I am obsessed with Fatties...

Let's be real, I have a pretty decent cross-country mountain bike set up right now but I am always looking for more.

It's great for what I do and could use a few tweaks here and there. But there is a style of bike that has been climbing in my list of lusts: the affectionately named fat tire bike.

(Image from www.fat-bike.com)

Beside the fact that they just look badass, they can go almost anywhere that a normal cross-country bike can go and further. They float over beach sand without leaving deep ruts and taking extra effort and also handle superbly in snowy conditions. You see, Michigan has both of those things, all the more reason for me to get one.

As if that were not enough, most of them come with enough braze-ons to carry everything in my apartment; thus appealing to my affinity for packs, racks and bags, as well as opening a whole new realm of possibilities for shoreline touring and camping.

For now, I have to dream, save my pennies, and scour the used forums!

-J

Onomonopia Holds From Detroit Rock Climbing Co.

The good news: last month's Gang Holds from The Detroit Rock Company were SICK!!!

The bad news: they are cancelling the Gang Membership! (Potentially re-starting in the winter sometime.)

All of that aside, my limited experience with climbing and the Gang tell me that the Gang Membership was sweet, and Detroit Rock puts out some quality Ish!

Let's check out the Onomonopia Set:

I am new to climbing; just built the wall at the end of spring, so my knowledge and skill are not very high. My wall is laden with the holds of a newbie: Big Jugs. So when these came in through the mail I was a little disappointed. I did not think that my strength and skill could really utilize their features because they were not deep pockets. After getting a grip on them a few times I learned that my initial assumptions were far from spot on.

Strengths:

• Multi-dimensional
• If you get the right angle on the POOF! hold it can act like a sloper, jug and even a crimp if you only focus on the letters POOF!
• POOF! also has enough space to get two hands on it in some positions.
• The BAM! hold also offers a wider crimp on BAM!, a smaller jug/ ledge and with the ! on the top this is a pretty decent sized jug.
• Orientation
• Unlike most of my other holds, this set changes its offering with each degree of rotation.
• I am using them on a 60 degree wall and I do not run into any unusable space whether they are right-side up of 90 degrees clockwise, or upside down.

Bottom line: These are cool holds that really spiced up my plain jane woody, and I think that they would definitely do the same to whatever you are climbing on.

Crimping on that POOF!

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A word to the wise: Detroit Rock gives you the option of having a rubber "soft back" put on the holds, I highly suggest you do this with these holds. It really allows you to rip on them without any fear of getting spun, a problem that I have been having with a particular set of Metolius Jugs lately.

If you have any questions of would me to check out some holds for you let me know.

-J

Cat-Eye Wireless Bike Computer

For our anniversary last year Chelsea got me a Cat-Eye Wireless bike computer that for some reason has been sitting on my shop shelf for nearly a year. I think that in my mind this was going to be a much bigger project than it actually was. I had visions of programming and measuring for hours on end only to have a skewed result.

That was not the case. I slapped the wireless transmitter arm on and screwed the magnet onto a spoke in about a minute. I then zip-tied the base mount and programmed my wheel size in about 2 minutes. All in all I had it installed, "programmed," and rolling in ten minutes max.

So far so good. Will report more as I go.

Enjoy the shots: