Windows 8 Photo "App"

If you're like me and like being able to open a picture without having everything disappear because the bundled "photo app" hijacks the desktop space, you'll want to do the following.

Option 1:
Uninstall the Photo "app" (it's a program, call it what it is people.  Unless app is short for crap, which most of them are....) from the start screen.  Just right click the tile, move your mouse to the bottom bar and hit uninstall. That will get rid of it for ever (I hope) and image viewer will take over.

Option 2:
Right click on any image file and choose "open with..."  Tick the box that makes it the default then choose image viewer.

At first I was worried that image viewer wasn't bundled anymore, but they wouldn't be that dumb, right?  After all, it's not like they removed support for .gif files or anything, no siree...

Musings of a tech dinosaur

These days, it seems like I've already become obsolete.  All the tech I use is at least three or four years out of date and multiple generations old.  What's more, I have no desire to move where modern technology is headed.  The current and potentially permanent rise of slates was far predated by microsoft's tablet initiative, which, to me, was and still is superior to any android, apple, or windows 8R platform.  Full speed hardware with OEM hardware and software tweaks for low power and TDP outshine gimped tablets.  I don't want 2 different infrastructures and UIs and systems to get used to.  In the past, one might have said i should go apple.  But even iOS doesn't mimic OSX in interface and usage. 

What happened to the start menu?  I will concede that old windows mobile devices were hampered by their contemporary technological failings.  Large resistive touchscreens were hard to make in high quality, capacitive screens were usually restricted to POS and terminals, battery technology was poor(er) and as a whole, the stylus was a must on a 1.5" touchscreen.  But honestly.  If you took iOS and scaled it to a 1.5" screen, I'm sure you'd be complaining about how hard it was to use too.  Capacitive touch has no accuracy, you have to use your entire fingerpad.  A good resistive screen is both responsive and inherently more accurate than a respective capacitive screen.  However I digress.  What I am saying is that the dumbed down "finger friendly" interfaces were a result of the inadequacy of capacitive touch, relegating information density to the pits of hell.  And if you put winmo 6 and up into a 1.2GHz dual core system, I'm sure it would be quite peppy.  If you took the latest android build and slapped it on old winmo 200MHz hardware, the cause of a lot of winmo hate, I doubt you could even get out of the lock screen.

The start menu in windows mobile is what keeps me coming back, despite the Windows CE's obvious flaws and shortcomings.  Consistency in behavior and design is just as important as the actual interface.

And as far as I'm concerned, current trends in UI development are disturbing.  What happened to colors and borders?  Sure, they may look garish and ugly, sure a monochrome button and UI element scheme looks pretty against a blank desktop, but then it becomes fine art rather than a tool.  In my experience, color and well defined buttons and borders increase efficiency and recognition speed.  Even as I type this, I look at the blogger wysiwyg interface and see... tons of white with closely spaced, poorly defined, and most importantly, a pitifully small color pallet.  White, very light grey, and a splash of orange on buttons I only need to use once.  Items in a vertical column should be divided with explicit horizontal dividers that stand out from the background.  A one or two pixel bar with a low contrast color does not a divider make.  Yes, when you mouse over the button, it is highlighted by a very low contrast orange hue, but it's barely visible if the mouse is left over the button and more importantly, I'm not a blind old man.  I don't need to hover my mouse over every letter I see.  I use my eyes first and the mouse follows when I begin to recognize the button I want.

I was just looking at Onenote 2013's new interface and it's the same issue.  The notebooks are separated by... white space which happens to also be the color of the background for evey single UI element in the program.  In ON2007, the notebooks, tabs, taskbars, etc. are all in their own boxes, where you can find them and where they don't run into the workflow.  Can you imagine typing text next to the list of notebooks?  Where does the label end and the document begin?

