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Full Spectrum Cycling
Full Spectrum Cycling #256 – Photographer Zach Seib – Curse of the Curses – Tire Talk – JK in Crivitz
May 30, 2024
Full Spectrum Cycling #256 – Photographer Zach Seib – Curse of the Curses – Tire Talk – JK in Crivitz
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Transcript
0:00
[upbeat rock music] Good day, listener Evening
0:18
We actually had somebody that said they were the listener comment on something Nice We have, like, one. Ah, here it is, show number 256. We got Tony. We don't have JK today. We have Zach instead.
0:35
JK is, uh, camping up by the crivitz. Sorry. Yeah, I didn't know he was gonna get roped into that. It was sort of a- Why do people camp?... 50-10 It's voluntarily being homeless [laughs] And it rains every time Right?
0:48
Without fail, it's gonna rain. You know what's nice? Hotels and showers. Yeah. And the words of Stevie Wonder, I just called to say I love you- Oh, I know what that was. [laughs] That was Derek.
1:00
[laughs] I remember that one. Hey, right away, since we got a little bit of a late start, let's, uh, let's take a call and then we'll get into it with Zach and, and Tony here in the studio.
1:11
Hey, welcome to the radio program. Caller, who do we have on the line? Uh, hello, this is JK Living, a longtime listener, first time caller, or fourth time caller. Fourth time, yes.
1:21
You've called from, uh, Spain, I believe, at some point in the past. Portugal. Yes. In the, the- Or Portugal, somewhere over there. How's it going on your- Camping... uh, camping trip?
1:29
I didn't know you were gonna get roped into it. I didn't think so either. It was a last-minute [laughs] moment of weakness.
1:37
[laughs] But yeah, it's been working out very nicely, apart from one tick landing on me right out of the gate. And had to burn that little son of a gun off. One tick. That's one of the things that, uh- But it, it-...
1:50
rain will take care of. Is it, is it raining? [laughs] Mm-hmm. Of course. Yes, indeed. So are you, um, credit card camping in a hotel room or you actually have a tent set up? No, we got a tent set up and
2:03
they've got, like, a, what is it, an R-Pod, kind of a larger teardrop- Mm... kinda- Oh, cool Oh, sure. Right on... with a wheel or whatever. So there's more than just- Yeah, it's very nice. Very nice...
2:14
more than just you and Kim, I take it. Yeah. It's, uh, two of the daugh- daughters and one significant other. But do you have any Hel's mild jerky? Yes.
2:28
Little children, little children, little children on bicycles riding through- Oh. Oh, wonderful... down our Tommy Thompson Park. Yeah. Did you bring your bikes along? No. No.
2:39
[laughs] It was just gonna be cloudy and rainy this entire weekend. Uh, it rained- We're gonna be here-... rained a lot more here today-... through Tuesday... than I thought it would. That's for sure. Yeah.
2:48
It's getting close to a daily record- [laughs] Oh... is what I saw when I was leaving No kidding. No wonder the... No, no wonder the river's raging. Yeah. Milwaukee River's f- freaking on a roll.
2:58
So did you hear Tony right before we picked up your call? He said he thought camping was like being voluntarily homeless. Yeah. Yeah. I can wrap my head around that. Yeah? Completely.
3:09
[laughs] The, the better part, though, is someone that drops, like,
3:13
20 Gs on a trailer and then realizes their truck can't pull it, so they go out and drop another 40 on their truck, and then they go camping, like, eight times and hate it, and then they have to sell everything at a loss.
3:25
Oh, yeah Think about how many hotels you could have stayed in. For 100 grand? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Well, my kids like to go camping. I'm, I'm like, "But you say you like a water park better."
3:33
It's kinda like buying a boat. The, the greatest day- [laughs]... of your RV-owning life is the day you bought it and the day you sell it. Well- Right... the whole, the whole story is- Somewhat akin...
3:44
you don't wanna be the guy with the boat. [laughs] You wanna be the guy that brings the beer to the boat. Exactly. I firmly believe in those statements. Those are good, or the fish calls. Right. Yeah. I don't know.
3:57
All right. Yes, Crivitz is an interesting... Crivitz is an interesting, uh, planet to be liv- stopping in on. Yeah.
4:06
The one gas station that we stopped at, guy had a, like, a one-and-a-half-year-old child just sitting on the counter. [laughs] So it was like gas station daycare. [laughs] Whoa. "I couldn't get anybody to fill my shift."
4:19
Nice. "Okay, and it begins." [laughs] The way to become an American is to sit on a counter at a gas station. Oh, well, I sent you the picture of my Shover beer. Ham's and, uh...
4:30
There are Black Cats everywhere, so I have to buy another- See that. Yeah Yep. We got the, uh... Oh. Husband, uh- We can, uh, we can Top of the Hill since you're- Yeah... you're here. We're there. We're there...
