STP

Saturday was the start of the Seattle To Portland bike ride put on by the Cascade Bicycle Club. STP more or less follows I-5 and can be done as either a one or two day ride. I volunteered to work as a mechanic at the pit stop located outside my office window here at REI headquarters in Kent. A few highlights:

1) Ritchey Torque Key: This handle little widget is single use, single setting torque wrench. It's a little larger than a very large car or door key. The one I saw fetured a 5mm bit set to the proper torque for a stem bolt. Not sure if other sizes/settings exist. This is a great tool for race/event mechanics as it's very small and easy to carry in your box. Most torque wrenches tend to be quite bulky.

2) Urago road bike: A rider rode in on a nearly complete late 50s/early 60s Urago bike. The bike featured a Simplex rod activated front derailleur and was in great shape. Only parts that didn't appear to be original were the tires and Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow grooved saddle.

3) Vintage Merlin MTB: A rider came in with a vintage Merlin MTB. This bike was classic early 90's in every way. Thumbshifters, MRC brakes, and best of all a Steve Potts/WTB steel fork. Sweet!

4) Cateye Strada computer: Hadn't seen this one yet but it looks like a winner. It features a universal mount that works on bars or stems. It also has a button less interface - to switch features you simply tap any where on the computer. It's quite small and unobtrusive looking. Has the usual standard features though these days the only ones I ever seem to use are the trip distance and clock. I'm too slow to worry about speed.

5) SRAM Force: We had a Novara with SRAM Force installed on it. While the double tap system of moving the same lever in the same direction for both up and down shifts seems perplexing it's actually suprisingly intuitive. Also have to like having the shift cable under the tape (similar to Campy). Will be interesting to see how this holds up and also if they decide to expand support to non-racing applications.