Jasper Bike, v0.9

OK, enough of the retroactive posts. Let's just catch all the way up, shall we?

TA (almost) DA!!

Fate shined on me one day when I my local LBS, Turin in Evanston, went belly up, and I stumbled across a Linus porteur rack, or most of one, on the odds-and-ends closeout table.

$25.00Are you kidding me?!?!?

OK, sure, it's missing parts. Boo-frickin'-hoo. I can talk to the fine folks at Linus and get replacements. It goes on their website for $130! Uh, yeah, I'll take it. Nothing makes me happier than a deal that's shiny!

Another Christmas rolled around, with another gift card, and it was time for Velo Orange stainless steel fenders and chain guard, and new Panaracer tires. Metal fenders are supposed to be a bear to install, so kudos to the fine folks at VO. Installation was a breeze, and the leather washers keep them from rattling beautifully.

Did I mention they're shiny?

O, so shiny. CAW!! CAW!!

Now we're getting somewhere....

Another birthday rolled around, and it was time to tackle the gearing. The old Shimano Altus 7 speed cassette and hub had seen much better days. Many of them. A long time ago. Handspun makes a lovely rear wheel that hit (almost) all the buttons. Shimano Alfine IGH on a reflective Velocity Dyad rim. Tasty. Just the ticket for a gentleman's city bike. Too bad they used black spokes. Blerg. Shiny is more better.

But still, I have to admit the non-machined sidewall works perfectly with no rear brake. Those happy coincidences are the design gods nudging you. Ignore them at your peril. Add on a Surly Singulator, (a beautiful piece of engineering, BTW) and we have us a brand spankin' new drive train, folks.

Oops. Hold on...

The Suntour barcon doesn't have enough travel to shift it. If you want a barcon (and we do), you need to get yourself a JTek shifter. 

Seriously, JTek makes some very useful, niche products. They're extremely well engineered. But there ain't an industrial designer anywhere near their R&D department. But ugly, but it will have to do.

What else...

Black elk leather bar wraps from Velo Orange. Soooo lux. And a black leather wrap for the top tube while we're at it. That sucker is seriously beat up. 

A Pletscher ESGE double leg kickstand to keep it upright.

And the best bell ever made, Crane's brass Suzu. Lovey, never ending tone. 

Time for some miles.

It's baaaaaack!!!

I kinda lost interest in the blog for a while. Honestly, I was spending more time typing than tinkering. Blerg. But a recent status update on The Facebook made me think maybe it was time to revisit things.

The Old New

Many things have changed since August of '12. Oh, those heady, halcyon days of the summer of '12... 

The mission crept. Ambulated. And then I received a couple of gift cards. That's when Mission Creep became Mission Gallop. So let's review....

Hey, I remember that house....

Nitto stem and Wald bars are still on the bike. Good choices then, and they've been solid performers. I flove the hand positions the bars afford, and the stem is baby-bear-just-right. The Tektro reverse lever is working OK. Not the greatest stopping force, but I'm not going that fast. Losing the rear brake has affected me not at all. One does need to be careful to remember to reach for things with one's left hand. Taking my right hand off the bars has resulted in a few Oh, Shit!!! moments when I had no way to modulate my speed.

Mmmmm... Shiny...

The Suntour barcon is no more. It worked fine, no complaints. A beautiful piece of engineering, really. But changes are (were) afoot, and it no longer fit the bill. More on that later.

The Gyes saddle is doing... OK. It's comfy. It's broken in nicely. But the black dye is fading. It's starting to look decidedly dark brown. That may require attention next year. Still, at a fraction of the price of Brooks, I can't really complain. And black was the right choice for the bike.

Now, about that galloping scope

First came a lovely gift card to an LBS. What to buy, what to buy....

My first choice was something really extravagant. Like the Velo Orange Portuer rack. Mmmm yummy. So shiny. This rack is Crow Approved (tm).

Caw!! Caw!!

But ultimately I decided to go with the Gimondi crankset. Also tres shiny. And tres more useful. And did you know you can get purple chainring bolts?!?! O yes, you can. Ebay. Strait outa Compton Taiwan. Pulled the old, installed the new at my local co-op. Fun learning opportunity.

Pair it with a couple of old skool MKS Sylvan Touring pedals, and you get...

Shiny Goodness

Return of the Crow

After much soul searching and general consternation, I ordered the modern Shimano trigger shifter.  And then promptly won an eBay listing for NOS Suntour bar end shifters.

I like shiny things

I can't help it.  As I've said, I have the mind of a crow.  So my disappointment when my "NOS" barcon shifters arrived was palpable.  Were they New Old Stock? Er... no.  Were they shiny? Not as such.

"NOS" Suntour Barcon

Bleh. That is not a shiny thing. 

That does not get my inner crow excited.  Off to the hardware store!  Back in a flash with a cotton buffing wheel for my grinder and some kind of buffing...sticks.  Compound.  Four colors in a pack.  

[Cue sound of thoughtful tinkering.]

After some experimentation, I started to see small patches of shiny aluminum. Brown Tripoli.  It was then that I realized the shifter was not dull and oxidized, it was painted. Painted silver, to be exact.  Silver metal, metal that takes a nice shine, painted dull silver.  Who is so out of touch with their inner crow to do such a thing?

