In 1993, a guy could put his motorcycle into a wheelie, ride a block of sidewalk in Old Town, Mankato, and the only one who might get hurt is his mother reading about it 30 years later. Today it is a much different place and its transformation holds lessons for Saint Peter’s downtown.

Old Town was never a great place when I was growing up in Mankato. It smelled bad because of the mill and the attendant semis and trains. But it’s the street I remembered as being really weird: the four lanes weren’t straight – they jogged 10 feet every few blocks. Today I recognize it as a primitive chicane using on street parking to jog the street and slow traffic. And why was traffic calming needed? Because the street was four lanes from back when it was a state highway. The highway had long since gotten a new alignment so all those extra lanes did was encourage speeding. (No need to ask how I know.)

Old Town’s challenges were the same as many cities where the highway moves: too much street makes for speeding, it makes it miserable to walk along, and dangerous to cross. A few brave businesses did move into Old Town, likely attracted by the beautiful and historic building stock and low real estate prices. But pretty much everyone still shopped at the malls unless they were in need of a niche retail purchase.

Then when I moved out to the east coast the fortunes of Old Town began to change. I got time lapse glimpses of it when I returned home (Mankato) for Christmas: facades were freshened, new businesses (a bike shop!) moved in, and eventually new structures went up and existing structures were repurposed. The district was resurrecting itself through art and niche retail. But, still, that F#*&@! street.

Today Riverfront Drive in Old Town should be on any planning nerd’s itinerary of destination streets. The casual and hardcore nerd can both appreciate how a street can make or break a neighborhood. A few days ago it was my destination street for Penelope’s evening walk. Here’s what we saw…

Riverfront Drive Really Needed the Help

Fixing that street was long overdue. Business owners were the first to recognize that no one wanted to park on Riverfront, so they turned their backs to it and made the rear entrance as good as the front door. Wow! What an unexpected joy to walk through the alley and see cleanliness, color and textures, and whimsical details.

People still need places to congregate so when the sidewalks are too narrow, setting aside public space becomes more crucial. And that’s why The Hub was created. It hosts food trucks, music, and chill places to relax. And of course The Hub is accessible with the best possible crosswalk.

Connectivity and Wayfinding Matters

No one window shops at 40 mph, so the details and the beauty won’t matter as long as the roar of the street and danger of crossing it persists. The road diet slowed cars, it shortened crossing distances with curb extensions, it confused – and slowed – drivers with (chortle) blue dots, and then drew people by providing programming. Throughout the district there are tasteful signs for businesses, and where a building contains multiple tenants, they are described in a way that is unobtrusive and comprehensible for pedestrian and driver alike. That means the size of the sign and its location works for everyone.

Texture is Important

The best streets give you something new each time you walk down them. That sounds like an impossibility, but add up the murals, the blank spaces that became canvases, the hidden gardens, the interpretive signs, the historic detailing of buildings, and programming (music, events, etc.) and that goal becomes obtainable. And of course the best thing to draw people is… people! Added bonus: people on the streets and sidewalks IS the original traffic calming.

Retail has a Critical Mass

I noted two vacant storefronts, and nearly every business was retail or dining. That second point is especially important as those types of businesses are more invested in the success of a district. Think about it this way: if I need my back adjusted I am probably not going to walk down the street afterwards to get an ice cream cone. No, I am going to park behind the business, get there 5 minutes before my appointment, cross my fingers that they will take my insurance, and leave as soon as my wallet is adjusted. Retail has the shades open and the lights on; service businesses may keep the shades down even when they’re open. Which would you rather walk past?

Success is Always Intentional

The murals, facade improvements, road diet, public art, and programming at The Hub are intentional – it is someone’s job to ensure the economic success of the Old Town district. It was intentional to construct an event space – a social space – in the district. It was intentional to provide the best, and safest pedestrian crossing in the city to get people from one side of the street (shopping) to the other (entertainment). The Invisible Hand efficiently allocates goods and services, but it doesn’t restripe the street or paint the crosswalks.

