OTB Engineering
Paris 2024 Track Olympic Equipment – Part 2
Continuation of Part 1: This is going to cover equipment used by some of the smaller nations and also some unaffiliated bike brands: the new Dolan DF5, the BMC TrackMachine, the Stromm track bike, TOOT engineering’s bike and wheel system, the Ridley Arena pursuit, and others. This is a really interesting area as, unlike the…
Track Conversion! PRO Textreme Disc
Sometimes doing a project because it’s fun is more important than doing it to actually save a buck or whatever other excuse people often give This project started because I was curious how the inside of this hub worked. While disassembling (without even looking at an assembly diagram beforehand, idiot me) I managed to mangle…
Paris 2024 Track Olympic Equipment Roundup – Part 1
It’s Christmas in August!! The deadline to use new equipment for the Paris 2024 Olympics is the Glasgow Track World Championships from August 3-13, 2023. Teams have as yet been extremely coy with their equipment, so we are seeing a LOT of brand new kit- some of which is extremely innovative. Track cycling is experiencing…
Bont Vaypor Convert to Laces
Who loves laces?? I know I do. I’m not going to beat a dead horse here but for me, the biggest portion of the appeal is aerodynamics and comfort – laces improve both. Unfortunately, one of my favorite shoe brands, Bont, makes their lace up track cycling shoe extremely difficult ($$$) to buy. Being a…
Vision Track Crankset Review
I’ve been riding a decent amount of track recently, and last November decided on a whim to enter the USAC Madison National Championships. The race was held in Detroit at the Lexus Velodrome – a steeply banked 51deg, 166m indoor velodrome. The Madison is one of my favorite races, but has some very specific demands…
Tairin Mugen Hub Design Issues
I’ll start this off by saying I have never bought or used one of these hubs. I don’t know the owners of this business and I am honestly talking out of my butt. That being said, my job is designing spindles, robots, and other precision mechanical components and I used to work in the bearing…
Perdita the Gravel Bike
This one has been done for awhile, but I am just getting around to writing about it now. September 2019 I began making a bike for my wife Gabby’s birthday. Its not easy to build a bike in secret when you live with the person… and when her birthday rolled around a month later I…
Silca Tattico
Things that make a good ride bad: Run out of food/water, cars, and a stubbornly flat tire. While a mini pump won’t prevent you from flatting, having a good one means there’s one less thing to worry about. Lucky for me, I am the proud new owner of a Silca Tattico. I was considering the…
Piano Restoration Project- Agraffe
I am (as of a few weeks ago) the proud owner of a 1899 Knabe 9′ long concert grand piano!! This has been a dream of mine since I was a child, and I am so fortunate to have a wife who will let me keep it in our tiny house. I got the piano…
Thoughts on Canyon Aeroad 2020
The new Canyon Aeroad is a really cool bike. It ticks all the boxes for me: it’s got serious aero credentials, it is light, it is quite inexpensive for what you get, you can run mechanical and electronic drivetrains, and there is a stock Campagnolo build option. But I would NEVER get one. Here’s why:…
Ode to Francis
First off, I do name my bikes. Not every bike earns a name however- some bikes are with me for too short a time. Some bikes aren’t satisfying to ride. Some bikes can’t stand the test of time. Any good bike needs to fulfill several requirements- First off, it has to look good. It has…
Tube to Tube Frame- Splatter Paint!
Making bikes can be so fun. It’s a lot of work and sometimes it really sucks, but this one was just a treat to build. First things first: I know Shimano wheels with a Campagnolo drivetrain is heresy. I am aware and I am willing to accept whatever punishment the Campagnolo Tfosi think is just.…
Effetto Mariposa Carogna Tape
Tubulars are dead. At least, that’s what most of the cycling industry seems to think. Tubeless/clincher type tires test faster in the wind tunnel and have lower rolling resistance. In general, there isn’t much development money going into tubulars; in fact, key industry players such as Specialized with their new Rapide/Alpinist wheels have abandoned tubulars…
Cookie Recipe
Recipe websites are the worst. Here is my recipe before I talk about it 🙂 Chocolate Chip Cookies Combine 2.6c flour (up to 0.5c whole wheat, to taste), 1tsp espresso powder, 1tsp Baking Powder, 0.75tsp Baking Soda, 0.25tsp salt in bowl. In separate bowl, combine 0.75c dark brown sugar, 0.25c white sugar with 1c (2…
Monocoque Aero Frame Pt. 2
I’ll start out by saying that if I knew how difficult it would be to achieve what I wanted, I likely wouldn’t have started. That being said, the knowledge and experience I’ve gained has been invaluable, and every failure has been a learning experience that’s made me a better designer and engineer. I owe what…
Monocoque Aero Frame Pt. 1
When I was in college, I was introduced to composite design and manufacturing through our formula student project team- basically a miniaturized hybrid F1 style racecar. Since then, I’ve been continuously experimenting with carbon fiber design and manufacturing at home, and I’d like to chronicle my own experiments and provide a general overview of frame…
Tube to Tube Carbon Frame
Since moving to California, I’ve found it more difficult to access machining resources like the ones I used in Ann Arbor. However, I still had a stack of carbon cloth and all the tools. I decided to build a few tube to tube frames, starting with a gravel frame for my Fiancee. Afterwards I built…
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