The City of Lakes Loppet is happening this weekend, so I decided to head over and check out some of the events. I rode my errand bike since I didn't want to subject my fat bike to the mixture of salt, sand and water covering the roads and bike paths.
I made some changes to the errand bike last week... most notably the handlebars and brakes. I've always been a fan of monstercross bikes and drop bar 29ers, and after seeing some pics of a really cool drop bar Karate Monkey over on MTBR I decided to dig my On-One Midge bars out of the parts bin. I could never quite make the bars fit other bikes, but I figured with its tall front end they'd work well on my errand bike.
I installed All-City track grips on the bars, then wrapped cork bar tape over the grips. Nice and fat, with some extra padding. I like the flare, shallow drop and width of the Midge bars, but I have to agree with the opinions of some riders that say the straight section at the bottom of the drop is too short. So far I like the Midge bars - no major hand pain, yet. I'm hoping it won't be an issue since this bike will only see short trips and errands.
The brakes were switched to a mullet set-up... disc up front and v-brake in the back. The brake levers are just standard road brake levers, not the v-brake compatible type. The combination of a shallow drop bar and big hands make it work. The levers are positioned on the bars so I can pull a lot of cable before the lever swings far enough to hit the bar. One-finger braking was not a problem.
I also picked up a cool, new seat bag from Hiawatha Cyclery a few weeks ago. It's a Banjo Brothers Saddle Trunk... 400 cubic inches of behind the seat awesomeness.
My first stop was at the Ice-Cycle Loppet - a bike race that's held on the lagoon between Calhoun and Lake of the Isles. The course is mostly on the ice, but also has a section of dirt/packed snow. Some of these guys can really haul ass.
After watching the race for a bit, I headed for the beer tent... Surly Brewing was the beer sponsor. Before I left, I walked down the mall to check out the snow sculptures. This was one of my favorites...
It was good to be on a bike again...
5 comments:
I am liking the Banjo Brothers seat trunk. Nice purchase.
Thanks - definitely a well spent $35.
I am intrigued by the light that is in the last photo, what can you tell me about it?
Hi Some Guy...
The rear light in the last pic is a Cateye LD-600 (which I think has been discontinued). I took the bracket off the mounting clamp, which left an L-shaped bracket on the back of the light. Then I put an allen bolt through the bracket and into the fender/rack mounting hole in the dropout. Hope that makes sense...
The updated version of this light is called the Cateye TL-LD610. Unfortunately I don't think this mod will work with the newer style mount Cateye uses on the 610.
I grew up very close to the area where you took the first 3 photos... Close to 48th & Chicago. I miss the area badly for the bike trails! I need to move back.
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