More to come

For those of you who are still checking on this blog...I will have great updates soon (all the photos are in other peoples' possession).

Suffice it to say. The bike is rollin'...it's in my garage now...and my old bike is under new management.

Check back in a few!!

Gettin' it done slowly

Man. It's been awhile since I posted huh? Well, a few things have been going on with the Big Dummy build, but progress has been made.

On September 17th some of my best friends in the world gather together in Tim's bedroom-turned-bike-shop where true bike-dork magic happened! With 2 growlers of beer, 2 hubs, 2 rims, 64 nipples (dudes not included) and spokes with brass washers, the nicest wheels I have ever owned were born. Nutman built the S.O.N. Nabendynamo front generator hub, while Tim assembled the Rohloff. They came out stout, lighter than expected, and purely sextastical! Thanks to Nut, Tim, Skot, Mike, and Jeremy for a killer wheel-building party.

Just this week (through the kindness of my friends) I was able to get a lot more done on my Dummy, and it's really starting to look good!

I have to admit that because of delays with unavailable parts, and stuff I had overlooked, I had really lost steam on getting this project done. I decided to run different tyres, and thanks to my good buddy Tim, I now have a worthy chain-tensioner (until the Rohloff one becomes available). Mike and Tim helped me run the extremely long XT hydraulic brakeset (feels amazing...awww shit!), Brant Speed lent a hand and made the final cut to the steerer tube, Brandon Richter kept the shop open for us, and the Curtains made sure there was beer. I love you all, and owe you tons!!

The only thing I really have left to get is the damn Brooks saddle, and I'm starting to change my mind on that. I'm a little worried about the fortitude of my ass versus the cow hide of the B-17

I'm considering the new Selle An-Atomica as an alternative. This saddle is very Brooks-like, but with a choadle cut-out for comfort....and it comes in a lot of colors (and ostrich skin! Sorry P.E.T.A.).

So...other than the saddle situation, I should her up and rolling early next week. Plenty of time before the Tour De Fat.

Oh! And for those of you working on your "Kong's Xtracycle Essays" you got less than 2 weeks left! I want final drafts in my hands or electronically sent to me by Sunday the 12th. We will then have a cruise/contest during the full moon the following Tuesday night.

IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE!!!

note: not my bench

Hell yes. The frame showed up today, and Cedric, the kind-hearted warehouse man, gave me a call at home. So Charis and I loaded up and rode down to the shop to check it out.

I had lofty ideas of frame-saving it while we were there, but it soon became obvious that keeping track of my daughter and spraying toxic aerosol chemicals, were not going to work well together.

But, I at least got to open up the box, oggle it with my workmates, and prep the frame for later. Note all the blue band-aids to plug the weep-holes before frame-saver.

Tim and I did circles around the frame. We popped the unlaced Rohloff hub in just to see how it fit, and learned some cool things I didn't know about it yet. Cool thing #1: The new bags I ordered, are made to fit this particular frame, and utilize bolt-on buckles to tension the sidebags instead of the ever-annoying figure-8-strap thing I always hated. Cool thing #2: Surly made a tool that presses into the rack and accessory holes that can repair them when they are damaged. Which I've done while getting radical, and then had a helluva time getting the tubes to fit back in. Good work Surly!

Gonna go back down tonight and spray the frame so it can cure. Oh, enjoy the crappy video I had to take for posterity's sake.

Dealys and Deadlines

I knew when starting this project, that it would inevitably have some bumps in the road and maybe even some set backs. I'm having to come to terms with the possibility that the "Dummy" will not be ready to roll by the Moonlight Cruise.

Let me catch you up. The frame is not here. I thought I might be here Friday of last week, but UPS tracking says tomorrow (Tuesday). The spokes for the rear wheel will not be here until Thursday. The frame must have a rust inhibitor applied to the inside (a daunting task with such a gi-normous rig) which takes 24 hrs to cure properly. The limited amount of time that I have as a blue-collar working daddy, will make getting this all put together, without rushing, before Saturday...near impossible. I will not force this to happen unless it is dialed, because you can't rush perfection, right? So, we'll just have to watch and see what unfolds. I will still attend the cruise regardless.

Perhaps it was always meant to be that "Xtracycle the First" was destined for one last major Austin ride. I do know we have been enjoying our time together. I keep managing to have unexpected solo-cruises with it, and it always knows how to get to a cool spot------------------->>>>>>>

The mainframe of the Xtracycle is a 1998 Stumpjumper that I purchased during the first months of my bikeshop career in Corvallis Oregon. It was way more bike than I needed at the time, but it allowed me to make mistakes, and covered a multitude of newbie sins. It has taken me to so many amazing places, that it is hard to imagine replacing it. I know it will be reincarnated into another type of ride yet again when time permits. See you again soon old friend...

I'm Pregnant!

...Any day now I will give birth to a new life force. It all started with the help of multiple close friends. Spouting little idea-sperm into my little bike-womb, where one day soon a beautiful new Big Dummy will come forth to terrorize the streets like its predecessor has before it.

I have such mixed emotions. Mostly excitement. But the kind of excitement you might have picking up your friend at the airport, only to leave an older one behind. I can not have 2 Xtracycles...they're like Highlander in this way. So, the first shall pass away, so that the new one can come into the world.

But wait! I almost forgot. The two will ride together for one day only. A day you would do well to be there for. Before disassembling the original Xtracycle, I will hold a ride/contest, to whom the winner will go my old Free Radical kit! Now hold your horses. You may be thinking to yourself "I want that!"...well, get in line buddy. I will announce the date soon, so you can mentally prepare yourself for your chance to own a piece of my history. If you're reading this blog, then you have been hand selected to participate.

Now, back to the new Big Dummy.

Believe it or not, this bike is 11 years in the making. I have been working my dream job for over a decade now, but this will be the first time I've built a dream bike. I have never let myself (neither has my bank account) go this far for a bike. I have rarely let myself get this excited about a material thing...but this isn't just any old "thing", This will be a huge, sleek, opulent, precision equipped masterpiece! Whoa...I'm dizzy.

For those of you who wanna nerd out with me, as only bike nerds can, check out the parts list below. The crown jewels, that this triumphant frame will be rolling around on, are my favorite parts of the build...we'll start there:

-Rear Hub
-Front Hub

and some other pieces of kandy:

-The cranks are black Profiles with Ti spindle----->>>>



-A gold Imperial 46t chainwheel---------->>>>>>>>




-Kustom Chris King headset (alternating green and gold...see a pattern yet?)

-XT hydraulic disc brakeset
-Salsa Cromoto stem
-Nitto North Road handlebar (of course)
-Brooks B-17 saddle green/copper
-Brooks green leather grips
-Mavic EX729 rims (huge!)
-Schwalbe Big Apple (front tyre) Schwable Marathon EX (rear)
-Thudbuster ST seatpost (mmmm, cushy)

There are going to be lots of other touches, but you'll have to either go to the annual Moonlight Cruise on the 14th , or show up for the give-away, or I guess you could just check back in here!