Those monster tires are called Schwalbe Big Apples and we are using the biggest of the big. 28 x 2.35 rollers. Don’t worry though, through some very smart engineering these tires have low rolling resistance while giving you the advantage of pot-hole sucking action a good city tire needs. They also have great, reflective sidewalls for visibility while riding at night.
Nick Ginster, a Milwaukee area native, lives in Taiwan and has been helping us with another bike project. He recently visited Milwaukee to see family. We took the opportunity to meet Nick and have him check out the Shark. Here is what he wrote about his experience riding the Shark:
I put some miles on the Shark and I had quite a few others try it to get their opinion as well. On my first ride on the Shark I intended to go around the block, just to check it out. I was having so much fun I ended up riding for about 45 minutes. It is really smooth to ride and turning is a blast. One of the most impressive features is how fast you can stop. With your weight in the center of the bike, and lower, you can haul down to a stop extremely quickly. The low CG makes turning a breeze as well. Also, the easy seat adjustment made it very simple for other to try it out. The sizing is extremely flexible.
Nick is working with us to finalize the Schlick Shark for production. We look forward to working with him on this project and value his expertise.
I’ve had the pleasure of riding several RAGBRAIs with Kim West and recently discovered through mutual friend LeeAllen that he has been doing a radio show in Des Moines, IA for a couple of years that is also available as a podcast. He talks about cycling in and around Iowa as well as other, broader cycling topics. Kim has an irreverent style and I find it interesting to keep up with what he and some of the regulars on the show are up to. Check it out!
The Kim West Radio Cycling Show Blog
The Kim West Radio Cycling Show Pocast on KXNO
The Kim West Radio Cycling Show on iTunes (Will open iTunes)
The inaugural Steel is Real ride was great! 100 riders, 32 miles and 9 bars!
The all urban route took in the Milwaukee Lakefront, near South Side, ‘Tosa, Miller Valley, Downtown and Eastside with stops at Cafe Hollander, Cafe Centraal, Holler House, Cocktails and Dreams, Long Wong’s, Kelly’s, Tosa Hollander, Valley Inn, Fitzgibbions and Cafe Hollander again.
Beer was good Riverwest Stein being my favorite of the day. Food was good too. Egg Rolls at Long Wong’s and a Mrs. Hollander at the end of the day.
I spent a lot of the ride with John, Ken and Ryan shooting the breeze and such.
In the rider-voted best bike categories there was some stiff competition. In the end my Smitty with Schwalbe Big Apples won Best Balloon-Tired Bomber! Could have been the gratuitous vote trading but I’d like to think the bike really deserved the win. It was a super companion on the ride.
John’s Shark was second in Extemporaneous Bikes but was most likely a victim of poor placement as not many people saw it while voting. Shoulda, coulda, mighta have won! To be fair the winning bike was pretty sweet. I never got the full story on it but it looked interesting to ride.
I totally look forward to this ride next year. Wish it was next week!
From September 9-26, Milwaukee-based, internationally-touring singer-songwriter Peter Mulvey will again take to his bicycle for a concert tour. This year is his third annual bike/concert tour and begins September 9 with a ferry ride from Milwaukee to Muskegon, MI, where Peter will take to his recumbent bike rigged with guitar and travel necessities and pedal to Grand Rapids for the tour’s kick-off show. From there it’s on to three more Michigan shows, then due east for three shows in New York state, and another three in Massachusetts – with daily rides this year ranging from 40 to 101 miles.
Fellow songwriter Brianna Lane will also travel the entire tour by bicycle as the opening act. Bolstered on much of the route by a few other cyclist friends, Mulvey and Lane will travel with all their gear, without a support vehicle.
Good luck, Peter and Brianna!
I’m a bit behind! This is actually from LAST Sunday!
Dave called and said he’d be going to check out the custom motorcycle show at the Harley Museun is I decided to head down on the Smitty to meet him. I was interested to see his finished Teesdale MTB he just finished building as well.
The show at the Harley Museum was OK. Lots of bikes and Harley types walking around on what ended up being a beautiful day. There were probably 70 or so show bikes and several hundred visitors’ bikes parked on the Museum grounds.
After hanging at the museum for a bit we rode through downtown Milwaukee to Water St. because we thought the block party would still be going on but that event was only Saturday night. What was going on was Dave Cook’s “Worlds Shortest Poker Run” so we got to check out more motorcycles that were in town for the Milwaukee Rally. Some pretty cool rigs including one of Dave Cook’s that uses a Manitou MTB rear shock as part of the front fork. Sweet!
I left Dave who was going to his sister’s to eat dinner and went home to chef up some steaks for the family and then headed to Cook Customs shop party for more Motorcycle action.
Sydney and I took a drive from Milwaukee to Madison to check out the Ride the Drive event. The basic idea is that about a 6-mile route of streets were closed off the motor vehicles to allow cyclists, pedestrians, skateboarders, roller blades, strollers and runners to enjoy the streets to see and experience Madison from a different perspective in a car-free environment.
Sydney rode her Trek 820, a nice old steel version, and I rode a Smitty.
The event was co-chaired by Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and John Burke of Trek Bicycles. who had the following goals for running the event:
• To allow bikers, runners, skaters, walkers and even families with strollers to enjoy six miles of Madison streets normally reserved for motor vehicle use
• To establish Madison as one of America’s most bicycle-friendly cities
• To bring the community of Madison together for a fun, community-affirming event
• To invite Madisonians to consider adding non-motorized means of travel to their daily lives
• To bring Madison residents downtown to patronize stores, boutiques and restaurants
• To invite people to discover neighborhoods in a safe, family-oriented way
• To point out the vital role roadways play in recreation, transportation and the overall health and welfare of our community
• To enable citizens to see the city from a whole new perspective and pace
Syd enjoyed the bike obstacle course, the Art Cart where she made a bubble wand , tracing our feet on the street and riding through the tunnel where there were musicians playing. She also was thrilled that there is a Jimmy John’s on State St. because that is her favorite sub shop and we had lunch there.
I enjoyed the time with my daughter!
It would be great to see an event like this in Milwaukee. If you have ideas on how this could happen shoot me a note to greg@schlickcycles.com
Okay, so wasn’t so much that I conquered it, as I made it up without having to use my feet on the pavement! Who says Iowa has all the hills? We have one on Mill Rd close to Marcy Rd. that is a constant grade from the very bottom to about 3/4 up the hill. Greg and I will get some stats tomorrow (and pictures posted). It was a beautiful upper 50’s and no wind so it was a really nice, challenging ride. I did it on our 1×9 Smitty test rig with a 42×34 low. Next challenge – a Shark!