today’s update: more wrongRoom(tm) wrongery!

So last night, I snuck out to the wrongRoom(tm) to do some more fiddle-faddling with the bike, now that I was able to get some assists with some of the issues that stalled me yesterday. I had taken the frame to a buddy’s bike shop in Mill Valley, and they let me use their sweet, expensive headset cup press. I imagine that this thing is probably overkill for old timey bike projects, where the threaded rod/bolt DIY press Lung uses would work just fine. I’m sure it’s so massive because it’s designed for modern bikes and all sorts of other applications. Who knows. All I know is, those cups went on like BUTTEH. Also, I showed them my wrongForks(tm) and the wheel and how they are so off, and more on that later. Lastly, since my lockring wrench for the cog is just ever so slightly too large, I can’t get great purchase on the tooth that holds the wrench on, and I was having no luck, and many near-knucklesmash moments theother night trying to get my cog off the Eno hub. I used these guys’ wrench, and it was just the ticket. Lockring off!

So last night, progress! First, I successfully (I think, barring further evidence or critical structural failure) installed my headset and fork. I test fitted it all together greaseless first, and then committed with some Phil’s grease to seal the deal. I was having some doubts, because of some vague illustrations in my Zinn book, and even more perplexing inconsistencies in other online discussions about same, about the direction of the bearings. On the one hand, common sense (?) and instinct, and memory, such as that’s worth anyway, tole me that the bearings had to go against the cups themselves, which exist AS bearing surfaces. However, my illustration was iffy, and further, there’s discussion in my book how certain years and manufacturers actually invert that, and make bearings go to the outside, rather than aiming at the cups, and how it’s easy to get it wrong, and trash the retainers. You know it’s wrong if it doesn’t turn well. Well, what’s ‘well?’ I proceeded wth bearings oriented as I figured they should, and as Lung confirmed via text, but man, I still had the doubts, because I could hear and feel just a hint of binding in the turning of the fork in the completed assembly. If I eased back on the locking cup just a hair from hand tight, it runs smooth. If I hand tight, it binds… again, just a hair… like, quit room, hand on it, you perceive a touch of vibration. So, to be safe, I pulled it apart and gave the bearing retainers more lube. I fear I under-lube things, frankly.

Once that was done, I flipped the frame over and installed the stem. It looks amazing completed, along with my fly little brake cable worrier thing with the rubber tipped thumb lever. My headset wrenches didn’t fit these headset nuts, but I bought that wrench to be used as a bottom bracket wrench anyway. I just used pliers. So, by about 1030pm, i got the front of the bike completeds. Rejoice to R’yleh!

Next up, handlebar, just for kicks! I wanted to see these arc bars in action. However, I discovered, to my chagrin, that while I had my stem clamp bolt, the nut had disappeared in all my crap. I looked everywhere. And I have a ton of nuts that should be the right size, but are a hair too tight. Ultimately, I was unable to find a suitable nut, so I had to give up on this install, while waiting to replace the nut at the hardware store today. Dammit, tole!

You can see the completed stem and headset install, along with that lever, above…

So I moved on to the pedals, and installed these sweet shell-shaped platforms from Shimano. They look GREAT, if a little high tech for this bike. But I like em. You can see a blurry, non-useful close-up here:

I next proceeded to attempt to remove my 16-tooth black cog from the fixed side of my eno hub, in order to put on my fly silver 18-tooth cog. However, that sucker will not budge. Much near-death action ensued as I worked with my chain tool over and over and over. Will not budge, I say. So I think I need some assistance on this too, as it is binding. I’m hoping a shop vice will assist. Dammit, tole!

Lastly, i examined further my hub/form problem. Lung measured the old wheel that came from this bike, and it had a flange to flange dim of:

vistawheel…
81mm, bearings to bearings
97mm, inside forkblade to inside forkblade, WHEEL MOUNTED

My forks measure 65mm blade to blade, so with some stretch, maybe that makes sense. But the problem I’ve had is that my new wheel, which, mind you, was on Fix-e before it was pulled off to make room for those deep dish rims, comes nowhere CLOSE to fitting in these forks. We’ve been working under the assumption that something must have caused these forks to get narrower, in some process we couldn’t logically parse, OR it was just a major stretch to get a wheel on. It’s always a bit of work to get them on these old bike forks, being generally mutilated over time as they are. But I didn’t remember it being a huge issue.

Well, I measured my Dura-Ace hub this morning.

116mm! WTF!

So now I’m looking into if, unlike every bike person I’ve talked to, they DID in fact move to a wider hub width in the modern period. I’m not sure we can safely get 65mm spread forks to reach 116mm without damaging them. Dammit, tole!

Lastly, I thought, this morning, what the hells, I’ll put the seatpost on! Easy cheezy! But no, not in the wrongRoom(tm). This post, which was purchased because it was a) chrome, hard to find, and 2) vintage in size, and d) was labeled 27.2mm (seems perfect, right) DOES NOT FIT. At all. I checked, again with the handy calipers. My seat tube hole inside diameter is approximately 30-31mm. The seatpost here, it’s outside diameter is about 33mm. WTF! I looked online for the 3,333th time, and all these posts are listed at 26mm, 27mm range, but so was mine! Something doesn’t jive.

So, we’ll just have to see about that.

But overall, huge progress. Forward!~

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