Looking for MTB rides in the Bay Area?  Check out BayAreaRides.com.

My friend Steve has been on a ride with the guy who put this site together – its pretty impressive – definitely worth a look.

Via BayAreaRides FAQ:

“What’s all this then?”

I’m a late-start mountain biker who started biking in earnest only less than five years ago, when I was 38. I’ve been riding around the San Francisco Bay Area regularly since then. Typically, I try to ride somewhere new on as many rides as I can. I’m also a bit of an obsessive record-keeper and I always use a GPS on my rides due to being a geek. As a result of this, after about one ride per week on average over these years, I’ve ended up with first-hand knowledge of and the GPS track data for most of the places around the Bay Area where one can do mountain biking. I’ve just taken a rough count and, as I write this, the list adds up to about 80 different locations around the Bay Area (without counting different trails and routes in the same park as separate).

I had considered building a site like this a number of times before, to make this information available to all other riders out there, and now I’ve finally found the motivation to put it into action. My aim here is to help people in discovering and picking new places around the Bay Area where they might like to go mountain biking. There are plenty of other good websites out there about mountain biking in the Bay Area. Most of the amateur ones, while containing valuable first-hand information, have a limited selection of places listed or don’t give too many specific details of the logistics for each ride. Some commercial “trail databases” have a reasonable amount of ride specifics listed, but most are national rather than local, so the number of rides they contain in this specific area is not very high. Many books describe many more local rides in this immediate area with plenty of detail and description on each ride, but, of course they are usually unable to provide downloadable GPS tracks or clickable links to mapping websites for trailhead and parking information. And there are some sites where you do find many downloadable GPS tracks, but they are usually accompanied by no narrative about the ride.

For these reasons, I think this site may address a distinct need by being a place where you can find some verbal description and subjective opinion about each ride, coupled with all the details you could ever need for planning the specifics of doing the ride. I hope you find it useful!

http://bayarearides.com

I ordered this frame new from Dekerf in early 2000 while working at a shop in Wisconsin.  This is the bike I’ll always have.  It has had probably  about as many different builds on it as years I’ve had it – some of the older ones pretty horrendously funny (im looking at you spinergy rev xs).

More on Dekerf: http://dekerf.com/

Lots of great Kooka stuff on ebay this week:

Could use a little teal in there…

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150453797737&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1154

135mm Kooka Rasta Stem:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190404112923&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1154

And the matching cranks:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190404107487&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1154

Was browsing through vintage tires on ebay and saw this auction.  With almost three days left they are already at $128.65.

Via the ebay auction listing:

These are an incredible find!  NOS, never even mounted on a rim, Ritchey Megabite Z-Max tires.  WCS folding bead.  26 x 2.1.  These have been stored indoors and are not dried out like so many vintage tires you see.  Great for any classic mtb.

—AUCTION END UPDATE—

Wow – Wound up going for $202.

Bob in the comments alerted me to this. Universal Cycles uncovered some Purple Chris King disc hubs in their basement. There are still six five sets available on their website – sold only in sets for $528.  Get em while they’re hot!

I made myself a headset cap wallpaper the other day and thought I’d post it here as well.

Download Wallpaper: 1440×900 or 1280×1024.

I was up in St Helena last Friday and popped into St Helena Cyclery. They have shop headset caps in black, pewter and red for $5.  I picked up one of each.  They don’t have them on display, but I noticed one on a bike on the floor and asked.

There have been 3 different Gary Fisher Grateful Dead Hoo Koo E Koos on ebay in the last couple weeks.  Two complete bikes, both ended now and a 19″ frame which is ending April 25th.  I hadn’t been watching too closely before, but I don’t remember seeing any for a while.

The Grateful Dead HKEK was available in the 1995 model year.  Back in the day Gary Fisher used to do lighting for Grateful Dead shows.  Apparently less than 1000 were sold. You can read more on the dead HKEK on MOMBAT and on MTBR.

I actually had one briefly in high school.  I bought it from a sketchy weirdo who used to come into the shop I was working at at the time, it turned out to be stolen, I returned it to the original owner (who was nice enough to give me what I had paid the sketchy weirdo) and that was it.  Consequently it was also the last time I bought a bike from a sketchy weirdo…at least not one I didn’t know well.

Do I still want one?  Kind of.  If I got a good deal on a frame I’d buy it for a wall hanger or a cruiser project.

Current Auction for 19″ Frame – Ends April 25th: “Large Gary Fisher Grateful Dead Mountain Bike Frame”

For sale is a steel, limited edition, gary fisher, Grateful Dead frame. I bought this as a complete bike back in 1995 or 1996. The bike is based off the Hoo Koo E Koo model but was given a custom design by Prarie Prince who was the orginal illustrator for the Dead. The overall bike is brown and the design includes a spinal cord across the top tube, a skull with a cog on the steer tube, Grateful Dead on the down tube, some bones on the seat stays and a rose beIow the seat post. I believe there were only 1000 of these bikes available. I rode this bike for two years and then put it in storage when I went to university. My plan had been to rebuild it with some nice quality parts, however, I unfortunately outgrew the size L (19 inch) frame. This would make a great frame for a custom build project. Because I actually rode the bike, there are some scratches on the frame from general use. Happy bidding and I hope the winner will send a pic of this frame built back up. Will ship worldwide and costs will be determined at the close of the auction.

Ebay: “1995 Gary Fisher Grateful Dead Hoo Koo E Koo NEW w/ BOX“

This is for a Grateful Dead Hoo Koo E Koo mountain bike brand new with original box, test ridden around block one time, withoriginal certificate. I added a cushin seat, and standard lightweight pedals, it came originally with a hard seat and clip style pedals, I do not know where they are but I did keep the original box, that will be included with the bike. Natural color original tires with nubs, frame excellent, decals intact, the bike is in mint condition, never used, just has been hanging on a hook in a controlled environment, a perfect gift for the dead head in your family. Bike will be dis-assembled, well packed for delivery and original box will be included in sale (folded and put in same box). The bike has a 19 inch frame (48 cm), has 26 inch wheels and tire size is 26 x 1.95

Ebay: “Grateful dead gary fisher mountain bike“

Official Grate Dead commemorative Gary Fisher Mountain Bike. This great bike has been gently ridden and therefore has a few scraps and scratches but overall it is in good shape. This bike would looks just as good on display or on the trails. Thanks for the interest.

Carrying on the apparent turquoise and purple theme of the past few weeks, my purple chill pills showed up from ebay recently.  I know they also came in silver, black and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen red ones somewhere.

I picked up a set of purple and turquoise Chris King 1 1/4″ headset caps on ebay a week or two ago – finally got around to taking some shots.  The purple is mint and the turquoise one is a little blemished and has been used.