Alike (First posted September-28-2005 at 04:36 pm)
Alike (First posted September-28-2005 at 04:36 pm)
Here's a collection of bicycle related  links. I'm not including some obvious stuff (like Sheldon Brown's pages, google it if curious) as they are in almost any bicycle related link list out there. Here I'm going for what it's more obscure, to me.  I don't visit all this places often but I've provided my own description and/or rating for most. (Click on a link to expand/hide a given list.)

Gear, Frame Builders & Repair


Gear

Mark Verber's Sleeping System and Shelters pages. Lots of references to different shelters and sleeping system alternatives. Done with Backpackers in mind but it all apply to bicycle touring. The rest of his site is also very interesting. (Good rainy-day reading)


Frame Builders

Gaerlan Custom Bicycles J. Gaerlan sells sometimes obscure parts at decent prices. Used to be based in San Francisco, now is somewhere in Northen Californa but still comes to the city often. He also builds a nice 20" wheeler folding bicycle that is a VERY good alternative to the BikeFriday. I actually own two of his frames and have done tours in California (SF-SLO) and overseas (Vietnam and Baja) on them, nice bikes.

Mikkelsen Frames Bernie Mikkelsen is another nice local (to the San Francisco Bay Area) frame builder and also a nice guy. When I need to fix or add stuff to a steel frame here is where I go. His prices are very reasonable and most of the time he'll do the work while you wait. In my experience he preffers to be contacted by phone than email. He can also take your frame and have it Powder Coated for a very good price. (see below)

Mass Tech Coat No link but it deserves a place here. This guys are the place to go in the San Francisco Bay Area when you need your bike refinished, powder coat is very tough and they have lots of experience with bicycles. Excellent work, fast turn-around and very good prices.  I think they are open M-F from 6:00am to 2:30pm (Odd hours but I'm not complaining) My Miyata 1000 MTB was done by them.
(510) 417-6227
31010 San Clemente St
Hayward, CA
back to top


Mailing Lists


IMHO, The larger the member base the bigger the information to noise ratio of a mailinglist.

bikelist.org hosted: (Link to ALL bikelist.org mailing-lists archives)

Touring: 30-50 messages/day. This list sees a good amount of traffic and archives contain many nuggets. Members are willing to help newcomers.  I've been a member of this list for some years now and used to post a lot more but I found, nowadays there are few new interesting topics. Unfortunatelly there is a lot of repetition and nonsense.

Internet-BOB (iBob): 30-100 messages/day. Just like the Touring list above, lots of traffic here. Members display great knowledge of traditional (aka., old) bicycle mechanics and a large number revere Rivendell Bicycles and its founder as gospel/the prophet. Very good information can be found and shared if you are able to filter the cult-like crap and sometimes anoying list dynamic.

Yahoo Groups Hosted:

Ciclistas Latinos: 0-10 messages/day. General bicycling list in Spanish, however you can post in different languages, some members speak other languages. Good resource for planing tours in Central and South America.

SFRandon: 0-10 messages/day. To new to rate. A good idea, to create a community of Randonneurs in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Only time will tell if this list will be used. I think this list has great potential as it deals mostly with San Francisco Bay Area stuff, a good way to nurish the local randonneuring and touring communities.

Ultralightbiking:   0-10 Messages/day. Concentrates on ultralight and light touring. IMHO there is to much discussion as of what the breaking point  in pounds is to be considered ultralight/light touring and if racks, water, tools and other stuff should be considdered part of the total weigh or not. There is good logistic information, packing tips, gear and other nice information worth the noise.

Google Hosted:

Randon:
0-15 messages/day during non-PBP years. 10-30 messages/day on PBP years. General Randonneuring list. So so list. To general for my taste but it seems to be getting better since it was moved to Google (Also 2007 is a PBP year so that makes people post more i guess.)

back to top


Other Riders' Websites


So far and in no particular order:

JimG's Bike related pages. I Meet Jim trough the iBob list and ride with him on weekends both on and off road, He has an interesting website. Lots of weird dark information. Good place for Nishiki, Univega and Miyata old catalogs in PDF format. (Note the Miyata catalogs are with the Univega stuff) It was Jim who found the now popular-among-iBobs Aiptek Pencam cheapo digital cameras, blame him for that.

