Our old privacy fence has decided to finally give up the ghost a couple of weeks ago during a particularly windy day when it came off its bindings and started to fall. I was planning on replacing it anyway at some point, so this provided just the motivation that I needed.

Here’s a restoration project I’ve been planning to tackle for a long time now. I’ve had this bow for more than a decade, but for the past few years it’s been lying in a basement, neglected and abandoned (but mercifully dry). Of all my bows, this one has always been closest to my heart. It’s the one I have the most...

But first, a demo! Click the image to see the full-size (potato-quality) clip: Winter is coming. I normally visit my club’s 3D archery range either early in the morning before work, or in the evening after, but with the lengthening dark it’s getting harder and harder to spot my arrows in the targets1. Lighted nocks...

I’ve been thinking lately of ways I could shave some grams off my new bike, especially around the wheels, but without spending too much money. I’m no weight weenie by any means—my kickstand attests to that—but I’m also not above reaching for some low-hanging fruit if I can. Enter TPU tubes. If tube manufacturers and...

I still love these colors! That is all.

No, I’m not that aero yet, I’m talking about chain wax. I’ve been meaning to ditch chain oil for a while now, because I’m really fed up with cleaning my drivetrain and un-gunking the jockey wheels all the time. Wax also doesn’t turn into abrasive paste when it meets road dust, which means the drivetrain should also...

I love these colors! That is all. Before After

If this post’s title sounds a little familiar, it’s because this is the second time I rebuild one of these K2 bikes. The bike itself is nothing special–though these entry-level MTBs from the ’90s never cease to amaze me with how well they hold up and how versatile they are–but it does have the distinction of being...

In my last post I wrote about Johann Hari’s book Stolen Focus. The article sparked a really nice discussion over at Hacker News, where a user had this to say: Ideas should be judged on their merits, but based on previous behavior I wouldn’t necessarily trust Johann Hari’s writing out of hand - ie other things in the...

Do you remember the avocado toast guy? I read Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus recently (you should read it, it’s great), and I learned that someone1 has come up with a name for this sort of modern reinterpretation of “let them eat cake”: cruel optimism. Cruel optimism, the way Hari interprets it2, boils down to the folly...

I’m kicking off the new year with a new category on the blog: reviews. There will be books, movies, video games, and maybe even tools. As with everything on this website that practically no one visits, I’m doing this mostly for my own benefit. I’ve found in the past that writing down my thoughts after finishing a...

I don’t have much to say about this bike other than, boy, what an interesting life it must have had. The ceramic wheels can’t have been part of the original equipment, and the AMP Research linkage fork sure wasn’t. The fork looks cool, but feels weird as hell to ride, so I can understand why the design didn’t catch...