Windows 98/95 UI styling may be ugly as sin, and the color choices were crimes in and of themselves, but they worked and you didn't have to worry about loosing the command line in your word document.  If they start making everything white with no borders and distinguishing elements, I'm going to get lost trying to navigate my folders.  Oh, but wait.  That's the whole point of libraries and file managers isn't it?  With things like winamp, foobar, WMC, windows libraries, tablet file systems, and the myriad of other hands-off file systems, you let the program decide where things should go.  Well sorry if I want to have control over where things are kept.  Nothing beats a well designed hierarchical file system that doesn't rely on a third party to find you things.  Metatags get corrupted, programs stop working, but the basic, NTFS or ZFS files organization remains.  I've always hated windows libraries.  Sure, it makes finding things easier, but that assumes I only consume.  If I want to chose where a file is saved, I have to leave the library system and hunt down the folder I want anyway or the library might steal it away and hide it somewhere I'll never find it without another third party search program like "everything" and then we are right back where we started.



In closing, long live the start menu and window borders!

Rack and Baskets

So it's been a while but here is a small update.  About a month and a half ago, I added a rear rack and a folding wire basket to the folding bike.  I immediately noticed that the bike drove like a pig once I added it, but didn't think too much of it.  A few days ago, I took off the rack and I was shocked.  What was a twitchy big rig suddenly turned into a fighter jet.  I'm not exaggerating, acceleration, control in and out of turns, heavy leans, all felt like I had complete control.  I could finally get the bike to do exactly what I wanted it to, it was like riding an entirely different bike.  I'm not too happy about losing the cargo/carrying capacity but I think I'm willing to make the sacrifice for the sheer fun I had once I got rid of the dead weight.

So anyway, don't bother with a rack on the downtube nova, it kills the fun of the ride.  You lose out on the steering control you get with the smaller wheelbase and 20" tires.

Also, on the topic of updates to the Nova, the first set of rims I ordered were sewups and no good because a tubular 20" tire is near $100 a tire and like hell I'm spending that much.  A shame really, 'cause the rims are nice.

I did want a new front wheel to replace the terrible stock wheel so i got the cheapest laced rim on amazon with nuts instead of QR levers.  The quality shows.  The hub that came with the sew-ups spun great and had little friction.  The hub on the amazon wheel is a little better than the stock nova hub, but a step up from crap is still a foot in a pile of manure.  The tire I used for the new wheel is a Kojack and it seems much more resistant to glass on the road.  There are a lot of broken bottles on my route and it helps my peace of mind.  I still check my tires after every ride I see glass on, so far so good.

Downtube's tire

I'm still waiting for my new rims, but I wanted to get back on the road, so I patched the front tire yesterday.  Turns out I hit a patch of orange glass and a piece went right through the tread and took out the tube.  I hope my new Kojak's race-guard is more puncture proof.  I'm surprised I didn't loose all my air while still on the bike.  The patch was easy and I put a second patch on the tire itself as a makeshift boot.

While I was at it, I added the rack and one of the baskets I ordered.  I took a trip to trader joes with the basket and biked back to school.  The bike handled like a pig due to the added unbalanced weight.  and the steel rack and folding basket is easy to feel when you pick it up.  The rack does make carrying it considerably easier, so it's a pretty much of a tradeoff.  I'll post more about the rack and how it went on in a later post when I have some new pictures. 

Nova Update

This morning on a quick 1 mile commute, the bike's front tire got a flat.  I'm not sure of the cause because I didn't do a repair at the time, but the hole was in the center of the tread so I don't think it was a pinch.  The air seemed to be leaking through the tire because I could hear it while riding the last 200m to the front door of my house and saw the water bubbling on the tire's surface.

And that there ends the life of the first tube.  Good thing I bought a bunch of spare tubes.  When the new front wheel arrives, I'll throw on the kojak I bought and one of the new tubes.

DIY Fenders

So here is a little tidbit for all of you watching the Downtube Nova review:
I made myself a rear fender because a set of plastic fenders from my LBS would set me back $44 and that is just silly.  So for $6.99 worth of aluminium flat stock and $6.99 for a spool of 14guage steel wire and about 2 hours total time and labor including design and procurement of the materials, I now have a spiffy new rear fender.

They turned out to be very useful because it's been raining all weekend and I biked from my house in the rain today.

I think they turned out pretty nice.
I'm planning on adding an etched design on the fender.  Leaves, flames, dots, something pretty.

The little Nova already attracts stares, but I already had someone compliment me on them today.  Pimp my ride-understated edition!

