This is a dodgy pic. It looks like dark, seedy, ketchup-squirting-type shenanigans are going on down in the Hangar. In fact, there’s a toddler ‘helping’ with bottom bracket lubrication and a box of miscellaneous small bike parts falling onto a loose rock foundation, at any given time. So it isn’t as salacious as all that.

I call the half of my basement where I do the builds Ye Olde Shoppe, and the half where the bikes hang, ready for selection and mounting, the Hangar.

Because I have dorkness.

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figured i’d get this fucker disassembled so i knew exactly what i was workin with, and armed with science, i can set to work getting it tight and rideable again.

after disassembly, i’ve found that there’s not a lot here that i won’t be confident tinkering on. the only real new technology that i found is the quick-release stem and the S-A 3-speed internal hub. i’m going to do some online research on the hub so i know what’s going on inside there, but on initial inspection, it appears that the little chain and cable that actually cause the shifting are one piece that if need be, must be replaced in their entirety as a unit. again, more research is necessary, but that’s actually uplifting news, as S-A internal-geared hubs are not all that difficult to find replacement parts for. whew.

now the stem, on the other hand, is a pretty easily-understandable piece of equipment. it’s just a skewer on top of a quill stem bolt. no rocket science there. but there is a twist to the story. the only removable piece of it is the head. in fact, the stem’s shaft isn’t part of the stem at all, it’s part of the fork. very specialized. luckily, nothing is fucked up on the fork, cause the project would be pretty much shot at that point — i wouldn’t even know where to begin looking for a mid-70s motobecane riviera folder’s fork in good condition. here are some details of the stem’s pieces (and i apologize for not taking a shot of the top of the fork’s steerer tube, which would translate on an ordinary bike to the stem’s shaft)…

as you can see, the only thing wrong with these parts is surface rust. in fact, after i took these shots, i wiped out the inside of the stem’s head with a rag and 90% of the rust just came off as dust, leaving clean metal underneath. AWESOME. this should slam right back together quickSnap.

one thing this single-unit fork/stem thing means though, is that i must replace the bars with risers. i have no choice in the matter. the steerer doesn’t come up high enough to be able to run drops or moustaches. i must use risers. and i must use NEW risers, cause i found the cause of the slippage that was going on up there…

yeah, those bars are fucked.

moving along to other pieces, you can see that the seat is in almost unbelievably good shape, both under and over…

i did not expect that. i’ll end up replacing it at some point, but that just went WAAAY down on the priority list.

also in amazing shape is the trigger for the hub…

in disassembling this, i was able to discern exactly how it works, which is great. i feel 100% confident that despite it’s unique cable-mounting method, i can step right into intermediate-level skill when working with it. plus it looks fucking cool.

i didn’t take many other pictures, but i will say that i ran into a disappointing thing. the point on the hinge where she actually folds appears to be manufactured. no obvious way of separating the two halves. and that means no powder-coating. i might look into it further, but to be honest, i inspected it pretty closely and i don’t think it comes apart. but i’ve decided to embrace that. i’ll wireBrush the small bits of rust off of it, clean it up, take off the labels and branding that i don’t like, and consider myself lucky to have a sweet sweet folder rather than considering myself unlucky to have a folder that i can’t get custom-colored. besides, if i’m feeling really ambitious, i can always have the rack and the fork and the chainguard powder-coated to make it two-tone, which would be fucking sweet, too.

i have to replace most of the little connection bolts and shit, and i still have to gut the bottom bracket (i didn’t feel like getting into that today and it’s a cottered crank, which i don’t have the tools to work on. so either way that’s going over to box dog bikes), but really everything that i’m working with can be easily restored to working condition. the headset is in great condition, all of the connection points are sound, the shifting works, the bolts will be easily replaced — i mean, i don’t see why i couldn’t have have this on the road in it’s current form pretty quickly, barring catastrophic further discoveries. oh, i have to turn up some brakes for it, too, cause the originals are FUCKED. that might be a drag cause the brakes wrap AROUND the fenders. but we’ll see.

and man, what a joy it is to work on bikes that only require basic tools…

it feels so good — takes me back to when i was like 13, tearing my BMX bikes down to the guts and learning all this shit for the first time.

off to the interwebs to learn more!

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I’ve been going through a lot of photos in some general Aperture cleanup, as well as reading through some stuff, and I’m really struck with the pang of not doing Aids Lifecycle this year. I think I’m going to campaign internally with the fam to do it for next year. Anyway, as it happened I was also going through some of my sites under the TRDL umbrella and noticed my forgotten-about Twitpic account. My TRDL Twitter account takes it’s content from FB status updates, by design, so it’s automated. But the Twitpic account was used on ALC to send daily photos and the like. Unfortunately, thanks to the EXIM business, many showed up sideways. Nonetheless, what a great day this was. I’m still filled with admiration and envy for Lung’s concept of holding Tumbler one handed by the bottom bracket shell. Sure, things could have gone terribly wrong, but what a shot!

http://twitpic.com/1vciwn#

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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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Villain 3.0 is done!

