Bikes, Beans, and Brews

Since the mountain bike I ride is a Felt Q720 (from 2007), I was interested to see that Felt is offering quite a few rides for commuting as well from commutebybike.com.

Of course, reading about all these new commuters makes me think I need a bike for commuting and errands.  After all, I ride an old beater GT Karakoram mountain bike for my commuter/city bike with a rack, lights, lock, lots of "stuff" making it heavy and not very, um, attractive... (but then neither are my intensely pasty white legs in this photo).  And, as I'm sure my wife will point out to me, I work at home, so my commute is actually a 10 foot walk from the bedroom to the office.  But that's not the point at all.  AT ALL.

Anyway, I did find that Felt is offering several bikes that would be great commuters (sorry, I mean "City" bikes).

However, the two I really like are the Hot Wheels Sixty 8 and the TIP.  Though, I suppose neither of those would be commuters for most people.  Perfect for my commute though!

I picked up a kegerator off of craiglist for $100 a few months back.  It had some cosmetic problems, but it got cold and seemed to be in good shape mechanically.  It included a gas cylinder and a beer faucet.  However, it's starting to fall under the "you get what you pay for" category.  The unit is a Beverage Air Model QM20, and since most Beverage Air kegerators run about $400 or more (lots more), I was feeling pretty smug about it.

I got it home and decided to pull off the plastic top because it was cracked in several places.  This wasn't too much of a problem and I replaced it with a plywood top that I painted then covered with plastic coating. 

I then replaced the beer line and the gas line (previous owner had apparently never cleaned them... ewww), and picked up new connections for the smaller "corny" or soda kegs that I'm using for homebrew.  This came to about $40 in parts.

So, with the top replaced, new parts installed, and beer in the fermentor, I moved it into place in the basement.  However, while doing this, I broke one of the welds that held one of it's casters in place.  D'oh.  Oh well, easy fix with a block of wood in the back corner.

I plugged it in and put a glass of water in the fridge with a thermometer in it.  Most beer needs to be 36 to 38F when served, so I wanted to make sure that it was getting that cold.

At about this time, I started to research how to turn this into a two-tap unit.  Unfortunately, I found that it is an old 2.5" tower (the metal tube that has the handle on it), and there is not room inside that tower to add another faucet.  This little change will require a new 3" tower (about $65) and of course, the new faucet, beer lines, and CO2 gas lines ($20 for the faucet, probably about $5-10 for beer lines, $30 for multi-port gas distributors).  This is starting to sound expensive.

Time to check on that glass in the fridge... the good news is as tested before buying it, it is getting cold.  However, I quickly learned that the thermostat was not working on the unit and it froze the glass of water completely solid within 2 hours.  I remove the block of ice, chip out the thermostat.  Get out another one, and turn the thermostat to the off position and learn that it will still freeze the water in the "off" position.

Now I've moved the Hefeweizen into a keg awaiting the kegerator... so, I decide let's just tap the thing, and unplug the fridge to make sure it doesn't freeze.  Of course, almost immediately after drinking beer one night I forget to unplug the kegerator.  This freezes the beer lines and pops the faucet open.  I don't notice this when I unplug it and about a half hour later, I've got beer pouring out all over the floor!!  NOOOO! 

The other problem with this solution is that tapped beer is very temperature sensitive.  Higher temps require less CO2 gas pressure, lower temps require more - basically this means huge head on the beer as the keg warms up.  Additionally, once the beer drops to about 34F (or lower) the CO2 gas gets trapped in the beer and will provide very little head and leaves a flat taste to it.  So, obviously, I have to get the temperature issues resolved.


I contacted Beverage Air and found out that they do not think they have ever built model QM20.  I provided all the details I could, but they just recommended I contact a certified service company to look at the unit.  So, I then went to parts suppliers and found they also claim Beverage Air never made a model QM20 and they can't send me a thermostat for it.  Someone suggested that I take out the thermostat and see if its got any part numbers on it, but of course it doesn't.

The solution that I've come to is to buy an external temperature controller and let it control the temperature.  These are about $65, so while my kegerator remains a good deal, its not looking like the bargain I originally thought.

Total price so far: $205 and some change.  Still have another $125-$130 or so more to add the second tap.  Though I have had (some) fun trying to figure all this stuff out.

My dandy little town of Berkley, Michigan just had an article in the local little paper, Woodward Talk, entitled "Berkley aims to promote greater bike usage at city businesses".  This sounds like it will be all about new bike lanes and bike racks, right?  Sounds encouraging, right??

Well, almost.  The article is actually about how the council voted DOWN an amendment to the bicycling parking requirements for Berkley businesses and requested that the planning commission rewrite the ordinance.  From there it goes on to point out that...

...the original ordinance would have allowed existing establishments to reduce their number of required off-street parking spaces. By counting bike rack spaces toward this requirement, the number of parking spaces could be decreased by as much as 25 percent for commercial businesses.

and as written, the ordinance "...would have REQUIRED [emphasis is mine] business owners to install a new bicycle rack anytime their existing parking lot is developed or resurfaced."  But Councilman Dan Benton does not feel that businesses should be required to install bike racks if they don't want to.  He is quoted as saying, "We should not be making businesses put in more bike racks if they don't want to." and then claimed that bike racks are too expensive (the article quotes a cost of $100-$450 each).

I admit, I don't know how much resurfacing a parking lot costs, but I'll bet that $100 (or even $450 more) is pretty damn nominal if you get to reduce the number of parking spaces provided.  Plus the city already requires that businesses provide a certain number of parking spaces. So, how is requiring bicycle parking any different? A point made by Eric Auensen, chair of the Berkley Environmental Committee.  (oh yeah, I know how... its cheaper!)

Ok, ok, I likely won't win many friends in the business community with this opinion, so since we've already tossed out the ordinance, and we're starting over, then let's make it a requirement for the DDA area.  Hey, if you're a lawyers office or insurance agency locating in a "high traffic" area, then you should have to provide bike parking.  Plus, 12 to 14 bikes fit in each singular parking place, so you lose one space and gain 14 "spaces" - seems like a pretty good trade off to me.  All for 100 bucks.
As long as I'm complaining about this, might as well complain about the lack of bike lanes to safely get to businesses on Coolidge and 12 Mile Road too....    And HEY, how come our existing bike routes END at the city's edge?!?  Why doesn't Berkley, Southfield, Royal Oak, and Oak Park play nice together on bike routes?!?

Battles for other days, methinks.

This post starts last week. Not the writing per se (the proofreading level alone will I'm sure convince you that this was not a week-long project), but the thought that went into it started last week.

You see, last week I was catching up on some Fat Cyclist reading that I had missed, when I read this little gem of a post: Distilled for Your Convenience: 15+ Years Worth of Acquired Wisdom.  Basically, he, in his unparalleled style describes....

...three things I have learned that I think are worth sharing. It’s entirely possible that my three hard-earned epiphanies may do someone some good.

 I always enjoy these types of articles and blog posts, because inevitably I pick up something from them at some point, though most of the tips are little things that have a nominal impact on my riding.  However, this one was different.

The three (paraphrased) tips that Fatty goes on to share are:

1. Ride with less air in your tires (20-22psi)
2. Slower is not safer - ride faster, particularly on the downhills
   
3. Ride without a camelbak or backpack

After reading this, it was a couple days before I could get back out to the trails (mostly due to rain).  The 2nd and 3rd tip I've heard before.  Sometimes I ride with a camelbak, sometimes I don't.  I always try to ride downhills faster (with varying levels of success), so that wasn't new.

But it was the first tip got me to thinking.  I'm not entirely sure where he lives, but I believe it is in the Redmond area (Washington), which means he's probably getting a lot of similar mix of mud and hardpack that I get here in Michigan.  I ride with tubes and I'm guessing that Fatty rides tubeless, which is why he can run at 20-22psi.  But I was wondering, am I running my tires at too high pressure?  I usually run between 40 and 50psi depending on sand, mud, and whether I remember to check my air level at all.

For yesterday's ride, I decided to try lowering my tire pressure, and ran the front at 30psi and back at 33psi.  I couldn't bring myself to drop all the way to 20, because I wasn't carrying spares and didn't care to find out the hard way that tubes didn't like that low pressure. The trail was a nice mix of intensely muddy with standing water (in the woods) and dry hardpack (in the sun).

