Urbanus Magnus

Whoops! Gain root in Ubuntu recovery mode

2014-05-14T13:35:00.001-04:00

In the Live-CD/USB install of the popular Ubuntu and its derivatives, the installer easily automates the encryption of home folders - a good feature for security, especially on a laptop. Should your laptop ever get stolen, the thieves won't be able to pull the hard drive out of your computer and be able to grab your personal information off of it. At least, in theory.

Ubuntu and its derivatives by default do not give the root user a password, instead relying on the sudo command to perform tasks as an administrator. There are obvious benefits to this (a quick Google will give you a list), however this leaves open a massive loophole which effectively undermines any hard drive encryption. Without an explicit root password, a simple reboot of the computer into recovery mode will automatically boot into single user mode - as root.

HDD encryption only works to keep people who cannot log into your system from viewing your files. As soon as someone is able to boot the system and log in, the file system is mounted and the encrypted data becomes readable. As with many people, I have my browser save passwords to my email/blog/social media sites. These passwords are saved in each user's home folder, but in plain text. Should someone gain root privileges, they would be able to pull passwords for these sites and steal your online identity. Bad stuff, that!

I was luckily able to catch this loophole before I had my previous laptop stolen. My data was secured by explicitly adding a root password. Whenever anyone tries to reboot into recovery mode, they won't be able to get far before they are prompted to enter the root password - stopping would-be data thieves.

It is shocking that for a system touted for its laptop compatibility there is such a blaringly obvious security flaw. Hopefully Canonical takes step to inform users when installing, or lock down recovery mode more be default. In the meantime, if you have an Ubuntu laptop/mobile computer with an encrypted drive, you can remedy this security hole by entering the following command into terminal:

# become root user

sudo su

# now create a root password

passwd

And there you have it! Your mobile computer should now properly protect your sensitive information.

Ubuntu Phone OS: Initial Impressions & Comments

2013-02-22T23:31:00.000-05:00

The Ubuntu Phone OS made a noticeable splash as its initial developer preview was released for public download February 21st - and rightly so, as the Unity and screen-edge-based interface set this smart phone experience apart. Though this developer preview lacked a lot of functionality - an 'alpha' designation would be appropriate - the preview demonstrated a lot of interesting features that show a lot of promise.

Initial Impressions:

The design of the unlock/welcome screen is well thought out, in that the reticule in the centre warmly greets the user back to their phone. Once up and running, an animated version of the unlock screen should be a visual treat. Definite strength here.
Once inside the phone, I really liked the unique layout of the separate screens: one for Music, one for Apps, and others for other content. It uses the page idea common to android and iPhone, but makes it so that one is specific to a type of content. I can see power users loving the ability to switch quickly between functionality, but this being a problem for organization of long app lists or long lists of music albums/artists/songs. Points for speed, but at this point (since it is not-functional), I can be unsure how large arrays of icons will be organized in this format.
The sidebar from unity's dash is very well implemented here. It is well optimized, even in its alpha stages, for either one or two handed use - which I believed could be a problem. Holding it with one finger allows a slow scroll through the apps, and releasing the finger opens that app. This works well when only one hand is available. For two hands, quickly holding and releasing on the left edge of the screen opens the tray and keeps it there, until an option is selected.
The gestures supported by Ubuntu phone allow really speedy transitions between apps, with the unity launcher quickly opening new ones. Right-to-left swiping takes the user to their previous application. There is no 'open applications' tray in the style of Android - instead, a swipe back to the home screen lists open apps, just above the app list. I think this may make transitions between more than two applications a little slower. Again, until more applications become available, this is a toss up.

Comments

Swipe/gesture-intensive interface: Will be welcomed by power users, but the learning curve may mean many accidentally close apps and program switches before a user gets the hang of things. As Canonical states though, this OS is intended for professionals and power users, so perhaps this is well thought out.
Colouring: Unike Android's white-text-on-black-background approach to much of their OS, Ubuntu phone makes no such effort. Much of the interface is vibrant, and their drop-down menus or keyboard is off-white coloured. While visually attractive, this poses some issues. In a dark environment, this light colouring may strain eyes, and it cuts down on visibility somewhat because of lower contrast. Another additional problem comes from OLED-screen devices (like the Galaxy Nexus), which actually use much more energy displaying white or vibrant images. Battery life could become an issue.
Keyboard: I did not enjoy the keyboard's design. The roundedness of the keys meant that there was even less real estate for me to press the proper key with my fingers. An alternative to this keyboard, while still in keeping with the general 'rounded edges' aesthetic of the design, would be to make the bottoms of the keys rounded, with flatter tops. This could make the keyboard appear a little less... small for users. Without some sort of remedy, I believe typing speed could compromised somewhat, as users feel less confident of their virtual keystrokes.

Other than these few minor gripes, I feel that the Ubuntu phone OS will be a very welcome entrant to the market, with many useful features being brought to the smartphone table. The OS will continue development over the next year, hopefully with a polish coming as it rolls out releases, just as Google has done with their Android 4.1 and 4.2 releases.

Ubuntu Phone OS Install for Users w/Flashing Errors

2013-02-21T13:56:00.001-05:00

*Edit: Somebody has posted the .zip files for the Galaxy Nexus, for those who wish to download them directly. Link.

Ubuntu phone OS has *just* come out, and for those frustrated because using the flashing commands provided don't appear to be working with their phone, there is another way to accomplish the goal.

I encountered this problem myself when I attempted to flash Ubuntu phone onto my Galaxy Nexus running Cyanogenmod 10.1 -- the flasher refused to properly wipe /sdcard and overwrite the previous OS. Instead, I performed a successful install by using ClockworkMod recovery environment, doing a factory reset, and then installing the two Ubuntu zip files manually.

What to do:

Make sure your Android phone/tablet is rooted -- this tutorial relies upon this.
In your Android phone/tablet, download and install ROM Manager.
Within ROM Manager, navigate to the "Install ClockworkMod Recovery" option, and press it. Follow the instructions to install ClockworkMod. Make sure you have root privileges!
Turn on your PC and boot into your Linux distro. I did this on Ubuntu 12.04, but it should work with any Debian-based disribution that has Aptitude. Windows users will have to find a way to download the install .zip files (find a friend!) and then skip to step 9.
Run these commands in your terminal (skip to step 8 if you have already tried flashing):sudo

add-apt-repository ppa:phablet-team/tools

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install phablet-tools android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot
Connect your tablet/phone to your PC, making sure 'ADB' is enabled - the Android Debug USB connection.
In terminal, run

phablet-flash
which will download the installation .zip files.
Navigate to ~/Downloads/phablet-flash/ and enter the folder there.
Copy and paste BOTH zip files found here into your tablet/phone, in an easily accessible folder directory.
Disconnect your tablet/phone, and shut it down.
Reboot into the bootloader. On the Galaxy Nexus, this is done by holding down the volume rocker and power button simultaneously. Select the 'Recovery' option using the volume rocker and power button once in the bootloader. This should start ClockworkMod.
In ClockworkMod, select 'wipe data/factory reset', to wipe the Android OS completely.
Return to the main menu and select 'install zip from sdcard', and then 'choose zip from sdcard'. Navigate to the folder where you copied the .zip files.
Select the .zip file ending with armel+phonecodename.zip and install this BEFORE the other .zip file.
Now, select the other .zip file. This should end with phablet-armhf.zip or similar.
Once done installing, navigate to the main menu and restart the phone/tablet. You should now boot into Ubuntu phone OS!

On Android: Ubuntu OS Review Coming Feb. 22nd!

