Repair Highlight

May was month #9 in the 12 x 100 Challenge (one century per month for a year). It was a busy month (as are all) and we scheduled the ride with a day to spare (whew!). So this past Saturday (May 30th) we set off early. For the first time in 9 rides we had beautiful weather (that's right, we were 0 for 8 as of Saturday morning). JOY!

Being that we have now completed the really challenging months I decided to add a theme to our May Century. I loaned Derek an Airnimal Joey D (drop bar Joey) and I rode my Airnimal Joey Explore 27 and we called it our Joey Century. The Airnimal Joey is a suitcase style folding bike with 24" wheels. I set up Derek's Joey D to match the fitting he has with his Surly Cross Check. I ride my Joey Explore every day as it's my daily commuter set up with fenders and  rack. I have fallen in love with this bike as it's a sporty rocket that can be nicely fit into a trunk with a simple 45 second "trunk" fold. I have suitcased it a couple of times to fly with it, but I don't travel enough to take huge advantage of that aspect of the bike.

The weather was absolutely beautiful  and the only hiccup in the 100 miles was me having a worn out rear tire and thus having to deal with those consequences (shame on me). Derek rocked out on the Joey in spite of the fact that he'd never ridden a folding bike. The transition was pretty seamless for him. I learned that my Joey is just as versatile as I knew. I've said many times that if I had to have one frame for the rest of my life I'd choose the Joey. I Love It!

We met up on the Greenway here in Minneapolis and we headed east through St. Paul and out to Stillwater. Then we followed the St. Croix river south to Afton before swinging west and making our way back to Minneapolis.

Bike Details:

Derek's Joey: 9 Speed Joey D with a bottle cage and a Carradice Nelson seat bag supported with a Utilitarian Transports UT Support Rack. 52 tooth chainring with an 11-32 cassette on the rear. Panaracer Pasela tires (24 x 1", 115 PSI)

Luke's Joey: 27 speed Joey Explore with Salsa Bar-Ends, bottle cage, rack and fenders. This Joey Exp;ore was built up with 520 wheels ("roadie" sized 24" wheels as opposed to the 507 wheels that are the stock Joey Explore size) with Intense Microknobby 24 x 1-3/8" tires.

Peter Eland, bike culture aficionado and editor of VeloVision, has published eight years of top-notch articles. The issue with Dale and Mary has everything from bikes in Phnom Pennhe, to reviews from Cycle 2008 (the major bike show in the UK), some bike reviews, a bike light test, an interesting article on how people pedal their children to school and other eclectic cycle stories.

Velo Vision Issue #32 Article

We're always excited and inspired when the new VeloVision arrives at the shop -- every issue is filled with great pictures and stories that you just don't see anywhere else. In fact, we're so fond of VeloVision that we're the U.S. subscription agent! We also stock back issues. Check out VeloVision on our website here: www.perennialcycle.com/velovision

You can see Velo Vision here: Velo Vision Website

Check out the Gallery of some bike rides Dale and Mary have been out on:

The Surly Karate Monkey is a well known machine in the world of 29ers (bikes with extra large 29" wheels). The horizontal dropouts are great for single speed, fixie or internal gear set ups, yet a derailleur hanger on the dropout makes it easy to add gears.

Chris digs his Karate Monkey a lot and came in ready to add a sweet rack and get some nice panniers for hauling a bit of his world around with him on his bike. The Tubus Logo was his rear rack of choice, but it looked like it would barely clear his rear tire (too low!) and being that he has a pair of bigger tires at home (to say nothing of fitting fenders to the bike) this tight clearance cannot be ignored.

Lucky for him he is well versed in a software program called Solidworks. He created a drawing of the hardware he needed to extend the height of the Logo Rack and then sent his drawing (as a digital file) to a machinist that made the hardware (and even anodized them blue to match his bike).

The disc brake side (pictured above) is using a 17mm Disco Rack Spacer (a Perennial Cycle custom product) as a way to clear the disc brake.

Very Nice work Chris!

Vision Recumbent was a strong recumbent brand for about 10 years (Vision went out of business in 2003). They were well recognized for their Under Seat Steering (USS) recumbent design.

This Double Vision tandem was purchased used by Peg who happens to have a single Vision (USS R-42 with a 16" front wheel). She purchased the tandem with Over Seat Steering (OSS) and she had us convert it to USS as that's her preference and after a couple of summers riding it OSS she knew that she wanted it converted.

The conversion was a pretty large task in that the parts are not available, so we had to make them. We used seatpost clamps on each side handlebar which meant that the bars were adjustable up and down as well as in or out. The conversion ended with a great position that pleased the owner very much.

These types of jobs are a real challenge and very satisfying at the same time. Being that Perennial Cycle was one of Vision's largest dealers for many of their years in business, we certainly are familiar enough with their designs to pull off this job.