4:40
you're Ham's and we're, um- Yeah, close enough... we're Three Sheeps-ing again. Yeah, the other half of the 12-pack. The other half of the 12-pack. Oh, I, I, I drove by, drove by the sign for the, uh- Oh, you sh-...
4:51
off-ramp for The Three Sheeps on the way up This is their, um, Rebel, Rebel Kent Amber Ale, their first one. 5%. Not bad. That's why we started with it. And then, um, then we'll graduate into the Dark Malt Lager.
5:06
I'm gonna change subjects 'cause I just got a- Oh, yeah, the chaos pattern and the, uh, other ones are gone- Yeah... aren't they? Yeah, we d- we drank those last week. I, I just got some- Yeah.
5:15
[laughs] It's a Tasty Bud [laughs]... kind of sad news... it's more familiar Huh? Sad news? I just got a text with some pretty sad news in my opinion. What's that? Company Brewing is closed.
5:25
Like- I just saw that myself... today? Like- Immediately... they are not re- Effective immediately. Yeah... effective immediately, they are not reopening. Wow. Yeah.
5:32
Maybe it was that 20% tip- I think when I, it was before I called you... they put on every tab.
5:36
You know, there's something to be said about that, but- And not tell you about it Well, they made it a point to start telling after people started bitching. Yeah, well, [laughs]
5:44
once you, once you- They're gonna be, they were n- I think the downfall was they took the poutine- We turn the milk off?... off the menu. [laughs] Tony's the poutine, uh, king. It was the best thing on their menu.
5:55
Yeah, you did the poutine, uh, jinx on that. I must have. Lamented, lamented- Wait, wait... lamented about the lack of poutine- Wait... and you've closed the doors on the place.
6:03
O- okay, let's digress into curses and such. And you can, as soon as you're done on this phone, you tell Kim to fuck off for saying it's not gonna rain. [laughs] I, yeah, no.
6:15
I, I peeled the- Been, been a weekend for curses. I, I'm- I know, dude. I, I, I peeled, I peeled that back scab on the way up here, too. [laughs] You should have. I, uh- You don't ever say that mid-race- I did...
6:26
"Look, we made it without the rain." Yeah. And I also- [laughs] So maybe three's a charm, 'cause when I said something about how durable Steven's shoe covers were, they immediately ripped.
6:36
[laughs] They're like silicone shoe covers. He's like, "These are, like, 10 years old." Oh, yeah. I'm like, "Those are very durable," and rip, just, like, immediately- That was hilarious... after. Sorry, Steven.
6:45
Yeah, I apologize, Steven. I was saying, we're in the f- in the wash of the full moon. The full moon was just a couple days ago. Oh, God, that was rough. Anyway, that was- I taped my mic. [laughs] Right on...
6:54
since we got that, that was Tour de Towner. That was fun. [laughs] Tour de Towner was a good thing. Well, at least- We'll talk maybe a little bit about that later. Yeah. All right, JK. There we go.
7:02
Um, thanks for checking in. Uh, come back with some stories for next week. All right. We're gonna not let our guest sit here saying nothing for the whole show- Mm-hmm...
7:08
'cause, uh, by cracky, besides looking- Hello, Zach, the guy. [laughs] Yeah. Besides looking good, he, uh, he's got stuff to say probably. [laughs] Right. Right. Not like it's the only time he can be on the show, though.
7:19
In terms of, oh, and, oh, and the, uh, the, the inaugural first, uh, Chris Treater Show. Yep. Hello, Milwaukee. You're looking great. You smell good, too. I love you. [laughs] All right, you guys. All right.
7:32
Keep it light. Take it easy. Enjoy the rest of the evening. Have fun. See you on the morrow. Later. Right on. There we go. There he goes. There go, there he goes now. There goes JK. That was, uh, our erstwhile JK,
7:45
long of the sitting in the Zach seat, but now, now it's Zach. Hi, Zach. Hey, Zach. Hi. How's it going, man? Not bad. Thank you for having me. Yeah. So, um- Thanks for coming...
7:58
we, uh, we run across each other all the time. [laughs] Yes. But honestly, I know very little about what you do aside from photographing events that we're at, a lot of them cycling oriented.
8:09
Is, is photography a hobby, or is that an avocation or...? It is actually. I am a professional at- Right on... doing it. So I do that.
8:17
I'm freelance, and I do construction work on the side, and I also work retail [laughs] so I'm kind of all over the spectrum. There you go. Um- Well, not too much of any one thing but enough to, you know, get by.
8:26
In other words, he's young. [laughs] It's enough to fill my time. Well. Let's just say that. So what kind of, uh, what kind of photography gigs do you get into? Do you have a specialty?
8:37
I do a lot of weddings, a lot of portrait work, stuff like that, a little bit of, um, uh, product photography, that kind of, kinda stuff as well. I have a studio.
8:44
Oh, all the lighting equipment, all that ki- kind of stuff. Isn't it fun collecting lighting equipment? Oh, it's great and expensive at the same time. Like, got a little tiny thing up there is, was, it's old.