2013-02-18T02:33:00.003-05:00

The new Ubuntu Phone operating system is set to arrive February 21st -- a little less than 4 days away. For those who aren't familiar with Ubuntu, it is an extremely popular Linux operating system, who is now aiming to expand their territory into the mobile market. Android itself is Linux-based, and so the move from desktop to mobile isn't unprecedented. The OS will likely hold its own against custom Android ROMs -- such as Cyanogenmod and Android Open-Kang Project (AOKP).

The Ubuntu Phone OS promises a number of interesting new features. Image Credit: Canonical

Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth has stated in a video published on the ubuntu website (click the "Watch Video" button) that the operating system will be:

Buttonless -- all the edges have functions which replace the standard 3-button tray in Android
Run Ubuntu applications -- what features and programs will be available at launch in the mobile version are still up for debate
Have Ubuntu One integration
Designed for quick interaction -- it will have the Unity-style dash and a neat swipe-to-get-back application switcher
Mobile screen optimized -- removing buttons and making the dashes all touch-sensitive will supposedly make screen real estate appear larger

In any case, as soon as it comes out, I expect to be flashing the new operating system onto my own Galaxy Nexus phone, to replace the current Android Jelly Bean with some Ubuntu linux goodness. Stay tuned for February 22nd, when I expect to post my initial reactions to the operating system.

Day 8: Montalcino

2013-02-11T20:37:00.001-05:00

The two day stay in Siena was just enough time to tour the local sites and take a bit of a break to recharge for our next cycling ride to Montalcino.

Looking over our off-line digital map and planning the cycling route with its elevation profile in advance of the trip made us a little nervous; we would be setting new personal records with our climbs. Again being mentally prepared for the trip helped. The ride turned out to be not as difficult as we had anticipated - even though we ultimately climbed to an altitude of 610 meters by the time we arrived in the town of Montalcino itself, we managed to avoid steep inclines for the most part.

We had a very steady climb on the way out of Siena for about an hour and a half. We then took a break at the crest of the climb to nourish ourselves with a nice lunch that we had purchased and packed from an alimenteria before leaving Siena - fresh pane ronde con sale, local Italian pomodoros, soft formaggio and some proscuitto. For desert we had lots of fruit - pechi novi and apricots.

After lunch and a couple more hours of riding, we arrived at the base of Montalcino. When we saw the road that we had originally selected for our ride up into town, we quickly decided to remap our route. The road was gravel with an incline of between 15 and 20%; too difficult and treacherous to try to climb with loaded bikes. We weren't really up to walking our loaded bikes a kilometre up a steep hill, especially not after having had a taste of doing that up a similar grade for 200 meters at Monteriggioni. We decided instead to ride the extra 5 kilometres up the main road which gradually wound its way around the hill up and into town. Slow and steady gets the job done.

We were still hot, sweaty and dirty by the time we arrived in the town proper, and so we followed our ritual of quickly checking-in to our hotel, rejuvenating ourselves with hot showers and changing into some clean clothes before doing a quick tour of the town and seeking out a place to enjoy dinner.

The hotel room

Since it wasn't quite dinner and the restaurants weren't serving yet, we enjoyed some aperativi in a patio on town square. The "Tuscan Rewind" car race was under-way as we enjoyed our drinks, and the cars were revving and preparing to start their race in the square. An hour later, we began walking the town in search of a restaurant, and got to see a little more of the beautiful town and the race cars as we searched.After passing down a few side streets, we settled upon the relatively innocuous-looking Albergo Il Giglio restaurant for dinner.

Tuscan Rewind racer, rolling into the town square

Another Racer

What a treat that was! By all measures the Albergo was a fantastic dining experience, with a really nice atmosphere and run by a wonderful family. We had veal served with vegetables in brunello wine sauce, with a decanter of brunello on the side - the bread plate that came with the meal was so fresh that it almost outshone then entrée itself. The best meal of the trip -- if you ever visit Montalcino, we wholly recommend you have a meal at Albergo Il Giglio.

--------------

The following day, we woke up early and prepared to finish sight-seeing, and do some wine-tasting; this *was* the location of the famous Brunello di Montalcino, after all.

A very large number of wines ready to taste, in Montalcino!

The town's fort/castle of Montalcino stands out prominently on the edge of the town, overlooking the fields below the hilltop. We visited the fort, and deciding that we couldn't pass up the tower-top view, paid the 5 euro fee and walked up the keep's staircase to the top of the walls, where we were able to see the entire valley and a few distant towns.

Inside the fort

On the fort walls

Valley View

Road into town, view from fort walls

Part of the town, from fort walls

Located inside the keep was a wine shop, which we visited on the way back down. Steve and I (Ryan) had a few samples of the varieties of Nobile and Brunello, and bargaining for a good price, ordered a few to be sent home.

Not too tipsy to ride, we returned to the hotel and packed up for our ride out. Against our better judgement, we decided to try the gravel hill out of town, only to find it washed out near the bottom, and being so steep that Steve had a wipe-out - ouch (he was OK, though)! We begrudgingly walked the bikes back to the city gate, and began to follow the road out of town and onward to Montepulciano.

Just outside town gate, ready to roll down gravel road

Onwards!

Brief Update: Safe Return Home

2012-06-19T22:41:00.001-04:00

We arrived safely back home at around 11:30pm Toronto time Monday the 18th, after 2 stopovers (one in Frankfurt, the other in Washington, DC), and a lot of confusion in the Naples Int'l Airport. Certainly a bad experience with staff, which lead to us both nearly missing our flight, and also damage to our bicycles. But more on that will come with the Naples posting later.

Internet from Rome and south of there had been extremely spotty, and expensive at times (5 euro per hour at a few of our hotels - and still slow by N. American standards), so we haven't yet posted about our visits from Siena onwards. Besides, making time for blog-writing was difficult, what with all the sights planned.

For the next few days, I will be writing-up the log of the rest of the trip. So, expect Montalcino's write-up tomorrow, then that of Montepulciano on Friday, followed by posts for Orvieto, Viterbo, Rome, Pompeii, and Napoli and our returning flight in the next week-and-a-bit.

After a GIANT lazy spell, I will (finally!) be posting the rest of the trip, and updating the blog. Stay tuned.

Day 6 & 7: Siena

2012-06-13T12:48:00.000-04:00

Since we arrived late in Volterra the previous day, we had a quick walk around the town before we packed up and hit the road to Siena. Starting with a height advantage helped, but the overall trip was still long, and it was a brutally hot day at times.

We stopped for a break at the medieval fort of Monteriggioni halfway along the route to Siena. The road up and through the town gate was so steep that it had ridges created by interleaving the paving stones to give extra traction!

One of the gates into Monteriggioni.

The fort/town is one of Siena's defensive structures built around the 13th century to protect trade routes against attacks from their rival Florence. In fact, this is where the Dante Alleghieri hid out after he had angered some powerful Florentines with his caricatures of them in his Inferno. It still has all of its tall walls and 13 turrets intact.

Main square of Monteriggioni

Siena is possibly a challenger to Florence, in terms of having impressive structures. Siena has wide streets line with 4, 5 and often times 6 story stone buildings, whereas Florentine streets are smaller and jam-packed with shorter buildings (which rarely surpass 3 stories), and aesthetically are less pleasing.

A square lined with the former homes of the Sienese elite.

Conversely, while Florence's grand cathedral is monstrously sized, the smaller Sienese counterpart is far more refined, with very accurate stonework and an ornate floor - complete with tricolour stone engravings of saints and some scenes from the life of Jesus. One can only imagine the time and resources put into such art work.

Interior - Siena Cathedral

Exterior - Siena cathedral

Surely one of the highlights of our two days in Siena was the town square, il campo, which is a huge semi-circular piazza with a concave brick centre. We ate dinner in one of the trattoiri of the square on our first night.

Town hall and the surrounding Il Campo piazza.

