Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
Tue, 08 Jul 2014
I've been eyeing the ez430-CHRONOS watches for a year or so (since discovering that someone had written code for one to have it show Mars time). The $60 price tag was always too high for what I knew would be a relatively throw-away toy.
So, when I found this page at 43oh.com (a 60% discount if you use the CHRON_SCORE coupon code, apparently related to the World Cup), the temptation was too great. Assuming TI's atrocious store UI didn't lead me astray, I have a 915 MHz version headed my way.
If you're interested in a programmable watch with open-source programming tools, this seems worth following up on, but it expires on July 14th or 15th (it's not obvious to me which), so don't dally.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it (probably a first test will be to load Mars time), but it should be a fun thing to play with. You know, in all my spare time.
Posted at 14:56 permanent link category: /gadgets
I discovered a few weeks ago that all the obvious consumables on my Surly Disc Trucker were in need of replacement: brake pads down to nothing, chain well over 1% stretched, rear tire cracked and front acceptable but looking worn.
Time for an overhaul.
The drivetrain was fairly straightforward, although I foolishly hoped that my front chainring would be good enough. After just over 3000 miles on the same chain and cogs (time flies when you're having fun, I guess), it all had to be scrapped, though. The new chain creaked and groaned uncomfortably with the old chainring, so I ordered a Surly stainless steel front ring, and tossed the big and small chainrings to make it single-speed in front.
On the tire front, I had had my heart set on Vittoria Randonneur Pros based on my previous very good experience with them. However, I checked in with numerous local shops and couldn't find them. I found some Randonneur IIs, but they didn't have the reflective stripe that I've come to consider a requirement for urban cycling.
When I went into Freerange Cycles in Fremont (where I got my bike in the first place), Kathleen recommended Schwalbe Marathon Supremes, offering up some persuasive arguments that boiled down to, "They're really good, and worth the surprisingly high price." She knows what she's talking about, and has never upsold me when there wasn't a clear advantage for me as well as her for her income. I took the chance, and dropped $160 on a pair of schmancy German tires.
I just got back from my first day riding on them, and I can tell you that the difference was quite noticeable. My previous tires were the Continental Contacts which came with the bike. I was never enamoured of them, but it seemed silly to discard perfectly serviceable tires. The Contacts are, according to Continental's numbers, 660g tires (or just under a pound and a half if you swing that way). They were durable, never suffering from a puncture flat from glass -- I think I lost one load of air to a very thin wire which would only have been deflected by solid steel. I've certainly dug a fair number of glass chips out of the Contacts' tread blocks, so they were very effective at their job of keeping me rolling.
The big thing I was hoping to get with the Vittorias, and which was also true of the Marathons, was a reduction of weight. I believe the 700c x 35mm Marathon Supremes and Randonneur Pros are the same weight: 440g, or just under a pound. Losing 1/3 of the tire weight on a big rotating inertia storage device like a wheel should make a noticeable difference, and I was curious to see whether I could actually feel it or not.
Those of you who've ever made a change like this already know the answer: losing almost a pound of rotational weight made a huge difference. It's not like my heavy touring bike turned into a rocket racer, but I could definitely feel the difference. It was a very pleasant change. And that's only after the first day of riding.
The change that I hadn't expected was the difference in suspension. The Trucker is many things, but "plush" isn't one of them. No sliding gubbins here, just comparatively stiff 4130 steel. I'd always assumed that this was just the way things were and would always be. The Marathons were a welcome surprise, softening out any number of traditionally cringe-inducing pavement flaws (the tree roots on the Burke Gilman trail didn't become more pleasant, but perhaps became a bit less harsh).
Reviews suggest that the wet grip is also quite good, but I haven't had a chance to check on that. In any case, I'm such a conservative rider when it comes to testing the limits of things like traction that I don't expect to make any surprising discoveries any time soon.
So, based on about 20 miles' ride so far, the Marathon Supremes get a solid thumbs-up from me. We'll see what happens wtih durability and the ability to reject glass, but based on the experiences of others, I'm not too worried.
Posted at 00:06 permanent link category: /bicycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater