My Fox Flux was getting a bit long in the tooth. It still looked in good shape although the visor was long gone somewhere on the Tantalus road, but it’s been a few years so it was time to look at a replacement. Arriving on the scene is the new Bell Super “all-mountain” helmet. AM, what is it? Extreme XC, pansy DH? Anyway, what distinguishes this helmet and most “AM” helmets is the supposed increased covereage for more of the head, mainly the back, without being a full head helmet. The Super also features a pretty prominent visor which can be replaced with goggle hooks and additional venting at the brow area to further aid the use of goggles with this helmet. And in keeping with current trends, it also features an accessory GoPro mount that can be popped into the front vent. Has a rear retenion dial system. Uses microshell construction to keep weight down, anti-microbial pads to keep the funk down.
Archive for the 'bike' Category
Page 7 of 40
It’s a holiday, everyone is occupied with one or another thing, our rides earlier in the week got rained out, so after lunch I hopped on the Yeti for a spin. I packed the medium photo gear and tripod and headed out to my usual area between Hanauma Bay and Lanai Lookout. Bay was closed. Sat on the flat rock I usually do and hung out. Winds were trades and was blowing briskly over the point. Waves weren’t very big, but the winds were kicking up some chop. Conditions weren’t as good as the past couple times for spotting whales, and I didn’t see anything. Got on the bike, rode through the glass field down the ridge toward the mouth of the bay. I did spot a kame-chan popping it’s little head out of the water near the rock face below. By the time I got the camera out it had disappeared underwater. Oh well.
Saturday decided to go for a ride since the weather predictions were for dire rains to come through soon. Haven’t been up to the Lanai lookout area this year so decided to take the Yeti there. Weather was actually nice, too hot for December though. As soon as I got to the point where I usually first stop, spotted spout out toward Bamboo Ridge. Soon became apparent it was two, most likely a mother and youngster. They were moving right along so I rode further down the ridge closer to the water. They didn’t do much though as they passed. 
Then shortly after was surprised by a breach going in the opposite direction. It was close enough that I could hear the splash! Unfortunately since it was so early in the season I didn’t bother bringing the big camera, just had my little point and shoot so this is the best I could do. Luckily this whale wasn’t a one hit wonder and repeatedly breached. Continue reading ‘Arr!’
Today, Saturday, I lounged around all beginning of the day, the forecast earlier had called for dire rains, which only so far showed up as showers last night, and Kona winds today. Finally the bug in my brain to go ride my bike took hold. I needed to go buy some more of that gold Plastidip, and Dad needed some weed trimmer line, so I decided I’ll go ride to the Ace Hardware in Kaimuki. It was past 3PM but I figured I could be back within two hours so I pulled out the metallic rootbeer Santa Cruze. It kinda got pushed off to the side with the arrival of the Yeti, but it made a good cross country cruiser with the lighter weight and the layback sesatpost fixed the riding position. Continue reading ‘Fort Ruger Pathway’
11/11/13, Veterans Day. A weekend of rainy weather made me itching to get out and ride. Chris was able to get away in the late afternoon and the day had been fairly clear. Since it was only the two of us, we met at Chris’ apartment and we pedaled from there to St. Louis. Yes, we pedaled up the hill. I suppose it was nice that the air was cooling off, but the climb was still as horrible as ever.
We managed to reach the last bend in the road just as the sun set. We met a pair of riders coming out from the park just as we turned onto the road that lead to the entry gate. They didn’t look too dirty, but they said it was muddy down low. Hm, we weren’t about to go home now. We continued on. The entry road was very damp, so we figured dumps was right out of the ride plan.
