The LMB had a booth at the MMBA Expo, and the ride organizer from last year's MUP tour was there. We chatted with him for a while, and had to tell him we weren't sure we'd be riding the MUP tour this year. Maybe, but there are so many tours and so little time (and money). We might do the MUP, but there are a number of other tours we'd like to try, and we can't do them all in one summer.
Also at the LMB booth, we picked up the LMB Ride Calendar, which lists many - perhaps a hundred? - Michigan rides throughout the spring, summer, and fall of 2009. Now is the time to start planning and signing up to get those early discounted rates. We'll try to decide on some of our favorites rides to do this year, and I hope we'll be picking one week-long tour. One ride we've been thinking about, which is not in Michigan, is the Eastern Tandem Rally in Strasburg, PA, July 10-12. Doesn't that look like fun? We'd just have to commit to it and sign up before it fills up.
22 February 2009
Ute Mitts
We went to the MMBA Expo today. Lots of cool mountain biking gear and info to check out. Considering the complete absence of mountains Michigan's Lower Peninsula, there is really quite a network of mountain biking trails, thanks in large part to the MMBA. We don't do much mountain biking these days, but someday that may change.
We picked up the Moose Mitts for my Ute. They seem very nice. They are simply a large mitt that covers the handlebar and secures with velcro. The mitt is made with a durable woven nylon outside and a soft fleece lining inside. There's an interior pocket, and little interior loop to keep the mitt in position. The opening is designed so that it's easy for the rider's gloved hands to slide inside. Very simple. Very cool.
We picked up the Moose Mitts for my Ute. They seem very nice. They are simply a large mitt that covers the handlebar and secures with velcro. The mitt is made with a durable woven nylon outside and a soft fleece lining inside. There's an interior pocket, and little interior loop to keep the mitt in position. The opening is designed so that it's easy for the rider's gloved hands to slide inside. Very simple. Very cool.
21 February 2009
Kona Ute: Week Two
I knew I'd been lucky my first week riding the Ute, with moderate temperatures and roads mostly free of snow and ice. That luck didn't hold for the second week. I guess that's OK, because I really wanted to try out those studded tires.
I'd purchased the Nokian Gazza Extreme winter tires the same day I picked up the Ute. I wasn't sure I'd need them this winter, but I was afraid I might, and I knew I'd need them next winter. They're pretty pricey, but I found them on sale and got a good deal. Part of my decision to buy the Kona Ute was due to its capacity for big fat tires. The Gazza Extremes are 29 x 2.1-inch tires, with widely spaced knobs, each knob being topped with carbide stud. They are in no way a road tire, but the roads of my commute are beginning to look more like Jeep trails than roads, anyway. OK, so that's an exaggeration, and in truth, I would have preferred a less aggressive tread, but I wanted a studded tire with as much floatation as possible, and the Extremes are the fattest studded tire I could find. I wanted the floatation because my experience has been that attempting to ride on snow-packed roads with skinny tires is very difficult. Skinny tires are great in soft snow and on ice, but packed roads and icy ruts are different. The front tire will break through the snowpack and get diverted sideways very unpredictably. My hope was that going from a 32mm tire at 60 psi to a 55mm tire at 30 psi, along with the switch to wider handle bars, would allow me to safely negotiate those snowpacked roads and icy ruts.
The 2.1-inch tires fit the Kona Ute with room to spare. The casing of the Nokians, mounted on these rims, measures only about 1.75, but the knobs protrude outward beyond the casing such that 2.1 inches is probably a pretty accurate estimate of the width. The Ute has about 3 inches of clearance in the fork and frame, so an even larger tire would fit just fine.
Although the tires fit the frame and fork, I had to make some adjustments to the fenders. The clearance is the closest at the top of the rear wheel. The Ute frame has a crossbar directly above the rear hub, putting a limit on how far above the tire the fender can be mounted, but once I got the fender moved up to the cross bar, there was adequate clearance.
I also had to move the bottom rear of the front fender out away from the tire. Front fenders tend to move from side to side, and the Nokians knobs initially tended to catch the fender struts when the fender wobbled. This would occur mostly when hitting a bump or crossing railroad tracks. A rapid turn of the bars would cause the fender to move (worsened, I'm sure, by the extension I have added to the fender) and the knobs would buzz against the struts. After a couple days of that, I decided to construct a brace to keep the fender from swaying. I bent a soft piece of aluminum strap to attach at the fork crown and at three points along the fender. It works very well. It holds the fender quite firmly while riding, but still allows enough flexibility that it's unlikely that an impact will break the fender.
With the fenders and studded tires the Ute seems to be a pretty capable snow bike. Traction certainly isn't an issue. There wasn't enough snow last week to really test the setup on deeper packed snow, but it handles the clumps of ice and frozen slush piles much better than my skinny-tire rig.
The tires and fenders were great, but my fingers were not holding up. A couple of mornings the temperature was in the low teens and there was a very strong wind out of the west. I don't have the best mittens. I usually wear a pair of medium weight lobster mitts under an old pair shell mitts from Cindy's OR days, but my fingers were freezing. I knew this was coming, too. Last winter my fingers were extremely uncomfortable on my commute. So I called Trails-Edge to order a pair of Moose Mitts, which they make just down the road in Plymouth, MI. They had to make them before they could send them, so they weren't ready until yesterday. As it turned out, they're going to be at the MMBA Expo in Lansing tomorrow, so it looks like I'll be going to the Expo to pick them up.
In the mean time, since I had a few days of really cold weather to get through, I tried my own version of Moose Mitts. Since I've been wearing boots or winter running shoes for my ride, my neoprene shoe covers didn't currently have job, so I put them to use. Threading my bars through them, and wrapping a strap around them actually seemed to work. Sort of. It helped my fingers survive the week.
And today we're getting another six inches of snow...
I'd purchased the Nokian Gazza Extreme winter tires the same day I picked up the Ute. I wasn't sure I'd need them this winter, but I was afraid I might, and I knew I'd need them next winter. They're pretty pricey, but I found them on sale and got a good deal. Part of my decision to buy the Kona Ute was due to its capacity for big fat tires. The Gazza Extremes are 29 x 2.1-inch tires, with widely spaced knobs, each knob being topped with carbide stud. They are in no way a road tire, but the roads of my commute are beginning to look more like Jeep trails than roads, anyway. OK, so that's an exaggeration, and in truth, I would have preferred a less aggressive tread, but I wanted a studded tire with as much floatation as possible, and the Extremes are the fattest studded tire I could find. I wanted the floatation because my experience has been that attempting to ride on snow-packed roads with skinny tires is very difficult. Skinny tires are great in soft snow and on ice, but packed roads and icy ruts are different. The front tire will break through the snowpack and get diverted sideways very unpredictably. My hope was that going from a 32mm tire at 60 psi to a 55mm tire at 30 psi, along with the switch to wider handle bars, would allow me to safely negotiate those snowpacked roads and icy ruts.
The 2.1-inch tires fit the Kona Ute with room to spare. The casing of the Nokians, mounted on these rims, measures only about 1.75, but the knobs protrude outward beyond the casing such that 2.1 inches is probably a pretty accurate estimate of the width. The Ute has about 3 inches of clearance in the fork and frame, so an even larger tire would fit just fine.
Although the tires fit the frame and fork, I had to make some adjustments to the fenders. The clearance is the closest at the top of the rear wheel. The Ute frame has a crossbar directly above the rear hub, putting a limit on how far above the tire the fender can be mounted, but once I got the fender moved up to the cross bar, there was adequate clearance.
I also had to move the bottom rear of the front fender out away from the tire. Front fenders tend to move from side to side, and the Nokians knobs initially tended to catch the fender struts when the fender wobbled. This would occur mostly when hitting a bump or crossing railroad tracks. A rapid turn of the bars would cause the fender to move (worsened, I'm sure, by the extension I have added to the fender) and the knobs would buzz against the struts. After a couple days of that, I decided to construct a brace to keep the fender from swaying. I bent a soft piece of aluminum strap to attach at the fork crown and at three points along the fender. It works very well. It holds the fender quite firmly while riding, but still allows enough flexibility that it's unlikely that an impact will break the fender.
With the fenders and studded tires the Ute seems to be a pretty capable snow bike. Traction certainly isn't an issue. There wasn't enough snow last week to really test the setup on deeper packed snow, but it handles the clumps of ice and frozen slush piles much better than my skinny-tire rig.
The tires and fenders were great, but my fingers were not holding up. A couple of mornings the temperature was in the low teens and there was a very strong wind out of the west. I don't have the best mittens. I usually wear a pair of medium weight lobster mitts under an old pair shell mitts from Cindy's OR days, but my fingers were freezing. I knew this was coming, too. Last winter my fingers were extremely uncomfortable on my commute. So I called Trails-Edge to order a pair of Moose Mitts, which they make just down the road in Plymouth, MI. They had to make them before they could send them, so they weren't ready until yesterday. As it turned out, they're going to be at the MMBA Expo in Lansing tomorrow, so it looks like I'll be going to the Expo to pick them up.
In the mean time, since I had a few days of really cold weather to get through, I tried my own version of Moose Mitts. Since I've been wearing boots or winter running shoes for my ride, my neoprene shoe covers didn't currently have job, so I put them to use. Threading my bars through them, and wrapping a strap around them actually seemed to work. Sort of. It helped my fingers survive the week.
And today we're getting another six inches of snow...
14 February 2009
Kona Ute: Week One
I really lucked out this week: After a warm weekend, and some heavy rain, most of the snow melted away and my first week on the Kona Ute was nearly snow-free. The roads were a little icy most mornings, and the Ute sat outside my office in a heavy rain most of the day Tuesday, and I rode home in snow yesterday. Nonetheless, it was a pretty good week for riding a new bicycle to work. I even rode it to my dentist appointment Monday afternoon.
Here are my first impressions:
The Ute is a comfortable bicycle and is going to make a great commuter. The fat smooth tires on big wheels make for nice ride. I used about 40 psi in each. The road shoulders and bike lane on my commute are piled with gravel and chunks of asphalt that have been pushed out of the giant potholes in the road. In some places the debris on the shoulder was so bad I was forced out into the lane. Of course, in those same places the asphalt in the lane is completely broken and some potholes are nearly a foot deep. So far I've survived it, and so has the Ute.
The swept-back handlebars are comfortable, and the upright position is nice in traffic. I rode to work in an extreme headwind one morning, and found myself wishing for dropped bars, but I think that the Ute bars will be great most of the time.
The brakes and shifters work just fine. They are rather "low-end" components, but seem perfectly adequate. Some reviewers have complained that the Ute's Hayes mechanical front disc brake doesn't have the power it should, but I have no complaints. I had to do quite a bit of tweaking to the front derailer when I got the Ute. It wasn't set up quite right and the chain was rubbing the derailer in most gears. I moved the derailer up a couple millimeters and adjusted the angle. Now it shifts perfectly through all gears on both rings. No complaints there.
The bell works quite well. Of course, some folks can't seem to hear it.
The Big Ute Bag works pretty well, and carries lots of stuff. Nothing's fallen out, and it hasn't fallen off. I can quickly drop my computer bag into it, fasten it up, and ride away. I'm keeping a few tools in one of the zippered pockets on the lid flap, and my bicycle lock in the other. I've been buckling the inside fasteners of the pannier, which means the lid flap isn't held down (see the photos in the previous post). I'd like it better if there were separate fasteners for the flap and the interior compartment so the bag could be held closed inside and the flap could also fastened down. Having the tools and lock in the flap seems to keep the flap from flapping.
The Big Ute Bag hangs from the Ute frame rack on three big hooks. There are two elastic bands that hold the bag down and keep it against the bike. It moves a little on giant potholes, huge chunks of asphalt, and rough railroad tracks, so I'd like to attach it to the bike more securely, I think. However, for the all-day rain, I pulled the bag off the Ute and brought it (the bag) into my office so it wouldn't fill with rain, which would be more difficult if the bag were secured to the frame. A quick-release system like the Ortlieb panniers have would be great.
Hanging all the load on one side of the rack isn't ideal, so I'm considering ordering a second Big Ute Bag for the other side. They're pretty expensive, so I'm waiting until I've used this one for a while first to be sure I like it. I've looked into trying to mount baskets on each side of the bike. I think I'd like having a 25 to 30" basket on each side, mounted pretty low, as long as they looked decent. Stainless wire would be best. I'd rather not do the milk crate thing. The Ute bag could still hang as it is designed, and it would sort of be inside the basket. I can't find any such baskets, however. Wald doesn't make any that large. Custom made stainless baskets could be had, but for a very steep price.
In the mean time, I've been hanging my Arc'teryx Transit bag on the right side of the Ute, with the Big Ute Bag on the left. For the last couple of years I've worn the Transit on my back with my computer inside it. My lunch, clothes, and tools have ridden in one or two panniers. Now I've simply tied a couple of loops of webbing to the left side of the pannier, and a couple of 'biners from our rock climbing days clip the bag to the webbing. A bungee holds the bag against the frame. It works well, but it's less convenient than I'd prefer because it takes a few minutes to get it all secured.
As I mentioned above, the roads here are a mess. The grit that comes off wet tires in the morning is terrible. When I got to work Monday morning, I tried to lower the kickstand, but there was so much sand and mud on the kickstand post, that it was difficult get it to fall into position. Even with the Cascadia fenders, with their extra long flap, the grit was coming off the front tire and packing into the kickstand hinge, as well as the bicycle bottom bracket. I solved that problem Monday night with the addition of an extra flap on the front fender. I've often added a longer flap to the fender on my commuter bike to keep my feet dry and to keep the chain cleaner. It works well. For the Ute, I cut a section from an old Zefal fender, and bolted it to the Cascadia flap with two little stainless steel bolts. This modification makes the fender swing a little more side to side, but it doesn't seem to cause any problems. It helps tremendously to keep things clean and dry.
I also added a little flap to the front of the kickstand to further keep grit out of the mechanism. It's a little kludgy, sort of like a milk crate pannier, but it's not very visible.
I was a little surprised that the Kona Ute will wobble or sway side-to-side a little with a big load on the back, but it really only does it when starting from a stop if I try to stand up and pedal hard. This is a common issue with touring bikes when heavily loaded in the rear. I'm not referring to high-speed wobble, but a low-speed oscillation. Like a tail-wagging-the-dog, sort of thing. My Soma would do it with two full panniers. We noticed a similar tendency for our tandem to waggle last summer when we had the panniers and trunk rack packed full on the rear rack. If I tried to stand up to crank up a hill, the tail end would seem to sway side-to-side. A bike like the Ute, which is designed to carry a heavy load, is more resistant to this side-to-side sway, but it's not completely immune. The rear is built sort of like an aluminum bridge truss, and it appears that it would be rather inflexible, but maybe up front there's some twisting under load. I'm just guessing - I'm no frame designer (although I can always dream). Maybe the front of the Ute should be built more like the front end of our Cannondale Tandem MT800. Those are some gigantic tubes!
