Category: Dining Room Bike Shop

Dahon, Dining Room Bike Shop, Folders

The Dahon Hon Solo Does the BicycleSPACE Cupcake Ramble

Several years ago I went through a small-wheel bike phase. I was enamored of their appearance, the twitchy steering (compared to a full-size bike), and the ways they folded into more compact sizes for storage and transport.

Dahon Hon Solo

My Dahon Hon Solo is one of the bikes I own as a result of that phase. A limited edition single speed model Dahon came out with in 2006 (500 total made), this bike rides on 20-inch wheels and came stock with Nitto moustache bars and leather grips, a Brooks B-17 saddle, and dainty lace-wood fenders. Full specs of the original bike can be found here.

Continue reading “The Dahon Hon Solo Does the BicycleSPACE Cupcake Ramble”

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Co-Motion, Dining Room Bike Shop, Tandeming, Tandems

Co-Motion Tandem Compare and Contrast: Java vs. Speedster

Co-Motion Java

It’s been just over one year and around 5,500 miles since Felkerino and I said goodbye to our Co-Motion Speedster and began riding our Co-Motion Java tandem.

Now that we’ve put both of these tandems through their paces, I wanted to compare the two bikes and revisit the choice we made to replace our Speedster with the Java.

Continue reading “Co-Motion Tandem Compare and Contrast: Java vs. Speedster”

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Velo Orange Mixte and Berthoud
Commute Tips and Tricks, Commuting & Transpo, Dining Room Bike Shop, Velo Orange

Velo Orange Mixte Commutes & the Search for the Ideal Bags

Lately I’ve been on a mission to ride all of my bikes more often. This is partially due to needing to clean the Surly LHT as well as change out a tube, but also because if I’m going to own multiple bikes I feel should make the effort to ride them all.

 

The past couple weeks, I’ve commuted almost exclusively on my Velo Orange Mixte, built up from a frame set I purchased over two years ago.

The Velo Orange is a great town bike. Reasonably priced and built up primarily with existing parts in the Dining Room Bike Shop (most of them coming off of my old commuter, a Novara Randonnee), I’m happy to be riding it again.

Continue reading “Velo Orange Mixte Commutes & the Search for the Ideal Bags”

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Bike Friday, Dining Room Bike Shop

Rediscovering My Bike Friday Pocket Rocket: a Packable Performance Folder

Bike Friday Pocket Rocket

For those unfamiliar with Bike Friday and their bikes, the Pocket Rocket is a high performance folding bike. It is not a fast folder, like a Brompton or a Bike Friday Tikit, but rather a packable folder. Ours are built with 20-inch wheels and they are designed to break down easily into a standard-size suitcase.

I purchased my pre-owned Pocket Rocket directly from Bike Friday in 2005. It was a year or two old when I became its owner.

I had just gotten into cycling, including riding RAGBRAI the summer before I bought it, and was enamored by the idea of a packable road bike that I could use on supported tours or when I went on travel for work.

Continue reading “Rediscovering My Bike Friday Pocket Rocket: a Packable Performance Folder”

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Dining Room Bike Shop, Rawland

New Bike Day! Rawland Nordavinden

Felkerino and I celebrated New Bike Day at the Dining Room Bike Shop this past weekend. New Bike Day New Bike Day!

This edition was particularly exciting, as 1. the bike was for me; and 2. I purchased the frame and fork in June of last year, but took another ten months to get the parts for the bike in order.

The bike I purchased is a Rawland Nordavinden, designed by Rawland Cycles out of Danvile, California. Unlike the Rawland dSogns that Felkerino and I own which are a mix between a mountain and cross bike, the Nordavinden is meant to be a fast-ish touring “all road” bicycle.

Rawland Nordavinden
Photo by Felkerino

While I think it could be a little duplicative of my Rivendell Romulus in some ways, the Nordavinden appealed to me for several reasons.

Continue reading “New Bike Day! Rawland Nordavinden”

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Bikes to Like, Dining Room Bike Shop

Bikes to Like: Felkerino’s Cannondale T700 Tourer

Some people have inquired about the various steeds that call the Dining Room Bike Shop home. You can check out most of mine on the “My Bikes” page. Over the next few weeks (or however long that actually translates in terms of time I have to blog) I’ll be featuring the bikes Felkerino rides.

These reviews will not be uber technical so if spec description overload is what you seek, best go check out some other blog. Rather, they will be descriptions through my eyes, my eyes being those focused on the practical and other aspects that catch my attention.

First up is Felkerino’s aluminum, made in the USA, Cannondale T700 tourer. This bike, of 1992 vintage, is one of the first road bikes Felkerino ever owned as a grownup, and serves as his primary commuter.

Continue reading “Bikes to Like: Felkerino’s Cannondale T700 Tourer”

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Dining Room Bike Shop, Velo Orange

Summer Commutes on the Velo Orange Mixte

I tend to have an overall preference for diamond frames, and never considered myself a mixte sort of person. However, a couple of years ago Velo Orange was selling off a batch of their mixte frames at the attractive price of $300 so I mixed up the bike stable by adding a mixte to it.

