Bike Tinker

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  • Tightening and fussing

    Tarzan tired.

    Morning time, Tarzan take Boy halfway school, turn ’round when him feel sick like Sloth Bear. Take Boy back hour later when Jane say “WTF? Did he throw up?” Me say “No.” Me pick Boy up three hour later when him still feel sick.

    Tarzan work. Tarzan make website. Tarzan eat so-so flauta and gummy tamale.  Tarzan talk on phone.

    Tarzan do hard Kung Fu class, sweat like hippo when she dance opera “La Giaconda.”   Tarzan ride bike home slow.

    Tarzan have beer. Maybe two beers, mess with bikes, write short post and go to bed.

    ______________________

    Tarzan? Where did HE come from?

    From reading the Far Side book with the Boy, probably. Maybe I’ll channel Captain Ahab tomorrow.

    I fooled around a bit tonight, tightening the Quickbeam’s cranks, skateboard pedal decks and raising the chain tension. Still some lash in the hub, but a little better. The axle nuts were loose like I never tightened them.

    I want a 15mm line wrench to tighten the S3X axle nuts.

    I have a single-ended 5/8″ Proto, and something similar in metric would be pretty cool. The gap would fit over the shifter cable, and the six-point wrench would give a really good grip.

    line wrenches are apparently also called 'flare nut' wrenchesI just put in a nice 40 minutes reading about wrenches and screw-head driving patterns. I didn’t know Phillips screws were SUPPOSED to cam out.

    Tomorrow we go into Portland after work to drop the bike off at the PedalNation event, meet Angelina at Powell’s and go to the Kennedy School.

    scan it with your fone. you know you want to.Tonight I started moving (reluctantly), Angelina’s old Wald fold-up baskets from her Steyr mixte to her oh-so-pretty Trek Belleville. I put bar tape on the painted rack at each of the attachment points and started squeezing the misshapen mounting bands into some semblance of shape, but realized they were too lame to use. I’ll buy some hose clamps on Saturday morning and get the bike ready to ride to the McMinnville Saturday Market. We get produce there from Growing Wild Farm and Denison Farm.

  • PedalNation PDX bike show in Portland

    Does anyone else think it’s weird that Portland identifies itself by its airport code? Like the only thing going on is the entry and exit? Vancouver PDX. “Yo, Mill Valley SFO in the HOUSE!” Weird, but I should talk; I live in McMinnville WTF (“Did I really see an “88” sticker and VANITY PLATE on a big white truck?”).

    My bike is going to be on view in the “amateur pit” this weekend at the PedalNation show in Portland.

    PDX is the only… no, you can ride a bike to Oakland from OAK, too, but I’m not that certain of where Oakland is. It’s pretty trivial to leave the Portland Int’l Airport and suddenly be in the actual city, though, even on foot. The airport is a more integral part of the city than most I’ve experienced.

    Anyway, I’m pleased to show off my bicycle, I’m REALLY looking forward to seeing the bikes and goodies (custom leather walnut holders?), and wandering around with beer with my friendses. I usually go to these things stag, much as I ride my bike usually alone, so I’m hoping for some character-building. It will probably be like my bike rides with friends – it usually only happens once. “You’re a dick. That wasn’t even a fucking trail. Do you LIKE carrying your bike more than riding it? Why didn’t you wait for me? What took you so long? I think you’ve never been here before. At least you came back when you heard me crash.”

  • Bike wheel animation (zoëtrope)

    I saw this on Portland Bike Noob.

    The Cyclotrope from tim Wheatley on Vimeo.

    This is COOL. I did an experiment with animation frames on spoke-cards, but it didn’t really work. This looks great! I think the trick is putting the images way out where you can fit more than four.

    cyclotrope
    thecyclotrope.blogspot.com

  • Comfrey on the Quickbeam

    Comfrey on the Quickbeam

    I am really happy I put the basket back on the Quickbeam. It just works for me, and tonight at Kung Fu, my friend Sue said she had a comfrey plant for Angelina’s Monastery Garden (herbs and flowers in a formal arrangement of raised beds). Last week, shed dug one up and put it on my car, but it disappeared in the 10 minutes it took me to get changed. “You have comfrey for Angelina?”

    “I put it on your car.” Hmmm… not on car, not in street. Where could it be? I figure when people steal comfrey, the must really need it.