It may be that the bicycle frame isn't flexing at all. Perhaps it's simply that it feels like it because each time you try to lean the bike to the right, you have to move a big load from left to right on the rear. Simple inertia. So maybe it would be better to get the load lower in the back. The higher the load, the more it has to move side-to-side as the bicycle moves.
I don't think the potential for a little sway is a huge issue. I've read that others have had some sway on Xtracycles and even the big and stout Surly Big Dummy. It doesn't really seem to affect the handling, and it's quite controllable. It works best to keep your butt on the saddle and spin smoothly, which is easier to do with with clipless pedals - something I'm trying to avoid on my everyday bicycle. When moving down the road at 10 to 15 mph, the Ute is really quite stable, even with my commuting load on the back. Regardless, it's probably unwise to go screaming downhill on a cargo bike with a full load.
I'm still convinced that the best way to haul really big loads on a bicycle is with a two-wheel trailer. We've hauled some monster loads in our old Burley Solo, including a big pile of pumpkins. I guess if I were going to use a bicycle to haul really big loads all the time, I'd use a trailer. Even loaded with 60 pounds of pumpkins, the Burley trailer has no discernible effect on the handling of the bicycle, although some increased stopping distance does result.
In conclusion, while I'm still trying to figure out the best way to carry my stuff (and I'm leaning heavily towards a second Big Ute Bag), I think the Ute is going to make a really nice everyday bicycle. That's just what I wanted.
Here are my first impressions:
The Ute is a comfortable bicycle and is going to make a great commuter. The fat smooth tires on big wheels make for nice ride. I used about 40 psi in each. The road shoulders and bike lane on my commute are piled with gravel and chunks of asphalt that have been pushed out of the giant potholes in the road. In some places the debris on the shoulder was so bad I was forced out into the lane. Of course, in those same places the asphalt in the lane is completely broken and some potholes are nearly a foot deep. So far I've survived it, and so has the Ute.
The swept-back handlebars are comfortable, and the upright position is nice in traffic. I rode to work in an extreme headwind one morning, and found myself wishing for dropped bars, but I think that the Ute bars will be great most of the time.
The brakes and shifters work just fine. They are rather "low-end" components, but seem perfectly adequate. Some reviewers have complained that the Ute's Hayes mechanical front disc brake doesn't have the power it should, but I have no complaints. I had to do quite a bit of tweaking to the front derailer when I got the Ute. It wasn't set up quite right and the chain was rubbing the derailer in most gears. I moved the derailer up a couple millimeters and adjusted the angle. Now it shifts perfectly through all gears on both rings. No complaints there.
The bell works quite well. Of course, some folks can't seem to hear it.
The Big Ute Bag works pretty well, and carries lots of stuff. Nothing's fallen out, and it hasn't fallen off. I can quickly drop my computer bag into it, fasten it up, and ride away. I'm keeping a few tools in one of the zippered pockets on the lid flap, and my bicycle lock in the other. I've been buckling the inside fasteners of the pannier, which means the lid flap isn't held down (see the photos in the previous post). I'd like it better if there were separate fasteners for the flap and the interior compartment so the bag could be held closed inside and the flap could also fastened down. Having the tools and lock in the flap seems to keep the flap from flapping.
The Big Ute Bag hangs from the Ute frame rack on three big hooks. There are two elastic bands that hold the bag down and keep it against the bike. It moves a little on giant potholes, huge chunks of asphalt, and rough railroad tracks, so I'd like to attach it to the bike more securely, I think. However, for the all-day rain, I pulled the bag off the Ute and brought it (the bag) into my office so it wouldn't fill with rain, which would be more difficult if the bag were secured to the frame. A quick-release system like the Ortlieb panniers have would be great.
Hanging all the load on one side of the rack isn't ideal, so I'm considering ordering a second Big Ute Bag for the other side. They're pretty expensive, so I'm waiting until I've used this one for a while first to be sure I like it. I've looked into trying to mount baskets on each side of the bike. I think I'd like having a 25 to 30" basket on each side, mounted pretty low, as long as they looked decent. Stainless wire would be best. I'd rather not do the milk crate thing. The Ute bag could still hang as it is designed, and it would sort of be inside the basket. I can't find any such baskets, however. Wald doesn't make any that large. Custom made stainless baskets could be had, but for a very steep price.
In the mean time, I've been hanging my Arc'teryx Transit bag on the right side of the Ute, with the Big Ute Bag on the left. For the last couple of years I've worn the Transit on my back with my computer inside it. My lunch, clothes, and tools have ridden in one or two panniers. Now I've simply tied a couple of loops of webbing to the left side of the pannier, and a couple of 'biners from our rock climbing days clip the bag to the webbing. A bungee holds the bag against the frame. It works well, but it's less convenient than I'd prefer because it takes a few minutes to get it all secured.