Conclusions

The road diet is on its way to becoming permanent. This despite the pushback from drivers confused by the lane reductions, blue dots on the street, and the disorientation that comes from loss of status on one of Mankato’s streets (don’t worry, dear driver, you still rule almost every other street in the city). 

The district has become a place and an economically successful one at that. It is an alternative model for economic development which doesn’t depend on 20k cars passing through the neighborhood hoping that if we provide enough parking that just maybe a fraction of them will stop and leave some money.

To sum up the formula used in Old Town: slowing traffic + street narrowing + programming in public spaces + public art + texture = a destination. They are now well on their way to people saying ‘you should’ve seen this place before they changed the street.’

This story was 50 years in the making. At least. I don’t have that kind of time or patience.  Do you? So just change your F#*&@! street already (and stop listening to people who tell you it is hard or impossible.) 

Presentation at Gustavus on Tuesday, January 11, 2022.

As we have mentioned, we are moving our shop to a new location. A new location means a new look for our sales floor and service area. No, we’re not going corporate; we’re just changing our aesthetic and maybe leaving behind some things that we no longer need. If you are interested in any of these please email us info@thesmallestcog.com. Pick-up must be at one of these times: late afternoon Wednesday (9/8), all day Thursday (9/9), and Friday morning (9/10).

Behind Door #1 in our Showcase Showdown we have this beautiful countertop! We scored it off Craigslist in early 2019. We got a set of kitchen cabinets from the Re:store and we built an exoskeleton of 2″x4″ around it to hold everything upright. The top has about a 1/2″ acrylic layer with some scuffs. We experimented with using polyurethane to cover scuffs and that worked well enough. This is perfect for a retail establishment or a she/he/they cave.

Price: $0. We will help you get it out the door and after that you are on your own. It will probably need to be dissembled to make it easier to haul. Warning: this thing is heavy and will require 2-4 people to move it.

Behind Door #2 is this beautiful refrigerator/freezer! This thing had been in our kitchen. We moved it after I rendered the shop’s mini fridge inoperable. Side note: never use a screwdriver and hammer to chip ice from your freezer because you will puncture the refrigerant tubes.

Price: $0. There is a small leak condensate in the refrigerator. Just stick a bowl under it and empty it weekly. The applicant is clean, odor-free, and works. You have to haul it away yourself.

Behind Door #3 is an infant/toddler motorized swing. This thing is a life saver… if your charge actually enjoys it. (Neither of our girls were into it.)

Price: $0. This was a gift to us; now it is a gift to you.

<Not pictured>

Important conditions:

• Items much be picked up Wednesday (9/8 after noon); Thursday (9/9 all day); and Friday (9/10 morning).
• We don’t have the time to provide additional information beyond what is here.
• We don’t have the ability to help you beyond the front door of our shop. You leave with it and we’re not taking it back if you change your mind.
• These are free but if you feel like making a contribution towards our customers’ unpaid balances, then we accept cash, check, and credit card.
• Email us if you are interested in any of the above. Thanks!

That title is with apologies to Tim O’Brien. He was writer-in-residence at Mankato State University when I was in graduate school. I didn’t read any of his books but I can recommend his recent interview on Fresh Air. He has some profound thoughts about becoming a father late in life, which he beautifully articulates.

In the late hours of Saturday, May 1, someone threw a brick through one of our shop’s windows and stole our best bike. We built it custom from the frame up; we were proud of it; and so we put it in our window display. That night happened to be a hot one and so windows above us and across the street were open. Everyone heard the glass break and the burglary was reported immediately. But the thief was long gone.

The next morning we found out via email. I’d been waiting for this to happen. Bikes are in high demand and the neighborhood… well, it is still a bit transitional — after dark.

I left the girls and the dog with Mandy while I busted a move to the shop to 1) secure our inventory and 2) survey and clean up the damage. Much to my surprise and relief we hadn’t been looted because the window was boarded up. Unfortunately, the window glass wasn’t tempered, and there were razor-sharp shards almost to the back shop where I found the brick that was used.

