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“Rob Roy” Mac Gregor supported the Stuart King James VI, who was deposed by William of Orange and Queen Mary. Hence, blasphemy to name an orange bike Rob Roy.

Apparently the use of the Mac Gregor name was outlawed, and so Rob Roy went by his mother’s surname.

Too bad I like orange bikes, no matter how blasphemous.

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Vacation + rough week re-adjusting + heat kept me from commuting since 6/28. Oh, wow, that was almost a month ago!

Rode in today on the fixed side. A little clanky and loud with the worn cog, but man was it fun.
I fixed the problem with shower access, so now I can rinse off instead of just towel dry – it makes a difference. I don’t feel crusty.

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I have to agree that orange bikes rock. There was one large order of these things in 2007 and then I don’t think they’ve been offered since. They came in green, black, and orange for the group buy, but an old acquaintance had a dusty blue one… or it may have been royal blue with added dust, I was never sure.

Prior experience, back when I was in shape, was that I could keep up just fine on a fixed gear.

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Thanks Mr. Eighth – PM sent.

Thanks Blisko for checking and offering. 46/18 is just a bit too low – I’d be spun out on some of these hills, I’d rather stand going up and be comfortable on the flats.
All I have for chainrings is a 42 and a 52.

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@dcv 58600 wrote:

thanks, don’t have campy – it’s a compact crankset 110bcd (FSA). I don’t know if that’s compatible, thanks
V

I thought Campy was 144 bcd, although I’m no mechanic. 130 is standard, 110 is compact, and I think inner diameter on a triple. There are some other old odd ones out there too… I think old Motobecane, for instance?

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1/8 or 3/32… doesn’t matter, really.

and alas, I have a 130 bcd 42t chainring, but it’s probably just as sharked as the old rear cog.
I think the BioPace inner that I sold with the Volpe was 39t.

I also have a parts pile that I will have to look at when I get home to make sure.

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It was… interesting. I didn’t quite realize the logistics of riding in a group like that. It reminded me of the time I did the 5 boroughs bike tour in NYC – which was a one-time thing because of the crowds and not being able to actually ride your bike.

MPD had probably 10 or so bike officers out who rode with us… in the beginning they even helped cork intersections and waved us through, which helped a little bit with the flow of the event. There were still lots of clogs and a few very novice bicyclists who couldn’t get going, which cascades pretty quickly – but they were being helped by neighbors. After probably 15 minutes of being helped by the bike officers, they got a call from their Lieutenant, and we had to stop at all the reds. They had some squad cars out along the route and kept repeating over the PA “Stop at the red lights, please!”. Once that started it broke up into smaller groups of about 30 or so people, more manageable, but easier to get lost – I think our group ended up taking a route different from the one published. We should have accessed Kingman Island through the parking lots and avoided Benning Road completely, but with the route confusion at least some groups came down Benning past the parking lot curb cut, and then had to stop (there is construction / 1 lane / no curb cuts) in the street to hop onto the sidewalk. There was an incident that drew fire/rescue, but it looked like a disabled car and unrelated to the ride?

I ran into an old co-worker and an old friend, Peter Lee, who helps out at BicycleSPACE occasionally. I saw someone with a BA jersey on standing next to a tandem, but by the time I finished locking up I didn’t see them anymore.

The hula dancing was pretty hot – literally… it was still upper 80s and felt like upper 90s by the time we left at 11p. Didn’t stay for the fire twirling or whatever, but we had to move my sister-in-law to Va Beach the next day.

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The name is just an added bonus! I didn’t even know it at the time, I just liked the fixed specific frame w/ canti posts and rack mounts!

[mello yello]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3342[/ATTACH]
My new IRO Rob Roy, purchased in ’07 and left in my basement for 6 years. Fixed/SS for commuting & everything.

[mello yello]

So I just got my fixed gear back – new crank, chainring, and chain. The shop set it up on the SS side, and I rode it on the Bicycle Space Kingman Island ride last night – whisper quiet.
When I flipped it to fixed this morning I heard that popping, crunching sound of the chain shifting in the cog – it didn’t really even look all that worn, but I probably should replace it so everything can wear together.

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I’ve convinced my wife to come out to this with me. Anyone else coming? It’d be nice to meet forum members, but will be hard to pick you out.

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Yeah, but even more tragic is the 9yo kid in Bowie yesterday that was killed doing pretty much the same thing… riding wrong way down a major street and then sharp turn in front of an SUV.

The real tragedy is that these types of accidents are entirely preventable, with common sense… but not everyone is taught to be PAL from an early age.

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@CPTJohnC 56814 wrote:

I’m guessing you don’t work downtown, with a plethora of free ‘Express’ and ‘Examiners’ on most every street corner?

This sounds like one of those things some might do to torment the co-worker nobody likes. Of course, a pair of cycling shoes isn’t exactly subtle when it is sitting next to the computer. Perhaps you should work a deal to let them dry in the server room?

Hah. I’d forgotten about those, it’s been so long since I rode the Metro – I can’t believe it has 80% approval ratings! Everything has approval ratings these days. I do work close to one, it’d add maybe a quarter mile rt to go pick up newspapers, but there aren’t any in the office.

I’ve avoided getting soaked on the way in, so far, so haven’t really had this problem (yet), but neighbors are scarce, and the server room is locked.

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@rcannon100 56757 wrote:

Anyone recommend a good Surly shop?

The Bike Rack DC carries Surly… I’m not sure how many models they have in-store, since their floorspace is pretty limited. It’s been a while since I’ve been in there, but I knew some of the mechanics and employees back in the day and they’re very competent.

I’m not sure if they still have a CX team, but they used to, and therefore had a drool-worthy array of excellent CX bikes and cx-based commuters.

My only gripe is they misplaced my Arabesque front derailleur when re-building my vintage road bike… but $15 on fleabay solved that problem!

[mello yello]

@ShawnoftheDread 56755 wrote:

Stuff your shoes with newspaper when you get to work, and change the newspaper at lunchtime. My shoes are always dry by the time I leave.

I can never find newspaper anymore…. and magazines don’t work quite as well!

I can prop them against the back of my computer case under my desk and the fan blows warm air through them. Sorta like a reverse AirWicks for my cube…

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