A friend of mine, the clever fellow that he is, was dissatisfied with the way his Pletscher Double kickstand interfaced with his Long Haul Trucker frame, so he took it upon himself to design a custom kickstand plate and have it machined out of bar stock by a machinist friend. As you can see in the photos, the result is nothing short of fantastic. The plate is form-fitted and precisely mates with the underside of the frame while providing a level platform for the kickstand. The issue is that it’s a one-off piece that would cost you or I approximately $300 to replicate because of the labor involved in machining the piece. It would sure be nice if Surly would just follow the lead of their competitors like Civia, Rivendell, Soma, and Raleigh and add a kickstand plate to their touring and utility frames. Personally, I’ll never buy another frame that doesn’t include an integrated kickstand plate.

Starting next week, we’ll be choosing one photo per week from our EcoVelo Flickr Group to feature here on the blog. If you’re a budding photographer, or if you simply like sharing your photos, this is an opportunity to gain a little extra exposure. We’ll post your photo, give you full credit and kudos, and link back to your Flickr photostream and blog/website if you have one.

If you’re already a contributor to the EcoVelo Flickr Group and you’d like your existing photos to be considered, simply tag your photos with “evpicoftheweek” (without quotes). If you’re not already a Flickr member, you can sign up here (it’s free). After signing up, simply upload your photos, tag them with “evpicoftheweek” (without quotes), and add them to our group. Good luck, and thanks for participating!

Ellis Cycles from Chris Harris on Vimeo.

Ellis Cycles →

Moving Beyond the Automobile: Biking from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Streetfilms →

This is one of my favorite spots to stop on the trail in the evening. We call it “Woodpecker Alley” because there are almost always Woodpeckers there doing their thing. It’s also a good place to see pheasants ruffling in the brush. The amazing thing is that it’s smack in the middle of a city of 115,000. You can bet that the auto commuters whizzing by at 50 mph one block away have no idea what they’re missing. You’ve gotta’ love bike commuting…

I did a little touch up painting on the Hillborne the other day. I fall somewhere in the middle between those who perfectly match the paint and carefully apply multiple coats (perhaps even sanding between coats), and those who just let the inevitable chips multiply until the rust gets out of hand.

The paint formula came from the RBW Owners Bunch and it calls for 3 drops of Boyd “Orange Pearl” and 1 drop of Testors 1114 Yellow modeler’s enamel. I ended up needing more yellow, and even at 50/50 the touch-up mix was a little too orange (see photo), but it was close enough for me. The main thing is to keep the frame from rusting, and from more than a couple of feet away, the touch up spots pretty much disappear.

How about you? Do you touch up every little chip shortly after it appears, or do you let them accumulate until the rust sets in?

Here’s a photo of the soon to be released Planet Bike Superflash Turbo tail light in use on this morning’s commute. It’s an awesome little light that is still blowing me away with its output, diminutive size, and good runtimes on a 2XAAA power source. Due out this spring at ~$29.95.

Disclosure: Planet Bike is a sponsor of this website.