8:54
It's probably eight years old, but that thing was ridiculously expensive. I- It's basically a run-and-gun thing, but it works kinda well for this little room.
9:02
[laughs] Now that we have to do video to be relevant, is what I've been told. Yeah, it's- On the, on the book face or on the, uh, TubeYou's or whatever those guys are called.
9:13
Yeah, the annoying thing is then you find out that your gear has fans in it, and then it doesn't work correctly because the camera or the microphones pick it up, and it's just a- Yeah, that's true... just a rabbit hole.
9:23
Well, I think, you know, in the last few years it's really kinda gotten a lot better. I'm, I rarely use flashes anymore, but I still have a bunch of them and... Thank you, COVID. Yeah, right? I don't know. So
9:37
cycling, that's a, a thing you do. Mm-hmm. Well, what, uh, what kind of bike are you riding these days, is it? Uh, so I have way too many bikes.
9:45
It's one of those n plus one situations where it's just there's always one more that's being built up. Uh, so right now I think I have maybe 15 bikes in my basement. Nice.
9:57
They, and they all basically do exactly the same thing. [laughs] Like, roll on two wheels? Yeah. Yeah, exa- right.
10:03
[laughs] So, you know, there's the one that, like, I rode over here today that has fenders on it that I only ride in the winter. Yep.
10:09
And then there's the seven different vintage mountain bikes that all do exactly the same thing, but they have different tires on it so, you know, one is better for mud or whatever situation I'm in.
10:22
Um, I have a couple different road bikes as well. Um, and then I have a full, like, modern hardtail that I ride out, around all the time.
10:29
Do you, uh, mostly do urban riding, or do you head out to the Kettle Moraine or the Minooka or those type of trails? I do a bit of both. I'm not really, I don't really ride that much pavement normally.
10:41
Um, I normally try to stick to, like, the off-road trails and that kind of stuff, and just kind of urban adventuring kinda style riding.
10:51
I, I have a r- couple really nice road bikes, and I just never really ride them, ride them in wea- it doesn't click with me. Yeah, I, I kinda feel the same way. Me too.
10:58
Now that I've got the, uh, Omnium Cargo with e-assist- Oh, that's insane... I am, I don't know why I'd ever ride another bike actually. [laughs] We went on the Tour de Towner, and
11:08
I dipped off onto the top of the river trail, and it just shreds on- Right... on that kind of a trail. I d- you know, I think we mentioned it in a previous show.
11:16
There's, there's some pretty impressive videos out there of people on Omniums at, like, full-on flow trail mountain bike parks hucking them over, like, doubles and stuff. Yeah. They, I don't know. It seems like...
11:28
I don't think those were the e versions, but it's, it's, it- Could be the Ti version too, which would definitely help.
11:33
Hey, if you wanna get in on the Ti pre-order, June 1st through June 14th is the pre-order for the next run, which takes, like, four to six months to get them built. But they are doing- Do I look like I'm made of money?
11:44
[laughs] I would think a titanium Minimax would be pretty freaking sweet. Eh, $10,000. No. No, not that much.
11:52
Plus if you already have parts around it, like 29er wheels and some cranks and some stuff, you might just have to get that 20-inch front through-axle wheel.
12:00
That might be the only thing that's probably not in your shed right now. Schlowski built his up with mostly found parts.
12:06
He did order a couple of new things just 'cause he wanted to, but That's kind of a h- hard format when it comes to wheels, and, uh, especially on modern bikes. Because, like, there's a couple...
12:18
L- like, Crust sells a aftermarket one-inch threaded, uh, touring fork. And it's great, but it- it's for 26-inch wheels. It's lugged. It's b- beautiful piece, but how many 26-inch through axle wheels are laying around?
12:33
Right. Yeah, I think you'd have to b- I think you're building your own at that stage. Right. Right, exactly.
12:37
Yeah, and you're probably taking your vintage Gary Fisher or your Hokuaiku or something from the past and wanting to modernize it or something. So you're g- probably gonna build a wheel anyway, maybe. Mm. I don't know.
12:49
They've got that really cool- I think you're sitting in your basement smoking pot and thinking, "Hey, what if I did this?" [laughs] And then it just happened. I like their cycle truck front end. That's a 20-inch wheel.
13:00
Yeah. Steven has one. It's pretty cool. There's a couple of them around Milwaukee. Yeah. They... They're interesting riding because they don't r- they don't affect the handling too much, which is really nice.
13:09
That's the nice thing about the, um, the Omniums is they don't ride like a cargo bike. Mm-mm. Mm. They ride like a real bike. I mean, not that a Bullet or something isn't a real bike, but- I was-...
13:21
it's a different riding experience... looking down at that little LED screen, seeing I was doing 17 and a half miles an hour without doing really much of any work. I mean, I was, I was working, but... Don't get me wrong.
