Firstly, today's your last day to enter the Jones SWB Giveaway Contest:
I'm not even linking to the contest rules because I can't handle any more entries. Just know that if your entry is e-postmarked after 11:59pm today (my time obviously) then I won't consider it. Flipping through, I will say there are some worthy potential recipients so it's going to be a difficult decision on my part. Then again, a lot of you are selfish people who don't deserve a bike, so that does make things a bit easier for me.
Secondly, the Tresca came yesterday!
Not to be confused with the soft drink:
Oh, Tresca's in London, and they also threw in some local delicacies:
As soon as the bike arrived I put it together, and this morning I took it out for a ride:
I should point out that my crappy photos don't do the bike justice. Specifically, while it may look like it's painted grey and black, the "grey" is in fact raw aluminum, which looks really cool. (At least I think it does, and you've probably noticed I like my bikes either black or metal color.) Anyway, you can see it better on their Instagram.
As for sweeping pronouncements, I'm not going to make any after only one ride, but let's say for now that I enjoyed that ride very much and I'm looking forward to many more.
Then, if all that wasn't exciting enough, when I got home from my ride two (2) packages were waiting for me. One of them was this package of brake pads:
See, I'm tuning the braking on my new-to-me "forever" bike (I love this bike and want everything about it to be perfect) and for reasons I won't bore you with I wanted to try these somewhat hard-to-find brake pads.
The other package contained something else for my "forever" bike:
As you may recall, I received the bike with a pair of Mavic Scaryums, which bike dorks know have a bushing in the freehub that can eventually wear out and shriek loudly. While the freehub in mine is working just fine, there is some play in there, and even though it's extremely easy to open the whole thing up and lube it preemptively from time to time I'm much more the "set it and forget it" type. So what you see above is an aftermarket kit, available on eBay, that replaces that bushing with a bearing. I find all of this tremendously exciting, which should give you a good idea of where I'm at in life. We'll see if it works.
And with that I'm going to sequester myself and spend all weekend reading Jones essay submissions. Ride safe, ride safely, and above all, ride safe this weekend.
Love,
--Tan Tenovo
18 comments:
Happy New-Bike Friday (not new BikeFriday) everyone!
The SWB Jones looks dreamy in the leaf filtered sunlight -- may the recipient have many fun rides : )
I am hoping for a thorough review of the jelly babies, but only after you have given them a full test.
I JUST REALIZED IT'S FRIDAY THE 13TH (one of the many things I learn from perusing this here blogspace)
Looks like your seventeen (17) human children will need to slug it out for the limited supply of British delicacies.
Or you could use the delicacies to fuel some weekend riding.
Wait, Friday the 13th?
You know, I was wondering why my dog woke me up this morning by sitting on my chest while wearing a hockey mask.
In retrospect, he did seem disappointed I wasn't startled.
Oh well, ride safe all.
I'm already anticipating the possible change of your moniker-way to 'Gray Fresca' if the NYPD sees fit to ticket you ever again.
"British delicacies" is an oxymoron.
I was very much a fan of the Swisstop Green, well done for getting some, when I couldn't get them anymore I moved to Koolstop salmons, which I must say I prefer.
I'm a resident in the UK, and Jelly Babies are VERY cycling sweets, my chosen emergency energy sweet. More like real food than most energy products too And my favourite Dr Who (Tom Baker) offered them around a lot.
Bournville Chocolate used to be great until Kraft brought out Cadburys and cheapened it. Bournville is actually an area in Birmingham in the West Midlands (UK). Bacause of Cadburys Quaker roots it is a dry village and has no pubs. It is a very pretty village in Brum.
Speaking as an English person, these are not delicacies. Spam. Black pudding. These are (continues until war is won)
Judge snob to swb winner: r u my pal, mr scholarship winner?
I find it hard to believe readers of this blog could possibly be bored by a discussion of brake pads.
Decided not to enter the Jones-a-way because I would probably just use it for winter commuting, and that would just be cruel. So there's one less wordy, rambling, disconnected essay you need to slog through. You're welcome.
Jones bike? Hell, I was driving past a community yardsale today and a gentleman was selling a Fat Chance Team. My size, for the love of Lob. Spinergy wheels. Only wanted a hundred clams.
Jeeze, was I tempted. Had like sixty bucks in my wallet, and the bank wasn't closing for an hour and a half. ATM just down the street.
Talked it over with my kitteh Mister Grouchypants*, and his thinking was, "Hoomin, you haz like elebenteen bikes already, and they all need love. Wouldn't be fair to them to bring in an otter bike, and besides, there's folks out there that can use a sweet ride. I'm sure that one of them will give the buykissle a gud forebber home.
Dammit Old Man, when you're right, you're right. Guess a kitteh doesn't keep a pet hoomin around for fifteen years without learning a thing or two about him.
kthxbai
*Two pair just in case.
Just FYI I have tried that exact Mavic freehub rebuild kit - the bushing seems to fit OK but the pawls and springs seem not to be to spec. Maybe I just got a bad batch, but if you reassemble your hub with all of the parts from the kit your freehub may stick.
Be sure to keep the old pawls and springs in case you need to use them again. The OEM bushing lasts a decade and the aftermarket replacement bushing lasts about one year before the howling resumes.
If your hub is not causing problems now, I recommend against trying to "fix it" with this kit.
STG,
I think you may be talking about a different kit. This is not a replacement bushing. This kit replaces the bushing with a cartridge bearing. (He does also sell a bushing replacement kit which I suspect is what you're talking about.)
I'm in no hurry to do the conversion but judging from the fairly generous play in the freehub I'll have to do something sooner or later. In theory by replacing the bushing with the bearing you no longer have to worry about wear.
Having said all that, I am more than prepared for this not to work.
--Tan Tenovo
Oh cool. Wish I knew about the bearing kit.
Cheers
Sean
By your description the Tresca seems like a good bike; I think the thing that gives me pause is the name! Yeah, it does sound like Fresca, but beyond that I am wondering how they ever arrived at a name like that? Yeah, I know that Trek, Cannondale & Specialized are all names that are already taken, but Tresca sounds like a name chosen by a committee of Eastern European marketing types who were trying for something exotic sounding, but instead it sounds kinda Cheesy. To my mind this handicaps it from the get-go! - masmojo
In all honesty the name is really simple, see info here:
www.trescabikes.com/journey
We promise no marketing guys were involved ;)
my first thought was a '70s snack. a cross between triscuit and fresca
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