Steve the Bike is Finished

Steve the Bike is more or less complete. New brake levers, brake pads, rear derailleur, fenders, basket...that's about it.

I rode it to work yesterday, just to try it out. It's a bit more work than my road bike, but that could just be the lack of seat height for me. It shifts okay, brakes acceptably. I'm pretty happy with it for now. I think Andrea is too.

Vanier Park Dirt Jump Progress

I popped by the Vanier Park Dirt Jumps a few nights ago and I just about pooped my pants. All along I've hoped that this becomes a real dirt jump spot. It's definitely looking like this is going to be a great little spot.

The big line is definitely a big set that is going to take some skill to get over. The medium set will be a nice little challenge, but the gaps are half filled in so the consequences won't be severe. There isn't much shape to the little set yet. But it truly does look like something for everyone. With a solid pump track this will be amazing.

Some shots from the side that aren't that great.

New Project Bike

This guys is a bit different and not for me, but this is the next project.
It's in pretty great condition but needs some work. New cables. Fenders. Brake levers. Maybe a new rear derailleur. Tires eventually. Maybe wheels. A new basket. I'll probably just do the basics to start off.

I wanted to get some new brakes for it and couldn't find anything via the usual routes. I went into Mighty Riders:

Me - Hey, I'm looking for some new brakes for this bike.

Them - What's wrong with those?

Me - Well...these ones don't work. I'm going to replace the levers and cables, but if there is a cheap option I'd like to just replace these.

Them - Those will probably work fine if you do all that and change the brake pads. Besides, we don't have anything that will work.

Me - Could you order something in?

Them - I guess so. I wouldn't really bother though. That thing looks brand new anyway.

I like Mighty Riders. It's funny when shops don't seem to be able to get motivated to order something in for you.

Anyhow. It says "Peugot", but this will hopefully soon be the newest Lumberjack roaming the streets of Vancouver.

LBJ0001 Becomes a Commuter

The Rented Mule actually builds up quite well as a commuter with 700C wheels. I had one built for a while, but stripped it. I have my prototype frame sitting in the corner, quite literally collecting dust, so I decided to build it into a commuter.

I rode the prototype frame for a year or two and it's quite a nice frame. The angles are slacker than the production model. The seat tube is a half inch longer. The gusseting is different. The head tube is not machined. And, most importantly, it has a different set of dropouts. Other than that, it's pretty close to a production model.

Unfortunately, I screwed up on the prototype dropouts. One of the holes is .1 inches out from where it should be, causing it to ride a bit high on the disc. I fixed it by running a 7" adapter with an 8" disc and then spacing it up to fit properly with washers. This doesn't work too well though. The caliper constantly came lose and you could see that it was stressed out and causing the holes on to ovalize a bit. I wanted to drill it out to where it should be.

Where the hole should be overlaps with where the hole is, so it's a pretty difficult hole to drill. I brought it in to work to use the drill press and asked my riding partner/maintenance supervisor to help me out. He figured we should get one of the millwrights/machinists involved as he would be the best guy to get the job done.

My plan involved bolting a disc adaptor to the right spot and then drilling through the whole works to get a hole in the right place. I would have to sacrifice the adaptor, but this seemed like the only way we would get the hole in the right place. Worst case, if it was a bit out, I could clean it up with a file. Well, worst case I could weld in a new dropout and get the frame re-painted.

Millwrights, of course, aren't used to dealing with such precision. "We'll just file it out. Here. Gimme." Next thing I knew, my frame was clamped in a vice, one of them was scratching away at the paint to mark out where the adaptor should sit and the other was banging away at things with the file. They wouldn't believe me that it was steel and got a magnet out to prove me wrong. I probably should have just filed it out myself in the first place, but I honestly thought I'd be able to have a cleaner solution with a drill press at my disposal. Anyhow, it's almost there. I will have to clean it up a bit with a file once I get it built.

So, the lesson for today...you're always better off doing the job yourself. My paint will survive bit it was hard for me to watch. I should have taken a "before" picture. I'll try to get an "after" up in a few days.