Dylen, our first hire, came in early on a Sunday to help with clean up. We took home the most expensive bikes, locked up everything else, and asked customers to pick up their repaired bikes ASAP. Damage control phase completed, we commenced the recovery and revenge phases.

We were insured so we added up the expenses to make the claim:
$3400 58cm Fairdale with Campagnolo Potenza and Hope RX4 brakes
$1200 for a tempered 3’ x 8’ pane of glass and installation

That came to $4600. The policy had a $1000 deductible and — here is the fine print — it only covers cost. That Fairdale was only worth $2400 to the insurance company. At the moment we are $2k in the hole from the theft and that doesn’t even count the hours spent cleaning up, dealing with the insurance company and police, and fighting the City of Saint Paul.

Wait, what? A few days later I noticed a guy wearing khakis and a shirt with buttons loitering on our corner. He had a clipboard and that made him look official. I went out to talk to him wondering if he was the insurance adjustor. Nope, he was from Code and Inspections. He was there checking to make sure the plywood had been installed. Upon learning this I asked why and was told that we would soon be receiving an invoice from the City for the work.

Excuse me? We just got robbed and now you are sending us a bill for it? Fuck. Off. Saint. Paul. As I recovered from that news I asked him the same question that I have been asking ever since: Why don’t you bill the criminal? No one, not him, not my elected officials or their staff, has been able to come up with a satisfactory justification for the $470 we were invoiced. That’s $310 for materials and $160 for a City administrative fee.

Eventually I did hear back from my Council Member and Code and Inspections. The former wasn’t aware of this City practice and policy; the latter explained the process for appealing the assessment, which involves filling additional paperwork and making my case to the Council. Or something like that. The process wasn’t logical and I was too pissed off to play their game.

Instead, since May 2, 2021, I have shaded the City to everyone who asks about the plywood window on the front of our store. The plywood is going to stay there until the City buys back its brick which was used to smash our window ($470) and it changes its asinine policy of penalizing the victims of crime.

So what should the City have done? 1) prevent crime (but I realize that such a thing is unrealistic when something like 100 shots were fired that same night elsewhere in St. Paul); 2) contact me when my business has been broken into so I can secure it myself; and 3) failing those other things, go ahead and charge me the $470 but refund it when I install a new pane of glass — otherwise there’s little incentive for me to spend $1200 replacing the window when we’re already out $2,000.

We had said good-bye to downtown St. Paul a long time before this happened. This was just additional vindication of our decision to move our family and our business. We love the people we’ve met along the way, and they deserve way better from City Hall and their elected officials. 

As we close out our second season in the business we have been reflecting on who we are, what our niche is, and what our vision is for the next 5-10 years. Other people are asking us these questions too. Eighteen months after we opened our doors our responses to those questions remains the same: We are an independent, self-financed, service-focused bike shop which has built a customer base through advocacy, word-of-mouth, and (of course) great service. Our niche is that we are small and we are good.

Since opening we have by design and out of necessity pursued a slow growth business model. That’s how it goes when building a business powered by personal savings, a side hustle, and an AmEx card obtained when I had a salaried job. Four or five months in the business was generating enough cashflow that it was able to purchase inventory, pay rent, and set aside money for rent in the colder months. In that first year of operation I paid myself $3,000. 

This year has brought its own set of challenges. Our slow growth model doesn’t always interface well with the biking industry. Most days I wonder if we are the smallest cog in their machine. Our diminutive size means that we don’t enjoy volume discounts on tubes, tires, bikes, and everything else. We get it: It’s not just, it’s just business. But it is going to be a problem one day when the only bike shops still standing are Erik’s, Freewheel, and a handful of boutique shops. We don’t want to be Erik’s and we don’t want to be a boutique shop.

So is the neighborhood bike shop an anachronism or is it feasible? More to the point: Is any small scale retail viable in a space dominated by Amazon and large brick and mortar chains? Talk to us five years from now and maybe we’ll have your answer.

In the meantime we humbly suggest some changes to the retail environment which could allow new small businesses to bloom:

1. Pass a living wage ordinance, like, yesterday. The smallest small business — ahem, us  — are usually exempted, but our competition, because they are bigger, takes the hit. And they damn well should be paying their people more. This was a record year for the biking industry and those front line workers should share some of the spoils for taking all the risks.
2. Tax the hell out of vacant storefronts. That storefront is vacant for a few possible reasons including: the rent is too high, the demand is low, or the retail space needs to lose money as a write-off because it is part of someone’s investment portfolio. That vacant storefront imposes a cost on adjacent businesses because it can attract undesirable uses which, in turn, makes the street unwelcoming. Just ask any of our neighbors if opening our shop improved the corner and the neighborhood. Just ask us how much we’d like a tenant in the empty storefront next to our shop (yes, please!). Taxing vacancies might provide incentive for some landlords to look harder for a tenant, to lower their leasing rates, and it might even provide the city a revenue stream for addressing quality-of-life issues in the downtown area.
3. Take a holistic approach to retail corridors and business development. Successful businesses rarely exist in a vacuum; they are often part of a looked-after corridor, node or district. A great example of a nearly-complete corridor is Grand Avenue because it has a critical mass of businesses; it has street trees and trash cans; and it is an interesting place to walk. But could be a lot better if traffic were slowed so pedestrians could safely cross the street. And when traffic slows good things happen. No one window shops at 40 mph. No one wants to dine in a parklet with adjacent traffic moving that fast.
4. Work to attract and retain small businesses. Saint Paul (and other midsize to large cities) prefers the supernova approach to the thousand points of light approach when it comes to economic development. This approach manifests as ball parks, sports arenas, large convention halls, and Class A office space intended to lure big corporate fish. It almost always involves a sales tax levy to pay for the stuff and to build lots of structured parking. A less expensive, harder, but more sustainable approach would be to fund a small business liaison office which could help new businesses find space, connect with lenders, obtain business services (regulatory compliance, insurance, accounting, internet, healthcare, etc) at a subsidized rate. Where would we get the money for that? See #2.

These are all feasible ideas and none of them are original. COVID (or not), unrest (or not), recession (or not), there are small businesses that need help. What we have learned in 2020 is that when disruption happens it isn’t the agile that survives — as we might have been led to believe by Charles Darwin or Malcolm Gladwell; it is the already advantaged businesses that are in the best position to hang on (read: large PPP loans/grants) and even grow (Amazon, Instacart, and big box retail). This has to be corrected because the worst thing for Lake Street would be to rebuild as a corridor of wine bars and cheese shops operating in buildings owned by real estate investors. 

Our next blog post will be about real estate because that, probably more than any single factor, determines the success or failure of a business. The TL;DR is the rent is almost always too damn high.

 

This posting has been removed as per Surly’s request.

I don’t have fitness goals, I have lifestyle goals. I want to drink IPAs when desired, not count calories, and keep the same clothing size… because, while wardrobe churn is long overdue, I need to reserve my money for things lower down in Maslow’s hierarchy.

The User
Pursuant to my lifestyle goals I find myself on the road to nowhere with increasing frequency. I have an aging set of CycleOps rollers which I’ll spend 30 minutes on a few times per week. The rollers have magnetic resistance so I can get a workout without having to spin out a 53 x 11. I have a few self-imposed workouts I use:

Resistance 5/5

• Start in 53 x 28 and pedal for 5 minutes. Then drop down to the next smaller cog (25t) and pedal for 5 more minutes. Then another cog and another 5. The goal is to get to 30 minutes without vomiting or putting a foot down, and keeping cadance in the 100-120 range. Trust me, this is hard.
• Start in 53 x 28 and pedal for 5 minutes. Then drop down 3 cogs (19t) and pedal for 2 minutes. Then bump up one cog (21t) for 3 minutes. Then bump up one more to start the next 10 minute block.

Resistance 4/5

• Follow the regimen of the first bullet point but start one cog down the stack (25t).

If I keep my heart rate at/above 150 bpm and my cadence ~110 rpm, then I get a good sweat and I feel the Bern riding home from the shop. But if the world is to keep turning and humanity is to keep improving then one’s reach should always exceed one’s grasp. And what I was reaching for (and failing to grasp) was another Lupulin IPA and/or slice of Pizza Luce (Fire breathing dragon, vegan style). I had to figure out how to burn more calories.