In Siena, we were lucky to have our hotel right beside a camping store and a grocery store. We bought a gas cartridge for my camp stove and then some pasta, and made our own dinner the second night.

Mmmn...

We (*Steve*) accidently bought some bad beer for our dinner aperitives; it had a gross after-taste! If you look carefully at the bottle, the monk seems to be holding his stomach in protest:

Stay. Away.

Here are some more pics of our stay:

m

Cathedral from nearby wall.

Old city gate.

In the bapistry.

Medieval songbook from cathedral library.

The sienese tried to copy (and best) Florence's city hall with theirs.

Day 5: Volterra

2012-06-12T14:05:00.002-04:00

We had a good ride from San Gimignano to Volterra. We were mentally psyched because we knew the ride up to Volterra itself would be very steep. We stopped by the Super Mercato located just outside of the walls of San Gimignano and bought some fruit, pane, formaggio and salami just before we left for our ride. This worked out well because there weren't a lot of little towns between San Gimignano and Volterra.

The first leg of the day was very ejoyable. It was fairly quiet with few cars. We did have the company a lot of little green lizards who were sunning themselves every few meters along the roadside. They would scury under the scrub brush and grass as we approached them. At one point we road along a gravel road with beautiful vistas of colourful Tuscan hills with rich olive groves, vineyards and grain fields. Small volcano-like mountains jutting out of the hills in the distance; very picturesque.

Riding along an old country road

We learned how to take panoramic photos with the camera of our phone. The quality is not as great as a real camera, but it allows you to better appreciate the scenery:

We stopped for a break and a late lunch in the shade of some cedar trees by a small church at the base of the climb to Volterra. We figured it was good to rest and recharge ourselves with the nourishing lunch we had packed in San Gimignano before starting up the steep arduous climb to Volterra. There was a large parking lot nearby. It seemed to be associated with an old alabaster factory located beside it, but it was rather empty; perhaps it had been busier in better economic times of the past.

The climb up to Volterra took some time as we were moving very slowly. We weaved our way up the serpentine road, pausing every so often to catch our breath and take a drink of water to keep hydrated in the blazing Tuscan sun. Thank goodness for the constant breeze that was a respite from the heat radiating from the hot pavement below us.

Part way up the climb we encountered some signs indicating that an archeological site was located just off to the side of the road. We took the opportunity to stop and take a break and do a little exploring. There was no one around so we carried our bikes up and off the road and locked them together up against a small fence. We then followed the well-worn dirt path leading to the two archeological sites.

Both sites were ancient hellenistic tombs from the 4th century b.c. They were quiet interesting. There was electric lighting once we entered into the tombs so there was no need for a flashlight. Here are a few pictures:

Tomb interior

Walking down the entrance

Looking out of the tomb

After the pleasant break we continued our slow but steady upward climb to Volterra. We arrived in town late afternoon and checked in to our hotel, La Locanda. The hotel was very accommodating with our request for a place to store our bikes. They let us store them in a hallway off of the kitchen. We cleaned up and showered and changed into our tourist clothes and then wandered around the town before settling on an outdoor patio in one of town Piazzas for our dinner. We then wandered the streets late into the evening. Had to go back to our hotel to pick up our sweaters since it was actually quite chilly once the sun went down.

The next morning after a quiet breakfast at the hotel, we wandered the town for a few more hours taking in the wonderful panoramic views of the Tuscan hills below us as well as some interesting sites including the local churches, the ancient roman theatre and the archeological park at the peak of the town with it's Etruscan ruins and Roman cistern.

Roman theater

Etruscan ruins

View from town

All in all, a very enjoyable visit and a little less tourist infested than San Gimignano. Volterra also becomes very quiet in the evening once the day crowd and tourist buses depart. Highly recommend staying overnight so that you can enjoy the early morning and late evening solitude.

Brief Update: Status

2012-06-11T03:13:00.000-04:00

We are finding it difficult to find time in between cycling, sleeping and seeing sights to update the blog. We made a few mental notes though, to remember what happened where and when, so we can write up the visits to all the towns we have seen once we reach Rome (or possibly Viterbo).

Right now, we are in Orvieto, just preparing to see the town briefly and then check out and cycle to Viterbo.

Day 4: San Gimignano

2012-06-09T03:40:00.002-04:00

Note: we are staggering our posts as we have been finding the internet to be slow and spotty coverage. All our posts are behind a few days.

June 4 was our first true riding day, where we were tested by the Italian hills and our fully loaded bicycles. The weather cooperated with us for the most part, but we did have to stop around 2pm for about 45 minutes to avoid a down-pour. We found refuge under the overhang of the roof of San Andrea, a tiny country church, about a third of the way between Florence and San Gimignano.

We were certainly expecting hills - but I think we (*Ryan*) somewhat underestimated the actual magnitude of the climbs. Here are some stats for our Florence-San Gimignano trek:

Total Distance: 60.5 km

Average (Moving) Speed: 9.98 km/h

Max Speed: 49.3 km/h (gotta love the ride down, after the long climb up!)

Min Elevation: 81 m

Max Elevation: 443 m

Total Elevation Gain: 2087 m

We found that our unlocked Galaxy Nexus phone was invaluable for guiding us out of the maze of one-way streets that make up Florence. Whenever we got lost (which happened often), the built-in GPS and maps on the phone made getting on track an easy(er) process. We picked up a SIM card for the phone in Florence, on the ride in from the airport, at Telefonia Italia Mobile, affectionately known as 'TIM' locally. €20 got us a €15 credit for calls and texts, plus one month of free unlimited data/internet, which suits us wells since we are here for 18 days. More details on the phone and SIM cards will come in a future post. Based on our experience so far, we would call it the best €20 investment to date.

As it is a hill town, one can see San Gimignano from the distance, giving a spirit-lifting boost of energy for the final tough hills into the city gates. We thought its imposing spires and towers made for an interesting contrast with the Tuscan countryside:

We made it!

We rented a small apartment for the night; affitacamere (rooms for rent) were actually pretty common in San Gimignano. Ours came with an expansive view of the fields below the town from its windows.

We met up with some friends who were also staying in town at the same time. They rented an apartment in one of the towers in the main piazza, across from the town church. A shout-out to Jeff, Juliet, Charlotte and Maxine! Hope you are enjoying the rest of your trip!

Jeff, Juliet and family stayed in this medieval tower.

The town's main square.

When we arrived in town, the day tourist crowds were all gone and it was very quite. It was nice to have the town all to ourselves, and see the locals. We would say that the nicest time to visit San Gimignano would be late afternoon, with a late dinner and evening walk, and a stay overnight. The next morning came with a quiet breakfast and stroll for some nice views and pictures. We managed to pack up and escape around 11AM, just as the surge of day-tourists started again.

Arrival in Italy: Days 1-3 in Florence

2012-06-03T16:21:00.001-04:00

On Friday we flew in to Florence, after a 7-hour flight from Toronto to Frankfurt, and then a short 2 hour commuter jet brought us into the Gallileo Gallilei airport of Florence. Understandably we were slighty worried about how well our bicycles fared in the flight - or if they even followed us to Italy in the cargo hold of the plane. However, everything went smoothly and our bicycles survived undamaged - likely due to our "leave them no chances to break something" approach to packing them. It took us a little over and hour and a half to unpack the bikes again and move all our equipment from the duffel bags to our panniers, and then off we went. But very slowly, due to the narrower italian roads and zippy cars scooting about haphazardly.

Our babies - they are ok!


All packed and loaded on the way from the airport to the hotel.

