Google+ blog = -?

In case any has noticed the posting on my blog has almost stopped. The reason is partly caused by lack of time but foremost because I have started to use Google+ for the last six month or so.

I suppose there will be some posts here too but for the time being the convenience of Google+ makes the posting here to occur less frequently.

Happy suprise!

Got a couple of t-shirts as a gift. (well, one I stole, guess which?!). ;)

Regreted I didn't buy the E.T shirt but now I have it! :)

Thanks Tobbe, but wasn't it you b-day today?

-Created on Desire

29:th of May...

Made a visit at mum's, delivered some flowers on Mothers Day, got some lasanga for dinner.


On my way to Grängesberg I made my only visit at the Spring Fair in Ludvika, slightly better weather today but some stands had some problems with the strong wind!

The wind came from south but was surprisingly cold, we had some coffee outside but had to give up and go inside again, not far after the sky turned black and there was a short hail storm!
Then the sun brurst out again, April weather in May!

Well, the fresh donuts tasted good anyway. =)
And I got some home made lasagna with me back home. Yummy!

Wild Wideos of the Week...

Or some lame excuse to post some videos I found worth posting. =)

First off a wild ride with a award winning film by Jean Louis Mourey, "Climb Dance".
Featuring rally legend Ari Vatanen climbing Pikes Peak in a modified Peugeot 405 T16.



Less action but still interesting to watch, I'm a sucker for "how things are made" video. Manufactoring Vittoria bicycle tubes.


The third video includes many of my favorite element, terrain, LEGO and destruction! ;)


Can't resist posting another LEGO video, not only a excellent build but the presentations is top notch!


Lastly but not leastly: Leopold the Amazing Leaping Cat!

Custom in custom...

Bailed out my "custom" stuff from velo-orange.com today, kind of suspected the stuff had got stuck in customs since it has been a long wait, had to pay the Swedish postal services 100sek for the trouble and 101sek (why that last one krona!?) to the Swedish custom authorities.

OK that I have to pay the toll but why the heck do I have to pay the postal services 100sek for something that has already been paid for postage?! And that for something I paid as much for the postage as for the parts...

No time to be bitter about that, now I could finally end the bike build for this time!

First unpacking, Grand Cru bottom bracket, almost a pity to hide something this nice. Notice the word French, it's for french threaded bottom brackets. Read the fantastic story about bottom bracket thread "standards" at Velo orange: http://support.velo-orange.com/#bbarticle.html
The opposite cup(?) looks well sealed.
Side view.
Mounted:
Over to the threadless stem adaptor (another great invention!), now I can fit modern stems (and hadlebars) on the old Crescent!
close up details.

Ordered a rather long and cheap 25.8mm stem from Chainreaction Cycles to use with the handlebars, read the comments and someone wrote (damn you Jimmy from Australia!) that the bars were 25.8mm and not 31.8mm as it looks on the photos but it turned out that it was a "over sized" 31,8mm bar.

Had to cannibalize my commuter bike for a OS stem, it's not beautiful but adequate for the time being.
Only had time for a short test ride before I went to the cinema, but, WOW! What a difference, felt like I could ride for ever without getting numb hands and fingers!

Doesn't look entirely "kosher" on a older bike, but it's for a good cause! =)
I hope the wind calms tomorrow so I can take the bike for a longer spin, after that I can make a final judgment if it was worth the while. :)

With a bang!

This weekend I switched to summer tires on the commuter, bought a pair of cheap Maxxis Detonator tires for a project last year, they are almost unused, decided to put them on the Univega this summer.

Going from studded +2" heavy tires to thin 1" light tires made a huge impact on acceleration! How sweet to yet again roll around almost silently compared to the noise from the studs! :)

Spring cleaning...

The snow and ice is melting fast now so I thought I'd give my road bike, Crescent Competition 12, a well needed overhaul.

Haven't touched the bike since the (Ronde van) Retaard and there was still mud and sand from Göteborg stuck all over the bike and it was single speed state.
Removed the wheels, bottom bracket, brakes and fork, removed all the old hardened grease (probably from the 80:s!) and then re-greased and put everything back again.
The bearings in the headset was rather OK but the troublesome bottom bracket looked much worse, it seemed to have taken a lot of abuse during the Retaard and the drive side ball bearing ring was a bit askew. I hope to have that matter sorted out soon...

Noticed that my phone was missing and realized that I had forgotten it at work so what could be more appropriate than take the just ready made bike to go fetch it? :)

The feeling, swooshing forward on a road bike after mushing in the snow all winter with the Pugsley, is unbelievable, so effortless!!! :)

There was some moist in the air and I could feel the water getting thrown up by the rear wheel on to my back but I couldn't care less! Can't wait to get out on a proper outing with the bike!

