Once more but with feeling!

Early this summer I bought a 1x1 frame set off craigslist. Specifically I bought a Race Face crankset with a Surly 1x1 frame set attached to it. The plan being, upgrade the crankset on my 1x1, and sell the frame set for what I had into it back on cl.

oh the plans of mice and men.

I brought the parts home and commented on the nearly new condition and my loving wife says "I would like a 1x1 too." Which is the truth. She's always borrowing my bike. rides it everywhere. 

So with a heavy heart I said goodbye to the crankset and we started collecting parts.

I had a gordo rim built around a schimano hub, but not disc. It came with the Instigator, which I switched to disc last summer, but had just picked up a new wheel for. SOOO, this dust collecting double walled beast of a rim made the cut for a new bike. So I tore that apart and rebuilt it around an sram x9 cassette hub. I built a second gordo rim onto a shimano disc hub with a three leading three trailing spoke pattern.

We went with bb7 brakes, partly because I am familiar with them and partly because the older 1x1 frames don't have brazons that play nice with hydraulic brakes. Mostly the familiar bit. I didn't think of the compatibility bit until I was actually running the cables. My fear of change seems to have saved me headache for a change. I called it a win.

Geared at about 2.15x1 the bike is a little high for riding single track in Lebanon Hills, but great for ambling around the city. No stalling on those crappy hills St. Paul has every four blocks. We had some 2.25in Kenda tires handy.  I'd like to put something a little nicer on like nevegals or minions, but that'll be later. 

The bike is light and zippy. The wheels feel great. She really likes the new bike, and now we have black and white 1x1s. And they are pretty spiffy if I do say so myself.

Handlebars for bicycles

Everyone seems to have an opinion about handlebars. Flat, riser, noodle, attack, mustache, and what have you.

I've been using flat bars for the last three years.

The Miyata I bought came with a flat bar, and I still use that bar on the 1x1 I built. The Instigator came with an old Azonic world force riser bar. the Long Haul Trucker we have has had mustache bars, bull horn bars, riser bars and now has nitto noodle bars. My Pugsley came with a Salsa Mo'to flat bar. Angled up slightly it might be the most comfortable bar I've used.

A while back I'd seen a thing about bar end grips being put in the middle of a flat bar, and have mulled this idea over since. I imagined this for riding through the suburbs,--a mockery of the pathletes on their skinny tires in lycra sausage casings.

This afternoon I finally put them on.

Bwahahahahaha!

pictures to follow.

the dirty old man

The oldest bike we own is also the most belligerent.

A couple weeks ago I changed the tires on Frenchie. Since Sir Walter died this spring the SBR has been swollen with new components.  Not that most the parts were brand new, it's that the parts were new to the reserve.  Including a pair of brand new Panaracer tires, I've been putting the same Continental Ultra Sports on the bike since 1999 (a tire I don't think they even make anymore...) and have worn quite thin.

So I put the new tires on, and they are awesome, except that they are slightly wider than the continentals.  So I rode home from work the first day with a millimeter of fender clearance. It was like riding with a break on every time I needed to push it.  When I got home, two seconds with a vise grip  fixed a problem I have been too lazy to fix for three years.  

Then last Monday we went to Redwing and biked to Cannon Falls. 

reviewing the list of original parts on the 1972 Peugeot UO8 I ride:

-frame

-fork

-threaded headset

-quill stem

-bottom bracket cups

-seat post

-brake cable guide

-seat post bolt and nut

I still have the original rear wheel, but in storage.  Nothing too impressive and I don't much care for the wavy lines.

The seat post bolt is breaking I think.  I could not get the seat to stay. Every mile or so it would sink about a quarter inch. But I had already used my spare seat bolt on another bike, and had not replaced the one I keep ziptied to my rack! damn and blast!

the pictures

who puts cotter pins in the seat?  it wobbled every time it was looked at sideways.

Here's a look at the donor

how the hell did I miss the derailleur?

here are what I expected to use from the SBR. We switched the Hurricane over to mustache handlebars, metal pedals, and tension shifters.  

I prefer the subtlety of tension shifters.  The rear derailleur works perfectly and smoothly. Though the front is pissing me off.

more assembly required

I forgot the camera at my folks, so pictures tomorrow.

The brakes were a pain in the ass.  Compared to the front derailleur though, they were a walk in the park on a moderate and sunny day.

This is because it was missing. Somehow I missed that...and then the SBR lacked a front one that fit. So I tried to make one fit with a nylon shim which worked at first.  And then every time I changed gears, the derailleur would wriggle down the tube.  Till it hung up on the large chainring and went crazy wonky.

After two hours of fighting with that we called it a night.

This has been a weekend of discoveries though:

1.  I really like some of these wicking shirts.  I haven't bought anything nike since middle-school till the shirt I am wearing right now, and it was cool and comfortable all day long.

2. I might like canti brakes.  I've defended the old sidepull brakes forever, but the cantilevered brakes were easy to adjust. And move on more axis than my brakes on Frenchie.

3. With the addition of a tin snips to cut cables and housing, I had all the tools I needed in my tool wedge.

Some assembly required

My Mom has had a bike hanging in the garage rafters for years.  

I don't think it has been ridden for as long as she has had it.  At first this sounds like a terrible thing, but upon closer inspection--the bike was in no condition to be ridden.

Immediately apparent problem: no brakes.

I was able to tighten the play out of the rear hub easily, but the brakes are in serious need of attention.

What I had forgotten about was an old Schwinn Hurricane hanging in the back of the garage.  I noticed it when we got her bike down.

It has cantilevered breaks and 26inch tires, just like the road bike with all the troubles.  I don't think my Mom wants to ride a mountain bike, but with a different set of tires and more upright handlebars...

pictures of the project as I get more into it.

Strategic Bicycle Reserve

On Planetary Gears I just commented that I have a Strategic Bicycle Reserve (SBR).  

This is completely the truth.

[eyes bug out]

Sitting at the coffee shop down the street from work I just watched the price of a gallon go from $3.58 to $3.72.

Balls.

[/distraction]

I used to rebuild bikes for friends from garage sale wonders.  Back in the mid and late ninties mountain bikes were the rage and old road bikes were 10-40 dollars or FREE.  A cheap hobby it was.  And I have kept a box of parts from the left-over bits.  Spare handlebars, deraillures, cranks etc.  Which make up the SBR, for those times when bits are needed in a pinch.

Now I have a spare frame: an old Schwinn Continental.  

You never know when a spare something will come in handy.  Shannon says there is no such thing as a spare frame, that it makes up too much of bike to considered a "spare part." I say anything that is not ridable for want of other bits is a spare part.  This frame lacks a front deraillure and wheels, making it unridable.  

Maybe if I took the handlebars off she will accept it as a spare part...