The Pinarello Grevil with Campagnolo Ekar 13 speed.

The Ekar 13 speed ergo shifter. With a Steel Cable!

40c Maxxis tires with lots of clearance left. 

Pinarello Gravel bike with Campagnolo Ekar

13 gears to choose from. The largest is a 42. I left the derailleur cable a bit longer in case customer want to raise the stem. Since all cables go thru bars, stem and frame. 

 Had a better time building this Ekar bike up today. It's all a learning process. The Ekar shifting is good. Just gotta make sure to lube  up that cable with some drislide lubricant . I put it all together, bled the brakes , torqued it all and it was ready to go. I like the simplicity of the groupset, the brakes are fine and once the shifters break in a bit it all works just fine. I was able to test the bike for a few miles and came back satisfied with my build.Im sure people want this groupset in electronic but this runs pretty good and is simple to work on it once you learn it. I really like how this bike rides. 

thanks for reading. 

Ari 

Definitely different than last bike season

This year has been a bit different than last year. I have definitely seen the increase in bikes and escooters. It has been a challenge on how to service these since our repair area is in the basement. Hauling these bikes up and down has been a challenge. Also we don't have an adequate stand for them. I have been hoisting them off the ground to do some work on them.

The other thing that has been different is the amount of e-tap and di2 bikes coming in for service.More and more hydro brakes and not to mention everyone wanting tubeless. It good practice to work on all this and at some point one becomes proficient. Some of the internal routing is very time consuming and poorly designed. That's my take. I'd rather work on a bike with all external routing any day. 

Tomorrow Im working on some Campagnolo Ekar13 speed stuff. We'll see how that goes. In the meantime being a bike mechanic is always interesting. That days of 6 speed freewheels and downtime shifters seem so far away. 

Thank you for reading. 

Ari 

 

Memorial Day 2024

 I was fortunate enough to get out and ride with my son yesterday. It was a blustery day with cold temps and high winds. We truly got beat up doing our 45mile ride. Later on in the day the temps climbed and we were able to get outside and do some grilling. I thought a lot about people that are gone and how I miss them. Friends, family, loved ones. It turned out to be a decent day and towards the end it felt good. To everyone out there that reads this blog I really thank you. 

Riding towards the end of May

 May has been a mismatch of weather and continued rain. This weekend I had planned to take some days off and get some serious miles in. Thursday was good, Friday was good, sat was good then today Sunday I woke up to thunder and lightning. There is perhaps going to be a window of no rain in the mid afternoon and that might be my chance. 

Have not been able to get any consistency in lately. It is what it is but this is how the time goes by and I feel like it gets wasted. I'm gonna hit the garage soon for some organizing and cleaning of bikes until I can get outside. 

Let me know if you have any plans for riding anytime soon. Would not mind attempting a 100miler soon. 40 miles would be on limestone and the rest of the 60 on pavement. That's the best we can do around here. 

Lately I have been riding my Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross. Ive been on all road Gravel kings in 32mm. Those tires can handle anything you throw at them. Probably gonna do the 100 miler on those soon. 

better news and mood in the future. It's just another bridge to cross. 

Ari 

Almost at the halfway mark

Now that the nice weather is here I have lost a bit of motivation for riding. It kinda hit me once the temps got up and it stopped freezing in the am. I got thinking if I just don't like the warmer temps, the bugs, the crowded trails and just the noise in general that summer brings. I'll find a way to come around these thoughts. Maybe I'm wrong, not sure. 

I'm still planning on doing some long rides this summer and maybe that will get me going and out of this slump that I'm in. I've been commuting and so forth but everything else seems to be in a standstill or standoff. 

Time to sort things out and make the best of every day. I might have to cross the mighty Mississippi and spend some time in Iowa. That might be the ticket. 

Ari 

Is it time??

 I’ve been having this urge as of late for a while now. It was always customary for me to be logging in some tall miles for some kinda reason. For what seems years there has been no reason. Maybe the lack of reason has been this inexplicable barrier. I’m really not interested anymore in travelling for hours and hours , paying an entry fee plus all other expenses to do a ride. I can just roll down my driveway and ride as much as I want. I might have to put the word out and start small, yeah, then make it bigger. Maybe that will be the plan. 

In the meantime that little rock will continue to remind me to get this done. 

Thank you for reading, 

Ari

Long overdue post.

 Yes, it’s been a while since I typed some words on here. With today’s newer formats I just wonder if people even have the patience to read anything a bit lengthy. Last weekend the daughter and I took a road trip to Iowa. It basically rained the whole way there but we were in good spirits. We arrived in Dubuque and hit up a couple of great record stores. Then we went to a Goodwill, where I picked up a fleece since I was freezing. We left town and took Rte 52, along the Mississippi. 

We stopped in St Donatus at Kalme’s for lunch, then took some photos by the Lutheran church. We then drove further south to 308th street to visit the tiny Chapel of St Fritz, then further south to Bellevue, where I rode my bike briefly , just to say I rode in Iowa. We then headed to Sabula for more photography and Ice cream. We travelled south to Clinton and started on our way home. A long day of traveling but worth it. It was TransIowa weekend and I had this urge to be in Iowa.