The Bike Geek

Those of us with dogs and bikes have a difficult time combining the two. My wife and I either have to ride our bikes and leave the dogs at home or vice versa(not ride the dogs, but walk them…you understand). So I jumped at the chance to try the Solvit Trackr Dog Trailer, in hopes that we could spend a little more time with our dogs and still be able to ride our bikes.

Trailer attached and ready to roll

The trailer comes folded flat and with the wheels detached. Transforming the trailer into running mode is quick and simple. Just fold up the trailer, snap in the wheels, and flip the trailer arm out to attach to the bike. It attaches via an axle mounted bracket, then locks onto the trailer arm with a locking pin. The safety strap is then clipped around your frame or the locking pin’s ring. Very sturdy and secure, unlike the usual Velcro safety straps. I like my dogs safe!

Trailer in storage

It’s considerably compact when it’s stored, as you can see, even though it is the large model. It’s weight limit says 150 pounds and it felt plenty sturdy for my two canines. One is 35 pounds and the other 50, so we weren’t even close to pushing the weight limits. I’ll test that out later.

Looks comfortable

Both my dogs jumped right in and got comfortable. Plenty of room for the two. The trailer loads from the back. You just unzip the screen and in they go! One of mine gets a little jumpy with the screens open so I left the screens on and just folded up the plastic windows. They roll up and Velcro onto the top. There’s two reflectors on the front, two on the back and a reflective strip on the front. Each wheel gets a reflector as well. Safety first, I love it.

Lots of doohickeys for the dogs

I tried another kiddie trailer and even a cargo trailer but they aren’t very accommodating for pets. This trailer covers every aspect you would need to transport your dogs comfortably. Above shows one of the two D-rings(one on the other side also) that you can attach your dogs leash too. The short black clip shown here was included with the trailer. There’s even a pad for you dogs to sit/lay on. The pad isn’t very thick, but it should be easy enough to throw a blanket in there for them.

Both sides even have large Velcro pockets on the outside for a water bottle/dish, and leashes. I took our pups out for a short ride and they just sat back there watching the world go by. Both looked comfortable and didn’t seem to be fidgety at all. I was even able to take them around very sharp turns thanks to the spring in the swing arm. These guys thought of everything! Needless to say I’m very pleased with the trailer so far. I’ll be taking my dogs on a 24 mile road ride this Saturday and will try to get them out to different locations. If there’s one thing I’ve found it’s that dogs don’t care where you’re going, just as long as it’s outside! 

I suppose this trailer is more appropriate for older and/or less active dogs, but I doubt any pup would protest a little wind in their face. It’s a fantastic little contraption that really makes riding a bike even more enjoyable now that I can bring my “family” out with me. I’ll even try to test this thing on some fireroads to see if it’s off-road friendly. Check back in for a full review.

Howdy all. Moe was gracious enough to let me chime in on here from time to time since I write for the bikecommuters.com and mtnbikeriders.com. Thanks Moe!

Anyway, I happened to have an Ibex Trophy frame lying around my garage after I swapped it’s parts onto my wife’s bike. I’d been considering giving it to someone but then I read the Rat Rod article a couple weeks back. So I’ve decided the purpose of this build will be to create a cruiser for as cheap as possible while using scraps from other bikes and highly discounted parts.

It begins…

I’ll be stripping the paint on the frame and using my cousin’s airbrush skills to create a matte black paintjob with some extra accents. The first parts I’ve acquired, while not free, were really cheap. Got a pair of rim brakes off a cruiser parts site for $12! Second is one of the coolest shifters I’ve seen.
Yummy

Your eyes do not deceive you. I found this Sturmey Archer stick shifter for $30! But where will I mount the shifter? If you didn’t notice the Trophy frame is actually a cross country mountain bike frame so there’s no mount. Further complicating the situation is the fact that the frame has an oval shaped top tube. I’ll either have to find a mounting bracket(I assume the oval tube will make this a bee-och) or fabricate one that the shifter will mount to. It’s a 3 speed shifter so I’m also perusing the Craigslist for people selling their old 3 speeds. Some are selling for under $50 so that’s good.  Lastly, I’ll be putting on some BMX cruiser bars to give the bike a lively feel. Check back in for updates. This should be an interesting build and I imagine a lot will be trial and error.

Picture from the COAFunride website, yes, that’s me on the left hand side.

The City of Angels ride is one of my favorite rides. I get to ride through the streets of Los Angeles with a motorcade! Last year I joined the slow group, it was a little too slow for me, this year I’m planning on joining the ‘advanced’ group. It looks like KHS bicycles will be sponsoring the ride again, they gave away 2 or 3 bikes last year. I highly recommend this ride for intermediate riders, advanced riders will find it a little boring and beginner riders will find it harder than the LA Marathon.

