Buying Bike Parts. Wouldja do it?

    eBay does it, so does Craig's List and also MTBR. BUT why not ME!?

    Well I'm interested into, start selling some bike stuff, I figured this would be a great forum to do so. I wouldn't have to pay any fees other than the cut PayPal gets. I just wonder if people would be interested in some of my new and 2nd hand stuff.

    For instance, I got a great Trek full suspension sitting in my garage begging to be ridden. Somewhere on this blog, I have posted pictures of this bike. It's about 4 years old, it hasn't been beaten, I'm far from a huckster, it's been professionally been taken care of, tune-ups regularly and was given lotsa love. What would one wanna pay for something like that? Is it like buying a car, where it depreciates once it leaves the car lot or in this case, once it's been ridden on a trail? Or how about this concept called Trade My Bicycle. Where you trade your bicycle for instant store credit, I like the concept but I just wonder if it will really work. In the condition section of that site, I'd rate the Trek to be in "excellent to excellent plus" condition and it will probably see a tune-up prior to it being sold.

    I may also got some parts for sale. I got a pair of Eggbeaters sitting out in the garage. I tried to use them on 1 ride but I didn't like them and went back to using my Time ATAC carbons. I bought them because they were light and we the latest cool pedal out. I think they are the CrankBrothers Egg Beaters SL. They weight in at 266 grams a pair and that's pretty sweet! I also have Easton 2006 MonkeyLite SL riser bar.

    I will have to look around the garage this weekend to see what else I got to sell, I think I might have tires in there, maybe the Kenda Nevegal 2.1 tire. While yer on that link, check out the size of the outer knobs on the "King of Traction" tire, jeeze i could have used that mud tire last weekend.

    Has anyone had any luck selling outside of those forums mentioned above?

happy trails
~dirty bert

Spinning the Night Away!

    I slacked last month with riding. I think I missed the whole month and it wasn't because of being sick or having to do with the weather but trying and I hate to say it, trying to finish christmas shopping. Work was hectic and on top of that, I got a frantic call from my mother, that she fell and broke her shoulder. So with taking care of her and shopping and working, my bike was buried in the garage under all the boxes of outdoor lights and furniture AND still covered in the dried mud of the month before.

    Within the month of bike slacking, I also neglected going to the gym so I asked santa to bring me a bike trainer. I figured I could spin in my unheated garage amongst the mountains of cardboard boxes while staring at the garage door. I thought it would be fun. I ruled out asking santa for rollers because i thought it wouldn't be fun, careening off the roller and smashing into the garage door or better yet into the beer frig.

    I thought about getting the trainer that ran along the rim like, Minoura's Progressive Rim Drive. It's ideal for mtn bikes so it cuts back on the noise and tire wear. Tire wear!? Like I need something that eats away at my 40 dollar tire. I'd rather have a rock rip the sidewall than this to happen. But I ended up asking santa for Travel Trac Century Fluid Plus trainer (wow, that was a mouthful). My plans were to take my Trek Liquid and put a slick tire on it and spin the night away.

    This never happened. Instead santa got me a much needed Fox Racing Launch knee/shin guards. I now look like a baseball catcher riding a bike. Don't get me wrong, there real nice and will save my knee when i do go back to riding at Chimney Rock. And they look pretty sweet, in a heavy duty fashion.

    Well anyway, I know I got off topic here but I was wondering if anyone uses a trainer and or what brand are they using? Thanks!

Happy Trails!
~dirty bert

Single Speed Anyone!?

    Have you noticed the sudden population by bicycle companies to make SS and 29er's? Nearly every bike company has a 29er or a single speed. I haven't jumped on the band wagon but I am certainly interested in the concept.

    Going SS would bring me back into my early childhood days, where I rode back and forth in from of my house on my Ross. My Ross was blue with a gigantic banana seat. I'm sure the monster weighted more than my 5" bike now. I remember having blocks on my pedals, to help me reach my pedals.

