Team Lope Tyre Clubbe » bars

Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Over the Moon

wrongrobot — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:54:19 +0000

So, Ye Blacke Death has been ride-able for 24 hours now. I mean, it goes and it stops, both reliably.

So, while it’s not yet complete, I do have thoughts.

Test Ride 1 was the coffee run last weekend that saw most of my coffee land in and over the front rack, being unsecured, plus was the ride I learned I had both a high-gearing issue AND a baby seat clearance issue. Subsequently, I swapped out the Nitto moustache bars for big-ass moon bars. This provides the necessary clearance to ride with the baby up ON there. I also swapped out the vintage hood lever for a BMX lever and restrung the brake cable 33 more times.

Test Ride 2: Wraps Run

So the bars are on, the brake strung, seemed to be in order, so i headed out. First thing I noticed was that despite cinchin’ it, the bars still moved in the stem clamp. So I was carrying all my tools in me pockets as I do on test rides, so I was able to really muscle it more and get it tighter. Good. Second thing I noticed was that the brakes were still just a bit too soft. It’s hard to finesse center-pulls like this. You under-do it and they slip, and over-do it and the cable get s smashed and frayed. So I stopped and adjusted again. Little better, not perfect.

I also noticed that riding with moon bars is kind of awkward. It’s fun, but when you’re used to the drops or the bulls, pitched forward, this position is kind of strange. You’re pushing pedals differently too, with your body geometry changing in that position. But as far as the first real RAHHHDE of any distance, it worked. It’s smooth, cushy. LAID BACK.

I brought back some wraps and a salad using the front basket, and used my webbing to hold it down. Worked AWESOME.

Test Ride 3: Commute

So after the ride last night, this morning I was able to do some more brake adjustment (still not perfect) and a few other things, and I was good to go.

Lung warned that my gearing was still likely too high. He’s right. I came down from my accidental 300 inchgear or whatever, but my chain was broken too small now, so i couldn’t get it back up to the bigger ‘pie plate cogs’ because I don’t have enough chain. So I installed the biggest I could fit, which was an 18. That’s still a 78 inchgear. Not terribly comfortable int he upright. Doable certainly in drops, but this is different. Add the short hills to get to my house. Add 20+ pounds of Wee Z! So yep, need a new chain.

I also found that man, it’s hard to adjust to those wide hand-positions. I kept instinctively slipping down to the stem to ride more comfortably as I do on Crook, but of course with a baby seat installed that wouldn’t be possible, so I tried to force myself to stay in position. Overall, fun ride, but need to do more adjustments. Possibly a drainpipe post, as I’m feeling a little forward from where I want to be, just like with Fix-e back in the day. I just happen to have Fix-e’s old one, so we’ll see.

I headed over to the stoe to get some groceries, and to Peet’s to get my coffee. Again with the webbing, this time pushing more of the limits of the reach of the net. Worked great. My bag was about 20 pounds too, and the bike handled well. That’s a good sign. Coffee in there too, nice and snug.

Test Ride 4: Afternoon Coffee Run

Yes, that’s a lot of coffee, i know.
Anyway, this time I webbed the coffee cup vertically close to the stem-side of the basket, and it worked like a dream. Even better than my modified gimbal on wrongBike. Narry a drip spilled.
Little more used to the bars now.

Please note the sweet, sweet sticker I through on here, courtesy of TRDL R3 Lieutenant Akua!

All in all, good rides. I’m heading over to get yet another chain tonight and replacement grips. Don’t be fooled by that red wrap. That’s just the under-wrap to the cork grips. I had to break one off to get the moustache bars off, which was crumbling from some cracks anyway. So more to come.

Onward! Next ride, lower gear, proper grips, bell and BABY! If all goes well…

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Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Laid back

wrongrobot — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:28:26 +0000

Last time I mentioned a few logistical details prevented YBD from working as a Z transportation vehicle: brakes, gearing and ride position (you know, little details)…

I’ve been hard at work solving the brake issue, with experiments in alternate brake levers and re-stringing the brakes 33 times.

I changed the gearing. Posts to follow on those efforts.

Today my handlebar alternate arrived. While by no means as FUN as sweet, sweet moustache bars, I think this will let me sit up and out of the way of Z’s seat. Experiment tonight forthcoming!

