Fort Bragg

Jennifer and I ran up to Fort Bragg for a couple days to see her cousin's new(ish) brewery.

Patrick was the longtime brewmaster at North Coast Brewing (which is located right around the corner from Tall Guy) before opening his own brewery.

We had a nice visit with Patrick and took the grand tour. The beer was great and the location is one street removed from Highway 1 in a quaint part of town. I already want to go back.

We only went riding once, but this was by design. We both rode a lot leading up to this trip, so one mellow ride was just what the doctor ordered.

The trail along the ocean was only a couple turns from our hotel. Within a couple minutes we were riding along the water.

We reached the end of the trail to the north and turned back after a selfie.

The riding shares some obvious similarities with Monterey, but it was different enough that we slowed down and looked around a bit more.

After reaching the southern end of the trail, we headed into town. I was looking for a haul road I found on Google Earth that runs east out of town. After a few wrong turns, we found the somewhat hidden entrance.

The road follows the Noyo river upstream. It was paved until we hit the bridge.

After the bridge it turned to gravel and there wasn't much enthusiasm to continue. On our Jones bikes it would have been fun, but the mini velos were out of their element on the bumpy, rutted surface.

We turned around and headed back to our hotel. Normally we aren't satisfied with only 17 miles, but it was a perfect ride for this trip.

I broke out my little Canon PowerShot SX210 IS for this trip. Most of the pictures in this post were taken with it. This is a camera that has traveled the world with us for 15 years, but I think there are probably better options now.

When only carrying my iPhone, I often get frustrated when I can't zoom in on an animal or some other interesting subject.

The 14X optical zoom is nice for those situations, something you can't get with a smart phone. (The current iPhone 16 Pro still only offers 5X optical zoom.)

The compact size is great. It's smaller than my phone, but twice as thick. With that compact size comes a small sensor that only performs well when there is plenty of light.

The image stabilization works well for photos, but not for video as you can see below.

If you made it through that without getting motion sickness, congratulations.

Anyway, the TLDR version: Tall Guy has great beer, Fort Bragg is a cool place to visit, and the perfect camera does not exist.

Later.

Mini Biking

I "finished" building the Neutrino some weeks back, not long after finishing the condominium renovation in Tahoe. It isn't in its final form yet as evidenced by the uneven color scheme and a couple ancient parts, but close enough.

So far I have used it for errands and a couple rides, one around 20 miles and yesterday a flat 37 mile ride along the canal. This was a test of sorts because the ride around Cozumel is over 41 miles with very little elevation change.

The bike itself passed with flying colors, albeit with a couple caveats with component choice. 

As for the platform itself, the mini velo with 20-inch wheels is really just a bike. Your brain adjusts pretty quickly to the twitchy steering, and this is coming from someone who regularly rides what might be the longest and most stable bike around in the Jones LWB (long wheel base). Once that hurdle is out of the way, you simply ride. It's just a bike.

Considering my main ride, the aforementioned Jones LWB, is a steel behemoth with three-inch knobby tires, the Neutrino is downright fast. In fact, towards the end of the ride yesterday I held off a guy on a road bike for a couple miles until he out-geared me on a downhill. The 42x11 high gear combined with 20-inch wheels simply isn't made for racing speeds. I spun madly while he pulled away.

In many situations the Neutrino would be far superior to the 26-inch travel bike it is likely replacing. The only time it would be inferior is when the pavement ends. I would be pretty comfortable on anything but the roughest gravel roads, but I know Jennifer would not. The instability of the little wheels would definitely make her uncomfortable.

One interesting aspect to the mini velo is how well it climbs. Well, once you figure out how to do it right. It climbs fine in the saddle, but really excels when you stand. When I first tried standing it felt horrible and sketchy, but I quickly figured out that you really need to saw the bike back and forth like a BMX bike. When you do that it feels very natural, but maybe that's because I spent many years on a BMX bike. The other thing I noticed is you don't need to shift for hills. Simply stand up and start cranking, and the little wheels rocket right up the incline. This makes me believe it would perform very well as a single speed, which would be great for traveling.

Back in the day, the WTB SST saddle was my favorite. 

This one dates back to 2003 when I built my Santa Cruz Blur.

Perhaps in 22 years the foam has hardened up or something, but I found it very uncomfortable on our 37-mile ride yesterday.

The only other component of note is Steve Potts Siskiyou handlebar.

I thought it would be very similar to the Jones bar, but it really isn't. It's a couple inches wider, yet the grip section is much shorter, meaning a "regular" grip is in order. Part of the Jones appeal is the ability to use long (205mm) grips, which allow you to move your hands around. The sweep is 30 degrees to the Jones 45, and I prefer the greater sweep of the Jones. Also, I feel a little naked without my bag in the middle of my Jones bars.

The upside is I really dig the cow horns. It may seem dumb to have an "aero" position on a mini velo, but I appreciated it while riding into a stiff headwind. I use a similar position with the Jones bars, but these are better. I will miss that particular aspect of these bars should I change them out.

Later today we are heading up to Fort Bragg and taking the Neutrinos. We don't plan to do any serious riding, but it will still be a good test.

Later.

CP2 Update

I finished building Jennifer's Velo Orange Neutrino. It came out really well.

Due to current Archive shortages, the orange grips and pink pedals are merely functional placeholders for eventual black replacements.

I used the Jones loop bars with a 2.5 inch rise. Because Jones.

