In this brief installment of the Ye Blacke Death build logs, I messed with rings, and installed other things.

My challenge, as I showed Lung over the weekend, was that the bottom bracket spindle that I have on this build is too short. I COULD just get a longer spindle, but what fun is THAT. So I frankenbuilt the drivetrain. I spent a lot of time, too much time, playing with chainrings. I started by pulling the middle and small rings off of the crankset that came ont he old Vista that became wrongBike(tm) but this led to the discovery that the chainring bolts were too long, even with a huge amount of spacers. And, additionally, one was stripped and took some effort to get it out. Then I went after the Campy cranks I had in the shop, pulled the two rings off of those to get at the shorter bolts, to use on the Vista cranks… but once I did so, and installed the assembly on the frame, I discovered the short spindle. So, off came the ring for the third time, and the Campy crank was reassembled, with a single 53 chainring. This went on fine, but the corresponding non-drive crank arm hit the frame. Through experimentation, I found that the Vista’s crank arm didn’t, so now i have a Campy right side and a Vista (Suntour) left side. Done!

i sure know my way around quickly pulling chainrings, between the Miche cranks and now these.

This is the Bobike seat that’s going on the front of Ye Blacke Death, right above the back of the front rack. It’s a trick little system. I MAY get a windshield for it, but we’ll see how that pans out. I set out this past weekend, on a Daddy/Wee Z day, to get some installation done on the project, and my intention was to get fenders, rack and seat up on there. Each gave me problems but I saw what needed to be done to solve them. The seat clamps to the stem, necessitating that tall Nitoo Techntronic stem, but I need to get the rack on first. The rack wants to go on after fenders, of course, so that made fenders the next in line.

I was installing in the carport, as an experiment while the cat was away. I put wee Z in the pack and Tole, and she was good for about an hour, so that was actually pretty AWESOME. It’s not the first time I’ve wrenched with her hanging out: I’ve done a number of projects upstairs on the back desk with her in the sandbox. That requires bringing the stand, the bike parts and all the tools upstairs, which is kind of a pain, so I wanted to try the carport this time.

You can see I got the fenders out, there. These are from Woody’s Fenders. Amazing build quality, hand-crafted goodness. I subsequently got them on the bike. Not complete, though. The rear needs to have an L-bracket drilled into the wood, and the front has a bigger issue: seating a front brake securely on the fork, on which the fender also hangs. I need a longer bolt. So there’s that. But progress all the same. You can kind of see, from this shot, some of how it’s coming together. Lung saw it a little farther along and up close.

Getting closer!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: wrongBike – Effing Crank Bolts!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Bars and Saddles
3. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Gamoh Go!

OK, I lied. I thought drivetrain would be next, and at the time of this writing I DO have stuff to post about that, but before I do, what I managed to finish yesterday were the wheels. My wee Z got her first bee sting and was high maintenance the rest of the weekend (crying, unhappy, swollen, etc) so I stayed low-key, doing household chores and hanging out with her. I brought the wheels upstairs from the bikeBasemtn(tm) and assembled them in the house while she battered my iPad.

These are Velocity A23 rims, laced to All City fixed/free. The hubs were chosen based on a darker metal finish, in keeping with the look of the build, and the free is on there in case I want to throw it on so wifebot(tm) can ride it. The tyres chosen are an old story made new again. These are Forte knobbies that were purchased and used on Fix-e 1.0 before I pulled them off on that rebuild and gave em to Lung, who had them in the shop for what, years now? I don’t remember if he mounted them, but when I was shopping for fatty, old-timey tread tyres, he remembered them and gave them back to me, in the Lung-Wrongrobot tradition of sharing our pieces parts. Allmost all modern tyres have sophisticated tread patterns, and I wanted something a little retro looking. I was looking at slicks but fat slicks are a rare breed. Anyway, these are absolutely perfect (except for the gross Forte branding, but one must check one’s snobbery sometimes)…

The original concept was to go for that oily black of iron, but after flirting with the idea of using Nightshade and a sealant, I decided it wasn’t likely to last on there. I didn’t want to be painting these parts, so I decided that they could just be what they are. The cranks are silver anyway. So the hubs are a dark anthracite to black color.

The knobbies are perfect! I’m going for that old-school utilitarian bike look, like one might find breezing through sunflower fields, with a front basket filled with cheese and wine and bike grease.

The A23 section is a short, trapezoidal shape. I wanted the rims to be decidedly NOT deep, and look very utilitarian. These came out even better than I expected, thanks to the handy craftsmanship of Joe at 718c.com.

It’s still hard to get a sense of what it will look like completed, with the seatpost and stem so far up and out of the frame, but you can at least see the knobbies in relation to the frame. It’s starting to come together.

Next up: drivetrain. Promise.

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Wheels On!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Wheels Selected
3. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death

Oh, the TEASE of this build. I keep trying to get down there and hammer it out, and something comes up. My time has been pretty scarce so I do what I can in little chunks. This is what I managed to accomplish in the last few sneaks down there: stem, bars, seatpost and saddle. Cumulatively 5 minutes of work, but really, three days. HA

The stem isn’t in very far. I’m waiting on this and the seatpost until the wheels are ready so I can size it. But it’s no illusion that the stem is long. It’s a rad Nitto longneck I got in order to support both the front rack and the stem-mounted baby seat. It’s definitely going to add to the old-timey look to this build, because it looks random and old.

I’m using a vintage B-17 Brooks saddle on this one. It’ll be easier with the front loading of the bike than my usual Swallows, and anyway, it’s old, which fits. Nice and soft.

Next up: drivetrain. I’ve already spent a few hours on it this weekend and have no photos to show for it. But there have been problems, and I think solutions…

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Rubber Side Down
2. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – More Prep Work
3. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Rings and Things

Ye Blacke Death – Prepare to be Toled!

And so it begins!
With the wheels arriving yesterday from our friends at 718c, the assembly can finally proceed.
Unlike some projects, I’m actually already underway by the time this was taken, as I did the headset overhaul and reassembled that tight to the fork before stopping.

Anyway, with some luck and fortuitous timing, I might have wheels down this weekend!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Wheels Down
2. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – BBs and Hubbees
3. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Rings and Things

Joe, our man on the East Coast, custom assembled the wheels for Ye Blacke Death, per specs I requested including non aero rims, black as midnight, and subtle. He discovered a spoke nipple problem shortly before sending them out originally, so he pulled them and rebuilt them, just to make sure they were right. As they are intended to propel young Z around, I appreciated that safety check! When the box came today, a day earlier than UPS estimated, I was initially disturbed to find the axles pushing through the box, which could have been a sign of damage. As it turned out, it was a sign of pure 100% minimum awesome.

I can finally begin assembly! Or resume it, technically, as the BB and headset are in.
With luck, YBD rides this weekend!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Wheels On!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Extrusion Shot
3. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Wheels Selected

Two quick updates on the YBD project front.

Bottom Bracket.
I installed it. Shimano, basic, tight, smooth. Good to go!

Wheels.
Hereby completed by our man Joe at 718cyclery.com, and shipped!

We could be, and should be, go for ridery this weekend!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Rings and Things
2. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Extrusion Shot
3. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Bars and Saddles

On Father’s Day, I finally got to realize one of my dreams: go on a ride with wee Z, Team Lope’s youngest member. We used the big back-mounted seat we inherited from friend Carey, attached to RedCoat, and wifebot(tm) was on her Bianchi Brava, which she hadn’t ridden since a few months into her pregnancy. After a tune-up and safety check for each, we were off to Blackie’s Pasture for a spin up and down the bay view waterfront path.

The 4-pack bike rack I got while we were expecting (advanced planning) works nicely for transporting more than one bike, since I can only put one bike in the E with the baby along for the ride. Plus, the seat is 300′ tall so it wouldn’t fit therein reGARTless.

Wee Z has a sweet little Lazer helmet. I’m putting one sticker on for each ride. It’ll be ghetto fabulous in no time.

She actually enjoyed the ride, I think. For future rides, we’re giving her eye protection though, as the wind was buffeting her face quite a bit, despite her large and handsome windscreen.

All in all it was a wonderful maiden voyage and the start of a Father’s Day tradition.

I’m really looking forward to getting Ye Blacke Death finished so I can use that bike’s planned FRONT seat on future rides…

Also, I’m pretty sure she threw threes at one point. Probably in terror, but still.

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1. Team Lope Ride Report: Critical Mass, SF Jan 2009
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Today was a pretty thrilling day, from the bike build project perspective. You should find two build reports over the weekend, one each from lung and me, starting with this one. We had taken our latest project frames into a recommended powdercoater in the east bay (Maas Brothers) and they were done in less than a week, so we took the opportunity to shoot out there today in an attempt to beat the holiday weekend traffic and get our finished frames. Man we lucked out: we drove straight there, and hit a ton of traffic near the construction on the 580 and happened arrive just in time for their early closing hours for the weekend. Then on the way back the route out was now completely packed all the way to the bridge, thanks to accidents, so our timing couldn’t have been better. Anyway, we came back to lungs workshop to do a bit of work before I headed back home.