Although initially scary and seemingly devoid of order, we have come to find that Florentine roads have polite and highly skilled drivers, always willing to give bicycles the right of way, if only by a smaller margin than we are used to. Our hotel took a while to find, but has been a great home base. We were allowed to store our bikes in our hotel room, and since we are only on the 2nd floor, we consider ourselves lucky in terms of bike-hauling. The compact city is easily walkable, but its tall stone buildings and narrow cobblestone roads opening into piazzas made it a metropolis for us. People fill many streets, and nearly as many mopeds and scooters buzz along the vias as well. Cycling isn't difficult, but we had to go slowly on many roads, as people on a stroll didn't jump out of our way as North Americans do.

Almost everywhere here we have been able to find english-speakers in stores and restaurants. The only exception to this is in the smaller churches and in the local food market, where little old nuns, priests and the local fruitvendors understand little to no English. These less "touristy" locations have a more authentic Italian feel to them, and we have made use of hand gestures and our limited Italian vocabulary to get by, and enjoy ourselves nevertheless. We did, however, see all the standard attractions Florence had to offer, and were not disapointed. It is an amazing city. The duomo and its huge dome is a spectacle that was well worth visiting. We climbed over 500ft upwards through small rock staircases in the walls to enjoy an unparalleled view of the cathedral floor from a catwalk, and then outside to see the entirety of Florence from the dome's top.

From duomo's roof.

We also visited the Accademia Gallery, where we saw Michelangelo's David (which you really cannot appreciate until you have seen the original up close), and enjoyed a large collection of late medievel and renaissance paintings. Seeing how art evolved in this time period, how the artists influenced/imitated one another, and the effects this had on religious artwork was interesting. On Sunday after an all-Italian mass in the small but beautiful Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, we managed to enjoy the city simply by cycling around. We saw the street life (and bought some apricots in a local market), crossed the Arno river to ride to the hilltop San Miniato monastery outside the city for a good view, and finished off the day by grabbing a gelatto.

NOT the real David, but a David none-the-less

View from San Miniato

San Miniato monastery exterior

The food is also wonderful here, from a simple, fresh Pizza a Pomodoro as you walk the streets at lunch, to the full, 3 course meals at one of the trattori that line the many piazzas. It gives us a better appreciation of the phrase, La Dolce Vita!

Enjoying the good life.

We will leave you with a few more pictures from the trip. Ciao for Niao!

Drinking from a nasone - the proper way.

Duomo roof relief, the centre 'eye' is the oculus.

Duomo floor and hall - view from catwalk.

Campanile or belltower, from the roof of the cathedral's dome.

Packing List - Italy 2012

2012-05-30T16:19:00.004-04:00

This is the [very long] packing list of all the items that we are going to be bringing with us to Italy for our trip (other than our two bicycles, of course). All the items on the list are the totals for both of us combined, unless otherwise noted as per person (p.p.). Extra heavy or bulky equipment like the chain to lock up our bikes, will be bought in Italy once we arrive.

Clothing (p.p.)
- 1 pair light cotton trousers
- 1 pair cotton shorts
- 2 pairs cycling shorts
- 3 pairs underwear
- 2 cycling jerseys
- 2 T-shirts
- 3 pairs socks
- 1 botton-up/nice long sleeved shirt
- 1 waterproof riding jacket
- 1 cycling cap
- 1 helmet
- 1 pair cycling gloves - only for Dad
- 1 pair light pajamas
- 1 pair running shoes
- 1 pair walking shoes – Dad buying his overseas
Personals/Toiletries
- Toothbrushes
- 1 tube toothpaste
- Contact lenses
- Lens cases and solution
- 2 pairs sunglasses - and regular glasses
- 1 bottle sunscreen
- 1 small bottle shampoo
- Razors and shaving cream
- 1 Comb
- Deodorant
- Facecloth and towel – will be bought overseas
Electronics
- 1 unlocked Galaxy Nexus smartphone
- 1 rooted Nook tablet
- 1 power adaptor & plug divider
- 1 compact Canon camera
Miscellaneous Goodies
- 1 small first aid kit
- Keys on keychains
- 1 Snow Peak butane stove
- 1 butane refill adaptor
- 2 Guyot squishy cup/bowl sets
- 2 GSI utensil sets
- 1 small Sigg Inoxal cookset - w/ two pot lids as plates
- 1 salt + pepper shaker
- 1 small cooking knife
- 5 650mL Filzer Stainless water bottles
- 2 1L Filzer Stainless water bottles
- 1 swiss army knife
- 1 camera monopod
Tools & Bike Parts
- 2 cable bike locks – will be buying lock-up chain in Italy
- 2 pad locks
- 2 bicycle multi-tools
- 2 sets flat repair kit
- 2 sets tire levers
- 1 spare chain
- 2 spare inner tubes + 1 extra to cover lock-up chain
- 2 bicycle-mounted pumps
- 1 small adjustable spanner
- 1 set pliers
- 1 small bottle oil/lube – will be bought overseas
- Zip ties – to repair anything
- Duct tape – also for repairs
Packing and Bags
- 2 large MEC duffel bags
- 2 sets 56L MEC “World Tour” panniers
- 1 set 20L MEC panniers
- 1 set 40L MEC “World Tour” panniers
- 2 MEC Bull Deluxe handlebar bags
- 2 Micro Wedgie seat bags
- 1 Eddie Bauer sling bay (daypack/carry on)
- 1 Hip pouch (camera/phone/wallet daypack)

Itinerary Update

2012-05-28T17:21:00.001-04:00

The Itinerary has been updated to include the next few weeks of detailed sights being seen and events for all our destinations up to Rome.

See it here: Summer 2012 Italian Cycling Trip + Itinerary

MTBing the Glen

2012-05-16T23:30:00.000-04:00

My buddy O'Malley and I got up early Saturday morning, strapped our bikes onto the back of my family's van and drove up to East Duffins Headwaters for a few solid hours of biking. This fairily well-kept secret of the GTA is a hiking and mountain biking park located in Glen Major forest. The park is owned by the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority (TRCA) and, although not fitted out with large berms, beams or MTB-specific structures, it is spectacular for its single track and quite a few good hills. Not to mention the *huge* length of its trails - there are enough winds, forks, and parallel paths that you wouldn't have seen them all in one full day of riding. Its on Sideline 4, a few kilometers north of Concession Road 9.

Here a map of the place:

Lots of multi-use, and MTB-oriented, trails.

I fooled about with my phone and set it up so that GPS was on, and tracked the expedition:

View MTBing the Glen in a larger map --> There are some more routes on the page 2 of the map

What a great park - but shhhh! Don't let the word spread about this well-hidden treasure just outside of Toronto.

Presta? No Problem / R.I.P. Old Wheelset

2012-05-14T14:26:00.000-04:00

My new Shimano-hubbed Sunrim Cr-18 wheelset arrived the other day, and to my chagrin - it's not drilled for Schrader valves, but presta valves (those tall, thin metal ones with threads). Nothing is wrong with presta valves - in fact they actually retain air better at high pressures - but the availability of tubes for wider tires is somewhat limited.

So what does one do to remedy this problem, short of replacing the rims? Well, you drill the valve holes out, of course. Presta valves are 6mm wide, with a 6.4mm (1/4in) valve hole. In contrast, Schrader valves are 8mm wide, and have an 8.3mm (21/64in) valve hole. Luckily for me, the Cr-18 rims are wide enough to accommodate this wider hole; don't try drilling out thin rims, or those rims with a strongly arched profile, or you may end up weakening the rim significantly.

Flat profile rims; its easily drillable.

Select a few dill bit sizes for stepped drilling - this will prevent the bits from binding and ruining the rim. I chose 3 bits: a 7/64in bit, a 9/32in bit, and of course the 21/64in bit.

If there is already rim tape, peel it back with a tire lever and commence drilling. Once done, it should be noticeably larger:

File off the burrs in the metal to prevent punctures, and the job is done.

