Golden

When I posted a while back about my Colossi track bike (TT conversion), I mentioned how the cranks were the hardest part. This was due to the fact that although I'd bought a C-Unit fixed gear crank, I hadn't bought a corresponding bottom bracket. As such I was trying to put a crank meant for a 111mm BB onto a 102mm Campagnolo BB. This meant that when I put these cranks on with the 46t chainring it came with the chain ring and bolts actually rubbed on the frame. I managed to get around this as a short term solution by putting a 51 tooth ring I happened to have knocking about that had the same 144mm BCD as the C-Unit, countersinking the bolts on the back of the C-Unit crank, then adding some washers. After which I had about 1mm clearance back to the frame and a bad chain line. But at least the bike was usable.

This brings me to the longer term solutions. I could either put a longer BB on, or search for a track chain ring to fit my Campagnolo cranks. I decided on the latter, as if I decide to covert back to geared TT then it would be nice to keep the same crank and BB. Actually finding this ring proved to be much harder than I thought- 135mm BCD track rings are pretty rare, as this is Campagnolo's road standard BCD, and for their track cranks they go to the 144mm BCD track standard, as do Shimano (normally 130mm BCD). Luckily, I came across the excellent http://www.velosolo.co.uk/ who supplied me with a 'Made in the UK' 48t 1 1/8th 135mm BCD chain ring for a very reasonable 30 quid, and posted to the other side of the world within a week for a fiver. Problem solved, and pretty pimping with my gold chain ring bolts to boot. P Diddy eat your heart out.

ORD

It's always worth following Paterson Architects on FB, to pick up little nuggets like this. Now where's HKG?

http://shop.nomodesign.com/category/runway-series

Bob's Back '12

When Bob is back in town that can only mean one thing- bikesandbeer. I topped this up with some Singapore slings, steak tartare and 4 hrs sleep as preparation for a solid days riding. Needless to say I started the ride a bit drunk, but eventually sobered up enough to find some rhythm.

The man himself exits Parents Farm. Does the Chinese say 'can anyone open tins of spam?'.

Just for you Bob- from left to right- Hillary >Dirk >Bob >Mark >Peter.

I have to say, mist and photography aren't always the best of friends, but I'm actually very pleased with this shot- bootyful.

City Hall

Not sure if it's cool to link to the Huffington Post or not, but this story about an abandoned NYC station piqued my interest. You don't really get this sort of thing in Asia...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/10/the-hidden-abandoned-city_n_781669.html?ref=ny-real-estate#s179141

My Bikes: Colossi Track

Here's a bit of bike building action from my TT > Track conversion build. Cranks, fixed gear- these things should be simple, but somehow setting this aspect up took more time than the rest of the fixed build put together.

Still, the result is pretty pimping and I've been enjoying this machine on street (with brake) and track (without) over the past month or so. Pushing a fixed 51x15 tends to mean I get a good workout no matter what the terrain, and given I put this together for a relatively small amount I'm pretty amazed with how much attention it seems to get off people / cats who see it. It's certainly different!

Another bonus is that it's so difficult to ride even if someone does try to steal it they will most likely fall off. What makes it difficult is also what makes it fun. I've never ridden anything so uncompromising in stiffness- forget what people tell you about carbon being laterally stiff etc.- no road bike will ever have a patch on an alu. frame like this kitted out with steel handlebars and 4/5 spoke track wheels (note all the trackie pros typically use a Mavic 5 spoke front -rrp more than this complete bike). Of course, with off the chart stiffness comes off the chart lack of bump compliance, but this doesn't really matter on the track, or on a 20 min commute. And, if I get bored I can always turn it back into a TT machine. Full spec. at time of photo below:

Frame: Colossi Custom Alu.
Fork: Colossi Carbon
Headset: Ritchey WCS Integrated
Stem: Thomson
Post: Thomson
Bars: Colossi steel pipe
Tape: Green Newbaums
Saddle: Selle Italia SLR
Wheels: Corima 4 spoke (used)
Tubs: Schwalbe Ultremo
Cranks: C-Unit 51
Pedals: 105
Chain: Izumi Gold 1 1/8th
Sprocket: Halo 15t
Brake: Campag Chorus
Brake Lever: Dia Compe

Norweigen Wood

You can trust the Scandies to design a nice library. Co-incidence it's empty in year 2012? No, CNC cut plywood and glu-lams have to be the future.

http://www.contemporist.com/2012/02/17/vennesla-library-and-culture-house-by-helen-hard/

