I crashed on the second day of the MS150 (which I haven’t blogged about yet, but I will) this year and bent my handlebars a bit and torqued my left shifter around the bar. The mechanic who put the shifter back in place suggested I get a new set of bars since once they’re bent they might fail if the get stressed. I probably apply a good bit of stress on the handlebars in the normal course of riding so I wanted to get new bars on before I rode again.

I bought some new bars and a proper mechanic’s stand at Rowlett’s and got it done this weekend before an early Sunday morning ride.

The bar removal/replacement was as easy as peeling the old tape and not losing the bolts. I can do that. I had been warned that tricky part was going to be the re-taping of the bars, and that proved to be the case.

This big gap between the cable and the bar:

Was resolved with some pre taping:

And this is the finished new set:

I watched this helpful Bicycle Tutor video a couple of times before I started to get an idea of what to expect. I did a decent job when you look at it from above. There are a couple of gaps on the drops but I don’t think they will be a problem because I never go down there. I had to roll and re-roll the left bar a couple of times to get the gaps out (and I still missed one!).

All in all, it was a good lesson to learn. I will be ready when it comes time to change them again.

I somehow got on a Warner Bros. email list and a terrible, terrible marketing effort landed in my Inbox. It says, and I am not kidding:

“Jerkin’: the new West Coast cultural phenomenon taking the streets by storm! It’s a dance, it’s a style, it’s a movement!

Introducing The New Boyz: Ben J & Tha Legacy. The leaders of a new movement straight outta Los Angeles called Jerkin’. “

I’m sure it’s piracy that’s killing the music biz.

Sick. Bigger photos and some more info here. You should really go through and check them out. These cropped images just scratch the surface of how cool this thing looks. It was developed and built with the folks at Medicom. I only have a couple of Medicom toys, all vinyl, but they’re really well put together. I’d love to see this in person to see what they can do with metal.

[via OMGposters where I seem to be finding more and more cool things these days]

Oh man, this is nice. I loved this movie as a kid.

Drew Millward is another one of my poster faves. This a movie poster he did for the Alamo Summer Kids Camp movie series.

We watched Goonies with our kids a couple of months back and I think it really holds up.

You can pay up and get Homer’s voice in your Tom Tom gps unit.

These samples are kinda funny:

[ via videogum]

I really really like Dalek’s most recent work (that’s a clean, simple portfolio site, too). It’s geometric and abstract and the colors just click, for me.

This video is of an installation he put up at Hurley’s headquarters.

[via OMGposters.com]

I actively avoid horror movies but I love horror comics, for some strange reason, and this is might be the most dystopic stuff I’ve read. I know I’m a couple of years late to The Walking Dead but I figure zombie wasteland is a timeless setting so I don’t need to keep up with it hot off the press. Unlike a lot of comics, and fiction in general, every single character introduced is in real jeopardy no matter age, gender, or plot importance. It’s well-written, well drawn, and a thoroughly gripping read.

The compendium version (amazon link, but you should buy it from your local comic shop) was pitched by Pat at Velocity Comics (my shop of choice) as the most economical way to read the series. It works out to a little more than a buck an issue and I highly, highly recommend it if zombie horror is your thing.

This is a reeeally nice summer beer. I approach seasonal beers cautiously because I find that brewers tend to get a little too experimental when they’re putting limited batches together. Summer beers usually end up too heavy on the wheat for my taste, but the Harpoon Summer Beer is just a clean, simple beer. I will have more of these.

This is one of my all-time favorite rock posters. It’s for one of my favorite bands and I love the record it’s promoting. It’s old-school Kozik and it looks crazy under a black light.

There’s one on ebay right now but I think it’s about $80 overpriced. I’ll have one someday. Just not today.