So here’s to you my trusty home made bike hoist. May you RIP (in parts in my toolbox.)

Sure I could have got a tool kit with more options, but the amount of tools I actually needed and use was just right with the toolkit I purchased. The only tool I had to buy was a park tool individual spoke wrench as the multi spoke wrench just didn’t cut it. I’ve put together some tool kits that I would buy and use. Check them out here.

Here is a review of the tool kits I put in the bicycle repair tool kit store and why.

	This toolkit has 37 pieces and is very similar to the park toolkit I got. The only difference is it has a lot more pieces than mine, and is actually cheaper then the retail cost of mine. Had I of known this, I would have purchased this rather than mine. The layout of the case is better. These types of bicycle repair tool kits are great to keep in your garage and move to the car when you need them. You should be able to take this anywhere and fix your bike.
	There is no doubt about it that Park make great bike repair tools. This is the starter kit. The good think about it is that it’s a toolbox. Meaning you can buy any tools that you may need and stick them in the box. Great for those looking to expand their tools as they need them. I’ve always liked tool boxes and there is no doubt that Park make some of the best tools available. There is a reason some of the best bike shops use Park tools. So why not buy a tool box to match the great quality tools and save your money by buying the set?
	Want a quality bike toolset without the huge pricetag? This looks like the ticket and the price is low enough to justify it. Another clamshell bike toolkit with the basic tools you’ll need to do repairs on your bikes. Many of the tools included are of the same design as park, just different colors - but don’t tell Park tools that.My kit is very similar to this and there isn’t a problem that I have not fixed yet. You may want to buy some additional spoke wrenches to go with this one though.
	Ok, if you don’t need all the above tools, but want a quality set get a bike repair kit like this.Just make sure that you put a chaintool in it, in case you have an incident like this: I Broke my Front Derailleur If I had this kit with a chain tool in it, or even my multi-tool it would have saved me a lot of walking. Learn from my mistakes and buy a quality bicycle toolkit!

The Volvo XC70 is truly a car that an outdoors person can appreciate. I’ve always like the Volvo tank’s since I saw them rallying around a track. These beats are great, and can traverse a wide range of terrain while still remaining a good family vehicle with decent gas mileage. Although the car is a mid-size wagon, it has a ton of room in the back to put your bikes, but why would you want to do that? Stick em on the roof. Make sure you tie them down though, because if you use this car to its full potential, they will fall off.

Firstly I was going to ride my Trek 1000 rather than my Specialized Allez Pro, but I broke the stem off of my inner tube. This didn’t make me very happy, but I figured I’d just get on the Allez. So I did, it was a cold morning and I had some extra gear on. I got about half a mile up the road and was coming to a stop because some one rudely was over too far right, and I couldn’t safely pass to get in the bike lane. Well, as any one on a hill would do as they were coming to a stop, I changed gear. Probably some what in a rush but shortly after I realized that I couldn’t pedal. Great. I figured you know it just got jammed as I was coming to a slowing stop. Look down, and see the reason my pedals wouldn’t move.

See if you can figure out from the picture why:

(Click to Enlarge)

It should be rather obvious what happened, my derailleur is clearly busted. I have to get a new one, but its a good thing I can fix it myself. So for now, I’ve removed it and I’m running around on the smaller chain ring and on my other bike. Not ideal, but it gets the job done.

Here is the description and a picture:

This bike rack holds two bikes. It’s a little bit rickety but works fine.

Its your basic free standing bike rack that looks like its been made out of two by fours and painted red. Probably four 2 x 4’s were used, and then some screws. The cost of 2×4’s these days is about $1 - $2 a piece, making this cost about $15 with a box of screws and paint. Not too shabby, but the design can probably be improved to stop it from being “a bit rickety.”

Well, here it is. Another one of my bikes. As you may know I sold my Schwinn Sprint for $100. With that, and some extra money I had laying around I got this Specialized Allez Pro. I’m not sure of the year, but think its a 1993 or 1994. Its pretty bog standard, has Shimano 105 components and down tube friction / indexed shifters. I like riding it, despite its age it rides well and pretty fast. I’ve took the profile “aero bars” off since I don’t need them. The owner I brought it from used it in a couple of triathalons when he was in the Marine Corps said it did pretty good. The only things I need are a saddle (one is old and uncomfy) and I think I might get some new handle bars as these are way too wide and have the strange “turned down” ends. After that minor adjustments and its ready to go. Its about as light as my other Trek, if not a little lighter and rides just as well maybe better its hard to tell with the old saddle. The shifters took a little getting used to, but I find myself changing gear less and concentrating more on riding.

