I have an affliction, when I get an idea in my head, and work the whole thing out, I need to make it real, or it will haunt me. Since I built up Rambler No. 1 the problem of a bell location has been haunting me. I even considered adding a brazeon during the initial design phases. Then this morning it hit me, and when I had 10 minutes to spare at lunch, I was at the bench cutting up a perfectly good Crane bell.
It fits near perfectly over the cable stop, everything works like it should and the way the hammer strike bells work there should be no Auto ring from bumps.
I have seen this done before with the spring strike bells to dress up a naked shift boss, but as far as I know I am the first to piggyback a hammer strike bell like this. If you have seen it out there let me know.
Now back to work, oh and Happy Friday - Play outside!
New Parts May 08 2012, 0 Comments
I was able to unpack today's delivery from the big brown truck!
As always the fit and finish is incredible on these finely crafted US made components. I will be setting two of the bikes up this week with the 46/28 wide range doubles, and all place holder seat posts will be replaced with the new Tall and Handsome from Paul. I am not sure I will need all of the Tall part, but will resist cutting them short for now.
If you have had a Rambler on your mind and wondering what you were going to hang on it to transform it into a complete bike, I should have plenty of options soon. For the "American" build I have accounts in place with Paul Components and White Industries. For the bits and pieces you may have a hard time sourcing I can get what you need from Compass or Velo Orange. I have access to many of the other bits add pieces as well. I am working on sources for saddles, wheels and lighting. There are custom racks and bags still in the planning phases as well. Never a dull moment at OAC lately.
I have used many of these products for years if not decades, some are new. I will be sharing all of my impressions as I press them into service. Those that make the cut will be available through my upcoming eCommerce site to build up the Rambler you have been waiting for.
I am working through an order for my first run of t-shirts and the options are a bit overwhelming for something that should be so simple. I know what I want to do for the art, first round of shirts will be a simple 5" square logo on the chest. The Dark blue area will be replaced with the color of the shirt and the text or line art will be in a contrasting color.
The next step is where things get to be a bit much. I know what I like, but that is not always what others do. Then there are all the social, environmental and stylistic issues that play into the mix; i.e. organic, made in the U.S.A., fit color etc. It seems you can get one of the three, sometimes two, but never the whole thing.
I am leaning towards the US made Royal and Navy options or the non US made version in Gold this one gets some of the high viability gains for actual riding without being, ..... well kind of gross the way some yellows can be if you know what I mean. There is more in the works, but some thoughts and feedback would be appreciated.
I want to give you what you want!
The question that always follows "are you still making saddle bags?" is without a doubt "will I need a support and what do you recommend?". The answer to both is yes, and even with some shortcomings I still recommend the Carradice Bagman. It is one of the only supports of its kind that ties the base of the support to the saddle, there by keeping a constant distance between the bag loops and the support base over a wide range of saddle positions. The distance between a traditional rear luggage rack and the saddle loops is different on almost every bike, and can lead to a less than perfect fit for the bag. Things either end up a bit squished or stretched. Older models of the Bagman support were known to loosen up over time and you needed to keep an eye on the hardware periodically. Even with this shortcoming they can be made to perform reliably with a couple of simple modifications, and the newest incarnations of the support are further improved.
The unit above is the most recent to pass through my workshop, and is the Bagman Sport Quick Release. The plastic piece is a really nice addition to the kit. It zip ties to the outside of the saddlebag, opposite the internal dowel, and provides a quick and positive connection between the bag and support.
The quick release mechanism is similar to prior incarnations, pinching the two spring-loaded pins toward the center. Everything appears to be well made, and has less threaded parts to come loose during a ride.
The connection between the shaped support and the clamping mechanism has always been the weak point, and still is. The 7mm stainless rod is more than enough to support a well loaded bag, as is the aluminum clamping piece that joins the support to the saddle rails. The interface between the two is just plain disappointing.