Cyclofiend Blog: Another iBob list member, we also ride together every once in a while. He is responsible for 1) geting me interested in doing video with the cheapo-but-cool Aiptek cameras and 2) for placing ideas in my head on how to mount the camera for best results.

Adam K. Bicycle touring and bike camping reports.

The HoboBikers We ran into them on our way back home from our 07' Overnight to Point Reyes and rode together from San Anselmo into San Francisco. Randy & Nancy are on a trip from above the Arctic Circle to the bottom of South America. Nice people, nice website.

Joel Metz's site full of information. You can spend a good afternoon (or lot more) reading all that stuff. Joel strikes me as a real bicycle man.
back to top


Maps & Weather


Mapping


RouteSlip The best mashup of Google Maps I've seen so far. It provides total elevation and can print a decent cue sheet.

East Bay Regional Park District park/trail maps (Downloadable PDF) Tons of East Bay (San Francisco) parks and Campground maps.

The Marin Bicycle Map (Downloadable PDF) This is the Map to have if you ride in Marin County, road or Off-Road, it shows primary and secondary road routes, paved and unpaved bike paths and trails, and locations of services and facilities.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area maps Some of these maps can be printed to 8.5x11" with good results. Fairly accurate as they are the "official" maps.

SF Bike Map & Walking Guide (Downloadable PDF) This is the Map to have if you ride in San Francisco, it shows existing bike routes, paths, and bike lanes, and indicates the grade of a street so you can avoid the steep hills. (You used to be able to order a hardcopy of the map for free by sending an email with the request to bicycle@sfgov.org)

Weather Forecast

WeatherUnderground Lots of historical data and maybe the best animated radar

Forecastfox Toolbar/Statusbar Weather add-on for Firefox browser, highly recommended!


back to top


Do It Yourself projects


Cheapskate's Repair Stand. Bicycle repair stand made of 16' Worth of 2x4's

BOB trailer clone plans. The best Bicycle Trailer Plans I've seen, including CAD drawings. A clone of the BOB trailer.

Cobra's can Stove. Very easy to make, even in the trail. It works fine but it can be hard to start. Good emergency know-how.

Make-Gear. Instructions for Homemade Backpacking Gear.

MAKE Magazine. DIY technology projects, If you search Make Magazine for "Bicycle" this are the results you get, some interesting projects.

Double the run time of your DiNotte (AA batteries version) I included my own DIY light hack here as I think is relevant. Two versions, both work just fine, one is more practical than the other. Very simple & cheap yet very effective.

DIY LED Bike Light Guide A very good site for LED lights, lots of useful information.

Homemade Niterider Batteries. A thread at mbr.com with lots of usefull information. I actually made my own battery from instructions/sources found there.

Red Bacchetta's generator powered LED Diagrams of his powerful LED light, it may be ugly but apparently it works pretty well

TB Design Panniers. Nice set of DIY panniers with detailed instructions.

Pepsi can Stove. This stove works very well but it is a bit hard to assemble on the road. But again it works very well.

Making Saddle Bag. Good instructions to make a saddle bag, no author name on the page.

Thru-Hiker projects. Many DIY projects with hikers in mind, however many of them are useful to bicycle tourers.
back to top


Bicycle Transporting Logistics


Sometimes you need to haul or park you bike:

On my old touring website I used to have links to airport routes, storage and stuff like that so i think those links deserve a place here. Can't find all those old links so I'll have to start over...

bikeaccess.net A must have bookmark for those who travel with their bicycles. Information on Airlines, Airports, trains, foldong bikes... You want this one!

San Francisco Airport Bicycle Parking: Yes you read that right, Bicycle Parking at SFO. So far it is free, you can leave the bike for 14 days (must be registered with the Valet Parking Agent. The racks are located at Valet Parking (Central Garage, Level 4) and Courtyard G (International Terminal, Arrivals Level) but read the whole thing for yourself.


back to top



(First posted September-28-2005 at 04:36 pm)

No related pages or links.