    This week, she was like, “Uh, do you have a basket on your bike?”

    “Yes I do!”

    The stick jammed in there to wedge the planter into the basket is a training weapon, and held the pot in place for the couple miles home. So many uses.

     

  • S3X in the woods

    S3X in the woods

    S3X initial offroad report

    I took the dog and the bike for a ride around Rainbow Lake, and a journey up to the ridge. Didn’t get that far out or that high up, but we spent 2 hours messing around in the woods, which is my favorite thing ever.

    Gears

    Low gear is 46.5″, and it almost works. I was pushing. Lots of excuses – my shoes are too wide-soled for a good stance, the tires are too slick for the mud, the platform pedals were too hard to clip into, I suck at riding bikes. I love the IPA. I ran out of leg before I ran out of air or traction, but I enjoy walking in the woods, and the dog doesn’t judge. While the bike is just a vehicle to get me out there where I feel most at home, riding more of the hill is a goal, and a lower gear would help.

    I’m happy top gear is the one-to-one, and low is the reduction gear. In low you can feel the mechanism thrumming through the cranks from back there in the hub, and while it makes me smile, like the tick-tick-tick of an old 3-speed, I’m happy it isn’t always on when I’m cranking along in the normal gear.

    Top gear = 76″. Nice around town and downhill, ’cause you can really go. I’ve run ~72″ for 10 years, and the bigger gear has its place. Especially if you’ve got a 57″ and a 48″ in your pocket. If I was more fit, this would be the dynamite gear range: 76, 57, 46.5.

    When I turned around and headed back down (due to time constraints and pusilanimosity), the middle-ish (it’s lower than middle at 57″) felt Really Really Good. It’s excellent for a slightly dropping trail, where speed and agility are both concerns.

    Lash

    Lash is the amount you move the crank before the wheel engages the ground. There is some lash with this hub. It isn’t good. I’m going to check my chain tension, because the amount of play at the crank seems to have increased, and part of it might be actual chain slack, not just the play in the hub gears. This is my main issue with the hub.

    The lash is unpleasant at low, inconstant speeds. One of the joys, completely unreported except by me, of a fixed gear, is riding slowly with children or dogs. This is not the hub for riding on the sidewalk with your toddler on a trike. The 1/3 second between slowing your legs and having your bike slow down is uncool. It’s cacosomatic.

    On a longer ride, the lash is not so much of an issue, since you’re either pushing the gear or pulling it, and speed changes are less frequent. You may have played with a ‘slack chain’ for a few miles, where you purposely set the chain tension extremely loose to get a good spin without the wheel pushing your legs around. Maybe you haven’t. You could approach the hub slack with the same mindset; as a challenge.

    Changes

    I will lower the gearing, or, wacky blasphemy, remove a link from my chain and use both chainrings with the 3-speed fixed. That would be ridiculous, even for me. It’s easier than growing stronger or lighter, which I’m also working on this Spring.

    I’ll try a 40×15 offroad, instead of the 42×15.  Ensmallening the chainring does have a mathematical irritation where you lose more on the top end than you gain on the bottom. Go from a 42t to a 38t ring, and your top gear drops 7″ (76.1 -> 68.8), but the bottom only drops 4.5″ (47.5″ to 43″). I’d be happier if they each dropped 4.5″ – but it would be easier if Pi was just 3, too.

  • Stainless spacer for E6 light mount

    Stainless spacer for E6 light mount

    My new thinwall aluminum M6 spacer for the generator light on the Nitto M12 rack deformed under torque, and wouldn’t hold the light firmly enough.

    stainless is strongerI replaced it with a section of stainless tubing. It has a 5/16″ ID, so a 6mm (M6) bolt slides right through. Officially, the tube was marked Stock No. 7117, Stainless Tube, 5/16 x .028. You can probably scan the barcode right off the photo.

    I also got a tube cutter, since I can’t find my small red one. This is a bigger one, since the other one may turn up, and the adjustment knob is easier to turn. It’s big enough to cut all the seatposts in the house, except the one I actually want to cut.

  • Tire pressure calculator google doc

    I made a page / menu item page for Dave Adams’ tire pressure calculator. It’s up there next to “Home.” I just got tired of digging for it.

    Visit the Pressure Page.

    It’s a Google Doc now, which should be easier than downloading an Excel spreadsheet. The XLS file is still available on the original pressure post.

