Team Lope Tyre Clubbe » cog

Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Natural Twenty

wrongrobot — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:34:48 +0000

Show me a [Self-Generated] problem
yo I’ll solve it

Here we have the big 20 tooth cog on there finally (well, again) thanks to a fresh chain, and after an admittedly unloaded ride test (that means different things, depending on where, and when, in the Team Lope enterprise, we’re talking) and yes, it is reassuring to have the 70.7 inchgear as intended.

Wish I was well enough to actually ride as planed today, but these are still the problems to have…

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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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Cozzi Kills it, as the Kids Say

wrongrobot — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:12:03 +0000

Anthony Cozzi makes me want to BE a fixie-riding, flare-having skeleton.

http://prollyisnotprobably.com/2010/08/ … _print.php

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Still the BestBike Accessory We Don’t Yet Have

wrongrobot — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:40:53 +0000

Sure, I tease Lung about his ranting over wanting to carry bowie knives and revolvers and compound bows on the Tumbler ‘for protection’ * I DO still think these, which i posted about last year I think, would be the coolest bike bolt-on accessory to have in the stable ever. You could use these, and copious numbers of bungies and such, to carry just about anything. Anything being generally untoward, around these parts. But still.

*Of course, my slinging scalding hot coffee and piles of loose meat and small children to my bikes is of course reasonable.

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Seabase in Your Face

wrongrobot — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:35:56 +0000

OK, so i do NOT condone helmetless, brakeless riding through the Swiss Alps. MADNESS. However, wow.

I mean, WOW.

http://cutterskink.blogspot.com/2010/08 … imsel.html

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Speedplay Toe Clip Conversion Not for Babies

wrongrobot — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:33:30 +0000

Bill Thomsen certainly knows more about bikes, riding them, and manufacturing of custom awesome than i do, but wow, i just would feel a little iffy riding toe clips bolted around Speedplays.

Yipe!

http://prollyisnotprobably.com/2010/08/ … oe_cli.php

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Biketype

wrongrobot — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:27:07 +0000

What I like most, in this particular fontset, is that each letter was formed from something seen on thebike, then cropped and cleaned up. It wasn’t random parts abstracted or modified. It’s the ultimate in found forms. Very creative.

http://www.redinstead.com.au/biketype

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None More Wicked

wrongrobot — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:46:37 +0000

This was my favorite of the Johnny Porter series of pics…

Looks pretty wicked!

http://www.pedalconsumption.com/files/a … orter.html

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Moto Tent?

wrongrobot — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:43:43 +0000

See, camping in a tent with the bike you’ve ridden all day, white hot and oily and smelly and whatever, no, not my idea of comfort.

However.

Tents that can contain your sweet, sweet bicycle on those multi-day ride expeditions? Why YES please. If I had one of those on ALC, my seat and lug nuts wouldn’t be so jacked up. HA

http://gizmodo.com/5623607/a-tent-for-y … motorcycle

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Ever Wonder How Lung Makes it Through Distance Rides?

wrongrobot — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:35:27 +0000

Not really.

http://www.pedalconsumption.com/files/h … _pack.html

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