Users/DarinWick

• a minister at the Davis Bike Collective.
  

• a senior at UCD.
  

• a Linux user.
  

• currently majoring in Technocultural Studies.
  

• an amateur novelist.
  

• an avid reader of many webcomics, including XKCD.
  

• a geohasher, on occasion.
  

• an outspoken advocate for Bicycles.
  

• a Bike Polo player.
  

• unfortunately not a member of the Campus Crusade for Chaos and Confusion

I love my bikes, and I love to talk about them. (Photos coming soon?) So:

• My primary mode of transportation is an old, scratched-up blue Panasonic road frame (provided by Chris Salam) that I've partially retrofitted for commuting and touring. It sports randonneur-style drop bars and an old set of aero bars that I reconfigured slightly with a length of plastic tubing, all wrapped in yellow bar tape. The only original component now is the seat - wheels were bought from Ken's, and most of the other parts came from Bike Forth. I frequently rebuild its various bearing assemblies and adjust the other parts.
  

• The blue bike's next-of-kin is a silver Nishiki road frame - very tall, probably 60" - also acquired from Chris Salam. It is a retro-direct drive bike: If you pedal forwards, you go forwards. If you pedal backwards, you go forwards in a lower gear. I've found the 2-speed setup quite effective around town, so long as I don't have to face any steep hills or high winds. While in Chris's possession the bike was known as "Phugit," from the stickers that covered it. Upon entering my care, however, the stickers were stripped off and its name was changed to "Retrovirus."
  

• The third and last member of my strange two-wheeled family is a baby-blue recumbent made from three old Schwinn frames that were welded together during a class at the Craft Center many years ago. The frame reached me by way of another volunteer at the Bike Collective who found it in a dumpster. I suspect it was originally built with a coaster brake in mind, but I chose to fit it with a Sturmey Archer AW (a classic 3-speed internal gear hub) and a caliper brake on the rear. One of these days I'll come up with a clever front brake, but for now it just stops rather slowly.

The ancillary members of my stable include:

• A white-and-rust colored trailer, originally intended for hauling children, that was long ago redesigned by (I suspect) Domies for cargo carrying. I've since stripped off most of the parts and rebuilt it in a few different configurations. The current hitch design consists of two loops of tube that can be stretched around the seat stay and chain stay (at the rear dropout) and anchored to a hook on the hitch beam. While in my service it has hauled metal recycling for the Bike Collective, a 4' by 8' whiteboard, CSA boxes, and many other things.
  

• A set of black fabric panniers made by Nashbar.
  

• A briefcase converted to act as a pannier and hold a laptop.
  

• Various bucket panniers: One made from a round bucket with the hook cut from the side of the bucket and two red-and-yellow square ones provided by Tidy Cats via DWR

In addition, I often tend to the care and feeding of bikes belonging to my friends, though I encourage them to visit Bike Forth and learn about bike maintenance themselves.

All of my bikes are fitted with racks of one sort or another because I don't see much use in a bike that can't carry a full load. The retrodirect has a folding basket. (I would use folding baskets more often, but I don't like the rattling sounds they make.)

Many spare parts pass through my hands, since I tend to visit the dumpster behind Ken's Bike and Ski fairly often, in addition to the Davis Waste Removal facility on 2nd street. Most of the parts eventually end up at the Davis Bike Collective, though some of them find their way onto my own bikes.

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