Look at that pic. wrongbike shown for scale.

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craig passero lotek edit

ironlung — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:08:01 +0000

there’s only one or two big baller moves in here, but the TECH in THIS edit is insane. he’s stringing 3- and 4-trick lines together in like zero space.

my favorites are the triple stepDown nose manual at 0:30 (brakeless, note), and the 3-stair gap barspin to bench to 360 noseBonk at 1:35. INSANE.

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incredible freeman transport – locked on battery

ironlung — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:10:36 +0000

on my way from a work lunch thing today, i passed by perhaps the most beautiful bike i’ve seen outside the beloved team lope stable. perhaps even within the team lope stable.

it’s a coupled freeman transport, with coaster brake and raw metal finish. and it. is. incredible.

in it’s full glory.

nekkid bars and beautiful headbadge.

fucking brazed-on downtube badge and meaty 32c tyre in cream.

closeup of the top tube coupler and the brooks saddle.

coaster brake and gorgeous track dropouts.

i mean, i don’t often drool over strange bikes, even when their owners aren’t around, but this one deserves every drop i spill on it. just an amazing townie.

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Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Rubber Hits Road

wrongrobot — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:38:58 +0000

Well, Ye Blacke Death is finally finished! Finished in the since, of course, that it rolls and pedals and steers and mostly stops, not that there’s not much more to do. But this was the day that I was able to get it rolling and do some tests. Any build, I’m secretly relieved when it doesn’t explode on it’s maiden voyage. Weirder frames and pieces parts and I wonder a little more about that result. I wasn’t going to throw wee Z on here and hurtle down the hill, but I did want to get out and see what needed adjustment and how it held up.

As you can see, it came together pretty nicely. The bobike fits on a a bracket that seats on the quill, and is removable in under 7 seconds. You can pull the clamp off as well and it’s like it was never there, or leave the clamp on and use the cotter pin to remove the seat. Even on the bike, there’s no interference with the front rack.

The combination of matte black, laquered wood, leather and chrome work well together. It has an old timey vibe, but some new school details. More interestingly to me, it’s the most frankenbike build I’ve done, even more than Fix-e was, and it doesn’t LOOK like it. I think it looks like it rolled new off the assembly line of one of your vintagy commuter bike shops.
Most importantly, it came together how I envisioned it, with the black rims and knobbies, the little gleams on the chrome, the general geometry…

Wee Z even helped with spoke tension inspection. Not at speed.

So, what’s left: well, a lot. Some adjustments are required before it can really do what it was intended to do. See, I tried to hop on it and almost became a eunuch. The Bobike is low and back, so you cradle your precious cargo in your arms as you ride. But for most bikes, that means interference with your riding position. I could get between the seat and the Bobike, but I couldn’t get UP onto my seat. Absolutely no-go if there was a child up in there.

I was sort of resigned to the idea that maybe the seat wouldn’t work out (it was designed for upright commuters in Denmark with adjustable stems and that vertical clearance) and that I’d be putting the rear rack on. But I did some research last night and was reminded, thanks to www.longleafbicycles.com why i got my long quill stem in the first place. I was going about this the wrong way: I thought the clearance problem would be the seat being too much in my face, so I was pushing it farther and farther down the stem, to no avail. As it turns out, it needs to be HIGHER, which is counter-intuitive, I have to admit. That’s where the ginormous stem came in. So this morning, I raised the seat high on the stem (didn’t yet actually increase stem height) and equally-as-important, lowered the SEAT. It made all the difference, and it worked. AWESOME.

Another issue is the brake. I’m a mile from where I started: I have sticky salmon pads, a new center-pull caliper, and I spent a LOT of time stringing and restringing it, which is made more aggravating with this vintage of equipment because of having to use double- wrenches on the hanger nuts. I was too weak in stopping power on my test ride, which was after about three stringings already… and then I adjusted it and am now too tight, so i need to let out about 3mm of cable. But I’m close.

The cork handles, which were kind of an experiment anyway, were 50/50. One went on great, and one shredded like you’d expect thin, true cork to do. Wifebot(tm) suggested glue but i don’t think it’ll hold together very long, so if I keep using these, I’ll be replacing one.

The bars, which LOOK rad, once again may not work, just as has happened on my other rides.