Its been a while since I updated this site. Mostly because I have been buying a house. The news for me is that I no longer need my apartment storage (which I have yet to post about. I’ll update this site once I have the pictures and plans up.) Other news is that I’ve sold my Fixed Gear Schwinn Sprint. I loved the bike, but didn’t ride it enough due to the fact that it was a fixed gear. I probably only put about 150 miles on it at the most after I built it, quite a waste really. Well, along with the house I’m going to be riding my bike to work also known as “Bicycle Commuting.” Most Americans (Except Lance) think that riding your bike to work is a stupid idea, and while I agree with riding your bike to work down the interstate or busy highways for me this will not be a problem. Mostly because I have a bike path all the way to my work, with about 2 miles of actual road, and then another mile straight up hill. It should be a good ride. There are many advantages to biking to work. A short list of them are: not having to deal with traffic, getting a workout in the morning, saving gas money, extending my cars life and Dunkin’ Doughnuts…
Yup thats right, there is a Dunkin’ right on the way to work, which means I can now stop in and stuff my face with one of the foods of champions.

With this I have decided that I needed another bike which I’ll be posting it in another blog post. Until then, here are the pictures of my old bike for remembrance of the good times we’ve had. I’ll miss you old Sprinty *SOBS*. If any one is interested here are larger pictures of my old Schwinn Sprint. Enjoy!

I know a few people who have Ion’s but none of them have bike racks. One thing they all have in common though is that they love their Ion.

It was taken in Charlotte NC and I’ll give props to any one who can tell me where. I’ll give you a hint: There are a ton of bikes and bike racks in this area, and its not near the airport.

I was quite excited to see a VW Cabriolet and a VW Golf, both of the VW’s with bike racks. The cabriolet had a hitch mount bike rack that you can’t see very well and the red VW golf obviously has the roof mount. If you are wondering what I’m talking about enlarge the picture and look in my mirror. I wish I was able to get individual pictures of both, but due to the bumper to bumper traffic, the light turning green and both cars being behind me this wasn’t really feasible. Either way, this is a unique one of a kind shot of two bike racks on VW’s.

People ask what the best type of bike rack is all the time and there is not one solid answer. My answer is, it usually depends on your needs. Trunk mount bike racks are great don’t get me wrong, but they are not suppose to be permanently attached to the car. Sure, its fine to do it if you want to, its not against the law (in all states) but seriously, they don’t look the best they scratch your paint and some models can be easily stolen, I won’t point fingers here Saris.

The picture here was of some trunk mount bike racks that a friend of mine took while shopping. You will notice the saris bones racks on the side. He was wondering how much these should cost, and which one to buy. I told him that he’d be better off finding the model he wanted, by reading about the different types and then buying it online. I even asked him to by it from this site and he agreed. So, if your thinking about buying a trunk mount bike rack, look no further than this blog. After all its pretty much a blog just about bike racks since I’m unfortunately not riding my bike as much these days.

The Racor Freestanding Bike Rack truly is an amazing bike rack. As you can see from the image to the left this bike rack holds two bikes and as the name suggests is freestanding. This means that drilling holes in the wall to make sure your bikes don’t fall over is not needed. Just get it out of the box, put it together with the provided instructions and you are ready to rock. You can rest assured knowing that your Racor freestanding bike rack will hold your bikes up for years to come. Not only does it get your bikes off of the ground freeing up space and helping prevent tire rot, it also gives you additional room in your garage that you can use to store other objects and bike related gear. The Racor freestanding bike rack dominates not only in functionality and design but also in price. If you are in the market for a freestanding bike rack look no further.

I also have pictures of a hitch mount bike rack for the Sequoia. This is a great alternative if you do not want a roof rack. The rack should fold easily fit in the back of your car for storage if you need it to. I wouldn’t recommend a trunk mounted bike rack for this car since the available hitch and roof should be sufficient. A trunk mount bike rack would fit, but would not be as stable.