Let me tell you...  this made a HUGE difference.  The biggest instant change to my riding I've ever felt.  I would not have believed it if I hadn't ridden it myself.  The ride was smoother (much less bouncing back wheel syndrome - BBW), braking was better, handling was tighter, I think my gut was smaller, and I'm pretty sure I was more attractive to my spouse.

I had no idea how little pressure I should have been running all these years, and just how much difference it would make overall. This also helps me see the attraction of tubeless (which I could never fully understand before yesterday).

When I was running off-road events for Trips for Kids, I used to make sure tires were at about 45-50psi, but now I see that was way too much - particularly for the lighter weight kids.  Sorry to make that so hard on all of you kids over the years.  That'll teach you to trust a guy who self-taught how to mountain bike.

Although I am in no way a expert at mountain biking, in honor of Fatty's post, I thought today, I'd share my top three tips anyway:

Ride lower pressure than you think you should - (yep, just learned it yesterday and its now my top tip.) I'm planning to run at 30-35psi off-road from now on, though I'll probably carry spares with me just to be sure I can ride out.

And my next upgrade will be to tubeless.

Look where you want to go, not where you're going - this sounds counter-intuitive and is probably the hardest thing to do, but it also is the number one tip that improved my biking when I was getting started.

As you are headed off the trail, if you stare at the tree, you'll hit the tree.  I try to look down the trail, pick a path, inevitably, the bike follows my eyes and onto the path.

Sure, at some point I suppose you might want to change where you look as you roll off the edge, but to be honest, I haven't had that happen yet (which means it will probably happen to me the next time I ride).  When I roll off the edge into the woods, its because I forgot to keep my eyes on my desired path and my panicked eyeballs are now glued on the mess of trees, shrubs, river, or dirt that I'm aimed towards.

Important disclaimer - I do still crash more often than I'd like.  But these crashes are usually due to a lack of good judgment or poor riding skills, not because I'm steering myself off into the wilderness.

My final tip isn't really a "skills" tip, but a recommendation: Ride with a group.  There are great group rides out there, and talking to folks is how you'll learn these kind of tips without having to read them on random websites. Plus, this will help with my second tip, because you'll be able to pick a wheel/line to follow (assuming you don't pick a wheel that leads you off a cliff).

I always seem to ride better when I'm with a group.  I don't know if that's because I step up to the challenge, or have examples to follow, or just that I put in more effort to avoid looking silly in front of others.

However, I must admit that I'm terrible at following my own advice on this one. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy riding with folks in group rides, but I find that I can't/don't make many of them. And I'm slow. So, there's been many times when I started with others and ended riding by myself.

Riding by oneself is not a bad thing. But then I'm having to figure out a lot of these simple tips for myself - save yourself the trouble and ride with a group.  And, I guess, that answers the question from the title. People don't tell me these things because I'm not there to ask the question/hear the answer.

How come is it that I usually end up figuring out how to blame myself for my own problems? If TV has taught me one thing, it's that someone else should be to blame....

My brother just clued me in to a fun link for a variety of bicycle trailers:
http://www.sfbike.org/?racks

I'm especially a fan of the idea of a "camper" bike trailer (like the Midget Bicycle Camper pictured to the left here).  Not that I want to drag one behind me, I just think they are a fun idea.  I'd like you to drag one and I'll sleep in it.  How about that?

I've always had this sort of crazy dream to build a mini-brewery or a coffee roaster on a bicycle trailer and then bicycle it around town makin' beer or coffee. Though, actually, as I think about it, I'm not really sure where I would bike it... other than to my pal's houses, and frankly, it's a lot less work to have them come to me.

I like the link to an instructable for building your own paniers.  I've seen this instructable before (perhaps it's one of the more popular ones?), and I might try and take this on at some point.  Mostly just because I'm drawn to projects like this, and if it can be done for cheap, then all the better!

I already have a BOB trailer, so I can't say that I have any need for another trailer, though "need" has never really gotten in the way of my desire for new bike gear in the past.  I've been watching craigslist and curbs on trash day for a cheap kiddie trailer that I can turn into an inexpensive cargo trailer (the start to the brewery?!?), but have not found one yet that fits into this project budget (that budget is about $10 for those that are curious). 

Anyway, truth be told, I'd rather just get one of these.