Shopped out Friday!

March 9. 2011



BCD = bolt circle diameter, the diameter of the circle formed by the stack bolts/bolts. I think BCD is also related to milatary-provided spectacles or "birth control devices."   Also "bad conduct discharge."

As for the bicycle-oriented BCD, you can also measure the distance from the center of one crank bolt to the next and multiply by 1.701 (5 bolts), 1.414 (4 bolts), and if you've got some other number of bolts, then you probably can figure it out on your own (or just check in with Sheldon), because you have what I consider to be a "freak bike" and are probably freakishly into calculating your own BCD. Thank you for the wisdom, late Sheldon Brown, you magnificent dork, you! After some impatient checking around my online dealers (man, I just need a fixxx...), I decided on Jenson Bikes, where I purchased a 38T, 130mm BCD chainring for $38 or so. Then I added a 20T cog and a chain for a reasonable $58 or so. I looked into getting some Panaracer Ribmo 1.25" x 26" tyres (up to 100 psi!) for $33 each, but I was feeling shopped out. Whew! Quite the effort! Having to concentrate, measure, calculate...!? I know, I claim to be of the bike dork ilk, but my patience is fairly limited when it comes to this kind of decision making. Baby steps. And what's up with Jenson having a website anyway? I thought they merged with Performance. Please advise.

It was very warm in my environs today. Thanks to this favourable clime, a family member acquiesced to being seen pedaling around on bicycles with me. Hooray! She called the Old Bastard a "cute little bike" because her bike's a little taller and sports 27"(!?) tyres. Ouch. I have generally been pretty happy with my bicycles. I enjoy occasionally pondering the idea of getting a road bicycle or a 29-er. But I'm not enthusiastic enough about the idea to actually start shopping for one. Hell, I got pretty stressed out just getting new drivetrain parts!

Tough day at work at the old punch card manufacturing company. I was barely able to make it through the day, and I didn't even work a full day! Luckily I had the incomparable Mark Mallman on my MP3 player to keep me pepped up. Mr. Mallman is awesome, as a Minneapolis mayoral decree decreed. Here is a music video.

Mark Mallman is the musical version of a veteran RAAMer. He has performed musical marathons not once or twice, but thrice! Marathon 3 was a 78 hour long song complete with 576 pages of lyrics, with breaks taken only for heeding the call of nature and a brief consultation with his "physician."  And his songs are catchy.

Thanks Mr. Brown, early spring, Mark Mallman, family and online dealers! You made my Friday! I get by with a little help from YOU!!