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Thread: The Lounge of Terrestrial Wheelmen

  1. #4751
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    I'm trying to decide if that or a tallbike would make me more of a hipster?

    I dropped the bike off at the shop. The shop where they let me test ride one before, but then I found it somewhere else for $1,200 less. The knowing look from the manager lets me know they know what I'm up to.

    I hope they don't charge me $1,200 for the repair.

  2. #4752
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    Got the bike back today, shifting is all sorted out and working great. Turns out I didn't fuck up installing the headlight, it's just that I didn't notice it had an on-off switch. Rode it home tonight, it feels kinda like driving a station wagon, but that's what I was looking for. So easy to just toss all my stuff in the basket and get on my way.

    I'm also hitting the age where having a chainguard is awesome again.

  3. #4753
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Grandpa
    I'm also hitting the age where having a chainguard is awesome again.
    Yeah, they keep the chain grease off your socks.



    Earlier I was boring you guys with talk of being able to change from a 7-speed cassette to an 8/9/10 if there's a spacer on the hub along with the 7-speed cassette.

    Here's what mine looks like. Posting just in case you guys might stumble upon a nice used 7-speed bike at a garage sale and want to know your options for retro-moddage.



    I stumbled upon two garage sales during my Saturday morning ride while taking a shortcut (uh...I mean extending my training route) on paved neighborhood streets but sadly found no old touring bikes begging to be converted into gravel monsters.

  4. #4754
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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  5. #4755
    Subaru Unimpreza SportWagon's Avatar
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    Here, from MEC is a picture of the fixie wheel nut tool which is claimed to work, but really looks too short to me to give proper leverage. The picture is not great, but you can probably see it is a tire lever also.


    Last edited by SportWagon; September 4th, 2019 at 02:23 PM.

  6. #4756
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    Hah, that's a good point, I'm sure the fixie crowd has had to deal with this for a while now. Portland Design Works usually makes pretty good stuff when I can't find a Park Tool equivalent.

    Speaking of, just bought a crank puller, T20 Torx p-handle, and a Bosch lockring tool so I can work on the e-bikes. We'll see how that goes.

  7. #4757
    Subaru Unimpreza SportWagon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Servo View Post
    T20 Torx p-handle
    Oh. That's what the plumbers use when they manage to get those seats out of my old-style bathtub faucet fixtures.

    Does the crank-puller want a 15mm wrench, too?

    I guess I could say the combo lever/wrench pictured above "Looks to short to give ME sufficient leverage".

  8. #4758
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    Yeah, the T20 torx is for the bolts holding the motor on the frame. Also, the crank-puller can need to be tightened by a 15mm, my pedal wrench should work pretty nicely for that.

  9. #4759
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    I'll be interested in any further crank puller chatter that may occur. That may be the next tool I buy.

    Long story time. You've been warned. Didn't mean to go on as long as I did, but what's done is done...

    I took the kids mountain biking this weekend on a hilly trail that required a lot of shifting and I'm thinking more and more about trying a 1x10 setup on at least one of their bikes, if I can do it pretty cheap with parts from the co-op. I admit I'm just looking for a chance to do cool stuff to old bikes, but one of my kids (and I won't mention which) is having a hard time understanding 3x chainrings and is reluctant to shift from the center chainring, which really limits her (oops!) climbing ability on steeper trails.

    I know from looking that there are 26" wheels for rim brakes with 10-speed cassettes on craigslist regularly and I bet I could scrounge up a 10-speed shifter and derailleur from the co-op without too much trouble, and with an eye toward being able to use those parts on other bikes as they grow. They aren't aware of what's new in mountain bikes (yet), so I'm happy to keep our small fleet standardized on inexpensive old MTBs with 26" wheels and cantilever brakes for as long as possible so we can move parts between bikes as needed.

    My son seems to grok the front derailleur, and he told me he positively never uses the largest chainring. I was thinking I might swap that for a bash ring and adjust the FD to work as a double on the smaller two. I've read that's a common, inexpensive, and easily reversible modification. I suspect the boy may be a Utilitarian like his father, because when I installed my rather heavy double-leg kickstand on his bike to tune his rear derailleur or something like that, he immediately liked it and refuses to consider the spare single-leg kickstand I have in my parts box.

    I think he figures he has the coolest bike at the school bike rack because it stands up straight with the rear wheel off the ground. I get it, but that kickstand is a boat anchor if ever there was one. It was on the floor of my car after the ride and I was thinking to myself that it would make a helluva weapon if someone tried to car-jack me. Yes, I read (listen to) too many crime novels. Anyway, the few times we've loaded up the bikes to go trail riding, I've taken it off for him.

    On Saturday, I brought a wrench to remove the 'stand before our ride. His bike was the first one on the ground and while I was unloading the other two bikes, and he decided to get the wrench take the kickstand off himself. Now, I put that sucker on pretty tight so it doesn't move around and either rub on the tire or get hit by the pedal. His chain was on the middle chainring and somehow his leg was under the bike as he tried to loosen the bolt when the large chainring slammed down into his thigh!

    He was fine (and he's scheduled for a tetanus shot during a routine doctor's visit in two weeks anyway) but as usual when one of the kids gets hurt, I think it hurt me even more. His sister, who just finished her first softball season, told him to just rub some dirt on it and stop complaining. I know she learned that from her coach.

    A picture of his gruesome (not really) injury is below.

    Spoiler:


    One hole in the middle and a smaller one on each side! He didn't take her advice but did wash it out with hydrogen peroxide and applied some Neosporin and a band-aid after a shower when we got home. It is healing nicely.



    Bonus material (or continued torture, if you can't believe you're still reading this but too lazy to click the Back button):

    Here's our new (to me) bike hauler. I've had it about six weeks and just got a nice hitch rack from craigslist I bought the day before this picture. It's a huge improvement over a rack strapped on the trunk of my old Accord! I can easily fit one bike in the bed with both wheels on, and probably two with an old blanket between them. The hitch rack claims to hold four bikes, but I think three is the realistic maximum, which is perfect for us. I seriously believe this will get us out cycling more often because it's so easy to load up and go.

    The look of agony on my son's face is because he had hurt himself just a couple minutes before. I knew he was fine but he hadn't come to that realization yet.

    I have considered building a rack for inside the bed with perhaps 1" x 2" wood rails bolted to the floor cleats in the bed and skewer clamps that hold the forks with the front wheels removed. I may do that someday, but I wanted to ride with the kids sooner than later and got lucky in finding a decent rack at a good price and close to home.

    IMG_0320.jpg

    Here's mine in the back when I rode up there the night before to make sure the trails were open. They close them periodically for wildlife mating and nesting seasons. I saw the ad before my ride and texted the rack seller when I was done. He was about three miles away I went and picked it up right then.

    A quick and dirty bungee cord job to be sure, but this trailhead is so close to my house that I usually ride there instead of driving, so I wasn't worried about the bike.

    IMG_0298.jpg


  10. #4760
    Bubbles :D M4FFU's Avatar
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    So, I can finally sit down.

    Was a long, long day in the saddle. Longer than I've ever done, but my "training" never went more than 3 hour rides and that was mainly road. GEtting battered on gnarly single track, long decents getting arm pump as you're always on the brakes - need to train to survive that better.

    On the way home on Saturday, we were both glad we finished and got a medal. If we hadn't, we have to go back.
    Sunday, I could barely move. Never again.
    Monday, looked at strava, looked where training could have done better, text my dude and said "again, but better?" and got boss approval to buy a full suspension bike for next years attempt.

    I'm hooked.

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