Being the cost-conscious (or cheap bastard, whichever you prefer) cyclist that I am, I could not justify spending $15 on a piece of neoprene and velcro to keep my chainstay paint looking good.  I also didn't like the giant inner tube wrapped around the chainstay and zip tied into place every couple of inches.
Enter my creation, the lightweight zip tie/ tape free inner tube guard.  Its easy and cost is $0 if you've got an old inner tube lying around like most cyclists do.  Bonus frugal points if the inner tube you use is covered in patches.

Start with a bare chainstay.   Cut an inner tube lengthwise about an inch wide.  Some tubes even have lines on them to aid you in cutting straight.

Now place the end of the tube across the chainstay and begin wrapping over itself around the chainstay.  See photo.

Wrap the inner tube around the chainstay in a uniform fashion.  When you near the end place a flat object against the chainstay and wrap the tube tightly over it.

Trim the tube to length and stuff it behind the flat object.

Slowly remove the flat object keeping the inner tube uniform.  Then remove the tool used for stuffing.  Viola.  You now have a $0 DIY chainstay protector with no zip ties, tape, glue, etc.  Looks mighty fine too.  

The snow is pretty deep right now, too much for the fatbike to handle.  Been spending alot of time working on My Winter Project as well as a few other things that need to be done for spring.

Got some nice fenders and a rack on Mrs. Bric's bike.  The rack is a bit of a stretch for such a small frame but its solid and won't see too much weight.  Still needs a derailleur cable.  I've got a nice set of floral print panniers on the way too.

I also need to do some work on my CX / Do-It-All bike.  I bought it new in 2011, changed the gearing and rear derailleur, added fenders, a quickly removable rack, a plethora of tires for different applications.  Its the transformer of bicycles and sees the most miles of all the bikes I own.  Most of it is pulling my son around behind it in a trailer.

The driveline is dirty and gummed up from lots of lime dust from the rail trails mixed with frequent lube applications.  Handlebar tape is looking a little rough, hubs need a cleaning and repack / adjustment, and an overall cleaning.

Hub all cleaned and ready to be assembled and adjusted.  Repeat for rear hub.

New handlebar tape that goes nicely with my black and white colour motif.

Sexy white pedals as well.  A white stem just because I had it around.

Still lots of work to do out in the shop.  Hopefully the snow melts a bit and becomes rideable sometime soon, really dying to get some riding in just too much snow right now.

Got some assembly work done on the 29er project today.  Replaced the seal kit in the lefty, the leak came from the "quad seal" in the damper cap which washed the grease out of the bearings and required the rebuild.  The seal kit was only $20 from Cannondale Experts.  Headset is on, a sealed bearing unit from Ritchey with indestructible, albeit heavier, steel cups.  Installed the bb and bash guard, as well as the new Deore crankset.  The bashguard is a bb mount style glide plate from MRP (model XCg)  that will protect up to a 44T chainring.  Its came from my old 29er and will likely save some more chainrings from the roots and tree trunks around here.  More to come soon.

Its that time of year, to pony up your dough and join your local mountain bike club.  I've joined my local club, TPMBC, for the 5th year now.  I'm also proud to say that I've joined the Woodstock Cycling Club as well this year.  The work these clubs do is very important to ensure that you have a place to enjoy your mountain bike.  Every membership counts and every dollar goes into making the trails better.

As if I wasn't busy enough in the shop this winter I added another project bike to the mix.  Picked up a 10ish year old Trek Navigator 100 for my wife, Mrs. Bric.  Its in great shape, looks to only be ridden a couple of times.  It needs a new derailleur cable and a good clean and lube.  I'm going to add fenders to keep the rail-trail dust off the driveline, I'll also add a rack and panniers as well as a handlebar mounted water bottle holder.

It features a mixed Sram 3.0 / SR Suntour driveline and Tektro brakes.  The usual Trek and Bontrager parts fill out the rest of the build.  Pretty solid bike for leisurely rides on the bike paths through town and beyond.  Bike was worth about $500 new, grabbed it for $150.

Finally got out for a ride after being sick and busy.  Been an entire month since I last rode, feels like forever and the cabin fever was setting in.  Mrs. Bric pushed me out the door this morning to ride the trails along the Lynn River on the outskirts of town.  The rail trail was an ok go, enough foot traffic packed down the snow to be able to actually ride it.  Once I hit the singletrack along the river though it was a tough push.  Not much foot traffic to pack the trails and the tracks that were there resembled post holes in the snow.  I worked as hard in a one hour ride as I would have in three hours in the summer.

It was nice to get out but with the amount of snow we have and the snow in the forecast I'll be snowshoeing it for a bit.

Got the frame stripped and painted.  No photos of the process, sorry.  I did a rattlecan job on it with acrylic enamel.  Coat of primer, primer sealer, paint, and clear.  Turned out ok, its a 3 foot paint job if you know what I mean.

Also broke down the front wheel and a short time later had it built on the Lefty hub.  The spokes were almost dead on what freespoke gave me for lengths so I reused them.  Wheel build turned out good and only took an hour.  I'm getting pretty good at this wheel building stuff, those 6 wheel builds I did last year are paying off now.

I decided to toss on some rubber and see what kind of travel reduction spacer the Lefty Max is going to need for the 29er wheel.  Looks like I'm well in the safety zone for 100mm and can even squeak out 110mm if I wanted to.  I'll have to build a nice 40mm travel spacer from aluminum or plastic when I do the Lefty rebuild.