Velo Orange Mixte, acquitting herself well after climbing a steep hill

Over the next year Felkerino and I (okay, mostly Felkerino) built it up with a variety of parts from the Dining Room Bike Shop, including the front Rivendell Mark’s rack by Nitto, Nitto S83 seatpost, gearing, pedals, Tektro brakes, handlebars, and the bags.

Continue reading “Summer Commutes on the Velo Orange Mixte”

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Cannondale, Dining Room Bike Shop, Tandeming, Tandems

Reviving the Lead Sled: our Cannondale Tandem

Due to unforeseen circumstances (to be discussed in another post), our Co-Motion tandem will not be around for a while. In the meantime, Felkerino and I still want to tandem together so we decided to put our original brevet tandem, a Cannondale mountain frame, back into service for some summer rides and any upcoming fall brevets we do. Because of its industrial dark gray hue and bulky aluminum tubing, Felkerino nicknamed it the “lead sled.”

Cannondale tandem, back in service

Felkerino invested some serious time this past week to make the Cannondale rando ready. He put on new tires, transitioned our saddles and handlebars over from the Co-Motion, and measured and remeasured to mimic our Co-Motion measurements as much as possible.

This weekend we took the lead sled out for a 73-mile shakedown ride to see how it- and we- would fare. While it’s quite a switch to go from riding a steel tandem that’s been made especially for you to a stock Large-in-front, Medium-in-back aluminum-frame tandem with 26-inch wheels, our ride went better than I expected.

Continue reading “Reviving the Lead Sled: our Cannondale Tandem”

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Summer Days with the Surly (and a view of the Nitto Campee rack)
Commute/Utility Cycling Gear, Commuting & Transpo, Dining Room Bike Shop, Surly

The Perfect Commuter Bike: my Surly Long Haul Trucker

Recently, I took a break from riding my Surly Long Haul Trucker because it was just too dirty to ride. Every time I touched the bike I deposited dirt somewhere on my person. I washed it over the weekend (OK, Felkerino washed it over the weekend) and now it’s too clean to ride.

Surly Long Haul Trucker
Surly Long Haul Trucker

In the interim, I dusted off my Bike Friday Pocket Rocket and have been tooling around on it instead. I really like my Bike Friday, but spending the week on the Pocket Rocket made me realize why I hop on my Surly LHT almost every day for my commute.

Continue reading “The Perfect Commuter Bike: my Surly Long Haul Trucker”

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Dining Room Bike Shop, Rivendell

Quickbeam Single Speeding and its Pleasures

Quickbeam visits the White House

Lately I’ve been riding my Rivendell Quickbeam around. It started because my Surly got so dirty I just couldn’t take it anymore and I set it aside for a bath. Then I cleaned the Surly and now I still can’t ride it because it’s clean, and riding it will make it dirty again. And since Felkerino and are no longer dating and he is my real life spouse, I have to clean all my own bikes. Sigh. Life is rough.

I did not always ride single speed. I used to have an aluminum Specialized Langster fixed gear.

Have you ever ridden an aluminum fixed gear? Holy cow! Continue reading “Quickbeam Single Speeding and its Pleasures”

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Bridgestone, Dining Room Bike Shop

1992 Bridgestone MB-4: Free bike = FIGHT!

Recently, I sent a bike of mine off to the hospital to be parted out. Last week after our morning ride to coffee, we ran into  saw a coffee buddy of ours who said he had an old mountain bike that he wanted to give away. Specifically, he wanted to give it to us because he said “You guys will know what to do with it.”

Who, us? How did he know? And how did he know that we had just freed up some space in the dining room bike shop so we could accomodate one more steed? Continue reading “1992 Bridgestone MB-4: Free bike = FIGHT!”

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Dining Room Bike Shop, Velo Orange

Building up the Velo Orange Mixte

Felkerino’s been working on this winter’s project bike, my Velo Orange Mixte. It’s coming together! Continue reading “Building up the Velo Orange Mixte”

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Co-Motion, Dining Room Bike Shop

Missing the Bike and Thank You Notes: Co-Motion Tandem Edition

After I finished writing my Quickbeam “thank you” note for Lovely Bicycle’s recent “Thanking Your Bicycle” giveaway, I started thinking about Felkerino’s and my Co-Motion tandem and all the great experiences we have had with it. That Co-Motion is one awesome bike, I thought. It also deserves a few lines.

The Co-Motion on Skyline Drive

Dear Co-Motion Tandem, Continue reading “Missing the Bike and Thank You Notes: Co-Motion Tandem Edition”

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Dining Room Bike Shop, Rivendell

Missing the Bike and Thank You Notes: Quickbeam Edition

Before hitting the road to Florida, I participated in Lovely Bicycle’s “Thanking Your Bicycle” giveaway. She invited people to write a few lines thanking their bikes for all they do.

Cycling has become such a pivotal part of my life. It’s how I recreate, commute, shop, and maintain fitness. It was fun to take a few minutes to scrawl out some lines of gratitude. It also helped that I have spent three of the last four weeks sans bike. I’ve had plenty of time to yearn for my two-wheeled companions. Continue reading “Missing the Bike and Thank You Notes: Quickbeam Edition”

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Dining Room Bike Shop, Velo Orange

Treasure! Velo Orange Mixte

This week, a present arrived for me.

Velo Orange

What? A present for me?! What could it be… Continue reading “Treasure! Velo Orange Mixte”

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