In the past the round rod had flat spots keyed into it that are held fast by a set screw from each side. The provided set screws always fail, it is just a matter of when. This would result in the support sliding out of the clamp leaving the bag poorly supported at best. The new version partially addresses this issue. The flat spot on the tip of the rod has been replaced with a blind hole.
The set screws provided are still inadequate for the job. Button head allen screws do not provide enough support to be well torqued without stripping out the heads. I switch these out with a regular hex nut.
This allows the use of a regular 8mm wrench or socket to get the needed torque. Backing that up with a jam nut and some blue locktite we have a belt and suspenders solution that will hold up for a good long time.
Even if things were to get loose the blind hole will keep the rod from backing all the way out, leaving you with a dangling bag. This alone is a major improvement.
I have a couple of other ideas in the bank for a complete re-design, but these newest versions of the bagman are well enough made for me to keep the project on the back burner. If you have any other ideas to keep these well made supports working even better please let me know.
While signing up for the Philly Bike Expo earlier this week the question came up if I was a "Builder"? My first answer was no, "Designer" with an OEM contractor. Then I filled in the description a bit more with "Bag Maker". The thing is, it is hard to describe this in one simple phrase. Would I make the upcoming bikes if I had the means? I am pretty sure the answer is yes, but the tooling and equipment are out of reach and not feasible in our current space. For now I am a Designer with respect to the bikes.
On the bags I am designer, and maker at the moment. Maybe that makes me a bag and wallet builder? That is an issue of semantics. For now I wear all three hats.
The bottom line is that I know what I like, the way I want particular things to be and perform. This may sound selfish, but I love to make things. I get an idea in my head, work it out on paper, and often take it into the workshop to bring it into reality. Today's example is a couple of revisions to the Makr style touring wallet. Based on feedback from the first round, the design was revised into a wallet with more pockets and a version that can hold a boat load of cards for a trade show (NAHBS is this weekend). Two completely different wallets, and what was an item is becoming a line.
The wallet is going to a friend who will run it through the paces. The card holder is for me. The exercise helped fuel my creative energy to complete more complex designs, like the handlebar bag I have in the works. Likewise it is a release so that I can better focus on the business side of things the rest of the day without the distraction of pent up designs floating around in my head.
I know how to design things so that they can be made over and over, in the hopes that more people than myself agree with my line of thinking and want one of my designs for themselves. My qualifications stem from a 35 or so years of making things the way I want them, an engineering education, another 15 years of working in the post college world and a deep understanding of what I want things to be. It is my hope that as Ocean Air Cycles grows, you will have faith in the ability of my designs, and through use transform the faith into understanding and appreciation.
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Enough lofty thoughts, it is Leap Day, get out and ride. I can not imagine missing the unique opportunity, and having to admit that one did not ride a bike on Leap Day.
If you like the wallets, let me know. I can get you a custom soon, or in a bit will be producing them in small batches.
As mentioned above, NAHBS (Hand Built Bike Show), is this weekend in Sacramento. I am planning on being up there to walk the floor on Saturday. If you see me and feel inclined, it is always nice to meet readers in the wild, stop me and say Hi.
I will admit it, I am a pedal snob. I have big feet, like to ride in Keens, and hate little tiny pedals that only support out to my middle toe. It always feels like my foot is about to roll off of the ends. When I am looking at a new pedals the distance from the crank arm to the outer edge of the pedal is a big deal for me. I have tried clipless systems, but found that the gains were not worth the need for an extra pair of shoes in most of the ways and places that I ride. Most modern platform pedals are not really that wide, and off I went into the depths of vintage pedals. My bread and butter has been the Sakae Low Fat, wider than the current MKS touring it has been a good pedal for me. It works easily with clips and straps or naked for shorter rides with lots of stops and starts. The downsides are weight, bulk and the general in-elegance of the clunky pedals on classically styled road bikes. Enter my latest acquisition along this quest:
I recently scored a near new set of Specialized touring pedals. Their MKS lineage is pretty clear. They are as wide as my Low Fat MTB pedals, 30g lighter each, and look a whole lot prettier than most of today's pedal offerings. While nice they had some shortcomings out of the box. The toe strap arrangement, appears ingenious, but does not really work in the real world. The strap makes its upward turn at the outer edge right into the bottom of my foot. Off to the drawing board, I came back and turned my MKS large/deep toe clips into a new set of half clips. This is my first set of half clips, so time will tell how they work out. I made each a little different to see if, well if it makes any difference in function.