Rollers are a fun skill to master but they have downsides: noise, tire wear, and the need for constant focus by the rider. Thirty minutes is my limit when I’m staring at my front tire and metrics on my bike computer. Over the years I have heard tales of people spending 1, 2, even 3 hours on the stationary trainer. How were they doing it?

I decided to check out Zwift. A number of people I follow on Strava were using it, and so were some of our customers. Zwift has a 7 day free trial. There seemed to be no downside.

Zwifting
I went to their website and downloaded the app to my iMac. I answered a few questions about my height and weight and then I was teleported to Watopia. Wapotia is a fantasy land populated by dinosaurs and people who sustain outputs of >5 watts/kg. The dinosaurs are more real than those TdF riders — none of whom I’ve caught and whose existence is only revealed by fleeting appearances on the slate of ‘Riders near me.’

Watopia seems to be a mash-up of Atlantis, Big Sur, the Italian Alps, and the Brady Bunch Tiki god episode. I set the graphics to 1080p which was all my 2013 iMac and Comcast connection could handle. At those settings you can expect a world reminiscent of Ridge Racer circa PS3 days.

But whatever, because riding in real life, I’m not trying to look at the scenery; I’m there to chase down the person in front of me while making sure the numbers of my bike computer are what they ought to be. On both counts Zwift is a great training partner — nay, enabler.

Time for a ride. I loaded the app and rotated my 27” monitor to face the rollers. The program helpfully locates and syncs with any bluetooth transmitters you use. I synced my heart rate monitor, cadence sensor, and speed sensor. For the program to recognize ANT+ devices it requires a ANT+ usb dongle for your computer.

The program also asks what trainer you use. Here’s where I encountered some difficulty. Zwift is compatible with dumb trainers (aka a trainer you don’t have plug in) but its database is limited. My rollers weren’t in the database so I selected ‘Generic Rollers’ for one ride and ‘Cyclops Mag trainer’ for the next ride. The first vastly underestimated my power while the other upped my FTP to the mid 300 watts after a 40 minute ride. Allow me to decode that: I’m not a Cat 1 racer in my mid 20s as Zwift was suggesting.

Compatibility and useability are different things. On a flat road Zwift takes a reading from your speed and cadence sensors and determines your power output. It works fine; go faster or slower by choosing a harder or easier gear, and you will do more or less work while pedaling. But when the road turns up the experience gets a little cartoonish: your speed starts to drop and the world around you slows down. WTF? Oh, you’re on a climb so to increase your speed you will need to increase your cadence or drop into a harder gear. In the game you will be moving at 5 mph but your wheel on the trainer may be moving at 25-30 mph. Hello dissonance!

But it all mostly works. Unless you are on rollers. Thanks to Zwift I ended a decade-long streak of riding the rollers without a fall. The next streak lasted 3 minutes. Then 2 minutes. Then 4 minutes. A pattern seemed to be emerging: when I got into the game (‘Close the gap!’) I paid less attention to my front wheel and, oops, there goes my balance. I needed a more stable platform if this was going to continue.

Direct Drive
There are three types of trainers: rollers, rear wheel trainers (your wheel contacts a roller; the roller provides the resistance); and direct drive trainers (remove the rear wheel and throw your chain on the trainer’s cassette). Sparing the tire is the big advantage of the direct drive trainer. A subset of these trainers is smart or dumb. Smart trainers plug in and can relay speed, cadence and power data. The newest generation of smart trainers can interface with Zwift and vary resistance according to terrain. The road pitches up and suddenly your effort increases. Goodbye dissonance!

I did some research on direct drive trainers. I checked my personal bank account. I considered power meters. The Elite Suito ($799) looked like the best value (1 month of Zwift and a Shimano R7000 11-28 cassette) and got positive reviews. I lept. A day later it was here.