Sky Track

A proper bikesandbuildings photo taken this weekend at HK's slightly bonkers new $$$ recreational cycling facility. Where we had a race. And where, predictably enough, a guy crashed in front of me for no reason. Body fine, but back wheel wouldn't turn in the frame afterwards. My conviction that it's only worth buying second hand carbon wheels well and truly re-enforced, but I'm pretty p*ssed I'm on yet another eBay trawl for yet another carbon wheel spare (24 spoke rear campag compatible hub), having only just got myself sorted with a matching pair (my latest carbon wheel building is for another post). Still, first podium of the year no bad thing. More on:

http://www.colossi.cc/reports-2012

Velodroming

A really great day out at Whitehead velodrome yesterday, where, after 4 years of trying, I finally got a track license to race track in HK! A fuller repertoire of photos is on the below slideshow, and we have a new page up on http://www.colossi.cc/track. I hope this is the first trip of many in the coming months.

Bamboo n Tarp

A nice Saturday night at the Landmark Mandarin in town to celebrate a bit of a special occasion. As is rather common in Hong Kong, the nicest looking building to look at from this hotel is also the one that's being built. God knows what is underneath, and chances are it is awful, but there is at least a reassuring familiarity to the bamboo and tarp that I do quite like. A bit like M&S down the road...

MWM

Hipstertastic, but I seriously like...

http://mwmgraphics.com/collaborations_momentum.html

New Neighbours

Funny to live somewhere for 4 years and never see it from the street until now!

F*ck Yeah Brutalism

Thank you Mr P for putting me onto the excellent 'f*ck yeah brutalism' site. Here's a slightly lesser known Kenzo Tange building- the Yamanashi Broadcasting and Press Center. You've got to love the no holds barred expressionism- it reminds me of the sort of place Tintin would have to go and rescue Snowy from a space shuttle attack, or something...

http://fuckyeahbrutalism.tumblr.com

CNY Tour De Lantau

Kung Hey Fat Choy and all that... Mountain biking and temples- it's the only way.

Steve did emerge from the mist on occasions.

Pierre showing how it's done coming off the Fan Lau plateau.

Lots of impressive statistics- 80km riding, 2000m elevation, 12hrs out of the hoose, 3 degrees at the Buddha etc. But what Chinese New Year ride would be complete without a few men in tracksuits dressed up as a Dragon pulling cabbages from the ceiling?

Tai O

A bit of stilted Tai O action from today's Tour de Lantau.

Circuito XC de Favelas

Brazillian style.... (thanks Paulo)

http://www.pedal.com.br/exibe_texto_pagina.asp?id=5557&pagina=1

Chris King's Yeti

Following on my my Yo Eddy mtb retro mania post the other day, my retrobike musings took me to a post by  the new mountain biking sister magazine to the excellent Rouleur magazine- Privateer. I'm yet to acquire a copy of the actual magazine (sadly not distributed in HK), but I'm pretty confident it'd be a good read. One feature they have is a factory visit to Chris King. As per my Quality Quadrant post a year or so ago, I'd put Chris King in that small group of top notch component manufacturers still making things to last.

Proof is in the pudding in this instance, as Chris King's personal bike is on the same hubs, headset and bottom bracket installed in 1993. It's a bit sad that if you buy a Yeti now there's no way it'll last 20 years (mine lasted about 1 year before the rear triangle exploded for the first time), but I very much stand by the concept of investing in a good frame and good bearings that will pay off over their lifetime, rather than chi chi lightweight bling. This may be a bit of an extreme case, but it does prove a point. At some point in the future I'll do a post in praise of the company I consider to be the UK equivalent of Chris King- Hope Technologies, but for now, enjoy this taster of the privateer article:

http://www.privateer.cc/2012/01/chris-kings-yeti-arc.html#more

Hill Street

A pretty miserable start to the Chinese New Year long weekend here- rain and relative cold. I'm aiming for a riding challenge of 1000m minimum climbing elevation per day for 5 days to pass the time. I kicked this off today with a rather unplanned Tour de HK Island, including a jaunt into town to say hello to the Bike Shop. It's been a long time since I rode down Hill Street, which used to feature on my fixed gear commute when I first moved here, and I think I was always so fearful of trying to stay alive (and keep my speed in check) that I didn't really look up, but today it really did just make me stop (it's nice having 2 brakes) and think 'this is bonkers'. Buildings with fly overs next to your window- that's what the world needs more of!!! Hong Kong urbanism at it's best (so long as you don't have to live in it).