I made an instructables:
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Bike-Fenders/?ALLSTEPS

Anyway, what you really want to see, pictures:

Quick Update on the Downtube Nova's hinge

A few days ago, I rode about 3/4 of a mile with the hinge unlocked.  The Dahon hinge was designed well and didn't open on me during the ride.  I didn't even find out till after I got back and was folding it away.

2011(?) Downtube Nova - work in progress

So here is the promised Downtube Nova overview.

When I was buying the bike, I had a lot of trouble finding good reviews and critiques about the bike.  A handful of blogs and some bike forums about conversions supplied me with most of what I know about the bike.  I figured I would help others by compiling my research because the specs for the bike on downtube are inaccurate or unhelpful.  It's now my main get-around bike so I will be racking up some considerable time (for me) on it.

I'll put a comprehensive list at the end of the post, but I want the bulk of the page devoted to my feelings about the bike and what I think rather than a clinical listing of cheap parts.

Unboxing and first impressions:

Well, the box was pretty big.  They ship the Nova in a folded state with almost everything ready to ride.  There is a substantial amount of Styrofoam and cardboard padding, between the box and frame.  However, there wasn't enough padding where frame met frame, leading to some paint damage.
There was a lot of unwrapping, but once you get the frame out of the box and wrapping, it looks pretty sweet.  On the hinge, there is a black plastic cover to protect the linkage.  I tried to unfold it without removing it, and that didn't go so well.  It does its job.


Besides the bike, there was  a piece of velcro (hook and hoop fastener) to keep the bike folded together, a manual and bad instructions, and a piece of black plastic with 2 clips.  One of the clips was broken and it was pretty warped to boot.  Anyway, I don't use it and I don't need it.
Doing a quick once over, I went through the bolts, tightening what I could find.  I also reseated the wheels in the dropouts; factory ships them out with the wheels about 1/2 a cm out of the drops.

Lifting the bike, you get the feeling it is really light.  It isn't that light, but the size and compactness deceives.  The tubes have a bit of machine-grit that should be wiped away and the headset is just a little off.  The instructions advise aligning the headset, but I found there wasn't a whole lot of adjustment possible.

The handlebar hinge looks pretty sturdy.  Although it looks like plastic, the entire hinge is cast aluminium or steel.  The only plastic is the twist lever for locking the hinge down. 



Components:

The brakes and levers are C-Star branded.  As you can see here, calling them passable is being generous.  I haven't had a whole lot of trouble with them while riding, they stop the bike well enough and once you set them, they stay aligned okay.  I am using the stock pads, and I'm sure a pad upgrade would change things dramatically, but why put good $10 pads on something you could replace for $15-$20.  On the other hand, most of the complaints are about wet weather stopping.  Well, I live in Portland.  Wet weather is pretty much the norm.  Maybe I haven't had "really good" disc brakes, but they stop about as well wet as dry so I would have to disagree on that point.  These will be the first thing I swap out, for safety if nothing else.


On the stock bike, there are 20" kenda kampaign K177 1.2" tires on 20" 1.5" Rainbow Dino VP-20 rims with schrader holes.  The tires are rated fir 45-60 PSI.
Out of the box, the wheels are out of true.  Lateral true is pretty out of shape but the radial true is something nasty.  I'll need to get that looked at.  I checked the spokes and rim tape before I inflated the tube, and everything seemed fine.  The kampaigns have a light V-tread which, according to Sheldon Brown, are useless on the road.  On the rear wheel is a 7 speed freewheel.  More details on that later.










The shimano shifter is a SIS indexed 7 speed twist grip shifter.  Coming from a SRAM trigger type shifter on my Monona, I was a bit disappointed by the shifter.  Don't get me wrong, it shifts just fine.  it's just that I'm used to the convenience of not twisting my wrists and trying to count/feel out each detent as I shift. That being said, I have had no problems with slippage. When going through 3 or 4 gears at a time, there is the expected chain jerk, but nothing more and I never lose power. Sometimes it is quite violent and my feel can slip off, but it's worse on my Monona so that is neither here nor there.


