Bike updates

Updates on the bike projects:

The Bamboo bike

Removing the handlebars, greasing them, and reinstalling them (plus re-tightening the stem where it grabs onto the steerer tube) removed the creaking noise. The thing is, I had to reallllllllly tighten them down to get rid of the creak, I had to tighten them what I assume is far past the recommenced torque. I ordered a torque wrench, and I'm going to tighten them to spec and see how that goes.

Diamondback Outlook

The bike is looking really cool. I scored some mountain bike wheels for cheap off Nashbar, and snapped on some really big and cool looking tires. The seat is now a nicer looking and comfier Bontrager I pulled off an old trek hybrid, and the handlebars now have snappy click shifters and comfy Titchey grips. Next up? I couldn't resist a used Vuelta triple crankset I saw on Amazon, the granny gear was smaller than the granny on the current crankset, which is good because I'm not sure the granny on the cassette would be big enough for my girlfriend. My BB will theoretically work fine with it, but BB spindle/crank compatibility is a practice I've found to not always align with theory.

Harvey Dent

The dented schwinn is still dented and always will be. It is destined to become a suicide hub fixie, Sheldon says suicide hubs are perfectly safe if they are on a bike that is equipped with two brakes. So Harvey Dent will have two brakes. The rear axle needs to be re-spaced and the wheel redished for this to work, I have never redished a wheel, so this will be an interesting learning experience!

Other stuff

My winter beater, a old raleigh record converted to single speed, has a chain that recently started skipping. Perhaps that is because it has stretched a bit, and needs to be retensioned. The bridgestone still needs its bottom bracket removed, it will likely wait a while as I'm not sure when I will next have access to a vice grip!

Blah

Its time to organize my thoughts on all of my bike related projects.

Diamondback Outlook: This is an entry level trail riding bike to give to my girlfriend, a test ride to see if she might enjoy mountain biking. The front derailler is completely warped, rear derailler seems a-ok. The cassette is loose, and I can't get the rear wheel off because it is held in with pinhead bolts. A tool called the gator grip can supposedly get the pinhead bolts off, so I've ordered one off Amazon. The cockpit needs a lot of work: the seat looks lame, there are no grips, and there are grip shifters which no one should be subjected too. There are plenty of seats around my house I can use, and triggers shifters are cheap on amazon/ebay. The chain is rusty, I think I have a chain I can repurpose, the cranks seem fine and the wheels just need some minor truing. Oh and the fork probably needs some lube. And I should take it on a hard ride when I'm done to make sure the whole thing won't fall apart under her.

Schwinn Super Le Tour 12.2: What a frame. Beautiful red paint and its super light. Shame about the deep dent in the downtube. Despite the major dent I would feel safe riding it, it is steel after all, if this were aluminum or carbon I wouldn't touch it. The bike will likely be used for parts, I've already looted a bolt from the rear brake. The wheel rims were severely warped, but taking them out to my driveway stomping them back into place helped a lot. I'm having trouble adjusting the stem, and the fork might be bent. I plan on inspecting the damage more today, if the frame looks truly rideable this could make a cool junk fixie.

Zambike fixed gear: There is creaking from the stem area when I put my weight on the bars, and it is only getting louder with time. I'm going to reinstall it and see if it goes away, if not I'm going to try a new set of bars and see if it goes away, if not I'm going to try a new stem and see if it goes away, if not I'm going to try a new fork and see if it goes away. Fun.

Bridgestone: My pin spanner won't budge the bottom bracket, I've heard a couple of drill bits, a vice, and the frame for leverage can be used to remove an old bb like this. Need to wait til I have time to visit the local bike co op to make this happen. Also I don't have a proper tool to remove the freewheel, which I need to do in order to repack the hub.

Things aren't always as they seem

Sugar tastes great. If you don’t agree, I envy you. You have it easy. Your taste buds determined that you are better than sugar and you are a better person for it. My taste buds determined that I should be a slave to a horrible and destructive chemical and I hate them for it.

My mind and body tell me sugar is fantastic, scientific research suggests otherwise. Subjective intuition, our “gut feeling”, is often wrong. No matter how strong the feeling of pleasure I get from eating sugar is, the fact is eating a lot of it is bad for both my mental and physical health. My gut feeling that I should eat a lot of sugar is wrong.

Sure, maybe a little sugar is beneficial, so the truth is in the middle. My feeling that sugar is amazing has some truth to it, but not all the truth, it informs somewhat but not completely. Sugar is an important source of energy, it just shouldn’t be consumed in huge quantities.

Do you see a parallel yet? Our subjective intuition, our “gut feeling”, about many things in life isn’t enough to completely inform us. Our feelings can be wrong, or misguided, and if we are to be happy healthy people we need to check our feelings against something closer to reality. That something closer to be reality can be anything that incorporates multiple perspectives, be it peer-reviewed research or conversations with people wiser than you.

