Bike Blender

I tend to agonize over discretionary purchases; I’ll go weeks bouncing back and forth about whether I really need a new pair of jeans; moths fly out of my coin purse before I buy some new shoes; my underwear developing holes is what it typically takes to get me to fork out for some fresh ones; heck, Jen and I took five years to invest in our first real piece of furniture, a couch. (Oddly, I tend to not be like this when it comes to spending money on dining or travel, which just goes to show how backwards, from a fiscal responsibility standpoint, I have it.)

So, for a good year or so, I’ve been visiting the Juice Peddler site, checking out the B3 Bike Blender, wishing I had an Xtracycle so I could install it. About a month ago, I realized that the blender could be installed on a standard bike, and this made me covet the thing even more.

So, last week, I had Alex at 2020 Cycle order me one. It came the next day, and I installed it on the XO-1 in about an hour, with Mimi’s help, on Saturday.

Immediately afterward, I began trying it out, first with limeade, then with strawberry margueritas.

It works pretty well for smoothifying fruit, but I haven’t really been able to crush ice with it yet; I think it’s a matter of speed and I’ve yet to attain the necessary RPMs to make frozen blended drinks.

I swapped the original Pasela tire I had for one without a sidewall; on the 1.25” Tourguard they're pretty slick and it seemed like the aluminum roller that powers the blender was slipping. Now, I’ve got a 1.5” Panaracer with no sidewall and it seems to give better traction.

As always with such things, I did experience a bit of buyer’s remorse, but when I made strawberry-pink drinks for the guys a the bike shop, it all felt better.

193/327
To go: 134
Days remaining: 181