13:33
[laughs] But it was just, it was just like, "Damn, this is smooth." And it is. You're v- absolutely dead on that it just feels like a regular bike. As someone who took five bags of, of mulch home on my cargo bike,
13:47
I would have rather taken five bags of mulch home on that. Yeah, I was thinking about slapping that on the front and seeing how it does. It was squirrely, but I did it.
13:55
So tour de towner, um, was about 20 miles of riding. Yep. And when I got back, I'd only gone through one of the five bars, and it has a range thing. So it has three modes: eco, trail, and boost.
14:10
Boost still had 27 miles, trail had something like 40-something, and eco had, like, 80 miles left. Nice. That's a lot of miles- That's impressive... for a little battery.
14:19
I mean, I am doing a good chunk of the work, but- Sure... it's just nice when I wanna go a little faster. [laughs] I rode the cargo on pedal assist one, which is basically for a 80-pound bike.
14:32
Pretty much like riding a regular bike- Yeah, it's easy... if it was, say, 30 pounds. Right. It's the, the equalizer. Right. So it's like, yeah, I'm riding a normal bike now.
14:41
What is the version of the Omnium that you have? The one I have is the middle one. It's called a Mini Max. Okay.
14:47
So it still has a pretty good sized, uh, cargo area in the front, and the wheel is somewhat in the middle of that versus being at the front of it. There was really only probably six or eight inches of difference.
15:01
I'm, I'm, uh, very curious about the cargo. I didn't get a chance to ride Dave Schlabowski's 'cause he- that's what he got for his dog packing. And he says...
15:09
Uh, r- so when he first got it, he was like, "I wonder if they make a suspension fork for these things." [laughs] That was a great conversation.
15:16
Yeah, uh, but then after he got to riding it, he said, "It really is like a magic carpet. Once you get going, the thing really smooths stuff out," and there was... He doesn't think there's a need.
15:25
And he rides, you know, gravel and trails up in Hayward area with his dog Cowboy, who weighs, like, 40 pounds. I'm sure we'll see more. He's doing some... He, he does a lot of good video stuff and photography as well.
15:39
So I'm sure we'll see more from him. I've ridden that, the s- the small Omnium, um, whatever the... I don't know if they make it, its production anymore. It just has a front rack on it, a little 20-inch front wheel.
15:50
But that is- I think that they call it the... I think they just call that one the Mini. Okay. I'm, I'm pretty... Yeah, they still make it. It's, like, real short. Yeah. Like, it's like a cycle truck.
15:59
It's just a, it's just a regular bike basically with a front rack. Yeah. And it is honestly one of the best, like, commuter bikes you could ever buy. I agree. Thanks for being an advocate for Omnium.
16:11
Your check is in the mail. [laughs] Actually, I'm going to pick up another one tomorrow. I'm getting a small,
16:17
the very last small of the e- Mini Max because they went through them very quickly on this last batch and I think I'm, like...
16:26
I'm on- I'm right at the break point being is the small frame gonna be too cramped, or is it gonna be like, oh, it's...
16:33
there's so much more, uh, maneuverability and room because I'm not basically straddling the top tube. So I'm curious. But also, it's the last one, so somebody'll need it at some point.
16:45
So yeah, small, medium, right in the middle. Okay. Like, dead, dead nuts, right on the line. So- Yeah, I thought the medium was a little tall for me, but it still rode great. Yeah.
16:53
Once I'm riding, I think it's actually a good cockpit length. So- Yeah. Agreed. And I'm probably not quite 5'9" anymore. I think I'm shrinking. We all are. We all are. So [laughs] Zach's tall. All of us. He's taller.
17:05
All of us old people. Zach's, again, a youngin'. [laughs] Cool. Uh, what else besides cycling? Do you go to clubs and see bands, or do you- No, I'm always in the North Woods.
17:16
I'm always working on some kind of mechanical thing. So I'm rebuilding a couple engines for different vehicles I have. I was just putting together one of my trucks this week. Uh- What kind of, what kind of truck you got?
17:27
Uh, I bought a 2000 and s- sorry, a 1996 F350. Oh, wow. And it is destroyed. [laughs] It is so rusty. But I just bought it for the motor, basically. It had a massive oil leak. 4- 460? What is it? Uh, 7.3 Power Stroke.
17:43
Oh. Oh, it's the diesel. Yeah. Good job. Good call. Good call. Nice. That's a good motor. Yeah. Runs really well on B20, 20% biofuel. Done it a bunch. Can you get that around here anymore? I know it was good for a while.
17:53
You could get some- Just gotta search it out. It's not as easy as it used to be. Didn't Charby used to do stuff with biofuel, Keenan? We could talk about that. [laughs] Hey, Jeremy. Charby. Uh, here's something.
18:04
No fireworks July 3rd this year. The big old fireworks they always had are- There's this huge-... canceled... debate going on back and forth on some Facebook group that
18:14
I somehow got added to because of the River West 24. And, you know- I used to sell fireworks, and I have to tell you right now, fireworks are the dumbest thing I've ever heard of.
