This is rather cool. Jorge Espina - main distributor for Sparton USA - goes over some of the details of the Sparton frame. He also addresses a few questions/comments that have been floating around about the frames. I like that he briefly talks about the weight issue as I had mentioned below. They are a decent mid-weight bike, but they aren’t obese. To put it into perspective, the Schwinn Madison fully built minus pedals weighs in at a portly 21.8 lbs. The Sparton fully built is less than that.
Recent news about the unfortunate mis-sizing of the bike frame I was going to get meant I have been thrust back into the market for a new ride. I’ve been looking at quite a few bikes from Japanese Keirin to Italian to off the shelf complete bikes to classic track and rare finds. There are plenty of options out there but for my tastes I wanted something a little more exclusive, something different. Unfortunately, this meant my search was getting fairly complicated.
Gems like this are a rarity. Consider the $1500 price tag an introduction into the super rare, extremely-valuable-over-time club.
Video is more of an accompaniment. It’s not the actual video for the track.
Thinking of Cass and I’m reminded of this song by Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
Whether it be a 70+ mile ride from Central Park to Nyack and back or 20+ miles in Central Park, in an effort to clear my head, I’ve been focusing on my bike.
Foregoing conventional thinking, I’ve decided to remove the front brake on the bike. I know it sounds crazy, but riding brakeless isn’t as bad as you might think. If anything it heightens your awareness with relevance to you, cars, doors, buses, pedestrians and anything else. I’ve gotten much better with my skip-skidding and slow, controlled stops. When I get a proper road bike, I’ll utilize the brakes. Until then, while I’m riding a fixed-gear bike, I’ll stay brakeless.
The drive train on my bike was updated with a new 45T chainring and a 18T cog. This gives me a super spinny, great for winter and commuting 65.9 gear-inches. Burst speed is great and hill climbs are a breeze. Downhills are a bit of an issue with such a low gearing, but it does force me to utilize my quadriceps and hamstrings much more to slow my rate of decent.
I guess that is more or less an update to things. I’ve just really been stressed with Cass’ passing. Doing everything I can to not think about it. Trying to remember I can’t call her, I can’t email her…it’s really hard. I look at my own children and think, “Please, babies, don’t leave your daddy.” So tough…
Anyway, the takeaway here is, get off your butt, get on a bike and ride.
A reader of my wifes blog, Brooke, retouched the photo of Cassandra. Thank you, Brooke.
2008 started off like so many other new years, uneventful. The main thing on our mind was Isabella and her stomach flu. Apparently both kids caught it sometime the week before but her symptoms appeared to be worsening. I stayed home to watch her while Rashida ran some errands. That’s when I got the call…on January 1 at 5pm, my sister, while in Taiwan, took her own life.
Read the rest of this entry.
While there is nothing exciting about the above video, it does make me long for warmer days when going for a ride meant throwing on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.