As I mentioned above, the roads here are a mess. The grit that comes off wet tires in the morning is terrible. When I got to work Monday morning, I tried to lower the kickstand, but there was so much sand and mud on the kickstand post, that it was difficult get it to fall into position. Even with the Cascadia fenders, with their extra long flap, the grit was coming off the front tire and packing into the kickstand hinge, as well as the bicycle bottom bracket. I solved that problem Monday night with the addition of an extra flap on the front fender. I've often added a longer flap to the fender on my commuter bike to keep my feet dry and to keep the chain cleaner. It works well. For the Ute, I cut a section from an old Zefal fender, and bolted it to the Cascadia flap with two little stainless steel bolts. This modification makes the fender swing a little more side to side, but it doesn't seem to cause any problems. It helps tremendously to keep things clean and dry.
I also added a little flap to the front of the kickstand to further keep grit out of the mechanism. It's a little kludgy, sort of like a milk crate pannier, but it's not very visible.
I was a little surprised that the Kona Ute will wobble or sway side-to-side a little with a big load on the back, but it really only does it when starting from a stop if I try to stand up and pedal hard. This is a common issue with touring bikes when heavily loaded in the rear. I'm not referring to high-speed wobble, but a low-speed oscillation. Like a tail-wagging-the-dog, sort of thing. My Soma would do it with two full panniers. We noticed a similar tendency for our tandem to waggle last summer when we had the panniers and trunk rack packed full on the rear rack. If I tried to stand up to crank up a hill, the tail end would seem to sway side-to-side. A bike like the Ute, which is designed to carry a heavy load, is more resistant to this side-to-side sway, but it's not completely immune. The rear is built sort of like an aluminum bridge truss, and it appears that it would be rather inflexible, but maybe up front there's some twisting under load. I'm just guessing - I'm no frame designer (although I can always dream). Maybe the front of the Ute should be built more like the front end of our Cannondale Tandem MT800. Those are some gigantic tubes!
It may be that the bicycle frame isn't flexing at all. Perhaps it's simply that it feels like it because each time you try to lean the bike to the right, you have to move a big load from left to right on the rear. Simple inertia. So maybe it would be better to get the load lower in the back. The higher the load, the more it has to move side-to-side as the bicycle moves.
I don't think the potential for a little sway is a huge issue. I've read that others have had some sway on Xtracycles and even the big and stout Surly Big Dummy. It doesn't really seem to affect the handling, and it's quite controllable. It works best to keep your butt on the saddle and spin smoothly, which is easier to do with with clipless pedals - something I'm trying to avoid on my everyday bicycle. When moving down the road at 10 to 15 mph, the Ute is really quite stable, even with my commuting load on the back. Regardless, it's probably unwise to go screaming downhill on a cargo bike with a full load.
I'm still convinced that the best way to haul really big loads on a bicycle is with a two-wheel trailer. We've hauled some monster loads in our old Burley Solo, including a big pile of pumpkins. I guess if I were going to use a bicycle to haul really big loads all the time, I'd use a trailer. Even loaded with 60 pounds of pumpkins, the Burley trailer has no discernible effect on the handling of the bicycle, although some increased stopping distance does result.
In conclusion, while I'm still trying to figure out the best way to carry my stuff (and I'm leaning heavily towards a second Big Ute Bag), I think the Ute is going to make a really nice everyday bicycle. That's just what I wanted.
08 February 2009
My Kona Ute
Kona's Ute is a bicycle designed to carry more stuff than an ordinary bike. As cargo bicycles go, it's not the biggest load hauler around (see the Yuba Mundo, Surly's Big Dummy, and Xtracycle), but given the price and my intended use, I decided the Ute was the way to go. I purchased my Ute through Rapid Transit Cycles, an excellent commuter-oriented bicycle shop in Chicago. The staff were very helpful and they worked hard to locate 2009 Ute for me.
The Kona Ute comes in two sizes, I got the larger 20-inch frame. It has comfortable swept-back bars that give the rider an upright position, probably an advantage in traffic, less advantageous in a headwind. The Ute has a front disc brake and rear V-brake. It's geared low by road bike standards, but not quite as low as most mountain bikes. It has an 8-speed rear cassette with 11- to 32-tooth cogs, and up front the crankset has a 26- and a 36-tooth chainring. With those gear options, I won't be going fast on this one. But it's not about speed. The Ute comes with big 29" wheels and wide 47mm road tires for a smooth ride on rough roads. The frame and fork have plenty of clearance for at least 2.5-inch tires. I also picked up some 2.1-inch studded winter tires for it, but I'm hoping I won't have to put them on until next winter. This warm weekend has me feeling optimistic, but the weather god might have her own plan.
I was looking for a bicycle that would facilitate daily transportation to and from work, coupled with frequent trips to the grocery and hardware store. I've had great success riding to work on my Soma Double Cross, but I've always wished I had a little more capacity for carrying groceries or other miscellaneous stuff in addition to my usual cargo of laptop computer, stack of books and papers, lunch, work clothes, and small assortment of bicycle tools.