18:25
Well, this thing costs upwards of- They pollute... $250,000 too, when they could spend that money on something- And that's-... else that's more... that's not counting the extra police presence.
18:35
That's not counting everything else that gets involved in it, the pollution, the... Yeah, no, I, I'm, I'm on a soapbox here. Don't get me started about fireworks. Yeah, and- But happy birthday soon.
18:44
Yeah I mean, since it'll be the day after the supposed fireworks. Yes, the alleged fireworks. 'Cause Craig was born on the 4th of July. [laughs] Yeah, for sure. Dogs too. Dogs don't like, some dogs don't like fireworks.
18:58
That was my thing is, is Minnie pulls, freaks out. Same with a thunderstorm. I rode home fast to be with her on the couch because of the thunderstorms. Yeah. I mean, they're- She's spoiled. Yeah. It was raging.
19:08
She- Yeah, absolutely. She deserves to be. [laughs] She's a beautiful dog. She's my doggy. Hey, a guy saw, you know Kyle at the motorcycle shop? Yeah, yeah. I know him. In the building next door. Yeah.
19:20
He sent me a text today, 'cause he also works at a motorcycle dealer. He said, "I got a guy interested in an electric bike. Here's his phone number." 'Cause they don't sell them at Southeast Sales.
19:30
Apparently they just sell engine cycles. So I called the guy up. "I hear you're, uh, looking for an electric bike." He says, "Yeah. I have a '98 Suzuki Intruder. Would you be able to work a trade out for something?"
19:43
I'm like, "No. We don't do engine cycles [laughs] here." I actually, the w- But what Intruder was it? Is that the 750? I th- I, it's a '98 something. Oh. They didn't last very long.
19:56
For some reason, they stopped that model. I, I decided to steer him in the direction, 'cause he wants to ride up to Sheboygan for some reason. That's where his job is, I think. On an electric bike? That's what I said.
20:09
Did you send him to Lectric? Yes, I did, [laughs] just because of- Thought so... the range, you know. And he, his budget is not...
20:16
You know, I told him we could, if he had a nice bike he liked, we could help him electrify it, which is one of the things we do here- Right... pretty regularly, but he...
20:24
I say, he said, "Yeah, I got it at Dick's Sporting Goods." I go, "That's not gonna work. I'm sorry. I apologize, but I will not do that." I mean, it's gonna have to be a pretty decent bike to do a conversion on. Right.
20:37
Absolutely. They just don't... The wheels suck and all sorts of things go bad. They weren't intended to be electrified. Right. They should never be electrified. Yeah.
20:46
I mean, any, any more, everything, like especially something like that's a system bike like the Omnium, for instance, they're engineered and dialed in so well to be what they are. It just, it's...
20:57
I mean, doing a conversion is a good thing if it's a bike you love and it's a good bike shop quality bike. Like a Schlick Smitty. Could do that.
21:08
Speak- You know, what's on the stand right now is the, the long tail is back on the stand, putting the motor back in it. You put it back in? Yep. That's a one of a kind bike. Somebody should buy that.
21:19
Any of those kind of cobbled together, home-crafted, either, uh, gasoline engine-powered bikes or electric bikes.
21:26
When you go on like the Reddit threads and stuff like that for those things, they are so, just, it is unbelievable how poorly crafted those things are. Yeah. And it like, they work, but- Right...
21:38
no one else can service those things. Um- Oh, no. You, you're, you're building it and servicing it yourself. Exactly. Correct. Yeah.
21:43
Um- You, you shouldn't- And you- What's it- It's, it's cruel if you take that t- thing to a shop and try to get it fixed... r- I think if, you know, we'll work on- Thank you...
21:49
we'll work on Bafang mid-drive stuff because that's pretty ubiquitous now. Or Bafang hub drives too. Yeah. P- uh, parts are available. And the new CYC stuff is really nice because they have
22:02
brushless motors in them, which are s- pretty much maintenance-free. Hmm. There's one... But we've gone, we've been through the learning curve on all of these, and [laughs] there's a lot of stuff we won't do.
22:15
But yeah, I'm not too... We work with reputable suppliers. It's not like buying something from Amazon- From Amazon... where it's cobbled together from whatever Alibaba supplier you can get. Right.
22:27
And you don't know, is the battery any good? You don't know what cells are in it. You- Right, right, right... there's a lot of stuff. There's a lot of things you don't wanna know probably. [laughs] Right.
22:35
So, um- What do you mean? They all have Samsung cells. Just read the ad. And y- yeah. There's no way. Right. There's no way you have Samsung cells in this $200 battery. I'm like, I'm, you're full of absolute shit. Yeah.
22:45
I wouldn't be surprised- Batteries alone cost more than that. I don't care if you're buying them by the pallet. Uh, so yeah, so we work... And there's not a lot of margin at the smaller level of doing this.