    Loz made a French open document version (weight in kilos and pressure in bars) : http://l0z.free.fr/velo/pression-pneu-ideale-ISO.ods

  • Fixies on the Wane?

    Fixies on the Wane?

    The wave of the fixie phenomenon seems to have crashed against the cliffs and receded, to steal an image from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and you can see the high water mark on the Fixed Gear Gallery’s submission numbers for the last ten years:

    1,612+ Bikes Submitted in 2010 (10651 to __) <–   –280
    1,892 Bikes Submitted in 2009 (8758 to 10650) <–  –336
    2,228 Bikes Submitted in 2008 (6530 to 8758) <–   +57 peak
    2,171 Bikes Submitted in 2007 (4358 to 6530)  <– +713
    1,458 Bikes Submitted in 2006 (2867 to 4358) <–  +40
    1,418 Bikes Submitted in 2005 (1448 to 2866)
    1,041 Bikes Submitted in 2004 (590 to 1447)
    406 Bikes Submitted in 2003 (184 to 589)  (#299:  my bike)
    131 Bikes Submitted in 2002 (52 to 183)
    51 Bikes Submitted in 2001 (FGG #1 to 51)

    That’s some yellow journalism, there. I didn’t check the Pistadex, or call anyone in the Mission to check on the number of new fixies in the wild, I just saw some numbers, took ’em out of context and wrote a sensational headline.

    Sweet. I might get the hang of this writing thing yet.


  • Singular Gryphon

    Singular Gryphon, originally uploaded by sshelby73.

    This is a beautiful bike, and succinctly done.

    The Singular Gryphon is one of three “highly desirable” bikes on my radar right now. There’s a bargain XL ‘blem’ frameset available from Singular right now: http://www.flickr.com/photos/singularcycles/5567725587/in/photostream/

    You can paypal me donations toward it at “philip.williamson@gmail.com”. :^)

  • belleville rack tube corks



    corked-tube, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.

    To keep rainwater from collecting in the rack tubes. They’re open on top, closed on the bottom. No big deal, if you hang the bike to dry.
    Otherwise, corks. Or beeswax, rubber plugs, or silicone goop.

  • Angelina’s new bike

    Angelina’s new bike

    I got a new Trek Belleville women’s bike from Tommy’s Bike Shop in McMinnville at a nice discount, with part of the price traded for improvements to their website (not implemented yet, in case you were wondering).


    Angelina hasn’t had a new bike since she was 11. She’s been riding the same Goodwill-sourced Steyr mixte for 14 years or so, and had nixed the idea of buying new as philosophically repugnant, except that “This bike is so pretty!” It’s also recyclable, and made OF recycled material, supposedly. And it’s pretty. And she doesn’t drive.

    I like it because it comes equipped with front and rear generator lights, fenders and racks. All the wiring runs inside the tubes – the fork, the rack the main tubes, under the fenders. My bikes don’t have internal wiring! I also really like the welded mounting tab for the front rack, which I’ve never seen before. It’s clever and strong, and it takes the brakes right out of the rack-mount equation.

    I’m a huge fan of custom bikes and bike-makers, and it looks like the Belleville designer(s) are too. I only ever see painted and integrated stem and bars on show bikes. Since most people never change either the stem or the bars, it makes just as much sense to make them all one piece. The bars need to be raised ~2″ to match her old bike’s setup. I only hope there are pretty spacers I can use! I’d like one tall blue one, or three 1/2″ ones in light blue, red and brown like the decorative bands that accent the bike here and there.

    I raised the stem with normal ugly spacers and a longer bolt. Eric of Winter Bicycles pointed out that the stem is a lever on the steerer, and shouldn’t come above the top of the steerer tube, but I did it anyway. If Angelina crashes and dies, he can say “I told you so.”

    I also ran the wire through the guide tube – you have to fold the spades away from each other to get them through the tube.

    There were only a couple of things I would have designed differently, and a couple of assembly details I’ll redo (light wiring doesn’t go through a wiring tube, and I prefer as wide a rack mount as possible).

    Design Detail 1

    The front rack struts are tubes that are open at the top, but closed at the bottom! I think they’ll fill up with Oregon rainwater in short order. I plan to plug the tops before that happens. The outer tube is actually for the headlight wiring. Oops.

