Urbanus Magnus

The planning continues, and now I've managed to figure out all the stops, the route and where we will camp on our journey from Florence to Rome, Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi coast. The aeroplane has been booked - leaving May 31 from Toronto Pearson, to arrive June 1 in Florence. We will be returning almost 3 weeks later, flying out on June 18th with 2 layovers (Frankfurt, Germany, and Washington, D.C.) before we arrive back in Toronto. The Itinerary in Brief: 5/31 -  18:40 departure from Toronto 6/1 - 14:00 arrival in Florence! ----> Rest-up day. 6/2 - Touring Florence, seeing the sights. 6/3 - Florence to San Gimignano: 74km        - 8:00 departure by bike        - ETA 17:00        - 17:00 - 20:00; dinner + evening in town        - 21:00; Lodging - arrival @ Camping Baschetto di Piemma 6/4 - San Gimignano to Colleoli: 53km        - 8:00 -13:00; breakfast/tour/lunc...

Update 13/05/13: After one bicycle trip abroad and probably 2500km more, I have not developed any issues with this headset. Nor have I disassembled it for maintenance - the seals have held up and it has been a solid performer through-and-through. After a little more than 1000km, I thought I'd start doing a follow-up on some components. Full Speed Ahead's (FSA) The Hammer headset is the first up for review. The FSA "The Hammer" headset is a cheap/economical loose-ball headset for threadless systems, and I managed to purchase mine for $16 + ~$2 shipping. Not bad for any headset, especially one billed as "Heavy Duty". But how has it fared? Well, when I bought it, the box had opened during shipping, and the bottom bearing seal had fallen out. Disappointing, but no fault of FSA. So, in order to use it right away after installation, I used to top seal on the bottom - not a great seal, but more protection that none at all. Later, the seller sent me ...

Got up early this past Saturday morning at the behest of my pal, who reminded me that the Toronto Int'l Bike Show was on this weekend, March 2-4. It's a place where all of the big names in cycling in Toronto (plus a few other major brands) meet to strut their stuff, and where a few bargains can be found for those so inclined - such as myself. This time it was held in the Better Living Centre of Exhibition Place, as opposed to the Fall "Blowout" show, which is much smaller, and held elsewhere at Exhibition Place. Here are some shots of the show: From Entrance Trek Bike store's display And of course, there are a buncha bikes to drool over. Lots of carbon, whether road or MTB. The bike show seems to cater to "what's new", of course, so there were tons of fancy lightweight components on the road bikes, and 29er bikes galore! Enough carbon here to solve China's energy problems... ...with more carbon! Argon's display ...