The sweep brings you too far forward, and I think I’ll interfere with comfortable positioning when Z is on there. So i may have to switch to sway, or boulevard, bars. I’ll be looking at that tonight.

Lastly, when I set out on the test ride, I was like DAMN this is a bitch. What is UP. The gearing was higher than I anticipated. I discovered the culprit. Remember how I was messing around with different combinations of cranks and chainrings? I ended up going with a 53, not the 39 I started with. Makes a teeeny bit of difference.

I calculated the inchgear at a gruesome 101. GAH.

I’m putting a 20 on the back tonight, getting it back down to my comfortable low-70s.

All in all though, very exciting and satisfying day.

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Fixie For Sale: Ghostal $695

wrongrobot — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:02:17 +0000

Ghostal for sale. This was my first bike build on a brand new track frame rather than a conversion. It’s up for $695 obo

This is a complete build, assembled from scratch. The build is tight and true, and the bike rides very smooth. You have the option of Nitto bullhorn bars or Soma Walker drops, which I will mount for you while you wait.

Current Build:
- Origin 8 Del Pasado Frame/Fork with custom vinyl
- white on white pre-built Fixed wheelset
- white track tyres
- Cardiff leather saddle, white (brand new, already Proofide treated)
- Velo Orange stem and headset
- Nitto Bullhorns with Keirin grips; or Soma Walker drops with same grips
- Paul Comp cross lever (hard to find, brand new, aluminum)
- Shimano Ultegra brake
- Sugino cranks
- Shimano A530 pedals

The saddle that comes with the bike is the white Cardiff saddle, not the Brooks. The brake lever pictured has been replaced with a streamlined Paul Comp lever as noted. Bike is very clean; Will be sold with brake but you may sell the brake back to me for $20 if you don’t want to use one. That’s your call!

Make sure to contact me early if you want this bike. I will be in and out all weekend, so use phone: four one 5 4 six 5 272 four or email ( wrongrobot at thirdraildesignlab dot com) ASAP to set something up…

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the snobSum index – tumbler

ironlung — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:36:08 +0000

WR came up with the brilliant topic IDEA of a "snobSum index." the idea is that we subject our bikes to a fictitious review by the bikeSnob, using what we know about his likes and dislikes to add and subtract points from our bikes, ending with a completely arbitrary and made up number that represents the snob’s outlook on our bikes.

thus, my leader 725TR build. the bike i ride every day. the bike i rode to los angeles in the AIDS lifeCycle. the bike-shaped hole in the universe. the stealth bomber known as the tumbler…

personally, i think WR shortchanged himself by snobbing a -1 for riding a track frame. i’ve never gotten the impression that BSNYC dislikes or even disrespects track frames being ridden in the city. in fact, i can remember several posts in which he’s expressed great joy at riding his own track bike in the city. it’s brakeless hipsters in flatBrimmed caps doing BMX tricks on the brooklyn bridge before slowing down right in front of him that seems to bother him more. so i’m NOT giving myself a -1 for riding a track bike.

unfortunately, i get a -3 for riding a track bike in this PARTICULAR city, whose main geographic identifier is HILLS. ordinarily, that’d be a -1, but i’m bumping it to brand-aware for having ridden it to LA. DAMMIT!

i don’t know if i get a +1 or a -1 for my waterbottle cage. on the one hand, it’s very lone-wolfish. on the other hand, it’s a long-distance accessory on a track bike build. so we’ll cancel it.

i do know that i get a +1 for the rear fender. snobby’s big on using "wheel eyebrows," because "it’s probably urine."

+1 for the brake.

while i was inclined at first to give myself a -1 for my outlaw bandana around the headtube (in what might be misconstrued as a fashion statement), i’ve decided that he would actually give me a +1 for making my bike look less desirable to thieves by covering the headbadge. plus a bonus +1 for debadging the whole thing.

whoops, -1 for rocking an obviously $200+ cockpit.

another -1 for no tape on my bars.

final tally? -1.
totally hosed.
AYHSMB.

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cinelli ram2 bars by mike giant

ironlung — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 18:19:59 +0000

holy.
FUCK.

