Projekt Solpro Custom Bikes

off season bike love

2012-02-15T11:53:00.001-05:00

it has been a while indeed. a lot has been going on with wnymba. i am currently VP again! we are currently going through the process to become a imba-charter club. that was approve at the end of last year. new marketing campaigns for the club are moving forward. trail access is maintained with the county and state. and for me personally, a handful of bike builds for clients are in the works! good stuff.

lazy

2010-09-24T00:49:00.000-04:00

soooo, i'm really lazy as of lately. well, as for blogging that is. as for ridding, LOTS! great times with Jeff, Mike, and everyone at wnymba that i see out. as soon as i have a day off from riding and night classes i will give some updates on what has been going on and post some new pics. stay classy san diego!

~ahhhhh dude

stem change up

2010-09-03T23:58:00.000-04:00

well i'm getting all nancy and fancy...so i decided to buy a couple of dirt cheap 2009 shimano pro stems to try some different fit and feel before i go purchase a ballz deep one again. currently i have a 90mm 10 degree rise Thomson Stem. I am currently looking into another Mud-USA stem (they have 85mm and 100mm 7 degree rise just finishing up anodizing this week) or a curent model Easton to match my carbon Easton bars. or i might cop out and buy another Thomson. Either way, riding in circles around my pool doesn't cut it. I need to be on the trails doing runs testing out all these different configurations. Tomorrow is the day...rain or shine, some friends and i are heading out to Sprague Brook Park. anyone that wants to join can feel free. we are leaving transit/french sbux (lancaster/cheektowaga/west seneca borders) at around 9am.

on another side note, i got my stans no tubes conversion kit in the mail! little pissed i didn't notice the fact that because i have such wide rims (27mm, hey they dont bend!) i had to buy the freeride kit which comes with old school schrader valves. urgh, looks like i will be modifying my valve stem hole...oh well, i might try out another set of tires with the tube-less kit...not sure i want to keep using the same tires...

~ahhhhh dude

Hunter's Creek flat tire curse

2010-08-28T19:21:00.000-04:00

yes, it has happened to me...again...as with the luck of many at Hunter's Creek this past 2 weeks i have joined the ranks of flat tires. What a bunch of shit too! i rocked that tube out for multiple flats (could be a bad omen to replace it maybe) and sure enough i get another flat. the funny part about it this time, was the fact that the new flat was no more than 2mm from the old! a thorn pierced the tube right after the last patch i placed weeks ago! what is the luck of that happening! i must be always in the same tire rotation when i run into thorns...or shit just happens and i'm trying to look to deep into it. either way the ride was cut short for capt koons and i...or was it?! as a mtb nerd i am...i always carry my blackburn mammoth dual stroke with patch kit and spare tube. and damn straight it came in handy! flipped that old guy off, pumped that tube and 100 strokes later i was up and running again. the only negative was the lack of day light with made things oh so exciting. well for me, not for capt koons. he wanted to jump straight back and of course me the adventurist that i am decided to take us back downhill and all around the dark ren trails (aka the slow way) back to the pink so i could enjoy more riding. enjoy...hell no! we both went over our handle bars on the same dip on the wet trails by the creek and i went barreling down and into the river bed! what a bunch of shit that was! oh well, lesson learned...even with head lamps, don't ride by the water where is even more wet than usual!

~ahhhhh dude

Hunter's Creek Ride

2010-08-23T21:20:00.002-04:00

holy snap! bad luck with the flats for new mtb friend kyle! mike, kyle, and i went riding at Hunter's a week ago. the trails were pretty solid except when i took us off the yellow and onto the dark blue through the overgrown crap. in turn this led to thorns stuck in kyles tire which turned flat. note to everyone, have a pump in the group with a patch kit. or if you you have different valve stems, have your own too. i was prepared in that situation for the fact that my bikes front tire has a patch on it right now, but unfortunately i did not have an old school pump for kyle. after realizing defeat for the day kyle left and mike and i kept riding. and then mike got separated from me...(whoops i was going a little fast) he took a left?! not the loop to the right and it wound up back at the end of yellow where we started! it took us over 40 min to find each other, ghock bless i had my head lamp, it was pitch black dark by then. we eventually took the pipeline road straight down the skyline ridge and rocked that down in the dark until we found the uphill to head back home. good times though!
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ahhhhh dude...

Sprague Brook Park, Morning ride

2010-08-19T17:46:00.000-04:00

rode the brook today with my buddy alan. solid! started outside at skunk, did creekside...jammed uphill clockwise on the main 5 mile at the bridge...took a left near the top of the hill for the unmaintained parts. took those all the way to the ends, did all the random loops it has going in and out of back of the park where the campsites are...made friends with some families, jammed all the way back down going in and out of the unmaintained loops with the double wide trails as well as the main loop. quality ride we randomly constructed, fun flow as well as nature adventure alike.

Alan breaking his back rim!

2010-08-09T16:47:00.006-04:00

Alan of Team Projekt Solpro clearing that fun jump down by the old cabin at Hunter's Creek. Alan later confirmed that he had too much speed to clear the jump. I conquer.

The post jump interview

busy riding, busy building...

2010-07-29T00:32:00.007-04:00

well everyone. i have been a busy bee as of lately. first off i want to thank everyone that has been supporting me in my little blog adventure that i have taken on. just so everyone knows, i am not the king of mtb. i actually consider myself intermediate if lucky. eventhough i have been riding mountain bikes for over 10 years and atempted some hardcore riding in the past, i just in the past couple of years re embraced the sport and took things to the next level. i love riding bikes in general and my goal is for more people to grab a bike and ride. gary fisher's vision is really inspiring to me and when my friends or co workers that used to pick on me for talking about bikes, what parts i was ordering, and or where i was riding...call me up and ask for advice, or ask me to ride with them...i start to feel accomplished and believe that i had a positive impact on someone somewhere.

soooo, what have i been up to you ask?

i've been riding almost every day in the past couple of weeks. whether taking a quick evening run to hunter's creek, taking the road bike for a little adventure, or grabbing the gf and taking her for a casual afternoon spin. i have also been touring around the local bike shops all around wny and chatting up the business with some new friends and spreading the good word of riding and giving a little free advertising as well. finally i have put back together my trusty trek 4 series, as it will be my "ride around the block" bike with the gf...trying to save the road bike for more serious adventures...

I have a months worth of parts to talk about, and adventures i have had with friends but to be quite frank, i am tired as hell and need to get some rest. soooo, i will post some photos tomorrow and elaborate a little more on my latest ride adventures and talk about what goofy bike builds i have done.

~ahhhhh dude

EVL day trip with gf Amanda

2010-07-26T01:25:00.006-04:00

as i further expand my mtb horizons, i find myself spending more time away from the nest and branching out to new places to ride my bikes. not always do i ride my mountain bike as it can be almost a day or half day trip, so jumping on a mountain/hybrid or my pretty damn classy road bike does the trick. gf amanda and i decided have a little date day and i took her down to ellicottville ny. she has never been there and i had to share some of the beauty that the area has before i drag her to the shit show known as fall fest in october. we had a great day walking around the village, eating dinner at the brewery and riding our bikes! we started in the village went out to holiday valley, up the hill, took some photos and came back down into the village. we took a little break and decided to do a little more. my poor gf how i bust her ass to ride, haha. again we went out of the village but this time took mill road out to the corn fields (very lovely scenic route i must add) and took a right at brewery rd and hooked back up with the 219 passing holiday valley and eventually back into the village. it a great casual just over 10 mile total day ride and i'm glad my gf is starting to become active in cycling and is joining me, even if it isn't crazy trail riding.

~ahhhhh dude

2010-07-26T01:22:00.003-04:00

I came across this while i was setting up my projektsolpro youtube site, and i figured though nothing new, everyone that wants to ride and does ride should know this. balance is everything, and developing this technique has saved me from many falls and whacking my nuts on my stem. mike, i know if you're reading this you will conquer...haha

see saw?!

2010-07-26T01:01:00.004-04:00

short cell phone video shot by my buddy alan at Sprague Brook Park. We were out hitting up the trails last week and i almost forgot we shot some silly videos. nothing too crazy here, but if anything you can see basic balance technique on how to go over a weighted see saw. fun stuff on the trails always.

~ahhhhh dude

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Hitting The Trails

2010-07-23T15:55:00.001-04:00

Projekt Solpro Custom Bikes Promo Video

2010-07-20T23:39:00.006-04:00

My good friend Mike of Eat.Sleep.Bike.Blog.com took some video of me biking last week and threw together a little commercial for Projekt Solpro. It's awesome! Take a look and let me know what you think by commenting below:

Thanks.