    This past summer I was trying to decide whether to jump on the bandwagon and build a SS or 29er up or just get a road bike. I figured I'd have more fun customizing a SS/29er than a road bike and still be able to take it off road as well. It would cost a lot less than what I would spend on a road bike. So over the past months I have been thinking about what are my favorite single speed or 29er would be. I also like the idea of having a 29er wheel in the front and a 26" wheel in the back with Avid BB7's. The jury is still out on whether or not, i'd go with a suspension fork. Ok, here are my few choices.

1. Niner Bikes and i like this model, it's called ONE 9. I like the Godzilla Green, then Tang and then Hot Tamale. There's no price list on the website but I'm sure they don't come as cheap as some of my other choices.
2. Monoco Flight 29er by Redline. Pea soup green, is the color with Avid BB5's and a rigid fork. That's gotta feel good, while truckin' down a rocky hill. It will be like riding on a jack hammer.
3. Now I know, I have no chance in buying this bike but it is still sweet looking bike with all the custom details to it. Offroad by Independent Fabrication. I bet this is bike costs close to 2k.
4. I bet you thought, they were no longer around, but GT is back with their Peace 9r. V-brakes are used and it looks like there's no disc tabs on this bike but I think I'd upgrade to Avid v-brakes and there line of cables as well.
5. We can't forget about Gary Fisher and his bike called Rig. A lot of cash for a SS/29er, but for $1199 but you get a Reba SL fork and Avid BB7 brakes, it makes it a sweeter bike.
6. I'd like this bike, the 1FG Ultra by Cannondale even more if it had a Lefty fork and BB7's. I wonder what a Lefty fork would look like with a big 29er wheel on it. Is it possible or was this a dumb question.
7. Now Trek has a sweet looking SS called 69er. The price scares me but a custom double crown Maverick fork and Juicy 7's, it sounds pretty serious for that root beer color bike.

    I could go on and on and bore you even more but like i said everyday, there seems to be another bike company making a SS or 29er. I also can do what everyone else does and convert an old mtn bike into a SS. I got an old Giant Iguana laying around with Suntour thumb shifters and a crank. It might be even more fun to restore that old bike and maybe even get it repainted. I guess it would be fun to breath life into my old bike that gave me hours of fun, all over again.

Happy Trails
~Dirty Bert

New Year's Resolutions

    People tend to make new year's resolutions that there never gonna keep. They do it for a few weeks or even days and then give up. I'm going to try to make some new year's resolutions, that can be attainable. Here are some of my ideas...

• Try to post everyday. Try is the key word.
• Make this blog into a RSS feed.
• I wanna re-ride Ringwood (i haven't been there in 2+ years)
• I wanna re-ride Huber Woods (i haven't been there in 3+ years)
• I wanna re-ride Mahalon Dickerson (i haven't been there in 2+ years)
• I wanna ride Waywayanda (Mmm bear)
• I wanna re-ride Allamuchy (i haven't been there in 6+ years)
• I wanna ride Wissahickon, PA
• I wanna ride Fairmount Park, PA
• Sell my Trek Liquid.
• Learn how to maintain my bike.
• I want a road bike.
• Clean my garage and make it stop growing cardboard.


• AND most important, to ride more!

    I think my list is doable, we will see. I'm sure I'll break #1 very quickly.

    I'm thankful and happy that I had so many people visit this blog last year. I don't get a lot of people who comment so it's had to see if anyone is reading it other than my friends. So I started to keep track of how many people came to the blog but I had only tracked it from November to December and reached a total of 539 people.

    I was really interested to see where people viewed this blog. Here's the US breakdown. 24 from California, 20 from NJ, 10 from Wisconsin, 3 from Pennsylvania, 3 from Texas, 3 from Massachusetts and so on. Also here is other countries. 9 from UK, 1 from Australia, 1 from Czech Republic, 1 from Korea, 1 from Netherlands, 1 from Canada and 1 from Finland.

    Anyway, enough of that and let me get back to the important stuff. In the coming blogs, I'll be posting some of bike parts that I'm willing to sell and that trusty new/old Trek will be up for grabs. Some else should love it, like I once did. I'm sure I can find a loving home for it. So who what's it!?!?

happy trails
~dirty bert