Saturday in Phoenix

Social media, despite its tendency to be a huge timewaster, can be a wonderful thing.  I've been posting Brompton related pictures on Instagram an have been followed by a dude in Phoenix named Opahippie.  I check out his pics, and he has some of himself riding his Brompton around downtown Phoenix with a Burley Travoy trailer.  Opa says that he's got a gang meeting up on Saturday at 8th Day Coffee & Culture.  Great!  I'll be up there anyways to go to Portapedal to get some work done.  I met a great group of people!

Dan (of Urban Cookies), Opa (of Bike Force) & Myself at 8th Day Coffee & Culture 

I also got to check out Bike Force and the Travoy Trailer that they use to carry large cargo around town.

My B with the Travoy

Another view of the B with the Travoy

 Back at 8th Day, someone pointed out I had a lump in my rear tire.

Bump in rear tire

Another bump in the rear tire

Fortunately the folks at Portapedal were able to replace it.  I also changed my chainring to the 50 tooth, going from -12% reduction to standard 6 speed gearing.  I also bought the last pair of kevlar folding Kojaks that they had.  I'm hoping all of that will keep me from being embarrassed at the US championships.

One user's perspective on the Brompton Toolkit

Even though I have a review of the Brompton Toolkit, I haven't really had to use it yet. I've pretty much made my tires as flat-proof as possible and when I am home tweaking things I usually reach for my mechanic's set of tools.

Chris Rust left me a comment describing his frustration in using the toolkit:

Sadly this lovely gadget just doesn't work. The tip of one of my tyre levers broke the first time I used it and the knurled wheel on the end of the spanner bites into my hand painfully when applying force to a tight wheel nut.
And before anybody says Brompton know about the tyre lever problem and are fixing it, the fix appears to be to make the narrow lever wider and the wide lever narrower, the one that broke for me is the wide one.

Here is a link to Chris' full post here.

Like Chris said, I know Brompton is working on a remedy for the tire levers... I hope that they take their time and get things correct this time. Next time I need to fix something I'll make it a point to use the toolkit and relay my experience.

Another convert...

Last week my friend & owner of Metrognome Music (earlier post here) received his red M3R that he won on eBay.

Check out the rack on that beauty!!

I'm trying to get him indoctrinated into the Brompton culture as fast as I can, and hopefully he'll start coming out to Meetup events.

Bisbee Bicycle Brothel

I tagged along on a trip to the Bisbee Bicycle Brothel with HT from the Tucson Brompton Meetup group.  She had bought a 42cm frame and was going to pick it up.  The shop is a very cool collection of vintage bikes and collectables and Ken (the owner) is a cool guy who has probably forgotten more than I'll ever know about biking history.



Unfortunately for us, Ken is closing the physical store / museum to enjoy travelling and other pursuits.   Here's the Tucson Velo write-up about the closing of the store. I'm not certain exactly when his doors are closing, but if you are anywhere in the area, I recommend you take a visit before Ken closes his doors for good.  Don't fret if you can't get there though, because Ken will still be selling stuff online.

While HT and Ken were chatting I was checking out the wall of photographs and saw this guy...

Brompton World Championship 2008 flyer

I had already discussed with Ken that HT and I ride Bromptons, and when I hollered out at HT to check this out, Ken said I could have it.  Whaaaaat?!?!  I promised Ken that if a similar flyer is available for this year's US Championship that I'd send it down to him.

Thanks for the good time Ken!

Brompton in new advert video

This new advertisement for Berocca (an energy supplement) pairs Andrei Burton with a Brompton.  Burton is the top mountain bike rider in the UK, but here he shows his stuff on the B.

Great exposure for both Burton & Brompton!

Cyclovia Tucson 2013, Weekend 1

Yesterday (April 7) was the first of two Cyclovia events in Tucson for 2013.  Cyclovia Tucson is based on the Bogota Ciclovia, where several streets are closed to motorized traffic and walkers, skaters and cyclists are free to roam the streets.

The weather was pretty warm as is customary this time of year.  Regardless, there was a great turnout with lots of opportunities to people & bike watch.  It was just HT Chen and myself for the Brompton contingent, but we saw quite a few Bike Fridays.

I've got some video footage, but I've noticed that I seem to tilt my head a bit, making the footage a little skewed.  I'll see if I can correct it post-production before posting it up.

Unfortunately I was too busy talking and taking in the sights to take many good pictures.

Trying out the Sun Tran Hybrid Bus.

Some better pictures can be found on the Tucson Velo site.

Brompton US Championship Registration is LIVE!

The Brompton US Championship registration went live earlier this afternoon (link here).  I am already signed up and looking forward to it!  Watch out Prince, Lake Minnetonka and Jucy Lucy!