Bike Tinker

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  • Light Mount Finished

    Light Mount Finished, originally uploaded by Uncle Bicycle.

    Yes! Give that a gander, and look at your bike for suitable spots to use it.

    I saw this and thought, “Hey, that gives me an idea! It’s stupid that all bike accessories are supposed to go on a handlebar, instead of mount to an eyelet. What if I made a thing that mounted to threaded eyelets, but let you mount handlebar accessories on them?”

    And then my brain said, “That’s exactly what you’re looking at, nimrod.”

    My internet friend Gino came up with something that does the same job. Paint this one black, jam a bar-end reflector into it and call it done.

  • Curtis Odom Stainless Crankset – NAHBS Sneak Peek

    Whaaat? Those look amazing. I can’t wait to see them in person. Spoke Sniffer says that DiNucci will show these cranks on a bike at NAHBS, and MAP and DinNucci will both have bikes with his Airlitesque hubs.

    Fantastic.

  • Bike sculpture on Etsy

    Bike sculpture on Etsy

    bicycle tandem assemblage sculptureI’m pretty sure this would work. The front rider drives the front wheel, the rear rider drives the rear wheel, for Dual-Drive tandem traction. I made this wire sculpture to show how it would work, and mounted it in a weathered wooden box. The nail axles are what hold the sculpture inside the box.

    For sale on Etsy. This picture was used as an editorial illustration in Bicycle Times magazine. I have lots of drawings of this bike setup, with different tubing configurations. I think I could make one out of a couple of old three-speeds.

    I have a series of sculptures mounted in weathered wooden boxes that I call “Workboxes.” They’re mostly metal items mounted inside boxes I found in my dad’s orchard.

  • Ross in the rain

    Ross in the rain

    ross porteur fixed gear - front bag, moustache barsSimple errand on the first snow day in McMinnville. It had all melted off the town, except in the nooks and crannies. Snow started falling again right before nightfall.

    I have a new pair of XL pedal decks on the Ross. I need to cut them down a bit, since the right one hits the crank sometimes.

    pedal decks on a black fixie

  • Mailed a set of pedal decks to CA

    That was nice – a Bay Area randonneur just bought my last pair of pedal decks off Etsy. Time to put up some more. An internet hero sent me a skateboard deck recently, too – time to put it to use!

  • homebrew saddle rail taillight mount

    DiNotte Lighting – 300R, originally uploaded by Freeheel Girl.

    Extremely cool fabricated mount to attach a DiNotte 300R to the seat rails of a superslick roadified MB-1. Yeah, click through for the pictures!

    She has a nice spiral-wrap innovation to run lighting wires along the brake cable, and… shows how to make your own spiral wrap out of tubing.

    You would be well advised to check out the whole MB-1 Project Bike set!

    17/19 1992 Bridgestone MB-1, originally uploaded by Freeheel Girl.

  • Stencil Art by Janet Bike Girl

    Really cool bike art! I clicked through from The Daily Cycle; I was more interested in the graphic than the story…

  • My First Work Stand

    My First Work Stand

    This is the first workstand I've ever owned. I’ve been tinkering with bicycles since about 1986. I’ve never owned a work stand. It kind of boggles my mind. So, for my 19 anniversary, my wife got me a Park PC-10 workstand. She says when she’s rich, she’ll get me the Henry James universal frame jig that mounts on it…

    I’m excited; maybe I’ll inaugurate it by cleaning all my bikes!

  • dynamo wiring inside a fender

    Schmidt SON 28 Build-26, originally uploaded by stonehog.

    A clothes pin holds a dynamo wire inside a hammered Honjo while the glue(?) dries. I like it – the pin fits over the rolled edge of the fender almost perfectly, to hold the wire firmly with the thing… and the other thing… and the way clothespins are made. you know, the hole part.