Click here for more information on the City of Angels Ride.

Looks like “Rat Rod Bike Fever” is spreading. Moe got this handsome and wicked-looking new bike the other day, and I spent a couple pleasant afternoons in my backyard last week prepping a pair of bikes with my homie Rae from down the street. Unbeknownst to any of us (including himself, I think), Rae rocks a serious talent for creating some really sharp rides out of junky old bikes!

If you’re not familiar with the concept of “rat rods”, let me do a bit of explaining: during the initial hot rod craze post-WWII, a lot of servicemen came home flush with some extra cash and some free time on their hands. Quite a few of them (particularly in the beach communities in So. Cal) decided to try their hands at making fast cars out of old junkers. The idea back then was not to make them “show quality”, necessarily…no polished chrome or fancy paint jobs were required. The cars just had to make a crapload of power and be super-fast for streetracing purposes.

The same goes for rat rod bikes: they don’t have to look pretty and fancy, they just have to be “cool” (and they’ve got to work, too)…for kids and adults with time and talent on their hands but not a lot of “prettying up” money. You know, the types of kids who like to play Bike Derby, drink cheap beer, maybe do a little fighting, starting out-of-control bonfires from old couches and listening to punk rock. In other words, my kind of people!!! Salvaged pawnshop bikes are ideal for this type of “conversion”.

In the below picture, Rae is polishing up a vintage Schwinn “cloverleaf” chainwheel to slap onto a 1952 Schwinn (we think it is a Suburban or similar Schwinn model, but we aren’t sure. It was in BAD shape when Rae found it). Just to his right is a crapped-out old Roadmaster awaiting some serious wrench and blowtorch work:

The classic paint scheme for a rat rod bike is satin or flat black (or no paint at all — natural corrosion is actually a pretty sweet look) with red and white and a couple of chrome accents. This picture embodies the true spirit of a rat rod conversion…you don’t mask anything or even sand it all that well. You just lay on the paint and go!

Here’s a photo of that vintage Schwinn…Rae found NOS glitter grips in red to put on there, and it really makes the bike look like a hardened ex-con with a heart of gold. Or something:

If you’re interested in such a conversion…an old beach cruiser floating around in your Grandma’s garage, a neighbor with a bunch of yard-sale beaters, etc…and you don’t have a lot of cash yet want to do some wild customizing, here’s a great source for parts: BicycleDesigner.com.

And if you want to look at some TRULY AMAZING homebrewed creations from some incredibly talented folks, check out the forums at Rat Rod Bikes.

Have fun out there letting your creative spirit go wild!

I’ve been dealing with my knee pain for quite awhile. I went to physical therapy, but the pain remains at the end of some rides. One of my bike racing buddies attributes my pain to improper bike fit. Since I’m always switching bikes, I can’t afford to have a bike fitting for every single bike that I own. I saw the ad of The Bike Fitting Kit on a major magazine, so I decided to buy it.

I opened the box to see the contents, and so far, I’m not really impressed with it. The instructions look a lot like a photocopy of so-so quality, and some of the items look like they came from a 99 cent store. I will try to do a fit on two particular bikes that cause my knee to swell, I hope that my knee pain goes away with the use of this kit. I’ll do a post on that later on.

I’m the type of person that can’t leave bicycles stock. I always like to add my personal ‘touch’ to them. This time, my Manhattan Vendetta was my new victim:

I added some Ape hanger bars, skull grips and skull stem valve covers. Needless to say, it is not stock anymore! I can’t wait to ride it again this Sunday.

Check out this kit, it has “2 4X4 Reliamed ® beveled edge hydrocolloid dressings” to help you heal faster. Read more about it here.

Are you looking for bicycle laws for your State? Check out my new web app at bikecommuters.com by clicking here.

Priscilla wrote a review of this Gym quality Spin Bike. Click here to read her review.

Here are some pictures of my various bike lights for comparison.

The back yard at 8:30 pm. All pictures were taken with a Canon XTi, 17-40 F4 Lens, ISO 100, Manual mode, and exposure for 2 seconds on a tripod. Focus was set at infinity. I was kind of lazy and didn’t use the best tripod and didn’t use a remote shutter release so the pictures are not that sharp.

Here is a point of reference.

Cutter LED modified light.

NiteRider Enduro HID

NiteRider 15Watt Halogen Wide Beam

NiteRider 15Watt Halogen StandardBeam

In case you’re interested in modifying your own lights, here’s the link to where I ordered them from: http://www.cutter.com.au/products.php?cat=41 Just be aware that LEDs get HOT and need cooling so if your housing isn’t aluminum I wouldn’t try this mod.