Unboxing the Elite Suito
Direct drive trainers can be stupid heavy due to large flywheels. They can be loud. This trainer is neither. Pick it up by the handle (nice feature), place it on the floor, fold out the legs, and adjust the feet so the unit is level. Attach the bike by snapping the correct axle ends onto the trainer, lay the chain across a cog, nestle the frame’s dropouts onto the trainer, and close the quick release. Plug it in. Start Zwift. In less than 3 minutes you are ready to go.  No pairing problems. Nothing. Easy. Integrated. Seamless.

Things to keep in mind: 1) your derailleur may need an adjustment to optimize shifting (mine did — my hanger was a little bent); 2) you need to level the bike (I used a bubble level on the seat tube and adjusted the trainer’s feet; and 3) rear disc brake calipers need either a pad separator inserted or (better) the pads pulled and a bleed block inserted. I recommend this third precaution because it is too easy to squeeze the rear brake lever; without a rotor between the pads (remember removing the rear wheel?) you will dislodge the pistons. Oops! Now you’ve got hydraulic fluid all over your new trainer.

Smart Zwifting
I love it. It is so much better than intervals on rollers. It is so much better than Zwifting on a dumb trainer. I joined on January 8 and have logged almost 8 hours, >150 miles, and 12k feet of climbing. That is probably double or triple what I would have ridden without Zwift and the Elite trainer. Here’s why:

• Gamification. Early in this review I transitioned from calling Zwift an app to calling it a game. Zwift is constantly prodding you to go faster, to close the gap, to beat your old time, to up your watts per kg, etc. More evidence this is a game: it has a scoreboard. As you ride you accrue points. Said points can be used in the Zwift store to purchase virtual kit and custom bikes. I haven’t seen any prompting for in-app purchases — and I hope that’s not an option. Bottom line is that I’m extremely susceptible to this gamification so it does result in longer and faster rides.
• Socializing. Every time that I’ve logged on there have been >2k people Zwifting. That’s pretty rad. While you ride you can see what countries people are representing. And while it is predominantly North America there is also plenty of representation by Asia and Europe. You can give and get thumbs-up from other riders. I usually log on between 5 and 6 pm so I have started recognizing names. That’s motivating too. 
• Depth. Every day there are two worlds and multiple rides in each world from which to choose. Newbies can’t access all the rides, you have to unlock them by putting in your time. Watopia is a constant (described above) and the other world rotates with NYC, Richmond VA, London, Innsbruck and Yorkshire. My favorite so far is Innsbruck, Austria, which uses the 2018 World Championship Course. That day I wanted a 30-40 minute workout. An 8 mile course with 1400 feet of climbing? Hello! Yes, please!!
• Variety. So far I have only ridden solo, but Zwift can connect you with other riders and you can even join races. I don’t like riding with other people IRL, so I think I will reprise my role as Plotz Solo.
• Fitness. I am in this predicament because I had lifestyle goals to pursue. Buying into the virtual riding world wasn’t cheap, but that cost is now behind me, and it is up to me to make sure that money was well spent. My reality is that I am a time constrained cyclist, approaching middle age, working two jobs: my health and my financial security are intertwined, so it behooves me to invest in my health.

Verdict
You can pay more for a smart trainer and you can pay less for a dumb trainer. The Elite Suito ($799) hits the sweet spot relative to its competition. If you pop for one (buy it from us!) then I highly recommend taking advantage of the one month of free Zwift. Drop by or give us a call if you have questions about the equipment or set up. We are always happy to chat. Catch you in Watopia! XOXOXO.

Bike: 2015 Cannondale Caad10 disc with Ultegra R8000 (Not for sale)
Trainer: Elite Suito ($799)
Accessories: 4iii heart rate monitor ($79)
iPhone mount: GoKase iPhone mount ($40)
Software: Zwift ($14.99/month)
Hardware: 2013 21″ iMac with 27″ external monitor

 

2019 is dead and the new year is here. Before I put tool to bike in 2020 allow me to reflect on what (if anything) I learned from that first year of wrenching full time. In no particular order or preference here are some of the standout repairs.