The derailleur is a short arm mountain bike type D-TZ50D.  It bears the tourney series name.   It rests about 3"(7.7cm) off the ground, so clearance on tight curves may be a problem. On the other hand, the folding rest stand is also pretty low to the ground, so I wouldn't take this off roading anytime soon. Out of box, the derailluer was a little off to the inside. The included tuning guide is a b&w printout of their webpage, except the webpage has links on how to adjust each step. The printed sheets do not go into detail, so I would suggest just tossing them for this guide on their site.

The rear cog is a Shimano MF-TZ07 14-28 freewheel. Being a freewheel, replacement freewheels that increase gearing to a reasonable range are hard to find.  There are some vintage and a few new 11-(30,32,34) hubs on ebay by some Chinese manufacturer.  At $30 not including shipping, they are considerably cheaper than buying or building a new 20" cassette wheel.

The cranks are the cheap kind, welded to the sprocket.  If you want to upgrade, those'll have to go.  They come with a small plastic chain guard on either side of the crank.  It's plastic and is in 2 part, sandwiching the sprocket between them. As you can see, they are attached with 5 phillips screws.  The bike comes with folding flat pedals.  To fold them, you pull out on the round metal centers and fold at the bearing.  If you want a cage or strap, you'll want to make sure they don't interfere with the fold.

As it is, the gearing leaves a large gap on either side of the performance scale.  It cannot handle the steep hills around my school very well in either direction.  Uphill, you really have to fight to keep moving.  It could be a lot worse, but I wish the largest was a 30 or 32.  Downhill, it maxes out at ~18 mph.  Beyond that and you are just spinning out.  The most I have gone was 25mph, which also happens to be the speed limit for cars on residential streets in the US.  At that speed, the bike seems to hold together just fine.  Nothing that shouldn't be moving was moving and I didn't notice any rattling or strange noises.  It actually handled the downhill speeds a little better than the monona as far as steering and frame flex.  I haven't taken it down a really long grade yet so I'll report on that when I do.

Speaking of which.  I took off the standard grips and threw on some bar ends.  I taped them yesterday (just the bar ends) so we'll see how they help the ride.  When my hands are on the ends, I really have no way of getting to the brake levers so I reserve riding on them for uphill and straightaways with good visibility.  The inner diameter of the flat bar is typical of cheap flats and is much smaller than an road bike's tube.  It makes getting plugs in really hard.  All I can advise is to use an excess of appropriately applied force.







Frame and other parts:

The stock seat post is a 30.4" OD Alu tube with a black paint job.  As some other have complained, the black paint gets rubbed off where you clamp it.  Purely aesthetic, but a pain nonetheless.  The thickness is about the same size as the dahon seat posts and I suspect they are interchangeable.

The stock seat itself is pretty nasty.  It's pretty thick foam and you sort of sink in a bit.  I think a seat post or seat with suspension would be a good upgrade to help with the rough ride.





When not in use, the seat post can be lowered into the seat tube, which is open at the bottom.  When fully lowered and only the reflector on the tube, it stocks out of the bottom by a few inches.  Once you add a post-rack or lights or lock holder, you probably won't be lowering it it much.  It doesn't do much for the footprint and makes getting it ready to ride all the longer.  I usually don't bother folding the handlebars either.  Since I added the endbars, the fold is a bit precarious.  If space is really at a premium, the lowered seat combined with the folded handles drops the height of the folded bike to about 60cm or about 24".  That's shorter than most full sized bike tires.


As you can see, I got the green version.  The paint job is pretty smooth without major bubbles or rough spots.  It does damage easily though, which is another complain I found online.  I'm going to have to get some clear nail polish to touch the damaged spots up and when the rainy season is over, I'll probably wax it.  It is an aluminium frame, but I don't want the nice green to start flaking off everywhere.

The warped and broken piece of plastic I mentioned earlier was supposed to go on the little trapezoid underneath the bottom bracket.  When folded, the bike is supposed to rest upon the bar, and the little bit of plastic is to keep the paint from getting damaged.  Apart from the fact that the stand protector was broken, it looked pretty ugly to boot.  Instead, I wrapped some nylon cord around the bottom of the stand like I was whipping the end of a rope.  I'm a little worried that it'll trap water, but since the frame is aluminium, rusting isn't too big of an issue I suppose.  It looks good though and matches the black components nicely.  While folded, the bike balances on the little stand pretty well, but if the front wheel starts to turn out, the bike can tip right over.  Whenever I store it folded, I usually turn the front wheel into the rear wheel and that keeps it upright pretty well.