Then try fitting in a Schrader valve tip, just to check to see if it all fits in neatly. If you have trouble getting in the valve, try making sure the hole was drilled straight, or possibly go for the slightly larger 11/32in bit.

Now that I've drilled out these new rims, I'm all set to replace the old wheelset. The old Shimano/Araya combo has conducted me very "wheel" over the past 5000km and 5 years, and supported another 5000km or so for the 13years before that. 10 000kms and 18 years later, though, it is time to move, lest something *does* in fact break during our Italian trip.

R.I.P.

Araya Wheelset: 1994-2012

$10 Craigslist sale, anybody?

Here are the new beauties: I've finally made the switch over to 8 speeds and double walls.

Gear Time: Adjusting a Mechanical Watch

2012-04-30T23:13:00.000-04:00

Mechanical watches aren't yet relegated to the sidelines completely; there are still numerous companies manufacturing thrifty automatic watches in the $80-150 range. Possibly the best example of such a watch is my current timepiece, one from venerable the Seiko '5' line of watches. Unlike their quartz cousins, though mechanicals won't need batteries (and often don't need maintenance for over a decade), they do need adjustment to keep accurate time. My Seiko, which came from the factory about 5 s/day fast, has settled into a consistent 30s/day slow. Not wanting to pay a watchmaker $30 to do something I am capable of, I set about to adjust the mechanism.

Seiko 5 Auto-winding watch -
pretty bulletproof, and looks decent to boot

Here's what you'll need:

A mechanical watch
A computer with Audacity or equivalent sound-recording program
A microphone
A quiet room
A set of micro screw drivers/bits
A magnifying glass (optional)
A watch case opener - I got mine for a song at Active Surplus in Toronto

How to do it:

Set it Up: Boot up your computer in a quiet room. Open up Audacity (or similar) and hook up a microphone. For me, I used my laptop's built-in microphone.

Record: Place the watch face-first up to the microphone, with as much contact as possible so the quiet 'tick-tick' can be recorded clearly. Leave it recording for ~15 seconds.

Edit and Noise Reduce: depending on your microphone, you may (like me) need to use noise-removal plugins to clean up the signal, and visually show clear bumps for each 'tick'. I also amplified the signal to make each point more noticeable.
Select the midpoint of the first hump (see below), and delete all before that position, bringing it flush with the 0.00s position.

Move forward to the 5-second position. Zooming in, check the time position for the last hump. It should be as close to being 5.00 seconds as possible. [Note: It *should* be a little under 5.00s, to compensate for knocks which will lose time]. If over 5.00s, your watch is running slow (losing time), and if under 5.00s, your watch is running fast (gaining time).

Before adjustment: bump @ 5.0091s, After adjustment: bump @ 4.985s.
Slightly fast compensates for bumps & knocks through the day.

Crunch the Numbers: For my watch, it has a listed BPH of 21 600, meaning at 100% accuracy, it is supposed to 'tick' 21600/hour. Dividing that by (60s x 60mins) = 6 beats per second, or 30 beats per 5 seconds. However, I had a time of 5.0091s for 5 beats - a calculated loss of about 144 seconds per day (which is far more than actual).
Determine the Goal: Usually, the goal is to set the actual BPH ahead by 10 seconds per hour, to compensate for odd watch angles and knocks which actually slow it down slightly through the course of a day. 10 seconds = 60 beats, so my goal BPH was 21 660BPH. Dividing by (60s x 60mins) = 6.0167 bps, or 30.0833 beats per 5 seconds. Therefore my goal for 30 'ticks' was: (30s / 30.0833) x 5s = 4.986s.

Set a goal based on your watch's BPH value

Adjust the Mechanism: If the watch band is metal, use a small screw tip bit, and release the watch band.

Open the back of the watch with the watch opening tool.

With a thing pointed screw driver and magnifying glass, tweak the adjuster of the hairspring on the balance wheel in the direction (+ or -) your timing needs to go. Be careful: this is the most delicate part of a watch, and also, a small adjustment goes a long way!

Adjustment: be sure to only move the adjustable mount
for the hairspring (circled in red), and not the fixed mount.

Close up the watch backing, record another sound clip, and crunch the numbers to see if you've come close to your goal.

For me, I achieved 4.985s on my second try - very close to my 4.986s goal. The watch now runs about -2 seconds per day, meaning this entry-level watch surpasses COSC standards!

Stove/Fuel Choice for Italy

2012-04-28T11:43:00.001-04:00

In Italy, we hope to cut our costs down somewhat by cooking as many of our meals as possible. But, the availability of stove fuels is somewhat different that North America, meaning that choosing a stove is a little hard. White gas (camping fuel), and the standard EN417-threaded butane canisters so plentiful here are quite scant in most of Europe - Italy included. Across the pond, Campingaz' dominance in the market means that its own proprietary canisters are ubiquitous throughout much of the continent, to the chagrin of many tourists, who won't have much luck finding EN417 butane canisters for their stoves in all but the largest cities in Italy.*

*Update: We have completed our tour of Italy, and in fact did not have too much difficulty locating the EN417-threaded canisters. We purchased our refill at an odd little "Liquigas" shop in Siena, a chain which appears to be unique to Italy. There are more of these shops, and so our advice would be to start the search there. The cylindrical, hairspray-type bayonet canister were no where to be found in the country whatsoever.

I, myself, am not a fan of the Campingaz canister system nor their stoves, which are relatively heavy and seem (to me) to be of inferior fit-and-finish to many MSR, Snow Peak, and Primus stoves. While MSR offers the Superfly stove which can fit both the EN417 and Campingaz canisters, it also happens to be fairly heavy and large - not something I'd want for travelling light. So, I broke down and ordered a stove that has consistently been praised for its light wight and compactness, performance, durability + quality of build, and simmering ability: the Snow Peak GigaPower SS Stove. But, you can't have everything: the GigaPower runs only on the EN417 canisters.

Snow Peak GigaPower butane stove

In one of my earlier posts, I talked about cutting costs by using a butane can refill tool; you can top-off a used canister with one of the spray-paint shaped bayonet cans available in most hardware/grocery stores. In Italy, these cans are also supposedly common, and so I plan on finding one GigaPower canister in the camping stores of Firenze (Florence) where we fly in, and then continuing to refill that can as we travel on through the small hill-towns of Tuscany.

Another helpful tip for tourists: if you are willing to pay a small premium, many plumbing shops/hardware stores in Italian cities sell the EN417-threaded canisters for brazing torches, which can be used in a pinch.

Revised Italian Itinerary

2012-04-25T19:54:00.000-04:00

*Watch for updates on this page.

The Italian cycling trip has changed quite significantly in the second rendition. Now, we will be avoiding the western oceanfront and heading through the heartland of Italy: Central Tuscany. The stops include Firenze (Florence), where we'll be flying in, followed by cycling through the great Italian hill towns of San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena, Montalcino, Montepulciano, Orvieto and Viterbo. From Viterbo, the rest of the inter-city transit will be done by train; we head to Rome through the Ferrovie Regionale (regional railway), then Pompei and Napoli (Naples).

Some Sights:

Map

View Cycling Italy in a larger map

Itinerary

May:

31. Depart from Toronto, Flight to Firenze (Florence)

June

Arrive Firenze --> A few sights, then sleep off the jet-lag
All Day Firenze
More Firenze
To San Gimignano (47km)
To Volterra (27.5km)
To Siena (48.5km)
All Day Siena
To Montalcino (36km)
To Montepulciano (37km)
To Orvieto (64.6km)
To Viterbo (42km)
To Roma (Morning Train)
Roma
Roma
To Pompei (Morning Train)
Pompei
To Napoli (Afternoon Train)
Napoli, Flight to Toronto

More Trip Deliberations

2012-04-04T22:22:00.010-04:00

It looks as if the entire itinerary of the Italy Trip may be changed. I'm one who loves the countryside, but a trip with few sights won't be that exciting. The cycling portion of the trip I had planned skirts the seaside of Tuscany and a bit of Lazio, hitting the small towns and countryside. No big sights to see, aside from San Gimignano, and Pisa, in the first 150km of the trip. It would have been primarily about enjoying the Italian countryside - which is admittedly far more beautiful, hilly and varied than most of Southern Ontario.