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handlebar muststash review

ironlung — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:08:21 +0000

a long time ago, i found out about THIS, a stealthy little bar end plug in which to keep small gifts. i contacted the guy who was making the limited, 24-pc run, and slid in under the wire. he offered to custom engrave it with a 3-digit number of my choosing, which was "415," and i submitted my funds and waited. it took forever, but i’ve had it for a while now and can properly review it for you.

that’s what it looks like mounted into your bars. the SOLE downside to the product’s initial view is that there aren’t any other bar end plugs that i’ve found that look anything like it. thus, it stands out. either it looks different from the one you have on the other side, or in my case, it’s the only one at all. it’s not that huge of a deal because it’s not something you can just walk up to and pull out. i need to jam a knife blade in there all the time and leverage it out. but still, kind of antithetical to the point.

but anyway.

best logo ever in the history of logos, no disrespect to WR’s TRDL and R3 logos.

once you take it out of the handlebars, you pull it apart into it’s two separate components. the smaller chamber, lying on it’s side in that picture, has 4 small holes in the top and a little rubber seal around it, which is what holds the smaller chamber tightly inside the larger chamber. the larger chamber has a hole along the rim, which i’ve positioned facing forward. the inside is empty and is a great little place to put small gifts.

in use, it’s wonderful. when the two chambers are attached one-in-the-other, you have to insert the smaller into the larger juuust slightly past when the seal enters, because if you go all the way, you lose the airtight seal.

there really isn’t much wrong with this product. it fits tightly into the handlebars, and it does so in a number of different inner diameters, due to a really smart channel and seal system — there are several grooves of varying depth around the body of the larger main chamber, and by putting rubber seals into different ones, you essentially change the seal’s ciameter. so smart.

this is such a genius invention that it gets an EASY 10/10 CLANKS! keep in mind, this is handmade by one dude so SUPER big thanks to PENTABIKE for kickass craftsmanship, awesome functionality, and just being a cool dude to do business with.

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Bike Build Process Log: Crook Type 3 Conversion

wrongrobot — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:46:48 +0000

As you have seen from previous posts, Crook was my Cinelli Mash fixie build, which had an expressed purpose: it was my ride for Aids Lifecycle. When I bought and built it, my vision was just to build the fixie I could do the MOST on… the longest days, the best climbs, the most agility, etc. So, it was done up with road drops, ridden for a few months before the ride (about 400 miles) and then on ALC 9 from SF to LA (another 570 miles)…

But something changed, along that preparation period before ALC. I found my initial rejection of the green limited edition version of this frame turning from dislike to interest. I couldn’t shake it. And then I had the idea: ride the gray ghost to LA, then have a metamorphosis to the green. So I took a risk on the green frame, site unseen, and ordered it before I left.

My initial plan was to come home, strip the bike, assemble the new one, then ride up to the city and meet Lung later that week with the surprise build. I had kept my plan a secret. The frame was shipped to my office while we were on the ride. All was well.

Until I got it home the day after we returned. The frame itself was gorgeous. The color is indescribable, and no pics do it justice. But the fork had carbon damage at the crown, painted over by the factory. Unacceptable! So I had to wait several weeks to get this resolved through my guys at City Grounds (zack is awesome, I say) and an understaffed Cinelli US crew. Ultimately, I got the replacement fork, and discovered the crown race was missing. We got that sorted, and I received the race in the mail last Friday, just in time to finish the build before Lung would arrive that Sunday for a birthday ride. The build was done from the back forward, but the front end was waiting on that race.

The ride is a dream, and you can see the Bio of the bike here.

Below are my process pics from the conversion, which involved using the original Crook bottom end, and a new top end.

:::

Unfortunately, the photos of the frame unboxing and the back end assembly were largely lost to a bad SD card. However, imagine me pulling a brilliant frame from the box and squeeing. The green is this iridescent color… not quite flaked, but shimmery. And more importantly, it’s a warm green, not a cold green. It’s paired with a creamy opaque white, a look I’ve always loved, going back to my one-time plans to white-paint-dip a stained-wood raw coffee table top for a project years ago. I love that look.

First, the original Crook was stripped to the bones, for sale to a fellow who was heading to San Diego fixed in a pursuit of folly similar to our fixed-gear Aids Lifecycle endeavors. How’s THAT for synchronicity! Last shot of Crook 1.0′s frame.

While waiting for the fork situation to be resolved, I dragged everything up to the deck for the extrusion shot (using the damaged fork, because hey.) and then decided to do the back end build work up there, while simultaneously BBQing and hanging out with wee Z. Here’s proof.