Something I read online was that the positioning of the folded wheels allows it to be wheeled around like a little pull trolley by the seat post.  I found that it didn't work so well.  It likes to wobble too much and is very ungainly.  I'd much rather just pick it up and carry it under my arm, where it tucks in nicely. 

As Downtube lists on their product listing, there is a braze-on derailleur mount on the seat tube above the cranks.  Under the bottom bracket, there are populated braze-on cable mounts for the rear brake, and the rear derailleur, and an empty braze on set for the front derailleur cables.  Good foresight on Downtube's part.


A close look at the forks shows that the rear dropouts can support a disc brake as can be seen here, although it seems like it needs a machined adapter plate.  The front fork however does not have the pair of mounts discs seem to need as shown here and I'm not sure about the fork strength.

On the "top tube", there are two braze-ons for a water bottle cage or pump holder.  One of the braze-ons seem to have been cross-threaded when it was manufactures and strips any socket screw I try to use.  I'm planning on getting a tap and die set in the near future, and when I do, I'll try to re-cut those threads.  Until then, the braze-ons are mostly useless.  That said, online I read complaints that said the top tube was too close to horizontal to keep bottles from falling out of the cages.  It really depends on the type of cage I suppose.  There are a lot of images online of people who put cages on the braze-ons, and of those who use handle bar mounted holders.

As a heads up, the Nova spec site, http://downtubesg.blogspot.com/, lists the rear hub to be 130mm, standard road bike spacing.  However, the rear is actually 135mm, standard mountain bike spacing.  I confirmed the original report from here (Post #3).

This was also confirmed by an email from Dr. Yan in 2012

Got a quick reply from Dr. Yan:

1) What is the rear spacing of the frame? (126mm / 130mm /135mm)
we have had 130's and 135's the latest ones should be 135's

2) What is the spacing of the front fork? (74mm / 80mm / 100mm)
100

3) What is the width and threading of the bottom bracket?
68x114 (as I recall)

4) What is the head set size? 1” or 1 1/8”
1 1/8"

5) What is the size of the seat post?
550mm (L) 30.4mm (D)

6) Is there touchup paint available for the bikes?
No

7) Are there any geometry specs that can be found? (effective top tube length, etc..)
We do not have them, however it is a Dahon licensed frame, hence you can get the info from them

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-575616-p-5.html


 Ride impressions:
---
After going out on the really hilly side streets this Tuesday, I discovered a few things and confirmed a few more.  Some people wrote that the handlebars creaked if you lean too much weight into it, and they were right.  No matter how tight you make the aluminium hinge, if you bear into it, you get this unpleasant creak.  I also confirmed that the gearing is really insufficient to hilly areas.  I found myself bottoming out on the smallest gear and spinning out on most of the downhills.  The crappy streets I was riding on are a pretty good test and you feel every little crack and pebble.  Even if you ride through them on the pedals, you still feel the jolt.  If you go off any kind of jump/sidewalk-street joint, the back of the bike bucks and you feel like you'll be thrown forward over the bars.
The stock tubes need to be carefully monitored.  It has been a little over 2 weeks, and it has already dropped 6 PSI or so.  I recently bought new tubes and a single Schwalbe kojack tire for when I upgrade the wheels. 

We have seen a lot of rain these past few days and I really need to get fenders at some point.  Every night, the bike is dripping wet and splattered with mud.





Upgrade Tree:

Apart from hard to find 20" fenders, the upgrade tree is as follows:

1-New V-brakes & pads and levers for the front
2-New rear wheel build with a 7 speed cassette
3-New front wheel build
4-New derailleur/cassette (8 or 9 sp) and new rear brakes and pads.

I was originally planning on making this an ebike with a middrive or RC motor, but I'll hold off on that until I get to level 2 or 3 on the upgrade tree.

--update--
I just bought some components and tools for upgrades.  They should arrive sometime in the next week or two.