The finish on these frames is divine. Lung’s choice was this gorgeous white pearl that I swear none of these process pics will do justice to at all, but man it’s gorgeous. For my Ye Blacke Death project, I wanted a simple matte black, and of course Maas had like 33 variants of this color, but I clearly chose the most number one good awesome version, because it looks dreamy. Of course, now it has the telltale fingerprints of post-quesadilla, bike greazy component assembly, but still. Best frame detail, not even discovered until now: the pictured braze-on above. How rad is that little thing.

Once back at lungs shop, I used his handy homemade cup press to press my freshly cleaned cups back up in there. Admittedly, a week loaded with baby birthdays, aids lwifecycle prep, and lack of sleep was taking it’s toll, but lung helped me note that I was proposing to press my cups upside down, complete with reversed fork crown race floating on top. My brain was very much not working. I was like, huh where are the bearings anyway? Ridiculous. Anyway tappity tap tap and we were good to go.

The cups actually went in very easily, without need to readjust the cup press bearing plates. Quick snap!

One of the best details of the paint job was that I had them tape off some of the original chrome, nowhere better than here at the pointy crown tips. Rad! So, anyway, lung also has a, like, 3 feet long fork crown race setter, which is the most satisfying tool in the house as far as I’m concerned. Boom!

That’s all for today. The frame is hot as nails, cupped and good to go for the next step. Plus, with fingerprints for science.

Can’t wait to get going on this one when we get back from lifecycle! But I’m equally stoked to see lungs project manifest, as well.

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Gamoh Go!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death
3. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Rings and Things

From the ‘Some News is Better than No News’ department, a division of the ‘Bike Builds on 10 Minutes a Day’ organization, I’m happy to report a slayed headset. When last touched on, this headset was stymying me because the lockring seemed to have an atypical dimension not typical for threaded headsets of the day. On the advice of Lung, I ceased being analytical and just went to town on it with an adjustable wrench the other morning, and was able to get purchase just so, and pull the lock ring off and expose the innards. Then, duty called elsewhere.

This morning, I went back in and spent a little more time on it, pulling out a few spacers the likes of which I’ve never seen before, and then eventually the rest of the headset and bearing rings. They now soak in degreaser, and the frame is ready for powdercoating!

Onward, in baby step increments…

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Rings and Things
2. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death
3. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Seatpostery

My Ye Blacke Death project limps along. Well, limp is a strong term (and a weak term). Rather, it moves slowly. But it’s still moving. I put it on the back burner to work on Crook, since I wanted to ride that one as much as possible before Aids Lifecycle in June. But now that my wee daughter is approaching ride-a-long age, it’s time to get things going.

The YBD project bike is many things:
- it’s an old timey build, angling to be my tweeder
- it’s a Mixte
- it’s a grocery-getter
- it’s a baby explorer when module activateds
- and it’s a fixed-gear

The idea is, ride around with my daughter, do the shopping, mess around… and then pull the baby seat off and have at it on an old-timey ride.

So, the frame is being prepared for painting, and all that’s left to do is disassemble the headset. It was actually recently overhauled and is in great shape, so I’m toying with the idea of leaving it alone (the frame came to me from a friend who built it up as an Xtracycle before going for a beefier build, so the headset is already cleaned up)… that may depend on the details of the powdercoating process.

This Nitto Moustache bar was originally on Fix-e 2.0, then was sold to Lung for a project, now found it’s way back to me again with his blessing, so it’s a perfect fit for the old-timey vibe.

Various needed items, including a Sugino BB, an 8th-inch BMX chain, and so on.
I’m reusing some old road cranks to add to the antiquity.

I was originally going to reuse the stem but I needed a longer one for that baby seat, and also for a funky upright riding position in an old-timey style. This Nitto was the tallest I found. Look at that! 220mm!

Finally, this is the Bobike Mini, which I got from the awesome guys at Long Leaf Cyclery, based on their recommendation. The seat is a European import, and much higher quality than what I’ve seen out and about. It is positioned on the stem facing forward (hence that loooong boy up top) and it’s rad in 33 different ways. The helmet, by Lazer, is really cute.My daughter already wore it for an evening, gnawed the tag, had fun being a mushroom. It’s a funny little miniaturization of a regular commuter bike helmet but with exaggerated foam. Very Super Mario. I’d even paint it such if I wasn’t already going to sticker bomb it.

Anyway, pretty close to being ready. I have everything I need, I think, and next step is paint.

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death
2. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Bars and Saddles
3. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Rubber Side Down

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