Cyclist crashes into parked car (ouch)

Cyclist Slams Into Car During Race - Watch more Funny Videos

Missy Giove busted wtih 400lbs of pot (lol)

Well, looks like our old spikey haired friend Missy Giove got herself in a little hot water with the authorities (about 400lbs worth of trouble to be precise). Here is the AP story:

Ex-mountain bike champ Giove hit with drug charge

5 hours ago

WILTON, N.Y. (AP) — Former mountain biking world champion Melissa "Missy" Giove was in custody Thursday on federal drug charges after authorities said they seized more than 200 pounds of marijuana from a truck she was driving in upstate New York.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials said Wednesday that the 37-year-old Giove, of Chesapeake, Va., and 30-year-old Eric Canori of Wilton were charged Tuesday with conspiring to possess and distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana.

Authorities said they seized nearly 400 pounds of pot from the truck and from Canori's home outside Saratoga Springs, 25 miles north of Albany.

Giove and Canori were in the custody of U.S. Marshals pending detention hearings Thursday afternoon in Albany.

DEA spokeswoman Erin Mulvey said authorities learned of Giove and Canori's plans last weekend when Illinois State Police pulled over a woman driving a truck and trailer loaded with about 220 pounds of marijuana. Authorities completed the delivery to the Albany area, where Mulvey said Giove picked up the vehicle and trailer.

Officials said Giove then drove north and followed Canori to his home, where some of the trailer's contents were unloaded.

Giove was later arrested at nearby Saratoga Lake, authorities said. A search of Canori's home turned up more than 150 pounds of pot and more than $1 million in cash stashed in a closet and the basement, the DEA said.

It couldn't be immediately determined Thursday morning if Giove and Canori had lawyers.

Giove, nicknamed "The Missile" for her aggressive riding style, was the downhill world champion in 1994 and won World Cup season titles in '97 and '98, then captured national titles from 1999-2001. One of the sport's first mainstream female stars, she retired from downhill racing in 2003.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

For all of you who...

...who are absolutely blown away by Shimano's new electronic shifting system, let's take a minute to remember Suntour Accushift Plus (circa 1989). From the Suntour Museum -

AccuShift Plus ramped cogs and Power Ring chain wheels improved shifting performance. Suntour X-Press under bar, two lever shifters. Multi Mount control systems allow the shifters to be mounted inboard or outboard of the brake lever. Licensed the Beast front shifting system from Browning. The chain was shifted by hinged gates instead of a front derailleur. Delivery was 18 months late and very few bikes actually used the system. Below are some pictures of the system installed on nickel plated Team Marin frame. It is functional but seems to have a mind of its own some time. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

	This is the control box. The signal from the shifter moves the "railroad switch" to engage the tab that hinges the chain ring assembly.		Picture of the hinged chain ring section. You can see the switching tab right below the crank arm.		Pretty simple stuff. "H" for a higher gear and "L" for a lower gear.

Spring is here!

Spring is here people, and it's about time. I've been very busy with work and getting my house back in order (I didn't realize all the work I was in for when I bought a 50+ year old house). Sorry to everyone who has contacted me about bike work lately, I know I've been slow to respond, but rest assured I still want your business! Things are starting to level off a little now so I'll be getting back in the swing of bike builds and repairs soon. There are a couple cool projects coming up that I"ll keep you posted on. One is an original Croll mountain frame that I'll be doing a full XO-1 conversion on, and the other is a vintage Santana mountain restore.

If you need a spring tune up, just mention the secret phrase "Monkey Brains" when you get ahold of me and get $10 off a tune up or wheel build (I hear it also works to get free sandwiches at Subway). Keep it real and I'll see you soon.

Fox

Pretty sweet video

The Bikelophone

Bikelophone: Originally constructed in June 1995 as a side instrument for The Lyle and Sparkleface Band, the bikelophone has evolved into a palette of sonic exploration.

With magnetic pickups attached to amplify the sound, anything connected to the bike becomes amplified. The current configuration includes - bass strings, scrap wood and metal, metal bowls, telephone bells, a mechanical foot pedal and a touch sensitive tone generator.

The bikelophone produces sounds ranging from tranquil bliss to cacophonic terror. Using a loop-based recording system and outboard signal processors (reverbs, delays, pitch shifts, etc.), sound compositions are built in layers. These compositions become the foundation for additional solo meanderings using - vocals, tone generators, plastic wind instruments, or anything that makes a sound. Visit the inventor of the Bikelophone’s website for more sounds and info. [Thanks to Marc Garrett.]

Custom Bianchi Castro Valley Single Speed

This is my latest build, a custom 55cm Bianchi Castro Valley, in a single speed cyclocross/road configuration. Part of the reason that I built it the way I did was to give as many options to the owner/rider as possible. The Castro Valley was designed as a commuter/cross bike with a full array of braze on's for racks and fenders, plus this particular year was setup as a full 2x9 drivetrain, meaning there are two cable stops on the downtube (previous years were a 1x9 with only one stop).

It has a lightweight double-butted cromoly steel frame/fork, 105 hubs laced to Mavic CXP22 rims, a Sugino cyclocross crankset w/44t messenger style ss ring (capable of running 2 rings), a 16t cog in the rear with a Wheels Manufacturing Single Speed kit (one of the best kits out there), Thomson Elite seatpost, 110mm x 7deg Bontrager Race stem, Bontrager Select bars, Cane Creek SCR5 brake levers, Avid Shorty 4 cyclocross brakes, Sram PC-1 chain, and 700x25 Bontrager Race Lite AC tires.

Instead of custom building the wheels using 1x1 hubs and getting a dedicated track crankset, I decided to adapt the existing cyclocross components and use traditional road wheels to give whoever winds up with it the option to easily convert back to a fully geared bike. I did this partially because I'm not nearly as strong of a rider as I used to be, and there is a good chance I may keep this guy for myself ;-) It rides like a dream, very compliant and fast like a good steel frame should be. It's capable of a million different configurations depending on it's intended use and the size of your pocketbook. I will consider offers, but I'm setting the price as of now at $800.

Click here for the full gallery