Here’s a close-up of that damage to the fork. Not a MASSIVE deal, but the concern I had was two-fold: one, the top surface of the crown is unpainted, so it’s visible in the gap between the frame and fork. This would be more obvious as a result. And two, it’s not like it was a sealed defect. That’s the EDGE of the paint. It’ll fray.

That was never fully resolved at the time of this writing. My boys at City Grounds took up the effort in dealing with Cinelli on that front, as weeks had gone by without any fruitful response from the manufacturer. It will be an argument over manufacturing damage vs shop damage. I believe manufacturing. In the meantime, as these weeks went by, my Crook parts hanging on the bikeBasement pegboards like those trophy skulls int he Predator ship, Lung was fast at acquiring and gleefully riding his new Cinelli cockpit. I was dying. I prayed he wouldn’t have a similar issue, like opening the box and finding his bars twisted into the shape of a rhombus or something. They weren’t. Gorgeous bars!

So as I mentioned, the bottom end was remaining from Crook 1.0. These were all new parts before ALC, right, so this transformation was to swap out frames, and the top end changes were largely cosmetic, except for the bars. So I kept my wheels, tyres, cranks, pedals, cog, brake… well, new chain, but other than that, same same. For the new stuff, the idea was to have chrome up top, black down below. I could have done all black, but the few green builds I see on the supernet go all black in the components or in one case all silver. So, in keeping with the ‘dipped’ theme of the white on the frame, the top end was dipped silver. Conceptually. Here wee Z is carefully scrutinizing some small gifts for manufacturing errors. That’s a shim set for the Nitto bars (unfortunately a necessity), a star nut and a special awesome Thomson solver stem cap. I used Nitto RB-021 compact bulls on this build, since the road drop necessity of ALC was over. I sourced a sweet silver cross lever directly from Paul Comp, too. Awesome. Same stem and seatpost, both Thomson, just now in silver. I used a shorty stem this time, feeling like going compact would get me into the bulls’ drop position easier. This is still pending final approval, as on the road it may be too close to me in this configuration, putting too much pressure on my arms. The saddle is one of my Brooks, already broken in, and the wrap is elkhide.

Here’s one Lung will like. Once I finally got my crown, I built my own crown race setter. And by built, I mean I had the hardware stoe cut me a big section of 1 1/2" black PVC. Tappity tap tap!
Look at that, saved $100 right there!

To me, the scariest step is cutting the steerer. On Crook 1.0, I left about 5mm extra, ringed with a final spacer above the stem, anticipating needing some height adjustment on ALC as I went. Didn’t end up needing it. Plus, this time, the bars are compact, so the taller the stem, the closer they are. Anyway, measure TWICE cut once, here at chez Wrongrobot.

Setting the star nut is actually kind of fun. Whamma bamma.

Here the bike is ready for wrapping. The Paul lever is installed on the thicker portion of the bars, as far over as possible to minimize cable housing scrape on the sharp curve of the X2 front end. This would be the slowest step, wrapping the bike up (literally) taking me from Friday night after getting back from Lung’s birthday party, through Saturday and into the next evening.

The elkhide is really interesting. It’s stretchier than calf hide, and is more porous, shows more defects. It’s really rad though. I had started with a lighter color that purported to match the Brooks honey color saddle, but was too tan, so i sent that back and got the darker brown, which matched perfectly. I used something close to a baseball glove stitch. I had no experience with this. You use one thick waxed cord with two stubby needles, and work from the stem outward. I’d get three good stitches and then a fail, distracted by my baby hurtling herself off of something or Anne Hathaway on film or whatever. But it wasn’t arduous. Just required time to get right. Go slowly, etc. In practice, on the road the wrap slips a bit as it’s stretchy and you apply so much force with your hands, so it pulled away a bit from the edges where they started, but still good. Will take some miles to settle in. Easily the most gorgeous bar covering I’ve ever had.

And with that, Crook Type 3 was born. We rode Paradise Loop under windy conditions, and it was a dream. I have some adjustments to make, reducing the inchgear down to the more universal 72 from 75, and some messing around with seat and stem position, but overall, love it. LOVE iot.

So that’s the story of how Crook became Crook Type 3 in a post-ALC transformation!

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