I have a few adjustments to make, stem and a frayed cable and a few other things, but it’s ridable and ready to go.

To recap,
I started with a Look KG381 Jalabert Edition built-up with Dura Ace, and a Look KG381 Team bike from the 03 tour, converted to fixed gear. I pulled everything off the converted frame (Villain), pulled everything off the Jalabert Edition (JaJa) and set out to build up my road bike from the black frame.

The black frame was undergoing some issues under the strain of fixed-gear conversion… make that big-gear fixed conversion. i was running an 82 inchgear. It was an experiment. But it led to weaknesses in the design of the Miche Bottom Bracket becoming apparent ( no flange, slides in, cranks scrape the frame) and lots of undue torque on the dropouts, which have a 5mm rotational adjustment in them (which largely allowed for my magic gear in the first place.) Certainly the modern crabon frame can handle the torque of a big inchgear… this wasn’t even the biggest combination you’d get out of a standard 53/39 + 12/23, but while the front end of the drivetrain could handle it, the back end could not. Road dropouts just don’t suffer those forces like that normally. So, anyway, the condition of the frame was some nicks and dings in the finish here and there from the previous owner, some crank scrapery from me, and otherwise good to go.

Final build details:

Frame: Look KG381 Team (2003 Season)
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Dura Ace
Crankset: Shimano Dura Ace (53/39)
Pedals: Shimano A520
Wheels: Easton Vista SL, debadged
Tyres: Conti Gatorskin Hardshells 23c
Cassette: SRAM Force (11/27)
Front/Rear Derailleurs: SRAM Force
Brakes: Shimano Dura Ace
Stem: Thomson X2
Bars: Ritchey Carbon Streem
Brifters: SRAM Force
Tape: Shimano vinyl perf
Seatpost: Thomson Elite
Saddle: Brooks Swallow

ping!

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So last night I got home from work an hour early and hurtled myself into the bikeBasement(tm), head first, through three partitions and a large timber column. I was THAT motivated.

Drivetrain upgrade time!

So, I started by pulling all the Dura Ace parts off that I was replacing. It’s kind of cool to see both the changes in design philosophy over time, and the differences in problem-solving, especially in the rear derailleur design (I’ll do my best to avoid what happened to Andy Schleck, of course*).

As I was pulling the 9-speed cassette off of my wheel, I discovered I was missing a familiar-looking tool: The Park FR-5 rear cassette tool, which looks similar to a bottom bracket tool I have (well two) but wasn’t quite the same. This is where having a bike shop in Tam Junction comes in handy. I was able to get that tool and back to the basement in about 15 minutes.

Next up, moving cassettes. As you’ve seen from Lung’s videos on the subject (or will, once they are broadcast) modern cassettes come in a combination of single and group pieces. The larger three or four cogs, depending on the manufacturer, are carved out of a single piece of metal, in my case titanium, and then the remainder are single cogs with spacers. They have a specific groove design in the center and fit the hub body a specific way. There’s compatibility issues all over the place, but not for me: while the Dura Ace groupo I pulled would normally suggest incompatibility of my hub with this new cassette, in my case I got lucky, because the wheel I was using was not my ORIGINAL wheel, but a newer one retrofitted to use the 9-speed cassette. I had owned a Cervelo Soloist with a modern 10-speed Ultegra groupo on it (2006) and swapped it for this 9-speed Dura Ace from 97… I had used a spacer and adapter to make the hub work. So now, I was golden for using this new SRAM cassette. Nice! That doesn’t often happen to me…

The cassette comes on a plastic speedloader, much like the ballistic version of same concept. In my case, because of the gears I selected, I had to modify the speedloader configuration, but once I was ready, line up the grooves, slip slip and boom, ALL on. It’s interesting to see the newer cogs and their guide teeth with angled faces. Anyway, quick snap, we were good to go and get back on the bike.

Adjusted the rear derailleur, ran the cable (now the cable housing swings wide up and over the stays) and same with front, swapped out for my new 10-speed chain (swapped out my new 9-speed chain, mind you, grrrr) and set everything, and boom!

Next up, final adjustments. I spent another hour this morning trying to adjust the index shifting with little success. I’m going for expert help…

*If you haven’t seen the footage, Schleck’s chain popped off on his acceleration up the climb in the pivotal moment of yesterday’s stage. There’s lots of controversy about attacking vs. waiting and all this other stuff, but I was more interested in what happened mechanically, as I always am when pratfalls occur in the tour with these guys. They have the best mechanics out there and the best equipment, but the wrenching is happening fast, and sometimes things aren’t adjusted, sometimes parts fail, and sometimes riders err. I’m always curious what it was. In this case, we don’t really know but there’s a good chance Schleck jumped the chain on a heavy shift. The nature of SRAM derailleur design led to the chain drop. IF that’s what happened…

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So in my last update, I had brought over most of the Dura Ace groupo from the Ja Ja to Villain. I was stalled by discovering that the Look 381 Team from which Villain was comprised did NOT have the braze-on hanger for the front derailleur that the Ja Ja frame had. This stalled my project out for a week. I did manage to bring over the entire cockpit, the brakes (strung), the bottom bracket, the crankset, and the rear derailleur.

