*SURLY* cross-check (54)

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どんどん変化させるのも自転車の楽しみ

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*SURLY* cross-check (52)

A little bit biased maybe but I love a flat bar fat tyre Cross Check...



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Simon's All City Gorilla Monsoon

Whilst at Giracha last week we ran into Sime who had just been doing some epic touring around Japan on this awesome All City...

*SURLY* steamroller (49)

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SURLY STRAGGLER 650B SOMA CAZADERO TIRE

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お客様紹介 513

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New Hoops

New wheels on the Cross Check. Muller Japan IRC AL with H Plus Son Box rims picked up from Y's Road Osaka last week... 

Dispatch IV from Midwest Correspondent: First Snow and East River Road

Editor's note, Pete sent this late last year. We fucked up and forgot to post it. Sorry Pete. Better late than never.

Greetings from the Twin Cities. We finally got (a little bit of) snow here in the cities so I decided to take some shots of my favorite section of my work commute: East River Parkway. The road connects

Minneapolis and St. Paul along the east bank of the Mississippi River and has a shared bike/pedestrian trail that runs alongside. I take the trail for two miles from Oak Street to Marshall (or a bit further to Summit, depending on the day).

East River Parkway is a pretty relaxed roadway even during morning and evening rush hours, but the
ride is made all the more peaceful with the trail along its side. Up on the trail one only needs to worry
about other cyclists/pedestrians and the trail condition which appears to be maintained by City Park and Recreation staff. On my ride from the east bank of the UofM to St. Paul there is only one
stop/intersection (at Franklin) before Marshall or Summit Ave.

A fellow cyclist rides by on his evening commute:

In summer, 10mph would feel rather slow. But in winter when the roads/trails are often bumpy, slick
and icy, around 10mph doesn’t feel so bad:

Riding into work one morning I exited the trail at Marshall and snapped this picture of the river. In this section of the river, Minneapolis is to the left (west) and St. Paul is to the right. In the distance you can see downtown Mpls lit up by the rising sun behind us:

That night I took a couple of pictures while I cut through the UofM. Here we see Northrop Mall in the background:

On the reverse shot we see the Northrop Auditorium:

I will include a rundown of my winter setup and gear in a future post. Until then, have a happy New
Year and excellent holiday season!

Salsa Marrakesh SS @ Bicycle Maru

Another stunner from Bicycle Maru. This custom single speed Salsa Marrakesh was actually built up earlier this year but after the original Velocity rear hub fell apart on the second ride it was back in the Maru workshop for a new wheelbuild, a perfect opportunity to grab a few shots... 

The bike is built around the Fairweather (Nitto) Bullmoose bar...

With the Brooks non dead animal skin finishing kit...

Shimano Zee at the cranks...

And the new hubs are the enigmatic, classic Hadley Racing. Maru-san had to rebuild both wheels, warranty is a really sketchy issue in Japan so although Sim Works will reimburse him for the fucked up Velocity hub he won't be reimbursed for the time and effort of building two wheels again...

Oh and those are the classic Rindow Bullet Lights...

A beautiful build and hopefully now running longer than two rides. Follow Bicycle Maru on Instagram for more like this.

3rd Dispatch from Midwest Correspondent

Hello from MN. I've got a couple of half-baked post ideas mixed together here for your viewing enjoyment!

In October I went out to the Witches Hat tower and the river to see some fall leaves:

This is the nice skyline view from Prospect Park.  After the park I rode over to the Franklin Avenue bridge.

Also while riding around this fall I caught a few bike mural pictures at current/former bike shops: This is  Freewheel Bike on the West Bank.

And Sunrise Cyclery on the Greenway.

And The Alt

Penn Cycle on Lake Street with a nice Pee-Wee Herman homage

And  the CRC Coffee Bar (RIP)

Next post will show my winter season bike conversion and maybe some snow-- stay tuned!

*ALL CITY* macho man disc complete bike

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Second Dispatch from Kinki Cycle – Midwest

Howdy folks!  This is Pete C. your KCDC Midwest correspondent.  While I understand it has been incredibly hot and humid over in Kinki, Japan the weather has been drop-dead gorgeous here in Minnesota.  So, taking advantage of the nice weather and the fact that my day job doesn’t begin until next month, I took the opportunity recently to do a favorite bike ride of Twin Citians everywhere—a ~27 mile ride from SE Minneapolis to Stillwater, MN via the 5th St. SE bike boulevard; the U of M Transitway and along the State Fair Grounds; Como Avenue hooking around Como Lake; onward to the excellent Gateway State Trail; hopping on the bike trail-supported County Highway 12 which becomes Myrtle Avenue and goes straight to heart of downtown Stillwater.

First, I departed from our apartment in SE Mpls near the U of M.  My better half took this pre-ride shot:

I rode down the 5th St. SE bikeway (not pictured) over to the U of M Transitway, which is a road designated for buses, emergency vehicles and bicycles which connects the East Bank and St. Paul campuses of the U of M – Twin Cities:

The Transitway terminates at Como Avenue, right next to the MN State Fair Grounds:

I took Como Avenue through St. Paul to the southeast corner of Como Lake:

Como Lake is one of many in the land of 10,000 lakes.  I took a brief stop to consult my map and to re-secure a bit of my gear before heading off through the neighborhoods to find the start of the MN Gateway State Trail:

The Gateway Trail is an 18 mile stretch of paved trail (with adjacent off-road/horse trail in many areas) which begins in St. Paul, MN (state capital and Minneapolis’ “twin” in the “Twin Cities”) and ends just NW of Stillwater.  Most of the trail is wooded, shady, and beautiful, like this:

And this:

While I was riding down the trail I came upon many nice resources such as a few State-supplied Bike Tune Up Stations which feature bike stands, tools, and bike pumps . . .

. . . and many rest areas with water, shade, benches/tables, restrooms, etc. such as this one furnished by the North St. Paul Rotary Club:

In North Saint Paul I took the opportunity to snap a couple of pictures, such as this one of our energy future . . .

. . . and a welcome sight in any weather, the world’s largest stucco snowman:

After this stop in North St. Paul it was back to business.  I kept riding down the Gateway Trail until my exit onto County Highway 12.  This rural county road is supported by adjacent bike/pedestrian paths almost the entire length into Stillwater:

Riding down Highway 12 I was able to soak in some beautiful scenery of rural farmland.  On this sunny day, much of the scenery looked like this:

And this:

Riding to downtown Stillwater, my first sign that I’m near my destination is Len’s Family Foods and their nice mural:

From there it’s down the long, steep hill into downtown Stillwater.  Here are a few shots I took in town:

Kinki region represented by Osaka To Go:

@KBAYouMatter chalked up the Main Street Stairs with some positive messages:

I swung by the River Market Community Co-op and saw they are representing “Minnesconsin” in their window:

I rode down to the riverfront for a modest packed lunch of lentils and rice, carrots, a chocolate brownie and water:

And I snapped a nice picture near the Historic Stillwater Lift Bridge:

I wanted to cross the river over to Fixed In Nara’s home state, but alas the Man had different plans for me.  In any case, those trees across the river are Wisconsin:

Denied access to WI, I decided to head home.  First a quick nip to the loo (these toilets were a welcome site in downtown—note the stall on the far left was not padlocked) . . .

And a quick parting shot before climbing the hill out of downtown and returning home the same way I came:

I never did see any horses on the Gateway Trail . . .

But in downtown Stillwater of all places . . .

“On your left!”

Thanks to the State of Minnesota DNR, University of Minnesota, Rotary International, Washington County, the City of Stillwater and all other people and entities who help make the Twin Cities – Stillwater ride so excellent!