Rance is listed first because he was our first customer. He is a busy guy who works two jobs and rides everywhere. The first bike he brought me was a fat bike with two seized mechanical disc brakes, a freewheel that couldn’t be removed and a rear wheel with ½” of play in the hub. I made his bike work and didn’t charge him a ton of money. He has since moved from the neighborhood but he still brings in his bikes and recommends me to others.

Julie is our neighbor next door. She brought in her bike for a tune-up, two tires, a bike computer, a light and a lock. As I did the work her tab was adding up and I was worried she would have sticker shock. Nope. Supporting a local business is what she wanted to do, and she insisted on paying full price for the tune-up (we had been running a Grand Opening special). I put a lot of effort into making a bike work right and when it leaves my only hope is that it gets ridden. This fall, after our first newsletter was published, Julie stopped back in to see how our business was doing and report back on how much fun she was having riding her bike.

Jonathan rides more real and virtual miles than anyone I know. Because I like working on bikes that get ridden, he is a great customer to have. His Felt was cursed with a crappy rear hub and he commissioned a wheel build. The twist: he wanted me to reuse the rim (so it matched the front). Building a wheel changes the rim in radial and lateral true and because of that reusing a rim for a new build is usually inadvisable. (Never ever reuse spokes and nipples.) But it all worked out and he’s happy. Jonathan also has the distinction of the most worn brake pads I’ve ever seen.

Mark is a recent transplant to the neighborhood. He had a mid 1980s Miyata that had been parked for awhile. The bike had a lot of good memories and he wanted to make some new ones. We embarked on a custom build that brought the bike into the 21st century with integrated shifting, an external bearing bottom bracket, wide cross section rims and baller Continental GP 5000 tires. He stopped by this fall to thank us for being here, and we thanked him for getting involved in bike advocacy.

Bob had a (sweet!) 2012 Salsa Vaya and he wanted to lighten the bike and improve its braking. His challenge was finding an affordable carbon disc fork for a 1 ⅛” steerer. I happened to have one. Simple fork and headset swap, right? Wrong. (Pro tip: don’t ride with a loose headset. If you can turn those spacers under your stem or if you feel a clunk from the front end, get that headset adjusted. The alternative may be an ovalized headtube.) I got Bob squared away and it was a win for me because sooner or later I had to use those expensive cutting tools.

Juan. I forget what bikes he owns. We just talk politics, urban planning, and religion. I do remember one bike he doesn’t own: a kid riding home from his shift at McDonald’s hit the curb next to Juan’s house and did a superman onto the lawn. While the rider recovered in the hospital Juan brought his bike to me for fixing. Later he brought us a squash that he grew.

Tyler owns a gorgeous purple 2017 Salsa Fargo that had bad shifting and way too much tire. The former owner had stuffed a 29” x 3.0” tire into a frame meant for something smaller. The remedy was a new wheelset with a narrower rim and 2.6” tire — which I happily built. Shrinking the tire allowed the rear wheel to be moved forward in the frame which, in turn, solved the shifting problem that had been vexing me. Tyler had exquisite taste in bikes and beer.

E-bike conversion trifecta: an Amazon-sourced trike, a recumbent, and a Cannondale Cujo were all given the gift of electricity. I didn’t hate working on one of these bikes — can you guess which? I can joke about them now but at the time I wasn’t laughing. Findings: 1) it is possible to electrify a trike on a budget; 2) a 750w motor generates A LOT of torque and it will shred a standard fork’s dropouts; 3) the only thing more frightening than riding a 2 wheel recumbent in traffic is doing it with a 750w motor slung on the front; 4) Bafang makes a damn fine mid-drive retrofit and has excellent customer service; and 5) no one knows shit about repairing these e-systems… except for my old man (see above photo). To our e-bike pioneers: I salute you guys and thank you for the opportunity to gain this knowledge.

