The Unobtainable Lightness of Wheel Sets

This is the hard part.
In this third installment of the New Poseur Bike(NPB) series, we'll take a look at some wheel options I've been exploring.
I sort of decided that in doing up this NPB, I'd allocate one third of the budget on the frame, one third on group, one third on the hardware and one third on the wheels.
Sort of like audiofilet stuff where you allocate one third on the components, one third on the speakers and one third on your cables.
I didn't spend near one third on my cables, that seemed sort of lame.
Kinda like the formula for the NPB.
So anyways, I started looking at some wheels a while back, when I first got the Bianchi for the front wheel has a bad spoke.
It's still true and all, but eventually I'm gonna get it fixed and I have no idea how long that will take so I wanted to get another wheel set.
I really light wheel set.
A cheap wheel set.
As you know, those two things do not go together.
One of the bad things about running Campagnolo I found is that since their cassette splines are proprietary, not every one makes Campagnolo compatible wheels.
Sort of limits the choices.
Still, there are some smaller companies that do.
Make Campagnolo compatible stuff I mean.
Companies like Williams Cycling, Rol, and Revolution Wheelworks make semi affordable wheel sets that are pretty light.
Here's a sample:



From companies like those, you can find wheel sets that are around 1500 grams for around $600 which is pretty good compared to the biggies like Easton or Mavic.
Or Campagnolo and Fulcrum.
The urge to follow the Force and stay with Campagnolo is strong, but I don't like their G3 lacing on the rear:



The G3 lacing does make sense structurally, from what I've been reading, but so do asymmetrical rims, like the wheels I already got.
Doesn't seem to match the traditional style I'm looking for though.
Unfortunately, their traditionally laced wheels with the asymmetrical rims, like the Neutrons, are bit out of my price range.
Maybe.
Then there is the whole profile thing.
How deep or shallow to go?
I admit, deep looks nice, in a poseur sort of way.
I'm not sure if medium deep, like the Revolutions and the Zonda above, would match a steel framed bike.
Say it with me: image is everything.
Of course I could just get a couple of these and lace them up to some Centaur hubs:



Or maybe even a set of these:



I'm not counting them medium size, around 30mm or so, out, though I'm leaning toward a shallower rim.
I mean let's face it, I'm not fast enough to take any advantage of any aerodynamic properties them deep rims supposedly give.
I just power through the wind with my massive piston like legs.
Sort of.
So, the Quest for Wheels is on, running concurrent with all those other Quests.
Sort of like my own personal Crusade.
Or something.

Sunday Final

Today started off as a gorgeous day!
Cloudless skies all around, perfect for getting out and hitting the road.
This week though is sort of a sad week for us folks in Kailua, for it seems that corporate America has won out.
Despite the grass roots protesting, Target is coming.
This is what it's replacing:



Last day is on the fifth.
The store front hasn't changed in like all the years I've been here. Well, neither has the inside.
Changed much that is.
It says Don Quijote now, previous it was Daiei, both Japanese owners, previously and forever it seems it was called Holiday Mart.
If fact it was Holiday Mart for so long, folks still call it Holiday Mart even though it hasn't been Holiday Mart for years!
I don't think they'll be calling Target Holiday Mart and that makes me sad.
Most of the small shops are closed already:



There used to be an A&W there.
My cousin would drive us special after going to the beach so we could have root beer floats and a burger.
All this will be gone:



So anyways, while most of you folks are doing the winter thing, the winter thing here is paddling.
Besides the humgasoid surf I mean.
Not to be confused with Ivy League type rowing, we got outrigger canoe paddling:



That image was from last week, I forgot to get it up.
I was on my after work ride and these kids were just starting canoe practice.
Besides club paddling, the kids also have school paddling. The high schools have paddling teams and there is a state championship that's coming up soon.
Winter sports don't you know.
In Hawaii.
The start 'em off young, the kids here appeared to be like the under twelve age group:



Seemed sort of dangerous sending kids that young out in a canoe, but they are in the canal so it's not like they can get lost at sea or anything.
I've seen the older kids, teens, take the canoes out on the other side, the ocean side and do laps in Kailua Bay.
Hard core.
Like me.
Sort of.
Me being hard core I mean.
Okay, not really.
About me being hard core.
Oh and as you can see, the stream mouth is closed up again.
All normal like.
Well today, on the other side of where the kids were, out in the bay, folks were doing all sorts of stuff.
It really was a nice day:



A couple of folks were way out there doing their water walking thing.
As you can see, not a cloud in the sky.
NFL, which although the Pro Bowl was today, stands for Not For Long.
About an hour later, dark storm clouds started to roll in.
From where I have no idea, all I know is that I looked up and it didn't look good.
I turned on the nitrous and just managed to beat the rain home.
Although the town part of Kailua may be changing, progress and all that, it's nice to know that on the beach side, some traditions will keep on going.
Boy, I ain't looking forward to shopping at Target.
Let me tell you.