For now these will be going on my Roadeo, to get me motivated to put some miles on it while I am waiting for the Masu production samples. I will let you know how it is going in a week or so.
Everything old will be new again some day. I love looking at the bags from days gone by to get inspiration for my newer bag designs. Many details and features have gone by the wayside not because they did not work, but were often just not as easy to mass produce. Today, while at the swap meet, I could not resist grabbing this Bergans ruck sack:
I usually just look around when at the swap meet or local thrift stores, and kind of mentally capture the ideas, but this bag has so much going on there was no way to take it all in at a glance, so it came home. The amount of leather work alone would be hard to do at a reasonable price, not to mention the steel frame and other detailing. The leather is soft as a lamb's ear. I threw it on with a small load and it is quite a comfortable bag. A quick weigh in on the scale at just under 5 lbs, not bad at all considering the amount of steel and leather. I am still working it all out, but am developing a saddle and porteur bag that would easily attach to the bike and work with rucksack harness like the one above. While looking at more military surplus bags than I would like to admit, this is one of the nicest assemblies I have seen.
Most things like this bag end up as catch and release, but I think this one will be staying around a while.
It has been an incredibly busy week coming off of a 4 day break. Today I made it out to ship off what is likely the last round of eBay auctions for the year.
The last few days have been mostly in the shop getting ready for a craft fair at my wife's work, Patagonia. This is a good thing as it forced me into putting a few of my ideas for soft goods into reality. Fringe benefit will be some market research.
You have already seen the touring wallets, now in the shop. The neck gaiters are a fantastic solution for a scarf that can not fall off while you ride, and are in incredibly versatile layering piece to have in your kit. The first round is made from some nice merino wool, I have two different weights on hand. Also, hitting the market tonight will be my first round of prints, limited edition of 100. I plan to offer these four times a year, themed to the season. This one is "Winter Riding - California Style". All of this will be hitting the shop in the next few days.
If you are local and have the time, the craft show is tonight in the firehouse at the Patagonia campus, north building, 4-7 PM. I have been bumping into more and more readers as of late, and that is probably a good thing. Thank you as always for your readership and support.
Have fun - Play outside!
As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. After having business cards printed up it dawned on me that I need something to carry them in. After a few hours in the garage working out a couple of prototypes, then some stress testing, followed by a quick round of market research, and then refine the design. The result:
Hand made with thick, but not too thick, full grain leather and skived edge. Finally something useful to do with all the short pieces of chain I have been saving over the years. These measure in at 3" x 4" x 1/2" stuffed, will easily take 20 or so business cards or an I.D. and a couple of credit cards. This drops right into your jersey or the small pockets on your touring bags, and is much lighter than the usual bulky wallet I carry.
The first four are committed to a local show later this week, I have enough leather on hand to make plenty of these in time for the Holidays. Inital price is $30 plus shipping and handling. These will be added to the shop soon, but in the mean time please drop me a comment to give me an idea how much I should be cranking these out.
Also in the pipeline: Neck Gaiters, Limited run of Poster Prints and frame sets (yes I said it, I have started working with a contractor here in the U.S.A.)
It fits near perfectly over the cable stop, everything works like it should and the way the hammer strike bells work there should be no Auto ring from bumps.
I have seen this done before with the spring strike bells to dress up a naked shift boss, but as far as I know I am the first to piggyback a hammer strike bell like this. If you have seen it out there let me know.
Now back to work, oh and Happy Friday - Play outside!