2010-07-20T18:36:00.001-04:00

i'm heading off to hunters creek at 7p, anyone can join up...i will scope the trails out and check to see how they are handling these random 1hr thunder storms that fly through lately...seems to be drying up all over town, now off to mother hunter! also, just got my new Oakley flak jacket XLJ polarized, super pumped to try these out!

LOTS OF RIDING

2010-07-16T00:41:00.003-04:00

I have a lot to say about riding lately, but not today. Hunter's Creek is finally "mixed" thank God! Sprague Brook is my new hood so far this season, and many friends are meeting me out. good times indeed. I will elaborate on more this weekend.

Hunter's Creek Ride 7/8/10

2010-07-10T00:14:00.005-04:00

Or should I start this off as stating Hunter's Creek Video shoot?! First off, I really feel bad for ya buddy...Mike, your bike broke, not even 5 minutes into the ride. We were on the trail leading to the trails when your pedal stripped and broke off your crank arm...which leads me to today's topic and title of the movie we shot "friends don't let friends ride sh!t*y bikes" All in good jest my friend Mike is new to the sport and like I was before, did not want to spend a lot of money up front to find out you do not like a sport. Hey, even I started small, and as I advanced kept buying better bikes, and or components, up until I started building my own bikes, custom to my liking. In all reality though, a Toys 'R Us/Target/Walmart/i don't care where else bike, that is not meant for the sport is not good to ride.
1.) it will break
2.) it's not meant for the sport
3.) it says on a sticker "not meant for off road use and
4.) safety.

Seriously, no joke, my buddy almost jacked himself up by the pedal breaking and him almost face planting the handle bars and falling off his bike. If you are going to be at all serious about riding then you must have the proper gear! We all should understand that riding trails or any aggressive sport for that matter is "ride at your own risk" but please use common sense. I'm not saying go spend $1000 at the LBS, or only buy custom bikes from me, but know what your physical limits are, what the bike is meant to handle, and understand you will need to fix things semi often/and or maintain them. This should be a learning experience for all.

On a happy note, Mike and I focused the frustration of the botched ride and busted out the trusty Flip-Video HD and shot some footage of me riding! Maybe a little on the cheesy side, but I only have random still photos of me posing, nothing of my riding style. This will be used for myself as a learning experience of how i ride, what i do/look like, and for a fun promotional video that Mike (the master of media and web design) is putting together for this site. On a side note, Mike and I attended high school together in West Seneca and took all levels of media productions. Mike furthered his schooling in Computer Science and continued talent with photo and video, where I drifted to audio production engineering and Business school. I'm not going to lie, together we have a blast and can create some fun stuff. Hopefully this biking projekt, his blog (www.EatSleepBikeBlog.com), and our ideas together will some day turn into something big.

Moving on to Hunter's Creek, I have not been there in weeks, as I have been adhering to czar's "avoid" rating from wnymba.org It is always a mess there after it rains, and needs to dry before riding. As you can read I have been spending a lot of my time at Sprague Brook this year thus far. As much as I love my new favorite park, I am still partial to Hunter's Creek and vastly enjoy its bittersweet misery it throws at me. But hold up, where the heck did the switch back come from?! I know some wnymba members and locals from Friends of Hunters Creek where heading out there to help out, (as have I been patching) but holy crap! I feel like every time i ride, (or attempt to) something looks different, but this time it was better! I was amazed at how good the trails were starting to look, and with a little more tlc, another trail or two could be added to my list of decent trails to ride again! On a side note, it rained real bad again today, so my hopes were crushed for another week (of hopeful dry weather) but at least i finally got to ride on another trail besides the only one I have this whole season. Bottom line, if you do not know what you are doing STAY AWAY from hunters creek. It does not need any more damage done to it. I personally try to help out with wnymba as a rookie member I am, patching and communicating on how to better the trails we have. Riding through mud pits, or widening the trails does not help at all and pisses a lot of people off.

To recap: 1.) friends don't friends ride sh!t% bikes and 2.) Hunter's Creek "avoid"

WTB Weirwolf Tires 2009 Model

2010-07-07T17:06:00.005-04:00

Well, i just received my tires in the mail! I'm super excited to put these on. I have currently been riding Kenda Nevegals for years now and i am long over due to try something new. I have been a longtime fan of WTB's products. I currently use their rims, seats and now tires. The Weirwolf tire is WTB's flagship model and even though it was just recently remodeled for the 2010 series, i (as many others) have stated that these are still the standard, tried and true. These tires have always been rated with 4+ out of 5 stars. The Weirwolf tire is meant for the mountain biking enthusiast and i am going to be trying out the 2.3 Race model. It has a folding Aramid bead, DNA rubber compound, and a lightweight casing rated at 60 TPS. It's an all mountain tire meant for wet to dry, hardpark to loose. If you live in the wny area, this will suit you just fine. Hopefully i will get these bad boys on my bike by this weekend so by the end of next week i can have a review for you!