Sunday Early Edition

I've been framed!
Okay not really.
I am thinking about it though.
Finding a frame is not easy.
Trust me, I've been trying.
Especially if you're in the area of bicycledom where you want or need something particular, off the rack frames may not have you need or desire.
Running concurrent with my Quest For All Things Celesteness(QFATC), the Quest for Frames(QFF) has been going on in Ernest.
As we all know, The Importance of Being Ernest often leads to good things.
Of course there are some criteria involved in the search for Earnestness: steel, Italian, traditional geometry, inexpensive.
At this time, it has been difficult to acquire all four.
Except for this:



Near as I can figure, this is some NOS stuff for Viner does not show this on their website. It is lugged and the carbon looking stuff on the seat stay is just that, stuff.
I was thinking of this as an interim frame, you know, while I save up the GAGILLIONS needed to complete my Ciao Gina! image.
Back when I had an Alpha Romeo, an automotive journalist called the seating ergonomics of Italian sports cars the "Ciao Gina!" position, so named for the seating position seemed designed more to impress women than to provide comfort.
Anyways, the head tube on that puppy above looks a bit small, I'm looking for something with a HT of about 100mm or so which led me to stray from my desired criteria and look at this:



The Masi is lugged which is nice, maybe too nice for an interim bike. You know, the bike I'll use until I strike oil or win the lottery, so I'm not sure I want to go there.
On the other hand, it is black and nasty.
On the other hand, I'm pretty sure it's made in Taiwan, Masi is now owned by Haro.
On the other hand, I could move up a size and take another centimeter of top tube for another centimeter of head tube.
Anyways, this is the inexpensive stuff.
All the other stuff puts me in a whole 'nother league of Poseurdom.
Which brings me to the next level of Poseurdom.
Most of these frames are in the 3.5 GAGILLION range, way outta my league, but they are also in the custom made for me league.
De Rosa, Colnago etc. all fall, as far as cost, into the custom zone.



I mean seriously, why buy off the rack, when you can order a custom made frame from a reputable frame dude?
A reputable frame dude like Carl Strong.
Now I've been following Strong ever since I found out about custom frames, and I'm getting ever so close to giving him a call.
Like I'm getting close to inventing cold fusion.
The thing is, I feel like I should spend some time on at least a couple of different road frames before I give ole Carl a ringy dingy.
I want to at least sound like I know what I'm talking about.
If you know what I mean.
The frame game.
So many things to obsess over!
Sort of like choosing a candy bar when all you can have is one.

A Tale of Two Derailleurs

So if you've been following along at home, you, the reader, know that when I changed out the cables on the Bianchi, I found a defect in the cable clamp on the rear derailleur.
My first impulse was to hit up the evilness of eBay and find another.
Not such an easy task as Campagnolo Mirage is an older group and there isn't that much stuff floating around out there in Campagnolo land.
On the other hand, Mirage was like the low end group so I suppose it's not like there are folks out there with Mirage stuff locked up behind some glass case somewhere so they can admire it.
Mirage was also a transition group, going from eight to nine speed, not that it matters as far as the derailleur goes, but Campagnolo chose to label said derailleurs with well, eight or nine speed.
Now I don't know about you, but having a nine speed bike and a derailleur labeled eight speed bothers me.
Just one of those things don't you know.
So I went on a derailleur hunt to replace the broken eight speed one:



How it developed a crack there is beyond me. The area doesn't bear a load or anything so I think maybe it was a casting defect.
Anyways, I've been watching the auctions, waiting patiently for something to come up.
Well, I snapped one up, along with a couple of clamp on front derailleurs I don't need, I got a braze on, and it came in today.
Yippee!
Wait.
It's a long cage.
Bummer:



Yes, I know Mirage had a triple option, it's just that in the picture, I couldn't really tell the difference.
Not really a problem, but you know, it's like having a derailleur made for a triple when I got a double bothers me, so I'll be on the look out for another.
Derailleur, that is.
It also turns out the jockey wheels were really worn so I swapped them out with the short cage one and put them on the old/new one.
You can see the wear on the teeth:




I wish I could have changed the cages too, but it looks like they are swegged on or something.
I'll take it out tomorrow and see how it does.
I figure it's better to put the long cage on there than have that cable clamp break when I'm far from home and having to hammer back in high gear.
Not that my massive legs couldn't do it, just sort of inconvenient.
If you know what I mean.
Also in today, was a bit of frivolity.
Is that even a word?
The celeste madness grows in small increments, seeping into my subconscious and my very existence.
I can't seem to stop!



That's right sports fans!
Celeste cable donuts!
Just when I thought I couldn't go any further, I find a deeper end to go off of.
Celeste cable donuts.
I'm embarrassed to say how much I paid for them.
Going off the deep end is right.

Dream Bike(s)

So now that we got the group set possibilities out of the way, it's time to explore all the other stuff that will complete the dream bike.
Okay, not really.
I don't really have a dream bike.
No really, I don't.
You, the reader, might think I do for I look at lots of bikes, here, there and everywhere, but for some odd reason, there is no one bike I covet.
Notice I said one bike.
Admittedly, there are lots of bikes I wouldn't mind having, but none are equipped with the "come hither" hand, beckoning me to go out and mash the pedals.
I mean there aren't any frames out there causing me lose sleep, making me toss and turn at night. I don't sit about day dreaming of Columbus tubing or this or that kind of carbon fibre weave or anything.
Okay, actually I do.
Day dream about Columbus tubing.
You can add Dedacciai to that list too.
I spend my idle time at work right now thinking about three or four frames, but none of them are what I would call dream bikes.
The bike to end all bikes.
The pinnacle of bikedom.
The epoch of cycle goodness.
The mother of all bikes.
Or something.
You know what I mean.
The cost is no object bike.
For some odd reason, bicycles are different.
I mean if money was no object, I'd own a Ferrari for sure.
As for bicycles though, it's not really about the performance or bling.
Okay, it's about the bling.
Sort of.
With bikes though, you cannot buy speed.
Or endurance.
With bicycles, you are getting a vehicle, a vehicle to measure your performance, your endurance.
In the end, the so called dream bicycle is all about you.
It's about what you dream about as a cyclist.
The dream bike is one that best fits the image created in one's imagination.
At least that's my take on it.
Which helps shed light on why I don't have a dream bike.
I have no image of myself as a cyclist.
I just like to go out and ride my bike.
Okay, I like to tinker with it too.
I have no image I wish to project, so I have no one bike that fits any imaginary type.
When it all comes down to it, my dream bike is the one that's sitting across from me right now.
It's the one I happen to be riding.
Well, I do think about the next bike I'll be riding too, but it's not really a dream bike.
Having a tinker type personality, I've come to realize that I will probably go through a whole bunch of bikes, thinking each one is the last, only find that I need to tinker with something else.
Let's face it, if money was no object, I'd have every bike ever made and some place to put them too.
Like that's every going to happen.
So since there's no real dream bike, I'll just write about the soon to be new bike, or the soon to be new to me bike and let it go at that.
Now that doesn't mean I won't be thinking about them.
Maybe even dreaming about them.
The bikes I mean.

CC!

Way back when, back in another life, I had this five speed Schwinn cruiser that I used to ride around Kailua.
This was back in the beach cruiser craze, when the bars were wide and had that foamy stuff all over it.
Of course I needed some gears, living on a hill and all.
I don't think I ever rode farther than a couple of miles, like to the store and back, and that beach cruiser never saw the beach.
As a matter of fact, I don't know happened to it, I think my grandmother maybe gave it away.
Seeing as how I hardly rode it.
I did ride it though.
One thing I remember is going to the bike shop, and staring through the glass display case at all the nice shiny European stuff that for my budget back then was out of my league expensive.
I knew what that stuff was, for back in the seventh grade, I had a white Sears Free Spirit ten speed that I used to ride to McDonalds, the kind of ten speed with the drop bars turned upside down.
Yes, I was one of those.
The original hipsters.
Boy, I'd ride over to the bike shop and steam up the glass!
The Suntour stuff on the Free Spirit seemed spartan compared to what was in that glass case.
Of course I'm talking about Campagnolo:



Boy, back then that alloy stuff gleamed like jewels!
Jewels I could not afford, or even think about owning.
Campagnolo, the stuff dreams are made of.
Still.
I admit it.
I am Campagnolo Crazy.
Crazy I tell you!
Mad!
Off the deep end!
Lights on nobody's home!
Or something.
Well nowadays, we got SRAM and Shimano, I've had both, not the top stuff, but the middling stuff, enough to satisfy a curiosity.
I have to say, there's not much difference between the stuff, I mean there is, just not enough for me to distinguish them apart.
I'll admit too, even the Campagnolo Mirage on the Bianchi is no revolution compared the 105 equipped bike I had before.
Except that it is Campagnolo.
It's like I still cannot believe I own a Campagnolo equipped bicycle!
I mean it's like a dream come true!
Let's face it, dreams coming true are few and far between.
When I see that Campagnolo script, I get a huge warm fuzzy all over!
The stuff in my brain starts making me all happy! happy! and my eyeballs get all glazed over.
I may even drool.
I'm not sure.
Cause I'm Campagnolo Crazy (CC)!
How crazy?
I got this scrap of cable housing I look at every night:



I cannot bring myself to throw away the plastic wrappers it came in:



Check it out dude! I gots me some Campy!
On the brain.
Which, if you have been following along at home, is not good.
For me or my wallet.
Any reasonable person would see right away that Campagnolo is all about status, bragging rights, one uppance, ego boosting self gratification.
Well, I ain't reasonable.
Campagnolo had always been so far atop the mountain, unattainable, that now that I'm here, I'm not letting go.
Okay, I don't have my greedy hands around it yet.
Still deciding between ten and eleven speed don't you know.
The harder I grasp at this compulsion, the more I see how illogical it is.
Kinda like Super Record.
On the other hand, if I could afford it, Super Record it would be!
Maybe I need someone to talk me down.
Get me off the ledge.
I need a one eight hundred hot line.
I'm crazy I tell you!
Campagnolo Crazy!

Kind of Blue

Great album!
I only have one Miles Davis cd, and this is it. I keep forgetting to order Sketches of Spain, even though it's on my Amazon wish list.
I think you sort of have to be in the mood to listen to stuff like Miles Davis and Coltrane.
A wine glassish duskish purple skyish kind of mood.
Or just be in the mood for some blue.
Miles is not what this is all about.
Sort of.
Tubes!
Such a cryptic message!
Oh, wait.
Vacuum tubes.
Which happen to be what powers up my SET(single ended triode) mono block amplifiers:



I also happen to be an audiofilet don't you know.
That's right sports fans, 3.5 (GAGILLION) watts per channel!
The theory behind tubes and SETs is that the analog stuff gives a warmer sound, and the triode thing is meant to create the shortest audio path between the source and the speakers.
I like em!
Kind of blue:



The preamp is also of the tube variety, done from a kit:



Those tubes are not blue, but the glow sets a nice mood.
Kinda sorta.
Bluesy.
If you know what I mean:



If you've been following along at home, you know this was coming.
Just can't seem to help myself.
I thought some blue zips would look at least different and maybe match the rest of the Bianchi:



It's all in the details.
Say it with me: image is everything.



I still haven't decided on the bar tape yet.
I'll just run black until all the other stuff is done.
You know what I'm thinking though:

Sunday Final

Great day for riding, though I did catch some water falling from the sky.
Not a lot, just enough to ruin the wax job I did on my frame.
So, before I clean and re-polish, some stuff I need to get to so that I can delete it from the archives.
If you've been following along at home, you may remember this book I got called Ancient Sites of O'ahu:



There's a couple of places near here, one I already posted about, the other one too, sort of.
Then there's the one I pass by like three or four times a week:



Rocks and rock formations are a big deal here.
Being volcanic and all, there aren't too many gigantor rocks about, the island is mainly basalt.
The pohaku, or rocks above, are probably part of a fishing shrine, according to the book.
I pass under this formation each time I go into Lanikai. It's located across the street from the lookout, the place the Bianchi is parked in the picture at right, also across from the concrete Lanikai pillar thingy.
You can't really see the whole thing for believe it or not there's like a house that was built on it, or more like around it.
The rocks I mean.
The house was built around the rock formation:



Now, how a private residence gets built around some ancient Hawaiian site, I don't know. Native Hawaiians are border line militant about preserving these types of places, so I find it quite amazing.
Anyways, there's also a legend about a man named Kanepolu, but I'll look him up and give you the full scoop.
Here's a pic I took on Tuesday:



This is where Kaelepulu stream exits into the ocean, right on Kailua beach.
You, the reader, may remember the post I did when they were clearing the opening.
They do that every once in a while to let the water drain out and to prevent flooding.
Well, the interesting thing about this is, the opening is still there!
I've never seen the water flowing out for more than a couple of days in a row, before the wave action builds up the sand and closes it back up again.
So far, it's been over a week and counting.
I may have to talk to the lifeguards and find out what's going on.
There was an open house of sorts today at the Kailua dialysis place so I went to check it out:



The band was playing and they had some keiki(children) hula dancers doing their thing.
Well, actually during that picture, they were doing some Tahitian dancing.
The new place is huge, with flat screen TVs for each chair.
Hopefully, I get there in February.
They have to get certified and all that.
Then back at home, a good thing/bad thing happened:



One of the UFTs bit the dust.
Or more like I killed it.
With my sheer stupidity and neglect.
Don't really want to talk about it.
If you know what I mean.
Well, it's only clay as I like to say, I can always make more.
Which I should be doing.
Making more.
Mugs at least, since I sold like six of em.
I need to sell like thirty more mugs, then I can afford a new bike!
Maybe.
It's about time I started working on some clay stuff again, but the weekends have so nice, I sorta haven't had time.
Right now though, I need to wax the bike and find some five minute epoxy.

Sunday Early Edition

All good things must come to an end.
I mean I really liked you and all.
There's just something missing.
See it's not you, it's me.
It's my fault.
I've changed you see.
So I decided this morning to sell the Former Flat Tire Black Nasty.
The more I looked at it, sitting there, basking in it's former glory, the more I knew it was time to go.
Adieu, old friend.
At least I gave it some new shoes:



Now that's what a mountain bike is supposed to look like!
I took off the bling bling wheels and put those WTB Nanoraptors I got a while back on the old rims.
I also took off the XTR rear derailleur and put back the XT long cage.
There's also a new cassette on there.
I posted it up for a ridiculous price, almost delusional, but I'm not in a rush to see it go.
That frame must have like five thousand miles on it, and a lot of good times.
Epic adventures don't you know.
Okay, not really.
About the epic part.
Still, I've been halfway round the island on that thing.
See, now it's just a "thing."
Poor Black Nasty.
Relegated to "thing" status.
I have to admit, I have a hard time parting with "things" like this, things that I've spent a lot of time with.
That's some sweat and blood that was shared.
Okay, not so much blood, but you know what I mean.
There was all those miles and leg exploding hills and the terrorizing of women and children.
There was also the being dropped by folding bicycles, but we won't go there.
Then there was all that tinkering!
Piece by piece, it became a different bicycle, a bicycle that suited me, just me.
Dare I say it became a part of me?
Maybe.
There's a bond that develops between man and machine, especially if you are a tinkerer like me, and spent some time well, tinkering with it.
You come to learn and know the sounds it makes, the way it reacts to the road and the way it reacts to your input.
You get sort of intimate with it.
If you know what I mean.
Anyways, it was a mountain bike after all, and it sort of deserves to ridden on some well, mountains, or at least some trails or something.
Seeing as how it served only road duty, I just felt it was time to try something else out.
If I could I'd keep it, put it on a pedestal someplace and put a spot light on it.
Alas, there's just no room in The Flat Tire Skunkworks.
Well okay there is, but I need the room for more uh, stuff.
Top Secret stuff don't you know.
So anyways, it's up on CL, and if it don't sell, I may part it out.
I was thinking it would be easier to sell as just a frameset.
So, a from the heart aloha to my trusty soul crusher.
I will remember you.