Yo vs. Hard Eddy

Well now here's a bike Mrs bikesandbuildings would never permit in the flat- the new Intense 'Hard Eddy'. It's a shame the marketing guys didn't think the innuendos through a bit more, as otherwise this is one of the few 29er bikes that I actually think looks proportional and elegant. The name did bring back memories from a  classic mountain bike from back in the day when I was poring over purple anodizing in Mountain Biking UK-

Oh yes, the seminal Fat Chance 'Yo Eddy' circa 1994 (image sourced from retrobike). I thought it was quite fun to put these two images side by side. Back in the 90s bikes were photographed against dodgy mottled backgrounds (do school kids still have this background?), whereas now we have concrete. Back in the 90s we had fade paint jobs in lurid colours mixed with anodizing, whereas now we have stealth black. Back in the 90s we had steel made in the USA, whereas now we have carbon made in Asia. Back in the 90s our brakes didn't work, whereas now we have discs to stop on a dime. Back in the 90s we had suspension that didn't do much whereas now we can use a rigid fork with big wheels to gain more compliance than a RockShox..

I could go on, and yes, it is interesting how much has changed in 18 years. I don't think there's much doubt the 'Hard Eddy' is not only more tasteful, but also a faster bike. However, in the unlikely event that I was offered a choice between one of these bikes taken from my name sake I know which one I'd pick. Yo!

Windo Washa

Just a nice bit of Chinese health and safety from an unknown source...

Stop and Spin [then get a boat]

It's not often I have a weekend with 2 rides worthy of some blog attention, but this weekend was a bit of an exception. Sunday was a fun bit of Border Exploring on the mountain bikes, whereas Saturday was a great Buddha ride with the legendary cyclocrossing gardener that is Hillary Daniels and her guest from the United States of San Fransico- Chris Johnson.

Chris has just signed for the new Pro Continental Champ Sys team, and was off to training camp in Hainan with them the following day. As a man who has ridden as a climbing domestique for Tour stage winners Chris found Tung Chung road at my threshold keel over in pain pace, well, a nice tempo by which to hold a conversation. I did my best to pretend I could still breathe... Anyhow, a diversion to the Lantau North Shore of Tai O resulted in a very random boat trip to get us un-lost. Not quite as cool as the following video from Chris, but good fun all the same ;-)

A Room for London

This little hoose propped up on the South Bank is a welcome fun addition to the Big Smoke it would seem...

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/01/13/a-room-for-london-by-david-kohn-and-fiona-banner-2/#more-185619

Border Exploring

A fun ride this morning exploring some trails up near Plover Cove.

Some cool jetties featured (no we weren't lost- honest)

Not to mention a bit of singletrack with grave yards and Shenzhen tower blocks for a back drop.

But the definite highlight for me was cresting a hill and seeing the mighty Minsk World through the trees. Strange how you can be so near, yet so far from one of only 2 military theme parks in the world. 

RIP Isi Metzstein

Sad news came in last night of Isi Metzstein's death. He was a very influentual German / Scottish guy at 'the Mac', who though officially retired when I was there, still came in to give 'the Isi & Andy show' every now and again to tell us how it's really done and talk with passion about bricks... Or something. Funny that just a couple of hours before receiving the news I was chatting over a curry with friends whose education paths had crossed very close but never quite touched about Glasgow, 'the Mac' and so on, in arguably the most Scottish pub in Hong Kong- the Chapel. Kind of weird but also very fitting in a way. Some nice words here:

http://www.gsa.ac.uk/support-gsa/gsa-alumni/famous-alumni/isi-metzstein/

Retro Milk Racing

You'd be hard pushed to find a better 2012 cycling calendar than this edition produced by the Glasgow Wheelers, featuring great images from back in the day of the Scottish Milk Race. There is also an excellent image archive worth a browse. Many thanks to Jamie for putting my calendar in the post!

http://www.glasgowwheelers.com/milkRaceCalendar.php

Opera Hoose

Any trip down under wouldn't be complete without a quick trip to the Sydney Opera Hoose, and without wishing to bore you with lots of holiday photos, here's a quick snap I took from the public deck. It's funny how dated this building seems coming from Asia. Not in it's form or it's massing, which is very still very current, but in the finishes of the landscape and the interior. Asia wasn't really doing Modernism quite so much back in the 70's, when this building was finished and if it is was, then chances are it's been torn down and replaced by now. The 70's thing seems a little alien to me right now when so much of what surrounds me is so 80's (in both looks and spirit) and beyond- perhaps I was the only one in Sydney thinking 'this place needs a re-fit'! No, that this is a truly great building of the modern era is not in doubt. The fact it was actually designed in 1955 is even more remarkable, and the adage "good things come to those who wait" has rarely rung so true given what this building has paid back to Sydney and Australia since. The fact it was 10 years late and 14 times over budget really doesn't matter now. RIP Mr Utzon.