Due to the smaller wheel diameter lowering the effective gearing, a bigger chainring is necessary to compensate. This is a Cues crank with a 42 tooth chainring. Most people are using square taper cranks for mini velo builds, but I can't stand them. The quiet, creak-free two-piece crank is one of my favorite cycling innovations.

A 10-speed Deore XT 11-36 cassette is mated to a Zee derailleur for shifting duties. You can see the Zee derailleur has a very short cage, which is crucial for such a small wheel diameter. More gear range would have been nice, but a modern 12-speed derailleur would be dragging on the ground.

The Sun Ringle Duroc wheels are solid and modular, and they came with almost every cassette body and axle configuration one could need . . . except the one I needed. The pictured wheel on their website had an HG cassette, which was the one I needed, but the wheels showed up with Micro Spline and XD freehubs. After harassing Hayes with a few e-mails, they sent me an HG body.

Although the wheels are tubeless ready (coming pre-taped with valves and sealant included), 20" tubeless tires are still rare. I couldn't find any that met my needs. I went with non-tubeless Maxxis Grifters because I have had good luck with Maxxis overall. I had a heck of a time getting them seated, but once I did they held air like a champ. So far I haven't seen any sealant seepage through the sidewalls, which can happen with non-tubeless tires.

Typically you see mini velo builds with a huge stack of spacers under the stem; this is something I find aesthetically abhorrent. I used a Velo Orange Cigne stem as a much more elegant solution. The bars may even be a little high, but Jenn always has the option of using Jones bars with no rise.

My first test ride was eye opening. I expected something completely different, but it simply feels like a bike, albeit one with quicker steering. The acceleration is amazing. If you don't look down to see the tiny wheel, or the huge stem, it all feels very normal.

Jenn registered much the same reaction.

My frame is tucked safely away in the attic, where it will stay for a while. We are neck deep in a renovation, and I have little time, money or inclination right now. When I do get around to the build, it will look something like this:

Later.

Little Pink Velos for You and Me

I finally accumulated the parts to start building Jennifer's Velo Orange Neutrino mini velo.

It's very early in the experiment, obviously, but I can't help but feel one step closer to riding in Mexico again.

Later.

Cozumel Project Dos

You may remember when we took our bikes to Mexico. You can read about that here. I documented the whole build process, and you can read about that part here. 

Unfortunately, that was the only time we ever took the bikes anywhere on an airplane. There were many reasons for this, mostly due to the many other facets of life taking on more importance. Another reason was disassembling, reassembling and again disassembling two bikes that just barely fit in the boxes was a huge pain in the ass.

I still have vivid memories of the Mexican airport security agents opening the cases, rifling through the contents, and simply leaving the lids open because they couldn't get everything back in. A long line of tired and irritable tourists behind me grumbled as I struggled to rearrange the contents. It felt like trying to quickly solve a Rubik's cube with a gun to my head.

Fast forward almost a dozen years later and we are older, wiser and less flexible. Jenn still fits her bike fairly well, especially with the recent addition of 2.5" rise Jones bars (not pictured). That's the advantage of her frame being four inches smaller than mine, which puts her bars well above her saddle height.

Mine are way below my saddle.

After riding my Jones bikes for a number of years, being hunched over like this just isn't appealing. In fact, at my current age and flexibility, riding 40 miles around the island might very well kill me.

I am experimenting with some handlebar alternatives. First I tried Jones bars with a 2.5" rise. They were too low and just didn't feel right.

Then I tried my Surly Sunrise bars. They were better but still not high enough.

I am currently trying the Surly Sunset bars, which add another inch of rise. The height is great. Unfortunately they have a weird 14 degree BMX-inspired upsweep, and it feels pretty horrible.

Again, after many years on Jones bars, which tilt DOWN, having the bars tilt up feels awkward.

In the end, even if I reach a place where I am comfortable, I am left with a much bigger handlebar to somehow squeeze into an already cramped suitcase.

I tried to find a new fork so I could leave more steerer tube to get the bars higher, but finding a decent 26" fork with rim brakes these days is tough. Those are two dying standards. The alternative is a disc brake fork and new front wheel. More money, and I can't even be sure I would be happy with the outcome.

That got me thinking. I have been intrigued with mini velos since 2019 when Velo Orange introduced their Neutrino, but strictly from an N+1, "hey that would be neat to have" perspective. I never truly entertained having one.

In the last six years they have exploded in popularity with many other companies jumping on the mini velo bandwagon. They are marketed as a compact bike for apartment dwellers, urban commuters and travelers due to their smaller 20" wheel size. However, many people simply claim they are fun to ride.

In the last six months, Jenn has mentioned a return trip to Cozumel with the bikes many times. I would love to do it, but my bike fit and the hassle are some definite obstacles.

Then it occurred to me that swapping out 26" wheels for 20" wheels would greatly ease the packing space in the travel cases. Would mini velos be the answer?

The first step would be buying one. As luck would have it, Velo Orange was blowing out size small Neutrinos for 40% off. As an added bonus, last year's color was salmon. We're still in the pink zone, baby!

It should arrive in the next few days. It will take me a while to gather the parts, but hopefully it will be running by spring.

Jenn has wanted a bike for running errands, so that will be its main job. I'll outfit it with sensible parts and a rack.

After that, who knows? If it proves to be a capable bike for "real" riding, maybe we look at cutting it in half for air travel.

Later.