Tinkering Toy

That's what my bicycle is.
No, not a Tinker Toy:



That's a different story right there.
The Tinker Toys I mean.
So anyways, what I'm getting at is that I find that I like to tinker with my bicycle just as much as I like to ride it.
Maybe more.
Okay, more.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not the sort that stops every hundred feet to adjust things. I'm not constantly fiddling with stuff trying to find the perfect position.
Just the opposite in fact.
Today for instance, I kept thinking, boy, maybe I should move my seat up a bit.
Ten miles later I was thinking, boy, maybe I should move my seat up a bit.
I was still thinking that once I got home.
The thing is, once I get going, I don't like to stop.
Well, I stop for cream sodas.
Don't you know.
Usually, these little tweaks that come to mind while riding, never get done.
I mean by the time I get home, I'm pretty much too tired to care.
Now if I got a new thingy, not that kind of thingy!
A bicycle type thingy!
If a new thingy comes in, I can't wait to install it and try it out.
Why I say I'm a bike tinkerer is that I constantly have a bunch of bike thingys coming in the mail, and I find myself constantly looking for more.
Bike thingys.
Constantly.
Like all my waking hours.
Sort of.
Now, does that make me a bicyclist, or a bike fixer upperist?
A bike tinkerist?
I'm not sure, but I was giving it some thought today as I was hammering around Kailua, leaving a vacuum in my wake.
Okay, not really.
About the vacuum part.
I was thinking of what I was going to do with The Flat Tire V2 Rocket Bike, whether I was going to part it out or just sell it as is.
So that I can move on to my next project and start that tinkering thing again.
See what I mean?
My brother is just the opposite.
He rides his bike until something breaks, then he tinkers it.
Doesn't even wash it.
His bike I mean.
His bike is a tool, not a jewel.
Well, my bikes aren't jewels either, I mean I ride them.
It's not like I sit around at night admiring them.
Not all night.
Sometimes.
Anyways, the thing is, there's nothing wrong with the bikes I got.
They ride fine, do what they are supposed to do, and for the most part, they do it well.
I think there's something wrong with me.
Maybe.
Tinker, tinker, tinker.
Just can't leave it alone.
The bicycles I mean.

I'm the Bombardier!

Save the bombardier!
I'm the bombardier.
If you've ever read Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, you know how Yossarian felt just then.
Utterly confused.
Which is how I felt when I checked today's stats on Bloggerland.
Seriously.
Confused.
Two hundred ninety one hits worth of confusion.
That's 291.
Despite the immense popularity of The Flat Tire, two hundred and ninety one hits is like a good month.
A month with thirty one days.
Sometimes, I need more than a month to hit that two hundred mark.
Okay, not really.
I jest.
Still, two hundred and ninety one hits in one day is like a new Flat Tire record.
Of sorts.
I don't remember but I think that time the psuedo tsunami came, it was pretty high too.
Now, I don't mind all the visits.
Sort of.
I mean what it does is skew the rest of the statistical mumbo jumbo and it makes the rest of my graph thingy look really small.
Now my regular visits will hardly register a blip.
At least for a month.
Then there's the whole time on site thing.
Now, I've been working pretty hard to raise that statistic and it's about to take a huge dive into the Marianas Trench, never to be seen again.
At least for a month.
Now this whole thing is because of dare I mention it again?
No, that would be like fishing for cheap hits.
Okay, then: Hawaii Five-O.
Hawaii Five-O!
Alex O'Loughlin!'
Scott Caan!
Someone make me stop!
I can't!
I've become a hit junkie!
Hawaii Five-O!
Okay, you, the reader, the real reader, get the picture.
Ahem, oh, and I'd like to welcome all those who got here via your friendly neighborhood search engine, but sorry, we're very low on Hawaii Five-O content today.
Please check back later.
Thank you,
The Management.
Boy, two hundred and ninety one hits sort of makes me feel obligated to post something about you know what.
Unfortunately, I got nothing.
Still, it's sort of tempting to make something up.
I mean two hundred and ninety one hits, I could start like a rumor or something.
Folks could say they read it here first!
I could change the blog name to The Flat Five-O Tire.
Or I could change my name to Steve.
Or something.
I've got so many hits here, I don't know what to do with them!
I guess I should just enjoy my two hundred and ninety one minutes of fame.
Hopefully, my head will still fit through the doorway.
Save the bombardier!
I'm the bombardier!
Save him!
I'm still not sure what the hell happened.
If I ever get two hundred and ninety one hits in one day again, I may just call it a day and go away happy.