• 2 bare 20" Araya Aero rims
• 1 laced 20" Araya Aero wheel
• 100 12mm 14G nipples
• 3 20" rim straps (rim tape alternatives)
• 1 Avid SD5 Linear pull brake
• 1 Avid FR5 brake lever
• A set of brake cables
• a chain breaker
• a 14G spoke wrench

I plan on purchasing a rear hub for a 8 or 9 sp cassette and a new derailleur, but the brake levers are the most important upgrade for now, alongside the new front wheel.

I went to my LBS today and saw that a set of fenders for my 20" wheels are $44, I said like hell.  I'll be making some fenders this weekend from some aluminium stock and some steel wire.

2011 Gary Fisher Update

I managed to crash the bike on monday after a sharp turn at speed.  The front wheel did a 180 and probably pinched.  I think the rim is a bit bent, but other than that, the bike seems in good shape considering.

I basically went pavement surfing for a few feet underneath the bike with the gearing side facing the pavement.  I'm surprised the derailleur hanger isn't bent.  Chain lept off the gears, but that wasn't a problem to get back on.

The default tires are pretty easy to get on and off the rims, so fixing flats on the road won't be too bad.
Turns out my 15 minute crash course in tire repair 7 years ago stuck and the repair is good.
Anyway, banged up my knee and palm something fierce so I haven't ridden it since, but I'll be taking it to the LBS soon to get it checked out.

In other related news, I bought a Downtube Nova folding bike on Monday and it should get here by next week.  I got the green version.  Somehow I really like that color, even though I wouldn't buy anything else green if my life depended on it.

A review and comprehensive spec update soon.

2011 Gary Fisher Monona Review

I bought a Gary Fisher Monona from my LBS in November and I've been trying to get as much time on it as I could.  It's my first real-non department store-bike and the first bike I've ridden in at least three or four years.  As a result, I did a lot of research on components and frames.  I toyed with the idea of buying a road bike from Bikes Direct but for my first bike, I decided that one from a LBS would be safest.  So off I went and the two models that were recommended were the Monona and Trek's belt drive coaster.  As it had been a good many years since I rode a bike and with Portland being a nightmare of hills and all, I decided to go with the monona in matte grey.  It helped that it was on winter clearance.  i'm not the best person to write a review, but seeing as there aren't a whole lot of reviews for the bike I felt like I should add my $0.02.  Anyway, on to the review...

2011 Gary Fisher Monona 
Distributed by Trek

Components (from bikepedia.com)

• Aluminium TIG welded frame
• Cromoly(?) front fork single crown
• Avid SD3 brakes???, Avid FR5 levers (I think mine are SRAMs...)
• Shimano Alivo Shifters
• Front Derailleur: Shimano M191
• Rear Derailleur: Shimano M591 Deore
• Crankset: Shimano M411 (26,36,48)
• Pedals: Wellgo nylon w/ "alloy" cage & nylon strap
• Bottom Bracket???
• Rear Cog: 8-speed (11-28)
• Chain???
• Seatpost: Bontrager SSR
• Saddle: Bontrager H1
• Handlebars: Bontrager Low riser
• Handlebar Stem: Bontrager SSR
• Slimstack headset
• Front Hub:???
• Rear: Shimano RM60
• Rims: Bontrager Nebula (32)

From the list, it's easy to tell that there aren't high class components here.  Tons of Bontrager components are telling of a OTS bike.  There is also the usual but not a bad idea, hodgepodge of low and even lower components.  The brakes are good for the price but I really want to swap them out for something that will handle the hills and rain a bit better.  The wheel rims are grooved and the included pads aren't all weather so0 they make a lot of noise.  In general, the components are at or above the price range I would expect from a shop bike.  Of course, an online model would have better parts for the same price, but you use what you get. 
-note-I think the list may be wrong on some parts, but I don't have my bike with me to check.  Ill update that later.

Saddle:
The most important part of the bike (for me anyway) was comfort.  Sadly, as with most OTS bikes, the saddle was like a rock.  After the first long ride up a few steep (15-25% grade) hills, I found that I had some deep muscle tissue bruising.  Suffice it to say, I limped around and winced at every stairwell for about 2 weeks. 

