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I thought of our friends living in the Southern Hemisphere.... Zombie Duck pecked a hole through 3" of ice for its morning swim.

Handlebar Flexing? Yes, it is, but I just betcha that it is not flexing as much as you think it is. If your Quest is anything like my Sofrider, and it looks like it is, I just bet you that what you're seeing is mostly due to torsion: your steerer tube, that long, vertical tube between...

Healthy-Gummed Skwirllz The lights are back on in the garage and the tools I needed to finish un-building the D.F. just arrived today. Our wild, healthy-gummed sqwirllzes still scamper about inside the roof, probably still gnawing on old wiring, keeping our dogs entertained! For a...

Misaligned holes? In this case, my guess is that all the frame parts fit perfectly together, before the frame parts are painted. My experience with assembling various two-wheeled vehicles in a small custom motorcycle shop leads me to the above guess: paint/anodized/plated coatings...

Funny Update Working with toxic chemicals indoors is not something I want to do.... Why even mention it then? Well, the electricity is off in the attached garage, our arts/crafts/work area. Specifically, the hot lead is short to the neutral lead. How's that even happen...

Low Forward Visibility Weave back and forth, like those Warbird pilots do in their long-nosed fighters on airshow taxiways. It doesn't take much... and isn't really needed on either a familiar or a windy road. Some sacrifices are made, in the pursuit of maximum unfaired aerodynamic...

The Myth of Light-Weight Bikes Having a light-weight bike is fun! It's easy to push around and when you dismount, tired and sweaty from working out, it's easier to lift. My experience with my Sofrider has taught me that weight does not make too much difference, at all... especially...

Composites Are Easy And one of these beautiful machines will make me a fine bike, this Winter. The little test-ride around the block told me everything I needed to know about the ride quality of an unsuspended composite frame riding on high-pressure tyres mounted on 700c wheels...

This afternoon I took a modern carbon-fibre framed road bike out for a short spin around the block. It was this model, equipped with this gruppo: SRAM Rival, I think. The acceleration was immediate. What made me smile was how quickly, how smartly this feather-light machine, with...

If -if I'm the third person to ditto Mr. Winns' wisdom, is this a, 'tritto'? If you must cut, be conservative. Cut it so that you can adjust for your longer 'bent legs. If you do cut too much off, you can always back-order a new part. Maybe. Or buy a new bike and try again...

Suspension and Power Mr. Tolhurst, you may remember my question, quite a while ago, about experimenting with my Sofriders' rear suspension by turning it into a hard-tail. I took your advice and replaced the stock sprung shock with a length of hardwood dowel. The stock comfort...

Bar Tape? Both the Quest and the Sofrider are equipped with hand grips on their handlebars. The Silvio and Vendetta are not. Since I swapped-out the stock handlebar on my Sofrider for a drop-bar, I just taped up the new drop-bar with whatever foamy plastic stuff was on sale at the...

Slicks and Stones My Sofrider's wheels are shod with slicks. The only problem I have when riding on gravel roads is that the tyres tend to get cut. Man used chipped stones for generations, so this ought to be no surprise. Riding safely on loose surfaces is just a matter of...

Handlebar I got lucky, during a visit to my local bike shop and bought this aluminum drop bar very, very cheaply. The handlebar felt wide to me, comfortable, and I could easily imagine my whirring knees clearing the handlebar... and did I mention that the price was right? It...

Starting Whichever leg you use, be smooth. You know, apply power to the pedal smoothly. Sit upright and try starting, you may have better balance. Sitting upright, you might also have better control over your power and your arms won't have enough leverage to overpower your leg...

X-seam The first things that come to mind, concerning a maxed-out adjustment: -you can't adjust for the X-seam changes you may need, as you become more acclimated to your bike. I adjusted the length of the TFT daily, for weeks, while I was getting accustomed to my bike. -You may...

Wow I'm impressed... by your passion, your life style, your blog and even by your bike. Your pipe foam covered, bottom-bracket mounted cargo-carrying rails look fantastic. Question(s): -Is that all-thread between your front triangle and the fork crown? -If so, how stable/reliable...

Hi, Larry... The hydroformed frames of both of the current Silvio and Vendetta models keep drawing me to, well, drool. The beautiful builds, based on these drool-worthy frames, are stunning, innovative and fun-fun-fun. In reality, I'm a hard-core Sofrider V1 owner/operator/tinkerer...

Headrest "101" People are different. Peoples' bodies are different. Your body might be different enough, far enough away from 'normal', to need extra fitting... to fit your bike to your body. For example, my little brothers' head is big, angular and square. All of his hats and...

Wheel? There are a lot of parts in a wheel assembly. Make sure that your drive wheel is true, tuned, lubed and undamaged! -Steve