Spy Shots! Five Oh!

Book em Danno!
If you missed my in depth post on the new and improved Hawaii Five-O, see here.
Apparently, the show has grabbed quite an audience, winning it's time slot several times, and garnering Scott Caan a Golden Globe nomination.
I really like Scott Caan as the new Danno, he brings something to the character that's good for the show.
Scott Caan's resemblence to his father James Caan, one of my favorite actors, is strong:



One of the great things about having a local production is seeing the units around the island doing their thing.
Which is what I saw today:



That's right sports fans!
Hot Five Oh Action(HFOA)!
All this was happening about two doors down from where I have my pre game meal. So before I sat down to calorize myself, I poked around a bit to see what I could see.
Which was a lot of nothing:



You can tell they're filming for there are like a GAGILLION trucks around, cops redirecting traffic, and folks standing around waiting for something to happen.
Like me.
I was a folk standing around waiting for something to happen, I mean.
There was also a second unit across the street:



Now while Lono's Pawn Shop is fake, the barber shop isn't.
Most of the people you see in the shots are like real folks, not extras or anything.
I think one of the cool things about us locals is that we don't get too star struck.
I mean if it's like a public thing or something, the folks will turn out, but if it's like this, when they are working, it doesn't attract a big crowd.
Most movie folks can navigate the islands without worrying about getting mobbed.
It's sort of like, "yeah, he's a movie star, but can he body surf Sandy Beach when it's six feet?"
Not me though, nosirreebob!
My eyeballs got all googly and stuff when I heard the word "action!" and got this:



Steve McGarrett!
Steve!
Steve!
Over here!
The Flat Tire!
I'll make you famous!
Okay, not really.
About the yelling part.
I think that's Alex O'Loughlin reaching into the Steve McGarrett car:



O'Loughlin plays a younger, more emotional Steve McGarrett which brings a new dynamic to the show.
I think he plays his new role well, even if he is an Aussie:



So anyways, I hung around for a bit before taking off and getting my oil changed.
I really wanted to see the fresh new face of Grace Park who plays a younger, female Kono.
Maybe next time.
Hawaii Five Oh!
Be there, aloha!

The Good, Mostly

Okay, if you are reading this, don't.
Go down to the post below first, cause this is like the second part.
Go ahead!
I'll wait.
Okay, so to do my cable job, I needed well, cables:



That's right sports fans!
Genuine Campagnolo!
Nothing but the best for this here bike!
Okay, I was going to try me some Yokozunas, but these were cheaper.
Anyways, they come in a complete set, which was a good thing:



I started off with the rear brakes and ran into a pesky Italian thing.
The ferrules wouldn't fit on the larger diameter brake housing.
So I improvised and wrapped the end with some electrical tape so that the end would fit snugly into to the guide on the top tube:



So it seems like they(the Italians) didn't put everything in there.
Luckily, I found another thingy in my tool box and took off the tape.
I've never done these Ergo Shifters or STIs before so I was a bit concerned about the shifters.
No problem.
The old cables came out and the new ones went right on in.
Wait.
Again, a ferrule problem.
The new ones wouldn't fit in the shifter.
No problem, I just used the old ones.
The chain stay thingy is sort of funky, there's a reducer for the guide:



Thankfully Campagnolo gives you that one, for that's the one that had split open.
Fit right in:



Now, that bottom bracket thingy.
I don't know why, but it appeared to me as if it had been mounted backwards.
I took it off and cleaned it, and put it on the other way.
Routed the cables, tuned the derailleurs and a happy camper was I.
Then I started to look at the pictures of that guide:



I stuck a piece of inner tube under there for the cable was rubbing the frame.
The more I looked at the picture, the more I realized the guide thingy was on correctly in the first place!
Boy, what was I thinking?
So, off it came and back on it went:



This time, the correct way.
The cable still rubs so I left that inner tube piece under there.
The thing is, the cables still sit on the down tube.
Just barely, but they do touch.
At first I thought maybe the down tube was tweaked or something but then I remembered the weird shape:



Remember, it's triangulated?
I guess some rub can't be helped.
Okay, so there you go.
Fresh cables.
Oh, and one bad thing I found:



It would appear the rear derailleur is cracked where you lock the cable down.
It still works and not really a problem for I was looking for a nine speed Mirage derailleur anyways.
Now I'm just looking harder.