• Make Magazine: Digital

    I’ve been thinking about switching my Make magazine subscription from the ‘Premier’ paper+digital to digital only.  The digital edition of Make is available as a PDF, which is easily imported into iTunes as an eBook, which in turn is easily synced to the iPad.

    In addition to the obvious advantages such as reduced cost, faster delivery and searchability, a complete Make back catalogue on the iPad takes up significantly less space than the paper version, an advantage will only increase over time.

    To further illustrate the point, the above stack of paper copies of Make weigh about 9,400g (20.7 lbs) or about about 13 3G iPads (14 for the WiFi-only version).

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  • 29er Build: Completion

    The 29er is finished.  The Kona is still covered in all of the standard stickers, but that probably won’t last too long.  The stem is likely a placeholder until I figure out just what size I want, and when I have figured that out I’ll chop the tandem-length hydro lines and everything should be set.  All told, the build went well and the only real hangup was the seat post.

    My 330mm Thomson post was too short for the rather odd 29er geometry.  At the proper height, the 330mm post was inserted well beyond the minimum insertion mark, but due to the steeply sloped top tube and long seat tube extension of the frame the bottom of the post did not extend far enough into the seat tube.  According to Thomson (and general opinion) the post should extend below the bottom of the top tube to minimize the risk of cracking the frame.  The 330mm post only extended about halfway between the top and bottom of the top tube.  The 410mm Thomson extends well below the bottom of the top tube, so problem solved.

    Here are the full specs:

    Specifications
    Size18″
    ColorBlack
    Weight10.8kg (23.8 lbs)
    FrameKona Unit, Steel
    ForkSurly Karate Monkey (w/ ground-off canti bosses)
    HeadsetRitchey
    StemThomson, 90mm
    HandlebarsEaston EA50 low-rise, 640mm
    GripsErgon GP1 BioKork
    BrakesAvid Elixir CR Carbon, Roundagon Rotors (185/160)
    CassetteSinglespeed spacers, Surly 20t cog HBC steel/alloy 20t cog
    ChainSRAM PC1
    Crankset/BBShimano Deore 175mm (FC-M590), HBC 32t SS alloy ring (1/8″)
    PedalsShimano M540
    WheelsFulcrum Redmetal 29 SL
    SkewersShimano XT
    TiresWTB Prowler 29 SL, 2.1″
    Maxxis Ignitor, 29×2.1″
    SaddleSelle Italia Flite Titanium
    SeatpostThomson 27.2, 410mm
    Lynskey Ti post, 27.2 / 400mm

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  • Interesting Video: RideKick Electric Trailer

    I’ve never been interested in electric bicycles, but this does look like something that may appeal to a lot of commuters. Aside from commuters, the LEDs, ports and modifiable firmware should appeal to everyone else.

    A module that uses this design that could fit into a Burly or Charriot would be more useful to me, though that would make an extremely expensive trailer. The only other feature I think it needs is a arcade-style turbo button, which should be red.

    Video Source: Bike Trailer Blog

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