  • Rivendell is having a Sale

    Grant says it’s their first sale ever, which I think may be correct. Who would know better than him? These items are 30% off, which is a big savings, but the thing to note is that these are discontinued items that they’re clearing out, not to reorder. It goes until January 6th, but many of the goodies are already gone.

    • Redundant bells. Non brass bells are going away. If you like copper or steel bells, get them now. I don’t need a bell, but when I did, it was invaluable.
    • The SimpleOne. This is the successor to the Quickbeam. $800 for frame, fork and headset. I love my Quickbeam. It is a fantastic-riding bike, and I think the SimpleOne has a little more tire clearance, and a sweeter paintjob. It’s going away, it ain’t coming back, and it will never be cheaper.
    • The PlatRack. The PlatRack is a rack platform that attaches to an already-installed mini-rack. I love this idea. I believe it is my own original idea, but I never made one. This is a factual rack, honed by Mark Abele and Mr Nitto Himself.
    • The PlatRack’s sister sack the SlickerSack. This is a fancy flat-mounting bag like a big briefcase that mounts to thePlatRack platform, fitting perfectly. In a couple of years the PlatRack/SlickerSack combo will fetch $300 on the used market.
    • The ShopSack. A big simple bag for baskets. $45?? This may be the item I buy. Except they’re all gone.
    • The orange wool longsleevie. I’ve got one of these. I love it. I love the orange, I love the warmth. My cuffs got stained greenish, but that might just be me. Wool. Today was the first day in 6 weeks I didn’t wear one of my wool Rivendell jerseys under a tee shirt. I wore a giant wool sweater, instead.

    Some of these things may be gone by the time I finish writing this (they are), since my friends are piling on, and report that things are disappearing before they can check out.

    Rivendell Sale

  • 100 Years of Volta Catalunya Posters


    11 001    , originally uploaded by ENCICLIKA CORPUS FIXIE.

    100 years of posters for “The Volta” a (I think) Catalan bicycle race*. Really cool, and surprising – the number on the poster is the edition, not the year. So when it says 67, it means Sixty-Seventh, not 1967. Until I figured that out, I was thinking, “Man, those Catalans were ahead of their time, graphically!”

    It looks like missed years were World War One and after, and the Spanish Civil War. Don’t read that entry and then read the news.

    *Obviously I know nothing about bicycle racing.

  • Minipump mounted inside Carradice saddlebag

    Minipump mounted inside Carradice saddlebag

    I got an SKS “Supershort” minipump in my stocking this year*, which was pretty excellent, since my old minipump is pretty old and doesn’t seem to work on Schraeder valves anymore.

    minipump, bracket and hardware for the hack

    The Quickbeam has a Schraeder front and Presta rear, so I only had a 50/50 chance of repairing a flat. Less, actually, since I usually get the pump (and gloves, etc) off the other bike and leave it on the counter. I want a kit on each bike, but I don’t like random, semi-expensive items bolted to my bikes.

    minipump bracket, wood screws and spacers

    I have a couple of ideas for tool-stowage, and one of them is to hang a bag from the dowel of a classic saddlebag (Carradice, Baggins, Schwinn, Karrimor, etc). I decided to mount the Supershort pump bracket directly to the wooden dowel, instead of sandwiching it behind the bottle cage on the seat tube.

    supershort pump in a carradice bag - mount on dowel

    What you’ll need (go back up to the top picture):

    • 2 small washers
    • 2 short wood screws,
    • 2 curved “brake bridge” washers (for mounting rear brakes)
    • Screw driver to match your screws

    supershort pump bracket mounted to a carradice dowel

    The small washers go between the screw head and the plastic mount to keep things solid. The curved washers go between the dowel and the mount. They match the dowel radius better than I thought they would, and add some depth so my 1″ screws only poke through the back a tiny bit.

    mounted to the dowel

    Make sure the attachment attaches in front, so you can get at it. On the next bag I do this on (oh yes), I will rotate the mount farther under the dowel, since there’s space back there. I may figure out a way to put a U-lock mount or toolbag in there as well.