22:56
We get a little bit, but it's mostly just the labor to do it. Right. And to help somebody. I mean, if we can do something for Sam and Jules, I'll be happy. There you go. But, uh, yeah. Ooh, that's strong. Is, is this...
23:11
I haven't tried it. Is this the new, the new amber version? Oh, no, this is a malt. Yes, this is the malt. Ooh. Oh, yeah. It's got some roastiness to it. Yeah. It's definitely, how shall we say, full-bodied.
23:25
You guys remember Bill Walton, basketball player- Of course... who recently passed? Did you... I f- had forgotten what a avid cyclist the guy is, or was, I should say. That's right. He was.
23:34
Yeah, for a seven-foot however- I, until you said that-... two guy-... I just, yeah... yeah, I just was, I read a couple stories about his passing. And
23:41
in Portland there, I think he k- lived up there somewhere, and but just how avid h- he was as a cyclist. Yeah. I think I remember seeing some of his frames being built, and they were really- Yeah...
23:53
interesting just because, you know, his giant proportions. Right. Everything was custom made. He, he's definitely a, a 36-inch wheel guy. Yeah. Yeah. He could totally have rode a 36 and been happy as shit.
24:03
And there's that, there is a new company that that's their thing. Well. 36-inch and 32-inch now. 36. The 32, they were like, "We can't even find tires for it."
24:13
And I cringed a little bit when they said Vee Tire came to the rescue- No. Yeah. No. And, and was making tires for it. Whoa. But it's, but it is electric, so- I know, bike's still tires That will overcome, right?
24:24
Are so terrible. It's too bad because they- They're just so terrible... but they try so hard. The unfortunate thing is they have some, like, specialty mountain bike tires and stuff like that, and they look really good.
24:34
Yeah, and they're horrible. But then, yeah, exactly, and then you r- you ride those instead of, like, a Maxxis or something and you're just like, "All right, well, that was a total waste of money." [laughs] Right? Right?
24:42
Yeah. Oh. I'll s- I'll, I'll double the pr- tire pressure for sure. I'm gonna save myself $20 and get these. Yeah. [laughs] And, oh, God, do I regret the first five miles of this ride.
24:49
And you have to ride it for 4,000 miles. Right, right. I just remember h- when we got some in for testing, snowshoes or something on fat bikes- Oh, they were so bad... and I'm riding with the guys I normally rode with.
25:01
It was only a week.
25:02
I wasn't, you know, like, that out of shape in a week that I couldn't have normally ridden like I would normally ride with those guys, but I found myself, like, two gears lower and spinning just to kinda keep moving, and those guys are just like pshew, pshew, pshew.
25:16
I was like, "This is, these things-" No, no... "are s- robbing me of so much power, it's unbelievable."
25:20
Ta- taking them off my fat bike and putting on those toboggans was, like, I s- I s- I felt like a super s- superhero, man. Like, this could not be the same bike. Just the tires? I'm like, "Are you kidding?"
25:31
And then I had, foolishly, for the River West 24, I got the Vee Rub tires for the, the River West 24 bike. [laughs] And they were just horrible. I'm like, "No, no." Didn't learn your lesson the first time.
25:44
[laughs] No, that was the first time. Oh. I learned the second time. Okay. [laughs] But still. Yeah. Some of the Surly tires are the same way, like the, um, uh, it's called, like, moo- not Moonlander.
25:54
Uh, Extraterrestrial, that tire. Extraterrestrial. Oh, we all love the Extraterrestrial here. Really. It's, it just, it's so slow. But I have 'em on my e-bike. It, ex- then it's, the, then they're great.
26:02
Because they're durable as hell. Right. You know? It's like, yeah, I've, I d- I can overcome the tire because it's got- Mm... a motor on the bike. Right. It's a l- small one, but it's, you know.
26:12
Yeah, tires are kind of a fascinating rabbit hole to go down. Right? Aren't they? Yeah, for sure. It's so, it, it- Oh... it's like the biggest upgrade you can do to a bicycle, and it is. I'm- Change the tire
26:23
compound or the casing, and every manufacturer has a different design. Yeah. Like, Schwalbe has a ton of different designs. Maxxis has a ton of different designs.
26:32
And one Maxxis Minion, there's five different versions of that tire, and they all ride different. Right? All ride pretty d- uh, most Maxxis tires are pretty good- Mm-hmm... rolling tires, right?
26:43
Like, Schwalbe's are known for being- Oh, yeah... low rolling resistance, for sure. Yeah, they're great. I haven't, I, I used to use their, um, fat bike tire.
26:52
Otherwise, it's been always Big Apples- I like the Big Apple for the-... or whatever, whatever the, Big Ben is what's on the, uh- Then you, then you go to the Thick Slicks-... on the, um...
27:00
and you're suddenly like, "Wow, for the money, these are really great tires." Just don't ride 'em on the ice. [laughs] Just don't ride 'em on the ice. The Thick Slicks? Yeah. [laughs] Have you ridden 'em?
27:07
Have you- They have both the heavy duty ones and then the lightweight ones. I remember when they were c- when they came out, and every fixed gear freestyle guy- Had to have 'em...
27:14
s- was doing those, like, crazy, like, elephant trunk skids with one leg over the handlebars on those things, and that was the go-to tire. Yeah. Was that, like, right after the Fixation? Was it- I think it was before.
27:26
Oh, was it before? I remember- The, oh, the Session 700s- Yeah... that Fixation had. Oh, yeah, those are nice, too, but I remember being on Gamma's and seeing 700C Thick Slicks.
27:34
I'm like, it's kind of an oxymoron, really. I mean, they're not thick. They're slick. Have you ever had one off, though? No. They, they, the tires are, like, eight millimeters thick.
27:45
[laughs] It's, it's unbelievable, and they r- if you ever r- have a chance to ride a bike with this, a set of those, they ride like absolute bricks. It doesn't matter what PSI is in those things.
27:55
They're on my, uh, clunker, because I don't go very fast- They're on, they're on my electric Smitty... on my clunker. Um, I do have Panaracers on today, though, that I, I [laughs]
28:06
rode here yesterday to have a beer at Eutrophic. I'm like, "God, this bike's slow." [laughs] And then I went to put air in 'em today and, yeah, they are 120 PSI tires, and the rear had 17. 17? [laughs] 17.
28:18
[laughs] That's perfect. That's perfect. It's, it's- I-... that's c- that's the comfort PSIs right there. Right? Yeah. But slow.
28:25
I just- They have 80 in them right now, which is like- I just, but going for the full hard-on is not necessarily the fastest way. Mm. Not, not to mention if that one that blows that one time, that you've- Oh, God...
28:35
popped one of those tubes and you can't hear for a week. [laughs] Never. You blow it off the rim? I hate that. Oh, it's the worst.
28:41
I actually have headphones, like, you know, not headphones, uh, earmuffs, like, like- For putting high pressure tires in...
28:47
people that work around jet airplanes wear, because if I think that the rim and the tire are kinda iffy- We're number one, baby... I'm gonna put that on- Yeah... just in case something goes wonky.
28:56
Although, I don't think I work on many bikes anymore where the tire pressure's above about 45 or 50 pounds. Right, right. I just, I like volume.
29:05
When you get into some of those, the, the new carbon rims with the hookless bead- We don't do that... yeah, I know you, I know you don't. [laughs] But that's a really common problem with some of those. Yeah.
29:14
And I, I've forgotten what br- ands. There's only, like, two or three brands that use that technology. Yeah. And it's, it's really foolish. And it's also very tire dependent, too. Yes.
29:23
It's like, this tire and this rim work great, but that tire on that rim, no chance. No. Exactly. That's why I like tubes. [laughs] Yeah. I tend to kind of- They seem to kinda make sense...
29:33
hon- honestly, I've gone tubeless on most of the bikes I use regularly, and that would be the only admi- thing I would tell people to do is, is if you're gonna bo- ride it regularly, go tubeless. Yeah.
29:44
If you're, if you're not, stay with tubes. Right. 'Cause then you don't have to worry about the sealant drying out and all that stuff. Yeah.
29:49
But even, you can do the Riverwest 24 or something like that, be on the bike for 24 hours. There's tons of glass in the road and little wire all the time, and you never have to worry about it. Sure.
29:57
So when, if you s- if you say you have a few bikes, how long would you say between using them, like, can you let one s- sit... I mean, I've let them sit for way too long.
30:09
It's, like, a month or a couple of weeks or, you know, between using that bike when you have other bikes to use.
30:16
So I have three bikes that are set up tubeless right now, uh, my mountain bike and then two other ki- uh, gravel bike and another kind of '90s mountain bike. And two of those are set up with DIY-...
30:29
tubeless setups that are not on tubeless-ready rims Like a split tube kind of a deal? No. No, I'm using tubeless tape, but it's not tu- they're not tubeless-ready rims. Gotcha.
30:41
Even with, uh, uh, once the sealant kinda dries and keeps the things on the re- the bead and they've been in, sitting around for a while, like I can go throw air in 'em, go for a ride, it's a year later- Wow...
30:52
the t- the sealant will be dried out completely inside, and they'll still- But the seal's there... yeah, and it'll hold- You can always throw a couple more ounces in if you have to Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
31:00
But, you know, they'll go flat after maybe three or four days typically. Doesn't, Trusky, like, has it set up when he goes in down his basement, he spins his tire, his tubeless tires?
31:09
Yeah, so it doesn't get a lump in the bottom of it... almost, he doesn't, like, he's like he makes it a point every time he goes down to just spin his tires.
31:13
I'm like, "Dude, you're-" It's, you know, it's like those people that collect the really high-end watches. They have all their, they're all just- Yeah... being o- oscillating the whole time, winding them. Really? Yeah.
31:21
Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah. Oh, I've got an Omega I wind regularly because you gotta keep the movement moving.