Here's a cool video on how WTB developed the Weirwolf:

WeirWolf Tire Development from WTB on Vimeo.

Spraque Brook Ride 7/6/10

2010-07-06T20:32:00.002-04:00

Headed out today with Alan to Sprague Brook. Excellent riding conditions. We took the long loops and went from the east side all the way around crossing the river and took most of the west side to the the hill down. Great times indeed, hopefully going out again later this week. The warm weather is finally kicking in, helping the trails dry and starting to become very fast. Some spots on the west side were awesome to keep speed and go whipping down the trail. A "man picnic" ended the afternoon with some grilled chicken, quality beers and a dip in the pool...pretty good.

Trail Ride Appointments

2010-07-02T17:52:00.004-04:00

Hey guys, I just landed my first appointment for beginner Mountain Bike Riding. Anyone who is interested let me know! My goal is to get everyone that loves the outdoors and biking to enjoy the sport and see what it is really all about! contact me at projektsolpro@gmail.com today to check my availability.

Gary Fisher Collection

2010-06-30T10:15:00.001-04:00

well, I'm about 2 weeks late on this but I decided to put my 2 cents in anyways. As many of us have read on June 16th, Trek announced that the Gary Fisher bicycle brand is being discontinued and fully integrated into Trek Bikes. Trek has owned majority of Gary Fisher's bike brand for over 15 years and have had a great relationship. Gary Fisher has an amazing amount of passion for the bicycle community and wants everyone on a bike. Now, with further integration into the brand, that may become more of dream come true. It makes sense from a financial standpoint. Having two brands competing in the same market for multiple bike types doesn't make sense. Focusing R&D saves time and money, and having the Gary Fisher Signature collection stamp on a handful of special models like 29'ers, dual sport and other types (the new Transport) really simplifies the process and create ease of distribution, since Trek has many many many more dealerships across the country. Keeping things niche and simple also allows Gary Fisher to focus on the project and the passion of putting a bike into everyone's hands in the world. Bottom line, I think this was a good business decision by both Gary Fisher and Trek, and now a lot of pretty bad ass custom bikes are popping up from the Fisher line. I might just go grab myself that Transport model and go get myself some groceries at my local Wegmans!

Spraque Brook Ride 6/29/10

2010-06-29T19:55:00.004-04:00

Well fellow Mountain Bikers, I got the opportunity to sit down and write about my ride today at Spraque Brook today. For those of you unfamiliar, the park is Erie County owned and has more recently been updated and gaining popularity in the mountain biking community. Unlike Hunters Creek Park in South Wales, Spraque Brook does not take weeks (if not months) to dry out and has more flow to it. It is a very rocky and rooty course and the loops have many twists and turns in every direction. This was my first time out there this year and i am glad i went. It was still a little damp in some spots (see weather updates at www.wnymba.org) but overall was a good challenging ride. I only rode for an hour (stopping multiple times) so i did not venture on all of the trails. I will try to post a map outline later this week. I have a couple of photos i will post up following this post. Lastly, I did have a wipe out. At first i thought it wasn't that bad, but a couple of hours later I am feeling the pain in my shoulder and upper back. Slightly nasty fall over the handle bars, but ehhh it happens when you do not know the trail too well and go whipping through the final stretch! Bottom line, everyone needs to get out to Spraque Brook this year. Personally i plan on getting out every week if I can. It is definitely worth the extra 15 minutes for me to drive out there.

Welcome to Projekt Solpro

2010-06-28T22:42:00.000-04:00

My name is TJ Zydel and I am the owner of Projekt Solpro Custom Bikes right here in Buffalo New York. We specialize in building and modifying custom trail bikes, cross country bikes and all-mountain bikes to suit all of your biking needs. This website is also going to feature product reviews on popular biking equipment from Trek, Giant, Easton, SRAM and WTB among others. Lastly, this site will also have a ton of articles and expert tips on all things related to trail and mountain biking.

Thanks for stopping by!
~TJ