The Kona Ute's wheelbase is about 10 inches longer than that of my Soma Double Cross, perhaps 11 or 12 inches longer than a typical road bike. That's still much shorter than a tandem bicycle, which has wheelbase around 28 inches longer than an ordinary bicycle. The Ute's extra length is in the rear of the frame between the seatpost and the rear axle, where the frame is formed into an integrated rack with a 33-inch long wooden deck. This effectively allows the Ute to carry the equivalent of two additional panniers on the frame. One drawback that I will mention is that the hooks on most standard panniers are too small to grasp the fat tubes the form the Ute's rack, but I'm sure that fat tubes are necessary for strength.
The Kona Ute comes with a single, gigantic, orange bag, sized to readily accommodate two standard grocery bags. The bag is made of a waterproof material, but has a pretty open design. Any precious cargo in the bags, such as a laptop computer, will need have it's own water-resistant container. If this bag proves useful, I may get another. I might also consider attaching a big wire basket about the size of the orange Ute bag, or mount a horizontal rail on the frame that will allow me to use my Ortlieb panniers on one side.
An everyday bike should be as user-friendly as possible. If a bicycle is going to be used for daily transportation, including the last-minute oh-no-we're-out-of-milk trip, it needs to be convenient to simply jump on it and go. That means avoiding the need for special shoes and clothes, and having the necessary lock, lights, and cargo containers sitting on the bike, ready to roll. It needs to be just about as easy as jumping in the mini-van (and it's certain to be more fun). For now, I've mounted some smallish battery-powered lights on the handlebars. It's getting light enough in the morning now that these should suffice, but in the long run I plan to install a tire-driven generator (dynamo) that powers a good headlight and taillight.
Fenders and a kickstand also go a long way towards making a bicycle a useful piece of transportation. The Ute comes with a smallish fender up front, but none in the rear. I opted to install the Planet Bike Cascadia 29er fenders because they're big enough to cover the Ute's huge tires, and because the long rubbery extensions do a great job of keeping spray from reaching feet and the bicycle's bottom bracket, crankset, and chain.
The Ute comes with a two-legged kickstand, which looks nice and seems to function really well. I can see that it's difficult to design a two-legged center-mounted kickstand. If the kickstand is narrow enough to stay inside the chain when up, it's not wide enough to support the bike when down. If the kickstand is wide enough to support the bike, then it needs to stay under the chain when it folds up, in which case the pivot point has to hang a few inches below the bottom bracket. Balancing the width, potential for chain contact, and distance the thing hangs down, makes for tight constraints on design. We'll see how it works.
The first thing I noticed when riding the Ute is that it's tall. It's big wheels, and high bottom bracket, along with the upright position, make me feel like I'm really up in the sky. This might be a drawback for a utility bike, but since the load will be carried low alongside the wheels, I think it will be fine. The swept-back bars are comfortable; they're as wide as most mountain bike bars, but swept-back handles give them an unusual feel. It came with a very short handlebar stem, which I traded for a longer one since I'm fairly tall and the reach felt pretty short with the stubby stem.
This morning I took it to the grocery store for coffee and milk. With the long wheelbase and fat street tires, the ride was smooth and comfortable. The upright position was nice for navigating through the grocery store parking lot. The big front wheel was too tall to squeeze into the crappy rack at the grocery store; I used the kickstand to stand the Ute beside the rack. The big orange pannier held the jug of milk just fine. The ride was unaffected by a single jug of milk on one side of the bike. Later in the day, after some neighborhood cruising with the kids on their bikes, I made another trip to the store for chips and salsa. No problem with that load either, except that now it's in my belly.
Tomorrow I'll ride my Kona Ute to work!
The Kona Ute comes in two sizes, I got the larger 20-inch frame. It has comfortable swept-back bars that give the rider an upright position, probably an advantage in traffic, less advantageous in a headwind. The Ute has a front disc brake and rear V-brake. It's geared low by road bike standards, but not quite as low as most mountain bikes. It has an 8-speed rear cassette with 11- to 32-tooth cogs, and up front the crankset has a 26- and a 36-tooth chainring. With those gear options, I won't be going fast on this one. But it's not about speed. The Ute comes with big 29" wheels and wide 47mm road tires for a smooth ride on rough roads. The frame and fork have plenty of clearance for at least 2.5-inch tires. I also picked up some 2.1-inch studded winter tires for it, but I'm hoping I won't have to put them on until next winter. This warm weekend has me feeling optimistic, but the weather god might have her own plan.
I was looking for a bicycle that would facilitate daily transportation to and from work, coupled with frequent trips to the grocery and hardware store. I've had great success riding to work on my Soma Double Cross, but I've always wished I had a little more capacity for carrying groceries or other miscellaneous stuff in addition to my usual cargo of laptop computer, stack of books and papers, lunch, work clothes, and small assortment of bicycle tools.