Grips:
The handlebar grips were your basic rubber grips.  I found myself leaning into the handlebars up the really nasty incline and the installed grips were just not cutting it.  I have mild carpal tunnel and I have to take care of my wrists.  I swapped them out with Ergon wings from amazon.  They help a lot.

Frame:
It's an alu frame, like most of Trek's models.  The TIG welded joints have a fat and generally even bead.  I'm no TIG welder, but from what I've read, they are fine.  The forks are straight with a considerable amount of cant(?) to them, leading to a longer wheelbase.  That didn't really help because on the 15.5" frame, the front wheel is still VERY close to the down tube.  When I first get the bike going or take a sharp turn, my foot hits the fender braces.  This is due in part to the short space and my foot being too far forward on the pedals.

The frame includes the standard water bottle lugs on the top and seat tubes.  It has eyelets for fenders and a rack.  Gary Fisher bikes are supposed to have lugs for disc brakes too, so that's nice.  I can't really tell though.

When researching and riding the bike, I was a bit confused.  The frame and handlebars and category fall under hybrid commuters, but the length of the top tube makes you lean into the ride more than most hybrids.  My friend even pointed out that the default position on the Monona was more stretched out than her Trek 7000something.  This does lead to a bit of wobble if you're not used to it.  Overall, it feels pretty nice and I have no complaints about the frame. 

The space between the rear wheel and the bottom bracket is a bit funky and the kickstand isn't very secure. It has a tendency to shift under the weight of the bike.

Pedals:
The pedals the your typical flat top with a good amount of traction on the cage side.  If you flip the pedal around and ride with the cages at the bottom, there is no traction whatsoever and the bearings actually bulge and make a rounded surface to pedal on.  Didn't work so hot.  The also clip the ground when slightly cornering, so learn to use the cage.  It takes a bit of practice, but I found that they promote proper foot placement and riding in the cages, once you get your feet in them, feels completely different.
They came default with these nylon side straps that make getting your feet in them even harder, so I took those off the moment I left the LBS.


Ride

So the first time I took it out for a ride, I noticed the longer wheelbase and the aggressive riding position.  Honestly, I've only ridden depo store bikes and those usally have a very upright riding position.  I also wan't used to riding with the seat where it's supposed to be, i.e. high enough that you can't touch the ground with your toes.  It's a bit unsettling and makes hill-stops a bit of a chore.  I'm still not confident about my ability to start from an incline so proper left turns are a bit tricky.  As a result, I plan all my routes like a UPS driver: no left turns. 

The shifters are also new for me, having only used twist style shifters before.  I'm in love with the push/pull levers and the derailleurs work better than all the bikes I've ridden prior, so even though they are bottom of the barrel components, I am happy.

The brakes work but make a lot of noise.  I took it into my LBS and asked about the noise: it's a combination of the machined rims and cheap-ass pads.  At some point, I'll probably replace the entire front brakeset (at the very least) with something a little more expensive.  The general consensus is that the cheap avids bend under load, and on portland hills, I do not want those failing at the top of Woodstock and César Chávez.  Maybe I'll swap to discs...

As I said before, the grips and saddle had to go.  They made the already difficult ride a pain in the ass.  You can ride through bumps on the pedals, but when every single bounce feels like you fell on your ass from a two story building, something needs to go.

The gearing is okay, but I find the gaps in performance between sweet spots a bit funky.  I usually have to shift three or four times after going through the hills at least.  Mind you, this is because the hill itself is very steep and to keep a good cadence AND not tip over, I usually have to drop to the lowest gear on the front chain ring.  OFC, I am a big baby and hate exercise so I'm not exactly Lance material.

-More here later

Final Thoughts

I like the bike.  It feels good to ride and as long as you swap out the seat, you won't mind too much.  I'm thinking of doing an ebike conversion to help with the hills and make it my go-to method of travel.  I'm not sure if the front fork really is steel so I'm leery of hub motors.  Besides, as a DIYer I like proper and elegant solutions to problems.  I may buy a cyclone kit sans battery when I return to school and see how it goes together.  I really don't want to have to swap the chainring and crankset but I may have to for the freewheel.