Sunday October 27, Chris was able to free up a couple hours and new bike fever had bit me so I was itching for a ride. Weather was calling for a flash flood watch, but there was no active rain at the moment. We decided to chance a quickie and go to Maunawili Ditch. Late morning and it was just Chris and I at Waimanalo. Skies were looking grim, but we unloaded and headed onto double track climb. A gentle rain had started and we decided not to go into the Ditch Trail, we knew how mucky it gets when wet. As we passed the Ditch Trail entrance we passed two riders coming out. The rain was gradually increasing. The two riders passed us as we took a break near Jackson Chameleon hill. By the time we reached the open junction area the rain was going at a good pace, this didn’t look like a passing shower. Continue reading ‘Two Yeti, One Ride’
Saturday, 19 October 2013
Quite a deal went into the making of this Wailuna loop ride. After all the “who can/can’t go”s and “which day”s, and “what time”s were whittled down, there was only Chris, Ckucke, Root, and I out under an evil looking sky on Saturday afternoon. I got drizzled on twice while waiting for them to show up, but by the time we made the top of the road climb, the weather had cleared to the point where it looked like any further rain was unlikely. Continue reading ‘Scratchtastic’
Sunday, 06 October 2013
The promise of the undiscovered frontier brought everyone except the stand-up crew out of the woodwork, even under the threat of possible heavy thunderstorms. We met at the end of the road in Sunset Hills in Pupukea to explore the much-storied Pupukea-Paumalu trail network. Briefly, the area had been considered for development, but the community worked together with the landowner and State to get the land preserved as a multi-use wilderness area. The weather was fine when we arrived, and there was no hint of muckiness at the parking area. Ckucke had taken a photo of the trail map at a local bike shop with his phone, so that was our only reference, other than topographical information from my GPS. Continue reading ‘Enjoying Sunset Hills’
So with our recent mountain bike revival where we’ve actually been riding those contraptions again, I’ve been transporting my bike by taking off both wheels and cramming it into the back of the FR-S. To it’s credit it fits without too much finagling. It’s still annoying, scuffs the interior, and woe be the day when I get poopy tire. So I started working on the external bike rack, there’s already been people who’ve done it. The one that I was going to try for is to use the large threaded holes in the bumper that normally is for the two loop. The FR-S fortunately has two, which you then make something to thread two rods into. Then any typical roof rack mount should work. People have gone as far as having machine shops machine something out of stainless rod. The other method was to go get a pair of the OEM tow loops, cut off the loop, then weld on a tube/pipe. I investigated that. Toyota parts wants over $35 per, and they were not in stock. So I ran around to various shops in Mapunapuna. Industrial Hardware had the big arse metric bolts that match, 16mmx1.5. I bought a pair of the longest ones they had for $11 the pair. Then went across the street to Moos Machine Works to look for tube. They had nothing that would fit the bolts. Back across to Hardware Hawaii where some 3/4″ conduit happen to fit. I wasn’t going to trust this to be strong enough, but bought some for mock up work.
So first thing to do was to chop off the heads. Few minutes with the grinder and cutoff wheel took care of that. 
Threading it into the bumper immediately reveals that it’s too short. The actual threads are recessed far behind the bumper/ There is a metal face right behind the plastic, but the actual frame as way back there. So if I tried to attach a tube to the bolt it would have to be small enough to fit inside this outer hole, which would be not much more than the 3/4″. Hmm. I proceeded to fit up the 3/4 conduit the test fit everything.
There is a traditional myth that the slimy juice from awapuhi ginger flowers can be used as a shampoo, cleanser, and conditioner. Since the flowers were in bloom on the last ride, I harvested a selection of various levels of maturity for an empirical test. Both small, young flowers and large, older flowers produced a slime of equivalent quality. Regardless of age or size, all the gel produced performed the same as a shampoo – poorly. It didn’t remove any of the oily filth of a several hour mountain bike ride, but it did leave a smooth feeling similar to a commercial conditioner. The lingering dirt smell the fluid left unfortunately diminished the possible conditioning benefit. Fail. I guess it might be possible to use it as a conditioner after first shampooing, but it doesn’t appear to have any cleansing properties. It would be nice if it smelled like ginger instead of dirt.