Your gut feeling is the start of discovery, not the end.

Bamboo bike build

Overview of bike and parts

Over the past few months I have pieced together a fixed gear bicycle based around a bamboo frame. Through the process of researching, collecting, and installing the parts I have learned a lot. Perhaps someone will need advice in putting together their own fixed gear bamboo bike, and I would like to share what I learned to help anyone else in a similar situation.

Here is my parts list, with associated cost.

Frame: 54 cm Zambike Bamboo road bike frame, purchased from Craigslist $260

Wheels: Weinmann DP-18 with Origin8 hubs, purchased from velomine, $105 + $17 shipping

Tires: 2 x Vredestein Rouleur Road Tire, Nashbar, 19.49 each

Tubes: 2 x Continental 700c Presta Valve Tube - 42mm 6.99 each

Rimtape: Nashbar cloth, Nashbar, 7

Fork: Nashbar Carbon road bike fork with 1 ⅛ inch aluminum steerer, purchased from Nashbar, $79.99

Headset: Cane Creek 40 purchased from Amazon, $43

Stem: FSA OS-99 titanium stem, purchased from Nashbar, $28

Handlebars: Profile Design Stoker 26 aluminum bullhorn bars, ebay. $20

Brake levers: 2 x TRP RL 970 carbon aero brake lever, Nashbar, $14 each

Brakes: Tektro calipers, craigslist, $30

Brake cables and housing: Shimano universal set, Amazon, $13

Saddle: Becoz Athletic Eco Saddle, Nashbar, 15

Seatpost: Pulled one off an old trek frame

Crankset: Miche Primato Advanced 165 mm x 48T, wiggle, $115

Bottom bracket: Shimano UN55 BB Square Taper Bottom Bracket (68x113mm), Amazon, 17

Chain:  Izumi 1/8 Standard Track Chain Fixed Black Black, Wiggle, $13

Cog: Soma 17t track cog, Amazon, $24

Lockring: State bicycle lock ring, Amazon, $12

Pedals: Velo-orange track pedals, online forum, $10

Total cost: $891

Comments on cost

This cost does not include tools I needed to buy, nor parts I bought that did not fit. To me, the final price was reasonable, I could have spent a similar amount on a fixed gear from State Bicycle and got a similar quality bicycle. It could even be argued that mine is of higher quality than what I could have bought off the shelf with that money. However I made many purchases that took advantages of sales, discounts, and holiday promotions. On top of that I saved some money by buying used parts. Had I bought the items at MSRP the cost would have been much higher.

If I were to include time and tools into the cost, than it would be easy to argue that buying a pre-made fixed gear would have been more economical. A reasonable estimate for the total cost with tools would be 1300. The process of researching, shopping, and assembling the parts was very enjoyable for me. That can’t be measured, it is a subjective choice and I’m happy I made it. That doesn’t mean it is the right choice for you.

Lessons learned

There are a lot of things I wish I knew before going into this build, here I will share them.

-The recommended bottom bracket spindle size for the cranks I used was too narrow. The miche cranks called for a 107 mm spindle. When I tried to use a spindle with that length the left crank and chainring rubbed against the bike frame. I believe this is because the bamboo frames chainstays are thicker than they would be on a metallic frame, when the manufacturer decides which bottom bracket spindle to recommend they aren't considering exotic materialed frames like bamboo. Going with a 113 mm spindle, JIS tapered, allowed the cranks to clear the frame and still allowed me a great chainline.

-I wanted to mix it up a bit with the handlebars, I am used to drop bars and went with bullhorn for something new. The bar end aero brake levers were the perfect match, but they were not compatible with the first bullhorn bar I ordered. I did not notice that the levers were internally routed, meaning that the cable met with them inside of the bars, and holes were needed in the bars for the cables to exit and meet up with the calipers. If you buy brakes like mine, be sure you know if the cabling is external or internal and if your handlebars support either cabling method.

-When you buy a wheelset, make sure they have the proper spacing for your frame. I had to special request velomine to make the spacing wider on my rear dp-18 to fit my frame.

- A normal length seat post would not fit into my frame. Looking down the seat tube with a flashlight revealed a deformity that blocked the post from entering all the way. I attempted to file the abnormality down with a cylinder hone like this one but it wasn’t strong enough to do the job. Perhaps one like this would work but I was able to pull a short seatpost off another bike that worked.

-Making a crown race setter from a pipe was easy, satisfying, and worked well, using a hammer and screwdriver as a star nut press was frustrating and destructive.

And that's that, if you stumble across this page in your google searches I would love to know if it helped!

-Matt