31:28
There's so many hobbies that are so expensive that you know nothing about until you learn about them, and you're like, "Wow." Yeah. Really I would sell that Omega to somebody Like race car drivers. It was my dad's. Yeah.
31:38
I, I- That's the only thing I got from my dad pretty much... I used to pit crew for people. They're beautiful watches. Yeah, they are. I actually, my, my dad fixes watches. Oh. And he- Oh...
31:45
he's worked on a lot of Omegas and Rolex, really high-end Rolexes and stuff like that. Oh. And it is, watches like that are absolutely worth their, their- Did-... their price. Did I- Yeah, he-...
31:56
dream this, or did your dad own Planet Bead? He owns Planet Bead. He does own Planet Bead. Yeah. Okay. I thought so. Yeah. I was like, somewhere in the back of my mind I remember you telling me this, like, 10 years ago.
32:07
[laughs] I'm like, "Wow." Planet Bead. Yeah, we've been in business for thir- over 30 years at this point. That's wild. So. So is there beads to be had, or? Yes. Yeah, for, for beading.
32:17
[laughs] Yeah, we are the, we're the largest bead store in the Midwest. Wow. Nice. It was, you either went there or the old, um, Sydney High Building. Mm-hmm. That lady's bead place.
32:28
Uh, there's two other stores in Milwaukee as well. Is there? Yeah. But they're way out of the city, and they don't have the selection that we have usually. So what's the point? [laughs] Right on. Yeah.
32:37
Well, they're super nice. My, my dad bought, he had that Omega, I don't know if he got it in '69 or '70, but he was inspired by them using the Speedmaster on the first Apollo- Yeah, right...
32:48
moon landing mission, so he had to go out... It was one of those times when he had a few bucks, 'cause he didn't always have money.
32:54
He sometimes was doing really well and sometimes not, but when he was doing well, he'd get good stuff like that, you know? So, um...
33:01
You know, the nice thing is with watches like that, and that's what you see, you see with a lot of the kind of m- lower tier stuff now, is that you can't get parts for them anymore.
33:11
You know, after a few years, all right, you know, hopefully this company in China or wherever it's made, you can still get it. If you have an Omega or a Rolex or something, always- It's gonna be there forever...
33:20
they have it. They will always have it. It has the part number on it. You can get that, a replacement. Yeah. Right on. Wild. Do you have any, uh, Konas, Zach, in your- I don't... in your quiver?
33:30
I don't have any Konas, and I don't have any m- Rocky Mountains, which is, that's, that's- Rocky Mountain was an awesome bike... they're not my best... yeah, that was, they were wild. Yeah.
33:37
So, uh, I don't know if you've been following the Kona saga, but the founders bought it back from the people who tried to destroy it. Mm-hmm. Uh, there's a, there's a link in the show notes- Canadians.
33:47
Fucking Canadians... right?
33:48
There's a link in the show notes if you wanna check out how far along they are, including employing most of the people who were let go in the past, and it sounds like they're back on the track of trying to, uh, get people to trust the brand again because they really kind of hosed people.
34:06
[laughs] Especially dealers. They built some great bikes and then, yeah... but they did make, or they do make some great bikes. Mm-hmm. All right. So yeah, check that out if you're interested in where that comes along.
34:14
Jake and Dan are back is, is the point here. Yeah, yeah. And last, because I don't know, some- We're late... somehow we did it again. Well, we started late too- Need to drink some beer... so that's nice.
34:24
I ran across this thing in Colombia that's, I did, I, we've talked about Gravity Racing downhill bikes before, like the F1 BMX bikes they used to have, including, if you ever see it, there's the, um, I think it's a Haro.
34:40
It's a Dan Hannebrink design, the white one that Jamie Shavers had got stolen. So if you ever see that bike, it's pretty much a one of a kind. That sucks 'cause that was such a great little bike. Yeah.
34:49
So but anyway, those guys had gears. These guys don't, and they're super low. You gotta watch this video. Show notes, check it out, Gravity Racing from Colombia's highest road. And they're like- Dippin'...
35:00
their bellies are on the ground, their handlebars are, like, upside down, and their knuckles are almost scraping the ground. Are they wearing pads? Oh, yeah, I think they... Well, I don't know. I mean, they're Colombian.
35:09
Do they have to wear pads? Well, I would hope so. [laughs] I mean, there's, they have skin, too. Yeah. Uh, you could check it out. Yeah, I'm s- you got helmets and you got stuff.
35:18
There's probably a rogue guy that doesn't think that's important. But I don't know. That's gone. Those guys can climb, too. Colombian climbers are s- amongst the best in the world at climbing. All right.
35:29
Well, Zach, thank you for coming. I'm, if we can have you again, I'm sure we could dig more deeply into your, your- Passions. All right... your what's nots and passions and such. But, uh- Sounds good...
35:39
JK should be back next week. And, uh, thank you very much for listening. We'll be, we'll be here again next week. Meow. Meow. [upbeat music]
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