My fears of less-than-optimal trip planning were confirmed when I pulled some Rick Steves guidebooks off the shelves of my local library.

I was expecting the small towns to at least have a few sights, but apart from 2 or 3 Etruscan tomb museums, there aren`t too many impressive sights to see. I'm sad at learning that my many hours of meticulous kilometer-by-kilometer trip planning hadn't taken into account the other sights of Tuscany; Hill towns of Tuscany are apparently overlooked often enough, but are beautiful, and seem to have more than enough enchanting history and architecture to be great places to visit. The only hill town currently on the itinerary is the medieval fortified settlement of San Gimignano. Maybe a few more towns will make their way on to the trip list, as I re-route the planned trip. But although I may be making changes, it all comes down to elevation - if the hills are too steep, the route may remain the same, and skip over these areas (sadly).

Italy Trip: Itinerary in Brief

2012-03-14T19:30:00.006-04:00

The planning continues, and now I've managed to figure out all the stops, the route and where we will camp on our journey from Florence to Rome, Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi coast. The aeroplane has been booked - leaving May 31 from Toronto Pearson, to arrive June 1 in Florence. We will be returning almost 3 weeks later, flying out on June 18th with 2 layovers (Frankfurt, Germany, and Washington, D.C.) before we arrive back in Toronto.

The Itinerary in Brief:

5/31 - 18:40 departure from Toronto
6/1 - 14:00 arrival in Florence! ----> Rest-up day.
6/2 - Touring Florence, seeing the sights.
6/3 - Florence to San Gimignano: 74km
- 8:00 departure by bike
- ETA 17:00
- 17:00 - 20:00; dinner + evening in town
- 21:00; Lodging - arrival @ Camping Baschetto di Piemma
6/4 - San Gimignano to Colleoli: 53km
- 8:00 -13:00; breakfast/tour/lunch
- 13:00 Depart
- ETA 19:30 Colleoli
- Lodging: Local Agriturismo
6/5 - Colleoli to Pisa: 43km
- 8:00 Depart
- ETA 13:00 Pisa
- 13:00-17:00; Visit Leaning tour + duomo, museums, and explore town + got to market for food
- 17:00; Lodging @ Camping Torre Pendente + Dinner
6/6 - Pisa to Orciano Pisano: 43km
- 8:00-11:00; breakfast, early morning exploring town
- 11:30 Depart, after lunch
- ETA 17:30 Orciano
- Lodging @ Camping Elena Country House
6/7 - Orciano Pisano to Castagneto Carducci: 49km
- 9:00 Depart
- 13:00-14:30 Stop @ Rosignano Marittimo for sights, lunch
- ETA 18:00 Castagneto
- Lodging @ Camping Belmare
6/8 - Castagneto Carducci to Scarlino: 57km
- 9:00 Depart
- ETA 17:00
- Lodging @ Camping Baia dei Gabbiani
6/9 - Scarlino to Grossetto: 40km
-8:00 Depart
- ETA 16:00
- Lodging @ Agriturismo Il Querciolo
- 16:30--21:00 Ride into town, Dinner, explore sights.
6/10 - Grossetto to Montalto di Castro: 73km

-8:00 Depart
- ETA 18:00
- Lodging @ Camping Pionier Etrusco

6/11 - Montalto di Castro to Civitavecchia: 43km
- 9:00 Depart
- ETA 14:00 Civitavecchia
- 15:30; FR5 Commuter 'Ferrovie Regionale' into Rome
- ETA 16:00 Roma
- Lodging @ Cheap B&B near Termini Station
6/12-13 - ROMA!
- Two full days of exploration, sights, rome.
- Lodging @ Cheap B&B near Termini Station
6/14 - Rome to Amalfi (by Train)
- 8:00 Breakfast/ Packup
-9:40 Train form Termini Stn. to Vietri-Amalfi
- ETA 13:10 Amalfi
- 13:30; Hotel check-in/drop off bikes, lunch
- 14:30-21:00; Explore area/sights + market for groceries
- Lodging @ Hotel
6/15 - Amalfi Coast!
- More exploration & sight-seeing
6/16 - Amalfi to Pompei (by Train)
- 8:00-12:00; Morning in Amalfi, breakfast
- 12:00 Hotel checkout/ pack-up + lunch
- 13:15; Depart from Vietri-Amalfi Stn.
- ETA 14:05 Pompei Stn.
- Explore the scenery/countryside by bicycle until evening
- Lodging @ Hotel
6/17 - Pompei to Napoli (by Train)
- 7:30; Early breakfast
- 9:00-15:00 Explore Pompeii Ruins + On-The-Go lunch
- 16:00; Depart Pompei Stn.
- ETA 16:30 Napoli Centrale Stn.
- 16:50; hotel check in, lock up bikes in room
- Dinner, Exploration & Night on the Town
6/18 - Napoli/ Last-day Packup + Flight
- 9:00 wakeup + breakfast
- 10:30 Head to Naples Airport
- 13:10 Departing flight
- ETA 23:10 Toronto Pearson

Most of the beginning of the jorney is by bicycle, is the far-less-crowded Tuscant leg of the journey. Shortly after Civitavecchia, the only direct-route roads become crowded, fast-traffic Via Regionale (Regional Highways) - not nice for cycling. Therefore, for the rest of the trip, we will be bring our bicycles on the train with us as we travel which adds ~€5.00 to each train ticket), and use them for sight-seeing and local rides in town. The economic and short 30 minute and 1hr Ferrovie Regionale (Regional Train) rides will allow us to see the Bay of Naples, Pompei and the Amalfi Coast without taking a longer trip, and without risking our necks on the hillier/more crowded roadways of south-western Italy.

FSA "The Hammer" Headset Review

2012-03-07T23:38:00.001-05:00

Update 13/05/13: After one bicycle trip abroad and probably 2500km more, I have not developed any issues with this headset. Nor have I disassembled it for maintenance - the seals have held up and it has been a solid performer through-and-through.

After a little more than 1000km, I thought I'd start doing a follow-up on some components. Full Speed Ahead's (FSA) The Hammer headset is the first up for review.

The FSA "The Hammer" headset is a cheap/economical loose-ball headset for threadless systems, and I managed to purchase mine for $16 + ~$2 shipping. Not bad for any headset, especially one billed as "Heavy Duty".

But how has it fared? Well, when I bought it, the box had opened during shipping, and the bottom bearing seal had fallen out. Disappointing, but no fault of FSA. So, in order to use it right away after installation, I used to top seal on the bottom - not a great seal, but more protection that none at all. Later, the seller sent me a replacement bottom seal after contacting them, and I switched the seals around again.

I installed the headset myself to save on installation fees, so in it went not with a headset press, but with a few whacks from a hammer on a wooden block. Despite this... traumatizing installation experience, it hasn't shown it to be any worse for the wear.

The top seal, in its proper location.

As can be seen, using the top seal on the bottom
meant it has been stretched, and the seal is slightly compromised now.

