That's Dan with a flat on a prototype Hillybike.
---------
John Rinker did this on his, uh, Hillybike (a Hunqapillar):
https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/rbw-owners-bunch/mRSBSqx3vzs
The standard way of thinking is: OMG, no suspension-- U nuts? Basket--U nuts? What is this--a statement ride? If a trail bike isn't a gonzo mtn bikes or a tech-macho gravel bike, it doesn't make sense to other trail riders. That's how it seems. There is no terrain that requires suspension. You just adapt to it with speed and caution and walking, and don't feel defeated by it.
------
We're getting the last of the HHH tandems next month, and will have four or five extras, which we'll sell for $2,000, frame fork headset and eccentric. Although I'm told that if you pay on or before May 13 (the day when we have to send the wire transfer to pay for them), you can get it for $1,900. A five percent savings is generally nothing to text grandma about, but in this case, it's the last LAST of these super duper tandems, the most comfortable, useful, stable, easy to ride fatty tire tandems this side of Uranus, and there are only six of them not spoken for. If you never are going to love anybody who doesn't dig riding singles but with whom you want to experience the funna riding, then stay the course, steady as she goes, nose to the grindstone, stick to your guns with the fervor of Charleston Heston, and simple do not order one.
It's the best-ridiing tandem I've ridden, and takes 650B tires to 2.4-inches. If you want one, contact Vince@rivbike.com or Will@rivbike.com. For more info, here's the site link:
---
Jenny's last day was yesterday (I'm typing this Sat May 4), and if you've ever opened up more than one box from us, you've likely seen her work.
Here's her last batch of boxes being handed off to Barry, our lengendary UPS driver:
And here's the bye to Barry:
Robert--our head packer who in another life was nicknamed Pineapple Bob by Hiroshi Iimura's daughter, Natsumi, because there were a lot of Bobs around in his Jitensha Studio circle back in '80 or so, and they had to be differentiated somehow. P. Bob he grew up in Hawaii AND his hair back then splayed out like the leaves of a pineapple--he's still here, thank heavens, and he packs as many and as well, and it is Robert who established the packing processes and standard we have here, and which is not even approached by any other business you're likely to buy from; and we know that because we get stuff from them, too, and I've received a camera filter about the size of a silver dollar in a box big enough to hold two footballs, but all it held was the filter and some space-filler bubble wrap that'll end up in the ocean someday. We reuse that stuff, but it feels like handing off a package of poison for you to deal with. Don't just pop for as entertainment. Pass it on to some other sad sack down the road, around the bend.
-------
Speaking of saving whales from plastic, there's this:
I know what you're thinking: "Rivendell is determined to put Oral-B out of the dental floss business, and then, bummer, no more Made in Ireland dental floss!" That's an exaggeration.
But this Hillybiker's Dental Floss is the way to go for anybody who professes to Love The Whale. It's not perfect. It's not organically grown hemp or cotton wrapped around a dead stick. It's some kind of flat, waxed sailmaker's thread that I bought on a lark last year to feed my twine fetish. I thought it would be good for lashing down bar tape, but it's too fine, it takes for friggin' ever. When I tried that, I thought, "this stiff is too fine, it's like dental floss!" but it didn't occur to me then, the dental possibilities.
But yesterday (vegan alert!) for Jenny's final day send-off, we had barbecued salmon and ribs, and I'd be lying if I said the stringy parts of some of the ribs didn't get stuck in my teeth. There was an after-work ride, and I didn't want to have meat festering in the crannies, and with no floss around, I used this--to superb avail! The United States Dental Board (USDB) doesn't certify this sailmaker's twine for use as dental floss, but I do.
In a couple of weeks we'll have the heavier stuff for twining and the lighter stuff for flossing. We're getting into tarot cards and potions, with this twine-as-floss direction. Does it have anything on it that you shouldn't rub into your gums? I feel no ill—oops, there goes a tooth with a hunk of gum (a gum chunk) on it, and I don't mean the stuff you chew. Not really.
----
Yesterday Sunday May 5 Dan and Sofia and I rode, um, Hillybikes, in the Marin Headlands just north of SF and the GG Bridge. Dan's car was in the parking lot, and I was getting my stuff together and left one of two cameras outside of it, and didn't discover it for half an hour into the ride. It was in the parking lot for that recreational area, not downtown SF or anything, but I was still worried. Three hours later we got back and in its place exactly, weighted down by rocks, was this note. I retrieved the camera and..here's camera and note:
All hail all British tourists! One, two, three...Cheerio! They left no contact info, probably thinking it would seem like fishing for a reward...but if they had, they'd have gotten one. I am so glad. I am quite sure all photographers, of all creeds and from all walks of life and from all planets would agree that the OM-1 is the best camera in the world for all purposes, no matter what.
------
I make my own camera straps for front carrying--with an Irish strap around the neck, where is shouldn't stretch; and an elastic one around the back, which must stretch. Everybody I know who rides and takes pictures rides with one of these, and I'll just pop and buy one myself. They carry it on the back, which will allow me to carry two cameras. I am a believer in over-camera-ing:
------
Shimano made this derailer for a year and a half back maybe in 1992. I'm not researching it, but I remember it well (the derailer, not the year). One guy at Bridgestone took delight in pronouncing it in soft French, so that's how I still think of it:
Meet the Shimano "nay-hauvay."
It's the derailer most close to my twisted standard of Shimano perfection. It has as good a finish and micro-quality as any Shimano XTR thing, AND it has the reverse-action (Shimano called it Rapid-Rise) that I like so much (which requires the ol' "modicum of neuro-plasticity"), and the 15t and 13t pulleys.
Look at the finish work they put into that. I don't CARE about that kind of polish on a derailer cage, but this here is a peek into 1992 (or so) Shimano, and it's kind of neat for that reason. Here's the backside of the cage:
That's pretty neat, isn't it?
-------------
Jenny's final box was shipped to John at Rivelo.
Here's the video.
------
I am the world's biggest reflective triangle fan. A good use of plastics. We have them here, and if you're in Portland, go to Rivelo. Open Thurs thru Sun, I believe. Here's a link to Rivelo again. LINK
All for now. Bye, Jenny! I 'ope you're still reading this and loving us a tenth as much as we love you!
G