    Design Improvement 2

    Rear fender woggles a bit. A support tab from the rear rack to the top of the rear fender would be ideal. I plan to make a U-bracket from the rack bolts to the fender.

    And the pedal bearings are really crunchy. White rubber block pedals would be the bomb for this bike.

    Other than those tiny nits, this is a beautiful bike.

  • dork nut adapter for schrader rims

    dork nut adapter for schrader rims

    Am I the only one that calls these dork nuts?

    dork nutI was very pleased to find this presta valve-stem nut in my parts bin. No idea where it came from, but I’m certain I didn’t spend $2 on it*. The first time I tried to find this thing online, I found $5 prices, which was a funnier link.

    I might actually pay $2 for this, since it lets me put a presta tube securely into a schrader-drilled rim. My SON wheel is drilled for schrader valves, because the builder and former owner is an avowed enemy of presta valves. Wade, of Vulture Cycles, points out that schrader valves are found everywhere in industrial applications, and presta valves are only ever found on bicycles. Where they suck.

    They do suck, too, which is why dork nuts even exist. I used to leave them off my valve stems to save weight and rattliness. I started using them when I had several tubes fail at the stem, especially on my mountainbike.

    Fat guy, fat tubes, low pressure, and the tube starts to creep inside the tire. The stem starts angling over, and stresses out the base where it attaches to the tube. Pretty soon it’s an irreparable leak.

    All that said, I still wanted to put a presta valve into this schrader-drilled rim. It’s easier than drilling out 9 or 10 rims and buying all new tubes. Or even pulling the stuck-in tubes out of the IRC Mythos and WTB whateveritis and switching them. The one I pulled off the Sachs Automatic already had a tube happily mated in, and tire-swaps are a lot easier if the tube is stuck in the tire.

    So I was pleased to see that this unusual dork nut was specifically made to fit exactly into  a schrader valve hole and hold a presta valve securely.

    Here’s what Jobst Brandt has to say about schrader vs presta valves (sheldonbrown.com).

    And that’s my ‘longest post on smallest subject’ blog contender!

    * I bought the S3X from eBikeStop.com. Good service and the best price I found. I had a pleasant email exchange with Justin (store manager) about hub and shifter options. Recommended.

  • 5-finger Velo

    5-finger Velo, originally uploaded by paleo.velo.

    This is either hot and cold running genius, or a huge wtf double-take.

    It looks like Bigfoot on a bicycle.

  • s3x quickbeam on the road



    s3x quickbeam, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.

    Seatstay mounted shifter.
    It only rotates on the bolt if you forget what gear you’re in and roll it way forward. Easily fixed with an allen wrench, and I hope to train myself out of it.

    Awkward to shift while pedaling. If you’re going to gear down at every stoplight, you probably want the shifter on the bars. If you’re going to gear down on a big hill, and then hit the big gear on the way down, this should work.

    More testing this weekend.

  • S3X goes on its maiden voyage

    Around the block and through the orchard with the dog. 35mm tire, 42×15.

    47.5 – 57 – 76 gear inches.
    3.6 – 4.3 – 5.7 in gain ratios (I’m finally trying to internalize gain ratios).

    • The backlash isn’t a feature.
    • The back lash is not a dealbreaker, yet.
    • Amazingly, the shifter just screws right onto the seatstay rack boss and shifts without turning. Thanks, Pants Pants!
    • If it comes loose, I’m certain a piece can be fabricated that will lock it down.
    • Already had to replace the shift cable, since I reorganized it mid-ride, but set it to ‘slack’ in gear 2, not gear 1. Or 3. The 1:1 high gear. Of course, I really cinched it down! Luckily, I used cables from the dead trigger shifters in the parts bin.
    • Even old Speedblend tires make the red hub look normal and sedate.

    Finished!

  • quill pedal skateboard inserts

     

    quill pedal skateboard inserts, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.

    These pedal platforms feel like cubes after riding the Crank Bros. skateboard platforms for so long. I can flip (roll, actually) into them pretty easily now, but sliding my foot forward wants to roll them right back over.

    They are 1000x times more comfortable than the Campy Victory pedals I took off. I think the key is to get some pedals with removeable cages and just put any sized deck on there I want.

    Check out the relative sizes of the pedals I usually use, and the famous ‘bikesnob’ XLs. Expressed as a percentage, these are quill pedals are “dimpy.”