Grumblling, I stomped over to get a piece of emery cloth.  There's no sense in being delicate.  After about ten minutes of hand sanding, most of the paint had been scuff sanded though, and the aluminum below was showing.  Back to the buffing wheel and the Brown Tripoli. (That was a Rolling Stones song, right?)  Ten minutes later...

CAW! CAW! CAW!

Now we're talking!  Here's the before and after:

Mmmm... Shiny!

My inner crow is well pleased.  On the off chance the rest of the world likes them dull and painted, I left the other one alone.  I'll probably be selling it on eBay soon.  Maybe I'll give folks the option of shiny or dull.

Looking shifty

A Seven Speed Cassette

Although the bike has a 3x7 drive train, I'm not going to replace the front derailleur shifter.   I'm going to leave it on the large ring (38T) and lock the derailleur down.  But that leaves the rear cassette as a question.  The minimalist in me wants a single bar end shifter on the left bar.  Retro chic would put the shifter on the stem or the handle bar.  Down tube shifters would also be retro chic, yet completely impracticable.  Or I could put on a cheap Shimano trigger shifter on the right, and call it a day.

Bar End Shifters

I'm leaning towards a bar end shifter.  I like the aesthetic.  And I recall, on my old Le Tour III, having stem mounted friction shifters, and I recall them working well.  (At least when they were tight.  When they were loose, potholes would move the levers around and be very frustrating.)  But... expense is an issue, and it's hard to get just one.

$54   Microshift bar end shifter; friction ratchet, new from Rivendell Bikes

$65   Shimano/Suntour shifter, lightly used from eBay

Bar / Stem Shifter

A single Paul's Thumbie could be mounted on the bar or stem, with a down-tube shifter.  These are more plentiful on eBay, and cheaper.  But the total cost would likely be higher.

$39   Single Paul's Thumbie (Thumby?)

$38   Dia-Compe down-tube levers, new from Ben's Cycle

Trigger shifter

Sure, they're ugly.  Sure, they won't match the bike.  Sure, they're cheap and work well.  And I can get just the left one.

$12   Shimano Altus M310

What do you think?

The New Phonebooks are Here!

At long last, after much disappointment,

New Parts are Arriving!

Got the new Nitto MT-10 stem today from Ben's Cycles, after Universal Cycles pooched the order.  225mm stem, plus another 100mm extension at a 35 degree angle.  That should give me the upright riding position I'm after, with room to spare.  Finally, I will able to tighten a bolt or two!

O.  Very nice.  Shiny.

Stock Trek 700 stem vs. Nitto MT-10 "Dirt Drop"

It is loooong.  Hopefully not too long.  The Trek 700 doesn't have a very long head tube.  Time to find out.

Nitto MT-10 "Dirt Drop" stem with Wald 867 bars and Tektro RX 4.1 reverse brake lever

Aw, yeah.  Now we're getting somewhere.  Wow.  That's a lot of stem.  Flashback 20 years, to when I picked between two sizes of bike, and chose the smaller frame for when I was on dirt paths.  The larger frame would have less seat post and stem showing, I think.

Oh well.  It feels very comfortable.  Now I just need to sit on my hands waiting for the brake cables and housings to arrive.  I can ride it without shifters, but riding it without brakes seems like a rather bad idea.  They should come on Friday!

Mission Creep

My Grand Master Plan entailed removing the inner chain rings, moving the outer to the middle position, and installing a bash guard on the outer.  It was an excellent plan, in theory.  In practice, not so much.

It seems the Shimano Altus crankset I have is riveted together, instead of screwed.  Which means I am screwed, as well.  I could just lock the front derailleur down, leave it on the large chainring and call it a day.  But now that I look at it.... that chainring is kind of small... and it's really showing signs of wear...

I should install a new single ring crankset.  A bright shiny one with 40+ teeth.  And fluted cranks.  Bright and shiny.  (Seriously, sometimes I think I have the mind of a crow.)  But here's the thing-- I'm a cheap Scot by nurture.  And while I'd love to put on something light and contoured, they tend to be, well, not cheap.


In any event, off I went to the Interwebs to see how to remove the crankset.  Oh.  Special tools are needed.  Hmm.  That sneaking feeling I'm in over my head starts to creep up my neck.  I think I'd better  register on one of the forums and ask some questions.  Whammo!  Three excellent responses right out of the box.  I may have to take back all the nasty things I said before.  That, or I managed to only get responses from the helpful people.  One poster had just rebuilt his old '92 Trek 700 - possibly the same year I'm working on.  He recommended changing the bottom bracket while I was at it.  Creeeeeep goes the scope of the 'mog.


I'm not so sure I'm still not it over my head, but at least I know what I don't know.  Now if I can only find a cool, retro crankset on the cheap...

Same as it ever was

ARRRRRHGGGGH!!!

No parts shipment in time for the weekend...again!  Instead of shipping most of my order, Universal Cycles held it because of one item. They tried to contact me, so they say, but I never got a call from them.

Grrrr.

If you'll excuse me, I need to take my frustration out on my road bike.