I subsequently picked up a hanger from Valencia Cyclery. However, I brought it home and indeed it was too large. They are made in certain diameters, but the shape of the Look’s seat tube is not circular in section. I needed a shim to start with. So I picked one up on eBay and it arrived right before the 4th of July holiday weekend, affording me the opportunity to wrench a bit.

Holee SMOKEES! That’s tight clearance. I used one half of the shim, with some electtritole tape to soften the clamping on the crabon, I mean carbon.

I mean TIGHT.

I strung the derailleur, but not successfully. After a few attempts, and some research, I decided to wait and go through it with the boys at Tam bikes. I’m not entirely clear how to thread the cable properly in order to be in the right position to hold the hanger in tension. There’s a pulley back there, but I’m having difficulty making use of it, and what the hell. I need an EXPERT, and not in a Logjammin kind of way.

Side note: I really regret untaping the bars. As it happens, I may be reusing the same tape, depending on my final gut feeling on it. HA.

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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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As we talked about in our Aids Lifecycle ride reports, we came out fully prepared to deal with all sorts of mechanical calamity. We didn’t want to rely on the Cannondale bike tech support for our fixed-gears, in case they didn’t have the right tools for some of the components, so we packed full tool kits for overhauling the bikes. We brought tyres, tubes, chains, cogs, tape, brakes, electritole tape, everything. And nary an issue, other than a squeaky bottom bracket on Lung’s part. Of course, had I not replaced my cranks prior to the ride, it would have been a different story.

However, we did get quite dirty. These photos were taken after I returned from LA. That vinyl’s kind of gacho now! HA. Anyway, dirt is a badge of honor on a ride like this. I actually saw people cleaning their bikes at night. REALLY? I mean, I hardly clean my bikes at home. I lube and adjust the drivetrain, but dirt?

Anyway, here we are:

From my ALC Flickr set...

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OK, now that I’m back from Aids Lifecycle, it’s project time! What’s life without projects, I ask? Well, a projectless life, certainly, but anyway, onward…

I have four concurrent bike projects underway, and this is the first report from those efforts. It’s time to frankenbuild Villain 3.0!

You may recall I have two Look KG381 frames, my favorite vintage of my favorite road bike frame. One is the KG381 Team (one of the team spares from the 2003 season) and one KG381 Jalabert Edition, which was the special edition consumer model.

The Ja-Ja is currently built up as my road bike, with the Dura Ace groupo from that year, good to go. Note the saddle upturn was a joke, please.

The other frame was built into my first carbon road bike fixed gear conversion, Villain. Villain made it through two iterations, before being retired. I partially cannibalized it to form the drivetrain for Crook, my Cinelli MASH build, but also, it was struggling under the burden of the fixie conversion with a very high inchgear. So the thing needed an overhaul anyway, and the frame suffered some minor damage when the damn Miche flangeless bottom bracket worked it’s way inward, allowing the chainring to strike the wheelstay.

Between the two frames, the Ja-Ja is immaculate, and the Team frame is a little weathered: some sticker damage, some chips and that scrape I mentioned. But I LOVE the black bare carbon look.

So, Villain 3.0 is a fusion of these two rides. I’m attempting to pull everything off of the Ja-Ja road bike and put it on the Team bike, swapping out parts here and there, and building up a more subtle road bike as a result, then selling the Ja-Ja frame. it’ll be sad to see it go, as I love it so, but while I DO have many bikes in the stable, I bristle at an unused frame hanging there, and Villain in it’s fixie incarnation wasn’t necessary any longer.

So the first step is dissembly of Villain. Not too hard, given I gave his wheels to Raully Raul when I built up Fix-e for him, and I had already stripped the cranks off for Crook. But I pulled the bottom bracket, took the bars off, and cleaned the frame inside and out, noting no noticeable thread damage to the shell, which is good. Good bye, Villain headbadge! (don’t worry, replacement is already made)

I’m keeping some of the Villain gear. I love the Thomson X2 stem, and will be reusing that in lieu of the Ja-Ja FSA stem. I also prefer a few other small gifts from Villain that will make it over.

Not much more to see. I started taking Ja-Ja apart, but this is a slower process, because I’m going part by part, transferring the group over to the Villain frame. I’ve never built up a road bike, so I’m trying to be methodical about the transfer. That said, the best WhytheFace moment was then I pulled the Ja-Ja bars and unclipped the brake and so on and tried to lift it away and sprannnnnnng, it bounced out of my hand, because… you know… it’s cabled to the frame in three other places, hahahahaha. Shows I’ve been working on fixed gears for too long.

Anyway, fohhhhwahd! I have the service diagrams for the Dura Ace group (gah!) and all I have left to procure is a replacement derailleur cage from my recent calamity, and I think I’ll be good to go. Oh, I should mention, new tyres. I LOVE the red slicks but Villain isn’t a red tyre bike.

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