# crank (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 2 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover crank. Page: Feed: --- ## [Goal Zero Power Bank Repair](https://drwelby.net/bikewrites/goalzero/) _2026-07-07 · Marc Pfister · (untitled)_ I was at a local trialhead and under the trail map kiosk I spotted a lime green anodized metal cube. I figured it was another vaping device so I picked it up with the intention of either extracting a nice rechargeable battery, or throwing it in the trash. But it wasn't a vape thing. On the side it said Goal Zero and there was a USB female port, but something about it seemed incomplete. Then I… ## [Quiver Killers or Killer Quiver](https://drwelby.net/bikewrites/quiver-killers/) _2026-06-22 · Marc Pfister · (untitled)_ Not-so-fat Bike Winter was a total bust. We barely had any snow down in town. So little that I questioned whether I should bother with a fat bike any more, if winters were going to be like this. But we also have plenty of sand here. I love riding the shoreline of Washoe Lake in the winter so a bike that can traverse sand does have some value. There are some large sandy areas nearby that I've… ## [No More Drops](https://drwelby.net/bikewrites/no-more-drops/) _2026-06-20 · Marc Pfister · (untitled)_ A few months ago, I took my gravel bike apart and put the frame up in the attic. I liked riding it, but I rode it less and less. Earlier in the year I'd been thinking a lot about handlebars, mostly as an aerodynamics thing. My gravel bike was about going fast(er) or at least far(ther) and we all know aero is everything . Seeing some recent hype videos about how higher drops are even faster I… ## [2Q26](https://drwelby.net/bikewrites/1q26/) _2026-06-16 · Marc Pfister · (untitled)_ Dang. Still lagging on getting things written. So here's a flurry of updates that I cranked out in one sitting. It got a little long, so some sections got split out to post separately, and those will get posted as I finish editing them and get the images ready. Housekeeping Skip if you don't care about computers! The little Chromebook I was writing this blog on was giving me update… ## [Burner Biscuit Alcohol Stove Mod](https://drwelby.net/bikewrites/burnerbiscuit/) _2025-12-29 · Marc Pfister · (untitled)_ I've messed around with alcohol stoves for years since they're fun to mess with. There's no end to new designs. Some have amazing craftsmanship while others are mindboggling simple. The classic Fancy Feast stove is no more than a cat food tin with holes punched around the perimeter. It also serves as its own pot stand. Out of the ones I've tried it's one of my favorites.… ## [Taste the Rainbow](https://www.icemoonprison.com/blog/archives/988) _2025-12-12 · admin · Ice Moon Prison_ This article was first published in Crank Magazine from Pinknantucket Press in 2014. Things were simple in my youth. There were twelve VFL teams, four TV channels, two types of potato. And four flavours of potato chip. Whether Thinly Sliced, or Crinkle Cut, chips came in Plain, Salt & Vinegar, Chicken and Barbecue. What’s more, \[…\] ## [No Bad Bikes](https://drwelby.net/bikewrites/nobadbikes/) _2025-10-12 · Marc Pfister · (untitled)_ I got seriously into bikes back in high school (Class of 1991, if you're wondering). Or maybe bikes found me - they were the perfect match of not mainstream, yet sort of tough athletically. There was lots of engineering stuff to think about, but also adrenaline and excitement. I also was into photography in high school and ended up the photo editor of the school newspaper. I never got too… ## [One Year Later](https://drwelby.net/bikewrites/oneyearlater/) _2025-10-11 · Marc Pfister · (untitled)_ Blog meta I have not fussed with the blog, so we're still on Zola. As site generators go, Zola seems to be gaining popularity for its stability, which is another way to say the developers haven't broken things in the name of "upgrades". The little Chromebook must have a tired battery because it doesn't seem to hold a charge. Or ChromeOS doesn't really sleep when the lid is… ## [Light My Bricks 2.0: Good, but,](https://www.icemoonprison.com/blog/archives/942) _2025-03-09 · admin · Ice Moon Prison_ Here at Ice Moon Prison, we have a veritable village of Lego Modular Buildings. We’ve been adding the aftermarket LED lighting kits from Light My Bricks to them for years. Recently, Light My Bricks introduced a complete redesign called 2.0. It’s a qualified improvement, but it still has flaws. Light My Bricks is a Melbourne-based \[…\] ## [The Australian Bureau of Meteorology public FTP server, part 0: overview](https://www.icemoonprison.com/blog/archives/914) _2025-03-07 · admin · Ice Moon Prison_ Here at Ice Moon Prison, we’ve been talking about the weather for years. We’ve always used the free data supplied by the Bureau of Meteorology. This is the first in a series of posts outlining what data can be found on the BOM’s FTP server. The Bureau of Meteorology is an Australian federal government agency, \[…\] ## [Meet Claude, the AI assistant (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/Rgpx292w76yv) _2025-03-07 · **Sponsored**_ Conversational AI to answer questions, brainstorm ideas, and help with tasks. ## [So Sad They Had to Fade It](https://www.icemoonprison.com/blog/archives/894) _2025-02-20 · admin · Ice Moon Prison_ This article was first published in Crank Magazine from Pinknantucket Press in 2014. Back in a previous life, I fancied myself as something of a musician. I was self-taught, so I would play on the family piano what I heard on the radio. When my listening skills weren’t up to the job I would spend \[…\] ## [How to run Fedivision](https://www.icemoonprison.com/blog/archives/863) _2025-01-31 · admin · Ice Moon Prison_ The Fedivision Song Contest was a popular event among amateur musicians on the Fediverse. It ran from 2021 to 2024, with musicians from all over the Fediverse writing songs to compete for the glory of winning a contest no one else has ever heard of. These notes are for posterity, and a cautionary tale for \[…\] ## [Bike Check: SC-4](https://drwelby.net/bikewrites/bike-check-sc-4/) _2024-09-08 · Marc Pfister · (untitled)_ With SC-3 and the Ruby Roubaix behind me, it was time to build a new trail bike to take over from the fat bike's temporary role filling the need. I had really liked the first fat bike as a rigid 29+ trail bike, so I thought I'd use that as a basis but with short crank tweaks. I had also been getting back into singlespeeds, so I was thinking about the best way to approach chain… ## [Bike Check: SC-3](https://drwelby.net/bikewrites/bike-check-sc-3/) _2024-09-01 · Marc Pfister · (untitled)_ Number 3 in the "Short Crank" series is a formal replacement for SC-1. While it rode fine it was meant to be a test mule and there were a few things I wanted to update too. This year I also was planning to ride the 200k "Ruby Roubaix" long loop so I wanted a new whip to take on the challenge. First design change was around wheels. Well actually tires. SC-1 had enough clearance to run 29x2 Thunder… ## [Bike Check: SC-2](https://drwelby.net/bikewrites/bike-check-sc-2/) _2024-09-01 · Marc Pfister · (untitled)_ The first full frame build for the "Short Crank" series was a fat bike frame but being the second project in the series it gets the designation of SC-2. The choice of a fat bike frame was because winter was coming and I felt like my previous fat bike wasn't cutting it around here. It was built around 27.5 x 4" tires because I thought it would be "good enough" for the minor snow we get here in…