http://mrbichel.com

After having spent a few months gathering parts I have now fully assembled my new bike. After my last single speed Specialized bike was stolen I needed a new ride and since I really enjoyed riding single speed I set out to build a flip-flop single speed/fixed bike based on an old italian steel road frame. I wanted something simple, yet fast in the flat urban environment of Copenhagen. Here it is.

The most essential parts are from Matuzmaster a retailer in Budapest selling mainly vintage NOS components, the rest is mainly from VeloSolo an English shop specializing in single speed and fixed gear. The wheels and chain are from highonbikes, the brake levers from eBay user angpatten357 and the saddle, tires and improved brake shoes for the front brake caliper from the Danish retailer Bikebuster.

I had my local bike mechanic PH cykler install the bottom bracket and headset since I didn’t have the tools, but the rest I assembled myself.

Here is rundown of the components, where I bought them and for how much.

In the end the total price of components came to kr 6,593.31 and shipping to kr 862.56 leaving the bike with final pricetag of kr 7,455.86. It is not a major bargain considering the ours put into purchasing components and putting it together. However I would not have been able to buy one like it anywhere and the feeling of riding a bike you just put together yourself is priceless.

Republikken has started up KEPS a department of their coworking space in copenhagen for digital fabrication. To get KEPS going and also equip it with a 3D printer I and a few other interested peeks joined up to construct a MakerBot. We have been meeting for a few hours every week for a bit over a month now and the project is nearing completion.

I am looking forward to experiment with some plastic extrusion when its done.

Republikken is a coworking space in Copenhagen for creative freelancers. It is a great place and I would definitely consider getting a desk there had I more business.

Together with my good friend Maria I have been playing around with some mango and cranberry juice, sodium alginate and calcium salt creating caviars for some new years eve molecular mixology. I had seen Ferran Adrian at El Bulli demonstrate olive alginates and when Maria showed me the stunning results of Luxirares parfait we had to try this ourselves. I ordered the ingredients from Cuisine Innovation a french supplier that takes sub-kilogram orders of molecular gastronomy ingredients.

Sodium alginate (E401) with the chemical formula NaC₆H₇O₆ is an extract from seaweed commonly used in the food industry as a stabilizer and emulsifier. When a liquid containing sodium alginate is introduced into a solution of calcium chloride it reacts to form a gel like texture.

We mixed the mango juice with sodium alginate and added some fructose and citric acid in order to enhance the flavor. The cranberry juice we boiled with cane sugar along with sodium alginate to form a thicker syrupy consistency. Using plastic syringes we dropped the solution into the calcium solution and let the drops set for a few minutes before removing and washing them.

The result is quite beautiful, and at first the texture was amazing. The skin breaks in the mouth and the tasteful liquid explodes in your mouth. However New Years eve they had a solid gel like texture and the taste had fainted. So eat them fresh, and take care to wash of the calcium chloride properly to avoid them solidifying further.

Lovely caramel crusted cappuccino!
… burning stuff is incredible fun!

I used kino for the editing, it works really well, and is very stable even when doing data intensive tasks as importing and exporting large amounts of video data on my new bare-bones samsung nc10 netbook.