Matt rides everywhere, all the time. He has a Trek fat bike and a Bamboo fixed gear. His bikes needed a lot of work. These are the service notes from one:

Pedals bearings/bushing were exhausted (replace pedals); chain and cassette were worn and not shifting properly (replaced both and installed new derailleur cable and 5mm housing); ultrasonic cleaning of derailleur and crank; rear brake pads were exhausted (replaced and cleaned rotor); rear caliper and rotor were misaligned (reset caliper pistons, cleaned mount/adaptor hardware, flushed caliper body with steam); removed and resurfaced front brakes pads; cleaned front rotor and realigned rotor and caliper; checked headset preload and stem bolt torque; cleaned frame/fork/wheels; adjusted rear derailleur; and inflated tires to ~ 20 psi.

Matt picked up his bikes and a few days later he chased down and tackled a bike thief to get one of them back. Matt brought the bike back to us to make it right. With a new derailleur hanger he was back in business. Have many happy miles, man, and see you next year.

Nick happened by on one of those days in late fall which was a gift — 70 degrees and sunny. He had with him a beautiful black Lemond Washoe with Dura Ace Di2 (9020). I charged the battery, updated the firmware, adjusted the derailleurs, and inflated the tires. Turns out that at one point he even worked with Lemond. This interaction checked all the boxes: Di2 bike (nice to have some variety after all those Diamondbacks), cool customer, and Lemond — hero — content.

Tall Nick came into our shop one day with a fixed gear that looked like he made it himself (he did). I de-tensioned and rebuilt both wheels on that bike. That was a time-consuming but simple task compared to pressing a Cane Creek EC40 into that frame. It was the hardest metal I have ever cut and then there’s the truly terrifying thing: removing metal from a handbuilt frame. Yeah, no backsies on that. 

Catherine had a late 90s Bianchi road bike and she wanted a more comfortable riding position. Rather than steering her towards a new bike we kept her beautiful Bianchi on the road by swapping her drop bars for straight bars and her STI levers for thumb shifters and brake levers. Because her drivetrain was 2×7 sourcing shifters that would work with her derailleurs was tricky — the selection was limited, many were out of stock, and I was working within a budget. The solution was to use a triple shifter with cable slack to get the correct about of pull. 

Ryan’s custom asymmetrical wheels. When I lived in DC I was the go-to wheelbuilder for my friends. In 2019 one of them purchased a Guerilla Gravity (made in Colorado) and he commissioned a wheelset that used White Industries CLD+ Boost hubs and Stan’s Flow 29+ rims. It was 32 hole, silver spokes, brass nipples and 3-cross for both wheels. Here’s the catch: the frame was asymmetrical with a 3mm offset to the driveside.

I scratched my head about this for a week before I figured out how to build it. Build it just like a regular wheel until the spokes hit 90% tension. Then back off the truing stand feeler gauges until they are 3 mm from the rim. Finally, tighten the non driveside spokes until the rim contacts the left feeler gauge.

Making sure that any wheel is true and dished requires a calibrated truing stand and constant checking with the dishing gauge (never trust just one instrument… Boeing 737 Max). The final verification is seeing how the wheel sits in the frame. Is it too close to one of the chainstay? So it is always good to have the frame on hand when building a wheel and that is especially true when building something unusual as was the case here. But the frame was in Virginia so I was building blind. Gulp.

I packed up the wheels and shipped them to Ryan. The moment of truth happened about a week later when he dropped the wheels into the frame. They were dished perfectly. Heart attack averted and wheelbuilding hubris still in tact.

Least Favorite Repairs

CenturyLink. When their contractors busted up our street to lay some cable. It was three days of jackhammering and lost business. They did fix our curb ramp (because I asked). I had my fill of watching people in wheelchairs nearly tip over due to the pothole.

Trek Road Bikes. This is going to seem petty but… the proper technique for wrapping drop bars is to start at the end and work your way towards the stem. Trek didn’t do this; they started at the stem and worked their way to the bar ends. What that means is that every time I have to replace a shift and/or brake cable and housing on a Trek with Shimano  5700/6700/7900 or newer I had to fully unwrap the bar tape. In addition to the 15-20 minutes this adds to a repair, the result never quite looks right because the bar tape has worn down and changed shape. SMH.

Honorable mention: Anything French.