Weekend Parts and Production

It was a very productive bike weekend. When we last left off, I had some unassembled parts I had gathered and put around the bike for a nice looking photo, but that was about it. I wasn't really sure the best place to dive in, so I held off for a bit, and continued to hunt for more parts, and also start reading up on some of the tasks I would need to do.

First task at hand, that actually made me a tad nervous, was installing the headset. I'd heard many horror stories about people not being able to get the bearing cups (those are the silver rings above and below the headtube in this next photo) lined up properly, as they are amazingly snug and need a special tool to get them in. Following the advice of a few BikeForum threads, I whacked them in a bit using a hammer and 2x4, then took a huge bolt with washers and a nut on each end to tighten the cups down into each side. Click here to see what I'm talking about.

I haven't installed the star fangled nut (yes, that's actually the name) yet as we haven't made a final decision about stem height yet, but you can see how nice the bearing cups look below on the frame. First task out of the way!


I'm gonna give a go with these moustache bars, and am still working on optimum height, since I've never used them, so they're kind of just in there for now, but when I figure it out, then I'll have to cut the top of that steerer tube to finish the headset install.


The wheels came with some Panaracer Rampage tires, that were just monster big for the single speed, since the bike had previously been built up as a mountain bike. I took those off and decided to get something that wasn't too skinny for a 29er wheel (on the advice of a BF member) and picked up some inexpensive Forte ST/Cross K tires for an all around decent little commuter type tire. We'll see how they hold up.


Since our last update, my wife has actually taken to the road with me for a couple of rides, including her last one on my 12 mile loop! I'm so proud of her, and I'll be the first to say she looks amazing in her new bike shorts and pink jersey. But I digress...since she's starting to use a Jamis Coda Comp we had in the garage, we updated the seat to something just a tad more comfy, and pulled that seat on to this build for now. It's a Selle Royal Freccia - I know nothing about it, but hey, it's a seat, and it came off another bike we had!


While up in Portland over the weekend, we hit up the Community Cycling Center, on Alberta, which aims to educate, inform, and help people with all aspects of cycling. They have a cool recycling program where you can donate a bike and they get it all built back up and sell it inexpensively. Anyway, in their parts case, I found a couple of single speed rear sprockets, a 16 and an 18, for $4. Figured at that price I couldn't go wrong. Here's the 18 on the hub, however, I need a few more spacers to get this locked down.

On another cool note, I was shopping at another bike shop in town that's not my normal LBS (I was on a single speed, and it was 5 miles closer to just stop in), to get some cables to build out a brake. I happened to ask if they had the lockring for the end of the freewheel hub, and he dug around and said 'I don't have anything new, but you can just have this one if you want.' So cool!


In and effort to get some practice in for the steerer tube cut that will be coming up, we cut my sons seat post down in the vice using a hacksaw, and a clamp as a guide. Worked great. The cut isn't entirely perfect in this picture, but the younger mechanic wanted to take a turn at the saw. :)
And if you've been paying attention, you've probably noticed the sexy stand holding up the Karate Monkey. Yeah, broke down and bought one. I saw one on CL for $90, and couldn't pass it up. I just cleaned up the garage today and we have 9 bikes in there. It will come in handy many times over, I'm sure. It's the Spin Doctor Pro G3, which is normally $199, on sale for $159 right now, and I got it in essentially new condition for $90 from a very nice family in Portland, so I'm thrilled. Hopefully it will serve us for many years as the kids continue to grow.


After working on the bike today I built an overhead bike rack on the outside wall of my office that's in the garage. No picture yet, it's still a little messy over in that part, but I got 4 bikes up off the ground with a custom framed up, hook system in the garage. It's been a productive Saturday...and now I'm ready for some coffee and kickin' back!