The Kona Ute's wheelbase is about 10 inches longer than that of my Soma Double Cross, perhaps 11 or 12 inches longer than a typical road bike. That's still much shorter than a tandem bicycle, which has wheelbase around 28 inches longer than an ordinary bicycle. The Ute's extra length is in the rear of the frame between the seatpost and the rear axle, where the frame is formed into an integrated rack with a 33-inch long wooden deck. This effectively allows the Ute to carry the equivalent of two additional panniers on the frame. One drawback that I will mention is that the hooks on most standard panniers are too small to grasp the fat tubes the form the Ute's rack, but I'm sure that fat tubes are necessary for strength.
The Kona Ute comes with a single, gigantic, orange bag, sized to readily accommodate two standard grocery bags. The bag is made of a waterproof material, but has a pretty open design. Any precious cargo in the bags, such as a laptop computer, will need have it's own water-resistant container. If this bag proves useful, I may get another. I might also consider attaching a big wire basket about the size of the orange Ute bag, or mount a horizontal rail on the frame that will allow me to use my Ortlieb panniers on one side.
An everyday bike should be as user-friendly as possible. If a bicycle is going to be used for daily transportation, including the last-minute oh-no-we're-out-of-milk trip, it needs to be convenient to simply jump on it and go. That means avoiding the need for special shoes and clothes, and having the necessary lock, lights, and cargo containers sitting on the bike, ready to roll. It needs to be just about as easy as jumping in the mini-van (and it's certain to be more fun). For now, I've mounted some smallish battery-powered lights on the handlebars. It's getting light enough in the morning now that these should suffice, but in the long run I plan to install a tire-driven generator (dynamo) that powers a good headlight and taillight.
Fenders and a kickstand also go a long way towards making a bicycle a useful piece of transportation. The Ute comes with a smallish fender up front, but none in the rear. I opted to install the Planet Bike Cascadia 29er fenders because they're big enough to cover the Ute's huge tires, and because the long rubbery extensions do a great job of keeping spray from reaching feet and the bicycle's bottom bracket, crankset, and chain.
The Ute comes with a two-legged kickstand, which looks nice and seems to function really well. I can see that it's difficult to design a two-legged center-mounted kickstand. If the kickstand is narrow enough to stay inside the chain when up, it's not wide enough to support the bike when down. If the kickstand is wide enough to support the bike, then it needs to stay under the chain when it folds up, in which case the pivot point has to hang a few inches below the bottom bracket. Balancing the width, potential for chain contact, and distance the thing hangs down, makes for tight constraints on design. We'll see how it works.
The first thing I noticed when riding the Ute is that it's tall. It's big wheels, and high bottom bracket, along with the upright position, make me feel like I'm really up in the sky. This might be a drawback for a utility bike, but since the load will be carried low alongside the wheels, I think it will be fine. The swept-back bars are comfortable; they're as wide as most mountain bike bars, but swept-back handles give them an unusual feel. It came with a very short handlebar stem, which I traded for a longer one since I'm fairly tall and the reach felt pretty short with the stubby stem.
This morning I took it to the grocery store for coffee and milk. With the long wheelbase and fat street tires, the ride was smooth and comfortable. The upright position was nice for navigating through the grocery store parking lot. The big front wheel was too tall to squeeze into the crappy rack at the grocery store; I used the kickstand to stand the Ute beside the rack. The big orange pannier held the jug of milk just fine. The ride was unaffected by a single jug of milk on one side of the bike. Later in the day, after some neighborhood cruising with the kids on their bikes, I made another trip to the store for chips and salsa. No problem with that load either, except that now it's in my belly.
Tomorrow I'll ride my Kona Ute to work!
07 February 2009
Braces, glasses, and basketball
Abbey scored two points in her basketball game today! She brought the ball down the court and made a slow and jagged drive (perhaps I should say she meandered) down towards the goal and put up a shot, under heavy cover, from several feet outside the key. Swish!! She and her team had a great game today. I didn't get a picture of her actually scoring a goal, but I did get this one of her with the ball right after she grabbed a rebound.
Although Abbey's vision isn't terrible, somewhere around 20/30, she says her glasses have definitely made it easier to read the SmartBoard at school. Aren't they a nice shade of purple? Her braces are lavender, nicely complementing her glasses.
After so many days of cold, we suddenly have warm!! Yesterday was sunny and pleasant with a high that must have been in the 40s. Today we made it into the 50s!! The snow is melting fast, and the creeks are filling up. Cindy and both got out and ran today. I wore shorts!! Quinn went along on his bike and got totally soaked from riding through pools of snowmelt on the flooded sidewalks.
Although Abbey's vision isn't terrible, somewhere around 20/30, she says her glasses have definitely made it easier to read the SmartBoard at school. Aren't they a nice shade of purple? Her braces are lavender, nicely complementing her glasses.
After so many days of cold, we suddenly have warm!! Yesterday was sunny and pleasant with a high that must have been in the 40s. Today we made it into the 50s!! The snow is melting fast, and the creeks are filling up. Cindy and both got out and ran today. I wore shorts!! Quinn went along on his bike and got totally soaked from riding through pools of snowmelt on the flooded sidewalks.
