Merry Christmas, have fun and play outside!!!
............then back to work next week
Thanks again to my friend George at
http://ourventura.com/ , I once again had the opportunity to host a guest for his local access TV program. This time it was Patricia Matthews from the Channel Islands Bicycle Club
As always it was a great time and a learning experience.
Today was a good day, that had been in the works for a while. I was able to get my new to me cutting table over to my workshop. You do not really want to know how I was managing my cutting before, but it was a little primitive. Needless to say, having a very large soft goods developer around the corner is starting to make for some interesting surplus.
A super big thank you to all who made this work. A 60 x 90ish cork top cutting table is light years ahead of where I was. Now that I have a few bikes out of the way it is time to get the legs on this thing and get sewing again.
Also in this score came my first fixture for a shop, if that is the direction this ride turns.
Either way this is a first class piece of furniture, that will make a bitchin display case.
This weekend is looking to be a big internet diet, family time road trip and I am signing off for a bit. Have a happy Thanksgiving and back to work next week, in the mean time, be sure to take some time to play outside.
This is the most beautiful bike I have built up yet. I would even go as far as saying it is nicer than my roadeo from Rivendell. After years of reading on the web and doing multiple 650b conversions on my own, this one went together perfectly the first time. With some careful planning, part procurement and patience this bike went together as if it were always meant to be this way.
This Trek 613 started its life as a 27" wheeled touring bike back in 1981, and by the looks of it once in my garage, it was barely ever ridden. There are a few scuffs in the paint, but most of the damage appears to have happened while in storage. The visible portions of the frame's interior were pristine. I treated the inside with a liberal coating of T9 to keep it rust free as long as possible. For this build I was able to reuse much of the drive train, replacing only the wheels, cassette, and bottom bracket. The headset was preserved, and rebuilt with loose balls and phil grease.
The cockpit was built up with a Nitto Technomic Delux stem, Albatross bars and Shimano brake levers. The brass bell is from Crane in Japan. The grips are blue Neubaums cloth tape over a layer of cork tape. Three layers of garnet shellac brought the final color to a fantastic dark patinaed coppery green that is a perfect contrast to the copper color of the bike. Te saddle is a Brooks B17 Special Select.
The front rack is a Bruce Gordon MTN rack that used to reside on my bike and will be the temporary support system for the Wald basket. While the basket provides incredible versatility, the stock hardware is not up to the task at hand. In the long run this will be set up with a rack that will allow for panniers in a low mount with a high mount to support the basket. The fork dropout only has a single eyelet to support both the rack and fender. My work around for this is to thread in a hex bolt from the inside, providing a stud to mount both. The whole assembly is then held on with a lock nut. In theory if the nut ever came loose, it should all still be able to be held in place with a zip tie until you could get to a hardware store.
I utilised Dia-Compe 750 centerpull brakes to get the required reach to the smaller rims. The stock pads were replaced with KoolStop Cross Pads. The wheel set is Shimano Tiagra laced to Velocity Synergy rims. I opted to use an 8spd rear cassette to hopefully be a bit more forgiving with the Suntour Symmetric DT shifters. The downside to this is that the shifters only move the chain across 7 of the 8 cogs due to the limited throw.
Now for the part that everybody cares about. I opted to use Panaracer Col De La Vie tires on this bike to ensure adequate tire clearance at the chain stays. These older Trek frames, pre 82, will generally have room for a tire up to 38mm wide without needing to dimple the stays for more space. Spreading the rear from 126 to 130 mm at the dropouts while adding tire space in theory did not make a noticeable difference in reality. The fenders are Berthoud 650b x 50 mm. These were fairly simple to install, only requires minor re-shaping to accommodate the horizontal stays, leave plenty of room to install wider tires in the future and resulted in near perfect fender line around the tire. I did make a wooden mandrel to help shape indents for better fender clearance at the fork and chain stays. The rear brake bridge attachment was made with Honjo hardware. The connection at the chain stay bridge was made with a long bold and spacer. While a spacer is not ideal, it seemed a better option than moving the bridge on a bike in this condition.
Rear wheel at mid-dropout.
Rear wheel all the way back in the dropouts.
I would like to thank a whole bunch of people for sharing their knowledge on the web. If not for the collective knowledge provided by old Rivendell Readers, the iBoB and 650b email lists and the Bicycle Quarterly publication I likely would not have been able to work through this build in a single pass. It is the knowledge shared by those who have gone this way before that helped me to build such a wonderful bike.
Likewise, online vendors such as Universal Cycles, Rene Herse Cycles, Wallingford Bike, and Ben's Cycle all made it possible to source the needed components.
This bike is going to have a new lease on life. Its owner is going to pick her up tonight. The planned maiden voyage will be a 90 mile ride home from Jalama state park. I wish I was along for the ride, it is going to be a good day tomorrow. Thanks to Mike for giving me the chance to build this bike up as a blue-collar constructeur.
Off to cleain it up for delivery, thanks for taking a look.
Keeping the thing charged while street parked is a PITA
The spiders that moved on to the 11 year old surf racks are another problem all their own.
Stoked! November 06 2011, 0 Comments
In a garage full of projects, not all revolve around the bikes, although the fix for this one this one did make use of some parts from the bin,
She is the first of the third generation that will get to ride the horse, and she is stoked!
Back to Work November 01 2011, 0 Comments
It was an incredible week of family time to unwind, re-wind and get ready for the next big run.
A glimpse of what the mornings were like:
and yes, every day was just as nice, the water was warm, the surf was OK and the place was perfect. Most things were close enough to walk, and I did not touch a bike for over 10 days.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programing.
Time to take a break from the posting here, recharge the batteries, play with the family and put some of my big ideas into motion. Heading west, to warmer climates. Back in 10, or so.
Also, all closed sales will be shiped upon return, thanks for taking a look
Ciao.
I bought this bar to get some rear sweep in the grip area for my S&SUB. Over the years I have used more upright bars then I can keep track of, from super cheep to the Nitto Albatross (B-352AA is my Fav). The Wald offering comes in at about $20, they are chromed steel for high bling factor and they are made in the U.S.A.. They seemed like a worthy candidate for this budget build. My inital impressions are good. On the plus side they are comfy, cheep, made domestically, the straight front will not interfere with the load and they seem pretty strong. Downside is a bit of slide in the stem (possible stem issue), short grips and they are kind of heavy.
The dimensions are, 50cm wide tip to tip, 26cm of straight section in the front, 9cm of rise and 13cm of straight return at the grips. The return on the grips is almost straight with just a smidge of flare. The grips are really short, no room for levers and shifters at all. I have the brake levers here pushed as far into the bend as possible without the levers flaring out too much.
Overall I like these bars in spite of their limitations. In the application on this bike, single speeds or other times you will not need more than brake levers, these are a perfect and affordable upright bar. I would buy them again if needed and recommend them if they meet your needs.
As an aside, the keen of eye may have noticed my NOS Jim Blackburn parking brake. I am not sure if these are still made, but it is fantastic for keeping the bike still while loading.
Thanks for taking a look