Despite being a loose ball headset, it has not developed any symptoms of indexing, or rough rolling when spun. Unlike other headsets I've owned on other bikes, this one does not exhibit any tendency to 'prefer', or index to, the straight-forward position, even after 1000km. Only 200kms ago did I add a front fender, so mud, dust, dirt and water have splashed against the bottom seal without much of an impact. That's pretty impressive, in my opinion. The top seal, however, isn't as great, and its design leaves a little to be desired, since it is essentially a plastic cap with little else to stop dust. Rain probably won't get in, and hasn't ever posed a problem, but if you plant on leaving this exposed often, it may become a sticking point (literally!).

Supposedly the construction uses oversized ball-bearings in the races, so this may be why it has been so trouble free. The races are full steel, black powder-coated inside and out, so I expected worn-off paint chips to cause grinding in the headset, but this hasn't been the case either. It continues its smooth performance, even off-road with a lot of stress load. What is noticeable somewhat is the light friction the headset has on road when turning. It may be smooth, but it has a slight grease-like internal resistance for rotation, which is noticeable when comparing more expensive headsets to this one.

Certainly, this headset won't be as durable as any Chris King would be, but I give it a 4/5 star rating, because of its smoothness and durability. It loses the 1 star because despite smoothness, the headset isn't the most freely moving, and the design of the top seal means that dirt and contaminants can easily enter.

Toronto International Bike Show - Spring 2012

2012-03-04T23:42:00.001-05:00

Got up early this past Saturday morning at the behest of my pal, who reminded me that the Toronto Int'l Bike Show was on this weekend, March 2-4. It's a place where all of the big names in cycling in Toronto (plus a few other major brands) meet to strut their stuff, and where a few bargains can be found for those so inclined - such as myself. This time it was held in the Better Living Centre of Exhibition Place, as opposed to the Fall "Blowout" show, which is much smaller, and held elsewhere at Exhibition Place.

Here are some shots of the show:

From Entrance

Trek Bike store's display

And of course, there are a buncha bikes to drool over. Lots of carbon, whether road or MTB. The bike show seems to cater to "what's new", of course, so there were tons of fancy lightweight components on the road bikes, and 29er bikes galore!

Enough carbon here to solve China's energy problems...

...with more carbon!

Argon's display

All-carbon rigid 29er. Nice!

Surly Pugsley Alert! Now available with BionX power assist:

Talking with the fellow from the BionX stand there, the BionX/Pugsley combo is his personal set-up, and rocks with about a ~100km range, with a top speed of ~40kmph. Would love to do that offroad!

The white hub is the BionX's hub motor. You too can own
one for $1200 CAD

The huuuge tires still amaze me!

Lots of more typically-equipped bikes on sale as well; commuters, MTBs, and tourers and especially aluminum road bikes were abundant....

Even managed to score some deals:

Regularly $25ea!

Booty!
- 2 Knog "Ringmaster" cable locks
- 2 sets of KMC x.8 chains
- 1 Alivio 9-Speed Alum. body Derailleur

Bought for $20, regular price of $50, and MSRP of $35;
it should be a significant upgrade to current system.

My friend bought the tires, a new 26in wheelset, a new derailleur also, and an SRAM 7 speed cassette, for a total of $126.75. My total was about half that, all told, including the $13 admission price.

All-Rounder: 9-Month/1000km Follow-Up

2012-02-27T18:15:00.052-05:00

UPDATED 07/03/12: Now with pictures!

I've had the O8 CX700 for nearly 9 months now, and so have put it through its paces by now. That's about 1000kms of mixed onroad/offorad/singletrack with tweaking, tuning, and general fettling in appropriate proportions.

The Good:

1. Big Wonkin' Tires. There are quite a few things this bike has going for it, not least of which includes the capacity for large tires. I've concluded that you can shoehorn a 29x2.3 with fenders in there if you wanted.

The 51mm (2.1in nominal) wide CST Critters have been a good fit so far.
There is room for maybe 2.3in tires w/fenders, or 2.4 without.

2. A Nice Fork Design. I have had a good experience with the straight bladed fork that came standard with the frame. I know many people dislike them, because of the 'harsher ride' they supposedly give, or for their non-traditional look. Well, I can say that the ride certainly didn't feel "harsh" when riding road with 23mm tires @ 110psi. It was easier on my wrists than other bikes I have used, absorbing the cracks and bumps in the road surface very easily, albeit with a little additional road noise feel than my other bikes. For offroad use, the fork is superb, with enough spring to make the bike forgiving on rougher terrain, without compromising the strength that has given me confidence to shoot some trails faster than might advisable. Oh, and did I mention the fork has double eyelets standard?

All the mounts you need: the double-eyelets here
are supporting both highrider and lowrider racks,
as well as fenders!

3. Great Frame Geometry, due to the cyclo-cross heritage of the frame, makes the CX700 especially versatile. It bridges the area between mountain bikes and road bicycles, which makes this a veritable monstercrosser. Therefore, the geometry of the frame makes it a perfect trail runner for anything from light gravel to muddy dirt single track, and even manages to cope with the occasional root or rock. I've had no end of pleasure to riding around the many winding forest trails near my home. It's head tube angle makes it easy to direct on trails, but also seems to naturally follow the flow of the trail. More than this, it works well on the road. It has lively-enough handling and corners well onroad - better than most mountain bikes. The BB drop is well-calibrated, so that standover is easily achievable with hybrid and road tires, but that it is also still comfortable enough to dismount/mount with the wider-diameter 29" rubber. The slight slant of the TT improves groin clearance and standover height, but be forewarned; wiping out in technical terrain still won't be pretty (get a true MTB for this!).

I think the paint job and decals are top-rate as well.
Lay of black primer, then powder-coated, then clear-coat.
Nice.

4. The Cockpit of the bike has been custom-tailored to be the near-epitome of cycling comfort and performance for my needs and tastes. A 40cm Nitto B-115, which I had thought would be too narrow, is comfortably spaced in the drops, with a very nice Maes bend. Many day-long ride on road have convinced me of this bar's comfort.

Cross levers and 8-speed 'Brifters on a Nitto 115 bar.'

Coupled with an Avenir-branded alloy adjustable stem, I have the ability to raise the bars far above the seat for cruising the trails or lazily pedaling around town, or drop them below for a little better speed performance. If you have a threadless fork, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you buy your own adjustable stem - the ability to tune it to fit your mood, or your exact riding style, allows superior comfort. I also have only good things to say about Tektro's cross levers, and Shimano's STI road levers, which have made it easy to brake no matter the hand position, and caused shifting to be precise and easily achieved every time.

Adjustable stem allows a lot of fine-tuning for one,
or multiple, riding styles.

5. Gearing. This is important on any bike, but I have been fiddling with the setup for a while, and am pretty happy with it. The old alivio 22-32-42 crankset with a 12-32t SRAM casette, although only 7 speeds, has offered a reliable and generally trouble-free setup. With a low gear of 18in, and a top of 94in, I am able to power through mud and fly down roadways.

The drivetrain

6. New Fenders! Enough is enough - a set of 29er Cascadia Fenders from Planet Bike (the full wheel-covering design) have finally been added. The cheapest full 29er funders I've seen, and lets hope, most effective I will own. Even though a recent addition, I can easily say they will be staying. They have cut down on the mud splatter and prevented the 'skunk stripe' many MTBers are familiar with. The design is great:

They come with REALLY nice/useful rubber mudflaps.

Derailleur clearance is a *bit* tight,
to make room for the large tires.

A small gap had to be cut into the front fender to fit in
the relatively-tight front fork.

The Bad:

A few things have made this otherwise near-perfect bike frame less than spectacular.