02 February 2009
Blogged down
Folks have been mentioning once again that this blog has been rather neglected. My mother thought perhaps I'd gotten blogged down in other stuff.
If we're blogged down in stuff it's either snow or just the daily business of life, which sort of go together this time of year. I'll add something about the weather below, but here's what goes on while the snow falls: School, basketball, homework, piano lessons, statistical analysis and graphics with R, worry about potential job loss, dreaming about green grass and bicycling, playing with Christmas gifts (thanks to you all), wishing we were staying in shape, the Playmaker's sidewalk sale, cleaning the bathtubs, re-shelving the pantry closet and painting the doors, dreaming of bicycling, filling out tax forms, reorganizing the filing system, setting up bookcases in the office/mudroom (what a great room), more work with R, wishing spring would come, dreaming of bicycling, wishing spring would come, dreaming of bicycling, wishing spring would come...
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, said Albus Dumbledore. Obviously, he didn't live in Michigan. We're reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Quinn.
Let's see... interesting news? Report cards just came home with the kids. I don't know what we're going to do with them, setting expectations they'll regret, they are. Of course, their performance has been exemplary. I've been enjoying working with Abbey on the partial quotients division method. It's better than the way we learned. Quinn is making good progress towards becoming literate.
Glasses and braces. Abbey got them both in January 2009. Lucky kid. Her glasses are purple and her braces are various shades of lavender. Ten years old. Next thing you know she'll be in college.
Weather. I looked at the climate summary for Lansing. This has been Lansing's coldest winter since 1994, and not since 1979 has there been a January in which the temperature never once made it out of the 30s. In January 2009, the temp only made it above freezing three times - and then only just for a few hours. We had 18 inches of snow in January, and 55 inches of snow this winter. If you need to convert to C, let me know and I'll send you the formula. This kind of winter is oppressive. We'd never have survived Bethel Alaska. I wish we'd never left Seattle. But let's look forward, not back!
As a bicyclist this winter, I've been, well, not really a bicyclist. I rode a few times in the fall after the first snows fell, but got discouraged by the bitter cold temperatures, the snow piles that the plows push into the bike lanes, the cavernous potholes on Dobie (the) Road (to Hell), the frozen ruts, deep footprints, and plow spray on the bicycle paths. I've spent the winter taking the bus to work, which isn't as much fun, but it sure is easy. I'm working on getting set up to ride again, now that we should be getting through the worst of winter. More on that to come...
Soon, too, I'll take pictures of Abbey's new facial hardware and get them posted here.
Off to bed, dreaming of a new day, another season. Here comes the sun...
If we're blogged down in stuff it's either snow or just the daily business of life, which sort of go together this time of year. I'll add something about the weather below, but here's what goes on while the snow falls: School, basketball, homework, piano lessons, statistical analysis and graphics with R, worry about potential job loss, dreaming about green grass and bicycling, playing with Christmas gifts (thanks to you all), wishing we were staying in shape, the Playmaker's sidewalk sale, cleaning the bathtubs, re-shelving the pantry closet and painting the doors, dreaming of bicycling, filling out tax forms, reorganizing the filing system, setting up bookcases in the office/mudroom (what a great room), more work with R, wishing spring would come, dreaming of bicycling, wishing spring would come, dreaming of bicycling, wishing spring would come...
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, said Albus Dumbledore. Obviously, he didn't live in Michigan. We're reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Quinn.
Let's see... interesting news? Report cards just came home with the kids. I don't know what we're going to do with them, setting expectations they'll regret, they are. Of course, their performance has been exemplary. I've been enjoying working with Abbey on the partial quotients division method. It's better than the way we learned. Quinn is making good progress towards becoming literate.
Glasses and braces. Abbey got them both in January 2009. Lucky kid. Her glasses are purple and her braces are various shades of lavender. Ten years old. Next thing you know she'll be in college.
Weather. I looked at the climate summary for Lansing. This has been Lansing's coldest winter since 1994, and not since 1979 has there been a January in which the temperature never once made it out of the 30s. In January 2009, the temp only made it above freezing three times - and then only just for a few hours. We had 18 inches of snow in January, and 55 inches of snow this winter. If you need to convert to C, let me know and I'll send you the formula. This kind of winter is oppressive. We'd never have survived Bethel Alaska. I wish we'd never left Seattle. But let's look forward, not back!
As a bicyclist this winter, I've been, well, not really a bicyclist. I rode a few times in the fall after the first snows fell, but got discouraged by the bitter cold temperatures, the snow piles that the plows push into the bike lanes, the cavernous potholes on Dobie (the) Road (to Hell), the frozen ruts, deep footprints, and plow spray on the bicycle paths. I've spent the winter taking the bus to work, which isn't as much fun, but it sure is easy. I'm working on getting set up to ride again, now that we should be getting through the worst of winter. More on that to come...
Soon, too, I'll take pictures of Abbey's new facial hardware and get them posted here.
Off to bed, dreaming of a new day, another season. Here comes the sun...
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