During lunch today I was at home, thought I'd exchange the tires front/back and after that I started to inflate the rear wheel, had about 7bar pressure when the tube exploded, right to my left ear! Had a ringing tone a long time and on my way back to work I popped in to my LBS and bought a couple of spare tubes.

The flat pedals looked a bit funny but they were laying aroud at the moment and I couldn't find the smaller ones.
The, just a moment ago, clean brakes.
Now if the roads just could dry up fast enough...

Mardi gras...

Fettisdag and time for a breakfast semla!

One filled with delicious vanilla cream instead of disgusting almond paste!

Few more shots:

-Created on Desire

Spot the copy!

Ordered some cheap lens rear caps on eBay from HK and got them today, cost me $2 that's sek 13:- including postage to Sweden!

The front seems to have a older design but the fit was okay and the plastic felt the same. When turning the caps over it's more obvious which one is a copy. (Hint, it's not the one that says "LF-1 made in japan" in the bottom ;) )

Now I can put the flimsy semi transparent caps in the drawer. Waiting for a body and rear lens cap from DealExtreme, we'll see if they are of the same quality...

HK personal delivery!

Today it was like second Christmas! =)

Finally got my hands on the Nikon Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4D IF-ED and a Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E II

Can't wait for some daylight to be able to really test the combo! Thanks Kirsi, Patrik and Mum for helping out and making this possible! =)

Focus seems spot on and it's sharp wide open!
Now, sleep....

I won!!!

Woo hoo! Managed to win Cyberphotos winter photo contest!!! Happy day! =)

Got a mail from them a few moments ago:

Hej Harri! Du har vunnit vår fototävling! Grattis! Jag kommer att presentera dina bilder i vår blogg: http://www.cyberphoto.se/blogg.php Och återkom med adress dit du vill ha kameran skickad, som vinsten utgör! GRATTIS!


Looking forward to use the Canon IXUS 1000HS!

Alaska FAT Bikes video.

This video almost makes winters bearable! :)

By: Philip Tschersich


Riding Fatbikes on Pillar Mountain in Kodiak Alaska. The Fatback bike frames are made by Speedway Cycles in Anchorage AK, and the rims are 100m wide and shod with 4" tires.

Music:
Song- Free Stress Test
Artist- Professor Murder

DVD Promotion!

Can't help spreading the word, just look at this:

Find -The Mountain Bike Film!

Seems to be a fantastic film, might even purchase it! Why is it -15 outside right now?! :)

Available here: http://www.resetfilms.co.uk/

Self promotion...

There is currently a small photo competition on Cyberfoto, a on-line camera store. The theme is winter and there's a chance to win a Canon Ixus 1000 HS.

Decided to send in some winter shots and one of them got mentioned on the Cyberfoto-blog today! :)

http://www.cyberphoto.se/?http://www.cyberphoto.se/blogg.php

Dakar (Argentina - Chile)

The Dakar Rally is on, the symbolic start today with the real race starting tomorrow!

Paid 49:- sek for a month access to Eurosport Player to be able to see the race, the Microsoft silverlight plug in I had to install to be able to see it worked like crap and kept hogging all the CPU-power I had when used in Firefox, seems to work better in Chrome though...

December shots.

24:th December, amazing winter day! Too bad I was too lazy to get out and make some more shots...
Around -15 degrees...
Now the days are getting longer, not by much but still!
My youngest sisters first self-made knitted socks! Shows that she has knitted before. =)
X-mas mood shot.
Happy Holidays!

-15

Only -15 today! ;)

Final Xmas gifts bought, time to get to Grängesberg. Seasons greetings and happy holidays to you all!

-Created on Desire

Hot wings!

Latest purchase for my clown bike! :) Bar mitts! Only 129:- sek at Biltema, hardly worth making own ones. Hoping to make a review soon.

Can't wait to try them out, colder weather expected for tomorrow...

Funguy...

Hungry?



Still hungry? ;)

The Road

Watched The Road last night, it's from 2009 but somehow I manged to miss it when it was on the cinema.

Was surprised how it lacked the typical over the top post apocalyptic elements that's usually associated with this genre and stayed more true to actual reality. Even though one some times wonder over some of the decisions made by the characters.

I think I will try to read Cormac McCarthy's book that the movie is based on and see if that clears some of the questions...

One of the best dystropian movies I have seen lately, it's very dark and not very hopeful but I still strongly recommend seeing it!