Pedal Fetish?

I love pedals. I cannot help it. I love looking at them. I love thinking about them. I love talking about them. I just love pedals.

I have a few pairs that I am most proud of...

1. I am most proud of my Brooklyn Machine Works Shinburgers. These are CNC'd out of solid aluminum to make your feel stick like clipless. Once, while I was jumping off of some stairs, I actually became unglued to the right pedal. As I came down full force, I felt a dull pain on my left shin. The kind of dull pain that smell like a hospital is in your future. The kind of pain that makes you forget everything around you. I rolled up my pants to see the damage. I leaned in for a good look and found a perfect pyramid indentation about 3 cm deep right where the pedal had gone in... to my shinguard... I still got a nasty bruise and bragging rights.

2. My second favorite pedals are my old school Atomic Lab Trail Pimps. They are super thin and beautiful. I love looking at them and I love getting hurt riding them. My best injury with these pedals came when I was waiting on my sidewalk for my friend Evan to show up so we could get really really hurt. When he showed up, I was laying down holding my shin sort of laughing. I had been trying to be a trials rider on my bmx bike and had slipped. The pedal shaved a wide thick chuck of skin off of my shin and it was hanging from my pedal. I should've taken a picture because it could be its own website.

3. My last, but still favorite pedals aren't original or different, but I still love them. It is the Crank Brothers Mallets. I just love the simplicity and the absolute usefulness of them. I don't have any great pedal related accidents with them and I plan on keeping it that way. I can pull up as hard as I want and not worry about rolling off the pedals. That is fun. Feels like I am running up the hill instead of doing lunges.

Well, it could be real. But...

Hyperbike

I get it, I just don't really get it. My brother sent me this link and I looked all over the web and it appears as if this is a real thing. However, I feel a little offended by its assumptions and accusations.

Here goes with my re-"but..."-L's:
But, my seat doesn't actually hurt me, because my bike is set up so there isn't any pressure on my crotch, and certainly no junk ripping harness when I fall.
But, I can get going as fast as you do on your video on my mountain bike with big tires.
But, I can't lift it up into my apartment
But, where do I get parts? Tires? Service?
But, I like that bikes can go pretty much anywhere

Okay, I'd still love to ride one and see what it feels like. I'm a sucker for 2 wheels and gears.

More Links:
Official Hyperbike Site
Hyperbike Video or something

Chomping at the Bit

We at Salvagetti are dying to ride. We feel pain in our bones that aches through to our hearts. We know summer is coming, but riding through the winter makes all the cold blues go away. Makes them (oh lord don't say it...) melt.

We at Salvagetti want warmth, and this winter has changed our definition of warmth. We want 40 degree weather or I'd even take some 38 degree days, but this 37 days (so far) of cold and snow and ice has lost its luster. Yes, it was nice a few days this week, but there is still ice on 11th and 12th that makes riding it border line stupid. We've had to ride it, but it doesn't make it okay.

We at Salvagetti want you to think warm with us. Ready???
- Cold beer sounds delicious
- Smell of sun tan oil is not good, but reminds you of warm days
- Plant that garden with lots of squash
- RIDE! RIDE! RIDE!

We thank you! See you soon.

Shop Dog, Shop Dog, Shop Dog

We are getting a shop dog!

Her name is Myra. She is a vizsla. Today she is 48 days old. That means we still have a few days before we can get her and then a few more days before we have her in the shop. Then, she will be there almost every single day we are open. Please come by and say hello to her when you get a chance.

When she is full grown, she will be about 45 lbs and tough as nails, except she will also be sweet. She will be able to ride a bike by the time she is 1 year old and we will be entering her in cross country races (most likely the Winter Park Series) by the time she is 1 and a half. She has to earn her keep if she wants to get free bike stuff for life.

Helmets make death optional

I heard another great I-had-a-helmet-on-and-it-saved-my-life story:

One of the messengers in Downtown Denver had to work in the gross frozen yet still wet web of streets this past storm (Dec 2006). He had the few days off of riding because the offices were shut down and there was no reason to have bike messengers running around. So back to work, ice is on the sidewalks, on lamp posts, on roads, on cars, on EVERYTHING. This guy is just feeling proud to be able to stay upright on his bike with all the ice and idiots on the road. He gets a call to a place on Broadway that has all sorts of weird architecture going on. He locks up his bike and is walking toward the front door when he gets smacked on the top of his head in an apparent death blow style chomp by an entire windows worth of sheet ice. His lump of foam in plasic saved his life while he was walking. I guess he should be glad he is comfortable in it.

Bringing it all back home

We have had a guilty conscience for not having a great selection of steel bicycles for sale here. So, we started researching companies and steel bikes in general. Steel is such a great material for bikes, you have to wonder why companies went elsewhere. People follow what the latest trend is.

But, our customers are different. They expect us to provide an experience with cycling. And that is why we have decided to bring in Jamis bicycles (http://www.jamisbikes.com). Jamis is one of the last big cycling companies to still be individually owned. When you start researching companies that seem to be independant (Gary Fisher is an obvious example), you will find that they are owned by Trek. (Trek also owns Bontrager, Rolf, Lemond, and Klein (all last names...)). The small company gets to refine its product to specific people. We think they made their bikes for Denver.

Soon enough, we will detail all the bikes we are bringing in on our website. Almost all of them are steel. All of them are cool.

Built by Scott for Scott

Scott, the owner, built his first ever bike frame! It is made of butted steel and lugs, silver and brass. The frame has a 60cm top tube and seat tube and horizontal drops.It was designed by Chris from Generic Cycles, with Scott yelling all the while in the background to move this here and change that there, until... they came to an agreement about the geometry with a given fork (a carbon wrapped Cheapy).

Next thing you know the tubes are getting cut and filed, the lugs cleaned up and thinned and shaped. The jig that was used is a Blacksheep cycles exclusive that is easy to set up and maintain. After a few tweeks to the tubes, lugs, fork ends and jig brazing began.

Scott's minimal experience with a torch was seen immediately, hence the spots of extra silver here and there all over the lugs. The secret is to be good at welding apparently, which comes with practice.

After a few hours of fluxing and brazing, laughing and staring, there was a completed bicycle frame of a tiny bit over 4 lbs. What a breath-taking sight, a frame made by an amateur.

Anyways, once Scott gets off his high horse and builds up the bike, maybe he'll let you ride it. But, only after you sign a waiver...