Scattershot Updates from Cycle Central

Just a few random shotgun-blast newsbits from The Cycle World Headquarters. Pull!

TCWH RELOCATION NEWS: We've accepted an offer on the World Headquarters and placed an offer on the New and Improved World Headquarters -- with a man-cave/bike palace that's actually connected to the humanoid living space. Knock wood, cross fingers, blah blah blah, but if all the bizarre Tetris pieces of the real estate game drop into place, we will close both deals on November 6, two days shy of my birthday. Happy birthday to me! Aw, it's a bigger mortgage payment? You shouldn't have!
LIMPSTRONG 3.0 CANCELLED: I know, I know, after all that buildup, with the pledges pouring in and the new t-shirt design finalized, and now this? The final stages of The Crud are hanging on longer than expected, and I'm contending with some (ahem) "issues" in the (ahem) "saddle area" that have pretty much limited me to short commute miles. Trust me, you don't want to know more. I imagine you probably didn't want to know that much. Bottom line (okay, pun intended), between this and moving, I'm not going to have enough in my legs to put in a hundred this year.

RETRO RALEIGH FIXIE DONE: I've now "finished" this bike about four times. This time, I swear I've got it. 44x17 fixed, Michelin slicks, Nitto bullhorn bars, Tektro inverse brake lever, and a long-as-all-gitout Tektro dual-pivot caliper up front. Smooth, comfy and speedy, at least when the motor is running at 100%. The only remaining decision is fenders... my chrome Walds are on there now, but as I don't see using 38-year-old steel as a rain bike, I'm thinking about taking them off and making this my dry-day weight weenie bike. Pictures to come if it ever stops raining.

CHANGED MY TUNE ABOUT SEATPOST RACKS: I groused about them in a previous post (and pal Steve F. rightly called me on the "clip-on fenders/no clip-on racks" hypocrisy), but I saw something last week that changed my mind. Fellow J-name commuter guy Jacob (we have two Jasons and a Jacob sharing rack space) has fitted one of those seatpost-mounted monstrosities on the seat tube of his Schwinn singlespeed commuter, below the seat cluster and between the seatstays. Sure, it only works on big frames with sidepull brakes, and I'm guessing you don't want to do it on your super-fancy lightweight unobtanium frame, but it looks (and, I assume, works) so much better sitting right above the rear wheel where a rack belongs. Very slick. Again, I'll try to grab a picture some other time.