    Oh yeah – my saddlebags are almost always in the front. This one is hanging from the bars of the Quickbeam, in and over a basket. The Ross has a big Schwinn mounted to the rack, and the Utopia sometimes has a Baggins bag on the front.

    *TWSS

  • Big Apple failure

    Big Apple failure

    I haven’t been excited about the Fisher Utopia since I herniated the rear tire. The new tire is another Schwalbe (years of none, suddenly I have two sets), plenty large, but much much smaller than the Gigantor tires. It’s kind of a let-down.

    the new tire is so much smaller than the old one it makes me sad

    For comparison, the old 60mm tire barely cleared that fender. Similar to the front.

    close-hauled giant-sized fenders

    The old Big Appel (apfel?) is now too big for a normal rim.

    "why you no fit on rim, tire?!!"

    As careful as I am, there is always a little window of air between the bead and the rim.

    just don't fit

    I’m pretty sure the wire bead has broken. It’s the only thing I could think of (after dismissing my first thoughts, “maybe I overtightened the rim when I trued it up and now it’s too small?” and “is it the temperature?”). Also, I think this is one of the ends.

    schwalbe big apple wire bead break

    It doesn’t seem like a good thing to find in a tire, at any rate. I think I will see if I can get it replaced under warranty. Sturmey Archer have been really good about replacements, and Crank Bros says to send my busted 6 year old pedal back, so who knows?

    more wire bead busted end

    It’s a low-mileage tire, and I’ve never abused it. I don’t think I ever used a tool to mount these tires, and they worked fine for several weeks. In light of spokes breaking in the garage, Schwalbe might just say “your wheel is cursed, our warranty doesn’t cover that.”

  • Muddy Bontrager

    Muddy Bontrager

    mud and leaves in the v-brake

    I took the dog out through the orchard on the Bontrager, because the Utopia fender mudflap scoops up leaves. This is one of only two bikes in the house without fenders, and the other one has been retired.

    caked mud

    The dirt was just this side of mud, and exactly tacky enough to create a rolling explosion off the front tire as little earth clods got thrown up and out.

    If I went fast enough, the rear tire would flip them over my head! Hours later I touched the back of my head, and came away with something nasty my fingers – agh! agh! Oh. Mud.

    muddy bontrager

    I think I should shift the levers up a little for a better ‘hoods’ position, but I don’t want to unwrap the bars. I’m pretty good at rewrapping, but it’s work. The shifter cables should be rerouted a little bit, too, since I can feel them through the cloth tape. The cork tape made a little ‘shelf’ over them, which worked, but now they’re just a ridge.

    bontrager privateer with drop bars

  • Post office Quickbeam



    quickbeam 97128, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.

    Overnighting a package to Tiburon, two days before Christmas. It’s for Angelina’s brother and sister, who will be having the traditional Christmas breakfast, even though dad is in Mexico (boo). It’s breakfast goods: homemade jam, Bob’s Red Mill pancake mix. Handmade napkins.

  • Christmas Lights Ross

    Christmas Lights Ross

    After Kung Fu on Tuesday I stopped to take some pictures of the Christmas lights, and had to inclue the bike I’ve been riding exclusively, ever since I built the Alfine dynamo wheel.

    With the big front bag I can easily carry my uniform and shoes, and the Nex fits perfectly in the side pocket, even with the adapter and 58mm Biotar. Man, I like this bike! It was my first fixie, inspired by Sheldon Brown, now more by Jan Heine.

    The low trail geometry (steep headtube, long fork rake) really does handle better with the bag up front. Without it, it seems a little light, especially coming off the Quickbeam. This is an American copy of a French touring bike, I think, and I’ve gone with that. Even the saddle is French, an Ideale 2000.

    I didn’t realize that girl was wandering through every photo. I think she might have been a little loaded.