,
Kysrium SLR tubular wheels w/ Tufo Flexus tires,
Ritchey WCS Evolution carbon bars & stem
& seatpost w/ Selle Italia SLR saddle.

Georgia 2007 Cross races

Got an email about the Georgia cross series here it is:

Great site as usual. Your Colnago is making me drool.

I wanted to pass along the Georgia Cyclocross Series schedule for 2007
in hope that you may link it to your site.

Keep up the great work!

Bob
GA CX

10-21-2007 Conyers (Georgia International Horse
Park)

10-28-2007 Winder (Fort Yargo State
Park)

11-04-2007 Macon (Sandy Beach State
Park)

11-11-2007 Monroe (Criswell Park)

11-18-2007 Augusta/State Championships (Augusta State
University)

12-02-2007 Blue
Ridge

12-09-2007 Dahlonega/Finale (Dahlonega High School)