1. Rear-triangle Alignment. First of all, this is the issue which I thought I had resolved, but has actually been continuing. With vengeance. It appeared as though the spacing was off, which was tilting the rear wheel to one brake stud. Not so - measuring shows that one chain stay was incorrectly welded slightly off, and that the right rear canti stud (viewed from back) was welded too far up (!). Not unusably so - but just noticeably. The only way I was able to fix the brake issue was to reduce wheel/tire clearance, and move the rear hub farther forward in the dropout, to gain rim space. To correct for the crooked wheel, I had to re-align the rear of the bike, along with the dropouts. The frame was usable before, it just sucks that Quality Control from Origin 8 did not catch this.

As the red lines show, because of the frame being off-kilter,
so are the angles of the brakes at rest. Performance isn't harmed,
though a bit of brake clearance is lost.

2. Track-Ends do not a great friend make. They are easy to set up on single-speed bikes, and I recognize that this frame was designed to allow derailluer, fixed or SS set ups, but track ends make removing/re-installing the wheel messier. I don't want to have to pick up the chain to wrap around the cogs with my bare hands. This wheel-changing inconvenience can be avoided if a front-facing dropout were used.

I added a second adjustment screw to the rear dropouts.
Now the wheel stays straight all the time.

3. Rear rack and fender mounts aren't in the best place with this frame. Putting them up so high on the chainstay certainly removes any possible interference with disk brakes, but makes the centre of gravity quite high. And it also means that there is less room on top to pile on gear before it hits your saddle. Traditional-style fenders also don't bolt on there (don't even try) - you MUST mount them using washers and bolts onto the holes in the dropout.

The fender is mounted with rubber grommets
sandwiched between washers high in the dropout.

4. Saddle Position for my Brooks hasn't been ideal. There really isn't anything wrong with the B17 saddle that I own ( its downright comfortable, in fact)- it is simply that the old design used for the metal rails doesn't allow much forward/aft adjustment. Right now, with my 20mm setback seat-post, it always seems as if I am too close to the handlebars. This is especially annoying on long road rides.

~~5. Derailleurs.~~ ----> FIXED (see below)! As always, finicky at the best of times. The front derailleur, because it is a mountain style mated to road-style levers, doesn't move 100% of the proper length needed for shifting. Downshifting to the granny is mainly the problem. The rear, OTOH, has generally been worry-free.

6. Brakes are a must have for any bike, but the power of this bike's Tektro CR720 cantis has been less than inspiring. Partly resolved due to repairing frame alignment, the rear brakes continue to be particularly weak. They only grab in dry weather, and locking a wheel in the wet required me to whale on the brake levers. The front brakes stop effectively enough, but lack the 'ooph' to lock up the wheel in anything but loose gravel. Needless to say, stopping from the brake hoods requires a lot of force to do. See the picture in #1 for the minor brake crookedness.

The Future! - What's in Store:

1. Derailleur Tweaking. Not really an upgrade, but maybe some derailleur mods are in order? The front derailleur will most likely be bent to better facilitate shifting, and the rear one may eventually be replace by a shiny new Deore unit -----> DONE! I swapped on a new Alivio RD-M430 9-speed unit to replace its ageing 7-speed counterpart. Shimano has really upped the quality for Alivio, since adding a few extra lower tiers. I'd say that today's Alivio components are equivalent in quality to Deore of 5 years ago (and, of course, now Deore has moved up accordingly). I'm really happy with it - smoooth shifts, and quickly too, with much better chainwrap capacity (it has a longer arm).

New Alivio RD-M430 R. Derailleur

2. New Seatpost to solve the setback issue of the saddle. The VO Grand Cru or Nitto with similarly large setback are likely to replace the MEC/Kalloy affair currently affixed to the bike.

Holy Setback, Batman: VO's Grand Cru Seatpost

3. New Rims - mine are getting old. They haven't failed me yet, but the scratches in the concave rim are warning me that retirement is in short order. A new set of 700c Sun CR-18s will replace my aging Araya PX-35s, and because they have similar rim dimensions (equivalent E.R.D., for those who must know), they can be swapped onto the same hub and spokes in short order.

4. New Tires, because who doesn't love riding around on Fat Franks? These tires are made specifically for those who want the plush, cushy ride of wide tires, but with the rolling resistance of street tires. Despite this, the tread pattern is apparently well-suited to light MTB trails. Me Gusta.

Final Verdict - Yay or Nay?:

It's kinda hard to to make this kind of decision, especially considering my bias. However, even taking this into account I will still say....

yay!

I recommend this bike frame because of its excellent overall value, weight and versatility (and I love the paint job too). Not many frames out that with that kinda bang-for-your buck, and especially in one that is so all-rounded. Despite me receiving a defective model, I cannot let this be my sole judging point - after all, I'm certain only a small minority are improperly made. If you do buy this frame, as with any other, check it for defects with a plumb line before assembling it, so that you don't get stuck in a point like I was where I couldn't return it. This bike *is* the one I am bringing to Italy for a two week cycle tour, so I do trust that it is well-enough assembled by me and those at the O8 factory to carry 220-230lbs of weight all told, and love the overall build quality; the one-off imperfect rear alignment is the only major sticking point.

Italian Trip in the Planning

2012-02-20T15:59:00.001-05:00

From early June this year, for two weeks, I'll be in Europe. Mostly Tuscany, to be more specific - since my dad and I are planning to do little father-son bike trip in Italy this summer. Italy isn't quite the most cycling friendly nation out there, I will admit (the Netherlands, Germany or France would be much better choices), but the Mediterranean climate, Roman ruins and picturesque scenes wherever one goes have swayed us. That, and I kinda want to say "Hi!" to the pope.

Pisa's Leaning Tower. I bet you a nickel this is
the image that appeared in your brain when you read "Italy."

As a veteran map-reader (from my boy-scouting days), I have been assigned the somewhat-daunting task of planning the cycling route, and all of our destinations. With a guidebook or two, and tips from friends, I've got the basic event agenda structured. But, what is really difficult however is the route forming; Italian roads are notoriously narrow (no shoulders!) and the drivers frequenting them are just as notorious for their high speeds and impatience.

Google Maps is a wonderful tool for this, and I have been using its full potential to see possible routes, right down to the elevation, and (thanks to street view) whether or not there are provisions for cyclists. Street view certainly also helps when trying to determine the road's traffic volume.

Check out the Route:

View Cycling Italy in a larger map

Itinerary (So Far):

Day 1: Arrive by plane in Florence. Tour the city for the day, then sleep off the jet-lag.
Day 2: Cycle from Florence to the historic San Gimigiano.

3: San Gimigiano to Pisa

Days 4-10: Pisa, south along the Italian west cost, arriving in Rome. (The route has been mapped, but not the stops)

Day 11: Rome!!

Days 12-14ish: Train south to Naples, visiting Pompeii and the Amaplhi coast.

If you have any suggestions/tips, feel free to leave some below in comments.

6 Months Later, Pt. 2

2012-02-12T12:53:00.001-05:00

In the spirit of comparing how things have changed over the past half year, I thought I'd continue the theme, but this time, with a little trail construction.

June 16th:

And we've come a pretty long way since then, with the trail going out a good 300m more than before.

February 11th:

Yes. Quite the change, as the trail is now rounding the promontory made by the bluffs, and we can clearly see the beach of Bluffer's Park, whereas we could only really see the tip before. The story is that the breakwater is to be connected up the the beachfront trail at Bluffer's Park, so that it can form a single multi-use trail.

But what if we turn our gaze from westward to northward, and look at the bluffs? Why, we see this!

If you don't see it already, there is a small dwelling leaning precariously off the bluff's edge. Here's a closeup:

Hello, Mrs. Van! Is Billy home?

This Meadowcliffe Drive building has actually been hanging off the bluff's edge on since early 2008 when a large chunk of bluff collapsed. This house once belonged to Billy Van, the Toronto-born singer, actor and comedian. Huh.

You can see some better pictures of Billy Van's house up-close here.