On getting back on the horse, and SunRace/Sturmey Archer's three speed fixed

I had my first "post crash" ride into work on Friday. What a great feeling! Even though I have to take it slow and look extra carefully for bumps or potholes in the road. I wouldn't say that I was getting fat by not being allowed to ride like Jehuda at the Kickstand when he lost his bet with Joe and had to drive to work for a week: But I was definitely getting cranky...Oh yes, there's some serious crankiness going on, I don't only feel like an old man, I think I'm morphing into one. Old and bitter. I bitch at the television, people in traffic and at mostly innocent people in the service industry that the old man feels should rather work in dish washing or somewhere their stupidity is not forced upon the innocent public. So far this has not caused any serious collisions in my day to day life, but those close to me keep a safe distance, as ironic as that may sound. There's nothing on this earth that's more relaxing to me than a few hours of riding hard in the woods. Except for Morphine perhaps or other strong opiates, but we're talking legal and socially acceptable here. Anyway, without the bike riding, my mind goes bonkers and the mood turns sour. But now that I can at least ride Basil to work I feel much better. On a different note, I stumbled across this hub the other day on the internet and I have to say I'm quite excited about it. Three speed fixed seems like a fun idea, albeit not a new one. I'm going to try to get my hands on one of these when they'll be released and use it on the Bianchi. In the meantime I'm ordering a Surly flip flop hub and I'll be riding that whenever I'm feeling like I don't want to think about gears. This hub is a new version of the venerable ASC hub made by Sturmey Archer somewhere close to the middle of the last century. This one is made by SunRace/Sturmey-Archer, but SunRace bought the ailing Sturmey in 2001, I believe. The fact that Sturmey is now made by a Taiwanese company upsets some people, but it has been said that SunRace is creating better products than Sturmey was towards the end. The fact that they're bringing back such a unique hub is also encouraging and hopefully we'll see a lot of interesting stuff from SunRace/Sturmey in the future.

My new 21 year old Bianchi

1987 Bianchi Campione Del Mondo is not the prettiest bike around. It's built in the black and Red years at Bianchi, but to me the "celeste" green is the only true color for a Bianchi. Is that to conservative of me? Probably it is. So to attack my own twisted values I'll keep the color. In fact, I'll play with it and learn to love it. Blood and darkness. A bike for $50 deserves some coin thrown at it. What do you think? I think I'll go with a black and red theme for this one. If I had the cash I'd black out all the chrome on the bike, get some black drop bars, black stem, seat post, cranks etc. But for now, on my meager budget, I'll go with what I can "afford" (it's always relative isn't it?). Next step for this one is the front wheel of of my cracked frame Peugeot. The shifters etc. will come of that one as well. There is an old red "loaner wheel" at the shop which I can have for little money. Get a red tire for the back, and maybe some red cable housings. What I'll end up with as a short term result, should be a pretty cool 14 speed. But I think some day I'll do this bike up lthey way I want to. It's not every day that you com across a 63cm Bianchi frame, let alone one for 50 bucks. Might as well have some fun with it.