Light and Power

In keeping with the mission of this blog promoting how fun and awesome bikes are;  the expressed intention of the upcoming bike tour is to demonstrate the advantages of bicycle travel.  One aspect of traveling by bicycle is that peddle power doesn't burn petrol on the journey from point A to B and onto C;  all the while enabling more intimate interactions with the landscape.  

It's hard to hug a tree from inside your car, or smell the rain coming over the next hill with the AC on.

Admittedly, burning the 1000's of gallons of jet fuel necessary for airline travel abroad is not necessarily "ecoconscious", but much can be done to minimize one's overall carbon impact and use of resources through the small choices made in day to day life.  

Bikes can viably substitute many typical methods of transportation, from getting groceries, to hauling firewood; under certain circumstances rendering the American icons of the SUV and truck unnecessary.  

With this goal of a low carbon impact trip, all the electronics necessary for the upcoming adventure will be 100% human powered, including lights, GPS, camera, and blogging.  

Don't want to miss those perfect post card pictures along the journey. 

This requires a few pieces of specialized equipment: dynamo generator hub, dynamo compatible lighting, and USB power source for GPS, phone, and camera charging.   There are a handful of products available to accommodate this.  

For an excellent write up on all the various dynamo USB charging/ battery-pack options I highly recommend jumping over to CyclingAbout and reading what Alex has to say.

One home-gown option is the Revolution from Bright Bike Labs.

It is great in it's simplicity, weight, price, and waterproofness. Additionally, this nice little device is designed and built by a couple cycle geeks and fellow fat-bikers from Cambridge Mass.  

 Weights only 38 grams, and fully charged my phone in it's inaugural ride two nights ago.

One caveat of the Revolution, is it only transmits power as the hub generates it, and has no battery storage.   Once you add a front light and an external battery pack, the full kit isn't too bad for self sufficient power source and ability to store energy for use at a later time. 

Monica's bike will likely be equipped with this little gizmo, the aptly named Bank Light from the Sheng Li corporation of Taiwan,  it is an all-in-one LED dynamo head lamp, power-bank consisting of 3 rechargeable AA batteries, and a USB charging adapter that allows you to charge other devices.

This  is still the beta-testing stage

The best feature of this option, in my opinion, is the unit's ability to be easily detached from the bike mount and function as a hand held flash light! Will likely come in handy for setting up camp.

 Not exceptionally heavy. 

The rigors of the next month will show how well these products actually function in the real world. 

Bike building

If you can't ride bikes, building them is the next best thing.

 

I sent the Travelers Check rear triangle and fork off to Alex at A-Train Cycles get the brake bosses repositioned for 650b wheels; Alex was great to deal with, does fine work at relatively affordable prices with reasonable turn around. If you need minor frame repairs or S&S Couplers installed he is a good resource, and if your pockets are deep enough for a custom frame, check out his submission to this years NAHBS.

 

 

Shutter Precision SV-8 32h front dynamo, from our friends at Intelligent Design Cycles. 

Initial impressions out of the box: the craftsmanship, fit and finish of this hub look to be top notch. 

Overall appearance is very classy and will look great on the travelers check with silver DT Competition spokes lacked to the Velocity Synergy.  Weighing in at 390g, my SV-8 is13g heavier than published weight.

 

 

Velocity Synergy Off-Set rear wheel; 

Asymmetrical drilling allows for even spoke tension for a stronger wheel.

 Velocity 135mm rear ATB hub, will keep the chain-line a bit wider to ensure clearance of wide rubber.

The hub in my care-pack from Velocity was a 36h, so the full wheel-set build will have to wait...

I was able to lace up the front successfully.  

Midwinter Spring Melt

As the global warming hoax continues, temperatures reached the mid-40's in Anchorage  last week promptly melting what meager snowpack we had accumulated thus far into an icey wet mess.  These springlike conditions necessitated studded tires,  full fenders, and waterproof riding gear for the daily commute. So I reluctantly had to park the fatbike and hang up my wool sweater and dig some fenders out of the garage.

I had been saving a set of vintage steel fenders with an integrated old dyano tail light, and the unseasonably wet weather gave me the chance to mount them to the Long Tail Trucker.  Running the wiring from the dynamo hub was a snap thanks to a series of stainless steel strips lining the inside of the rear fender; just had to use a flat head sceew driver to pry open a small gap, feed the wire through, and the wires are now held securely in place and out of sight.

Surprisingly, the old bulb was still functional, but I will likely replace it with an LED bulb in the near future.

The white painted steel, and racing flag decals add a little vintage class to he cargo bike and work like a charm to keep the icey grime out of the drive train.