Bike Project Part XII - Final

Finally! Finished!!
I fitted the new stem adaptor and stem, refixed the handlebars and fitted the new bar tape. I also polished the Saddle with black shoe polish.
I decided to remove the black pedal platforms and just go with the double sided SPDs.
I'm really happy with the way it's turned out.

I'll put it (and my legs) to the test tomorrow on the ride to work.

Bike Project Part XI

The wheel hubs have now been regreased and rebuilt. And they're spinning smoothly!

I fitted new pedals too. They've got double sided SPDs but a clip in black platform on one side. I'm not sure whether to keep these on this bike or swap my commuter bike pedals - which have silver coloured platforms on one side. Or maybe just unclip the black platform and have double sided cleats on my Single Speed.

Here's a picture so far:

Choices, choices.

I took it out for a spin! It feels OK. I think I need to slacken off the chain tension! I'm a bit conscious of putting too much force through the chain to wrestle the gear up some of the short steep hills. Am I likely to snap anything? It's not like I have track sprinter's legs!

I have made one decision! I've ordered a quill stem adaptor and new stem from eBay, so that I can get rid of that ugly white, scratched and rusty quill stem.

Then I can fit the bar tape and that'll be it!

So the next post should be a final picture with all that fitted!

Bike Project Part X

Finally, some action!


The Surly 42T Chainring, the Single Speed Chain and some new tyres and tubes arrived on Friday. So now I've got two combinations:

• 46T Chainring with Single Speed Chain and 16T Cog or,
• 42T Chainring with 8 Speed Chain and 16T Cog.

I'm setting up the 42T combo first.


I had a quick look on Saturday to check if I had enough adjustment on my dropouts to get the correct chain tension. It seemed like I'd need a half link connector - so more time to wait for more parts!


But as it turned out, I fixed it all up today and the tension is fine. Here's the setup:

It looks very tidy! Very happy with that!!

I also fitted the new tyres and tubes. The tyres are 700 x 28 (replacing 700 x 20) - and they were a bit of struggle to fit. But I got there eventually. So here's the bike as it looks now:

Finally for today, I've dismantled both wheel hubs and bearings - ready for a degrease, clean, regrease and reassembly.

I'm still contemplating whether to buy an alloy handlebar stem. The existing stem is painted white and a bit scratched and rusty. I need to decide that before fixing the bar tape.

Maybe I'll take it for a spin with the existing stem and no bar tape.

Later...

Bike Project Part IX

There's Good news and Bad news.

First the Bad news:

The 46T chainring I bought is not compatible with my 8 speed chain! Doh!! I made the mistake of buying a track chainring which requires a wider 1 speed chain.

Also, I'm doubting my ability to turn over a 46x16 gear.

The Good news is that I can buy a 42T chainring suitable for the 8 speed chain. And I can buy a 1 speed chain so that when (if) I get to the stage where the 42x16 gearing is too slow, I'm ready to swap over to the 46T chainring and fit the other chain to suit the bigger circumference.

I'm still hoping that I have enough horizontal adjustment at my rear dropout to get the correct tension in both of these setups!

So off to Wiggle! I think I'll take the opportunity to get some spare tyres and tubes too!

Oh, in addition to all that, I realised that my mathematical calculation of spacer setup was way out. Not sure why. I didn't spend too much time worrying about it because I found that line-of-sight setup got me close enough.

Bike Project Part VIII

Finally got the spacers and cog.

Just spent a few hours today trying to figure out how I'm going to set them up to get a good chainline.

I measured the chainring position, rear dropout spacing and splined freewheel mechanism dimensions last night. The spacer kit recommendation is to suit new style 135mm MTB or 130mm Road bike dropout spacing, but mine's a late '80s 126mm with a narrower freewheel mechanism, so I drew up the measurements and calculated the spacer and cog positions.

And I think I've sussed it!

So I'll maybe have a go at that tonight.

Next challenge will be to set the chain length so I don't need half links or tension devices to mess things up.

Then finally to rebuild the wheel bearings.

Bike Project Part VII

Still waiting for the cog and spacers to be delivered.

Today I had a go at cleaning up the ferrule around the handlebars where they clamp into the old quill style stem. It was painted white and I'd scratched it when I did the 'Chop n Flop'.

I started with a strip of glass paper, but that was too slow - so I got out the electric sander. That cleaned it up a treat. Still I'll have to be careful when I finally position the bars because it's so easy to scratch them with the stem clamp.

Problem is, it now highlights how ugly the scratched stem is, so I should probably replace that with a new alloy stem. I'll check in my LBS or I saw one on eBay for $9.95 plus $6 postage.

Bike Project Part VI

So now - onto the new parts.

I've ordered:

• TA 46 Tooth Chainring
• Shimano 5mm Chainring Bolts
• Surly 16 Tooth Rear Cog
• Surly Spacers for Rear Hub
• Wippermann Nickel Plated Chain

I've also bought a Bottom Bracket Lockring to hold the Spacers and Cog onto the Hub.

Everything's arrived apart form the Surly Cog and Spacers. They should arrive early October.

Bike Project Part V

Next, I removed the other old components:

First the rear derailleur:

Notice that the dropout axle position screws are bent (they must have got damaged whilst the bike was in transit). I'll see if I can find replacements for those.

Then the front derailleur:



Notice that I've also removed the chainrings.

Finally the gear shifters:



If I ever get around to respraying the frame, I'll grind off the old gear lever bosses.

Bike Project Part IV

The next step is to remove all the components that I don't need.

My cassette fits on an old style Shimano Uniglide hub. The freewheel hub has equal spaced splines where the first five cogs slide on, then the smallest cog screws onto the hub to lock the whole thing in position.

I figured that to remove the cassette I'd need two chain whips. One to hold the cassette and one to turn the smallest cog. Rather than buy these - I decided to make them out of a couple of pieces of old angle bracket that I found lying around and some pieces of my old chain.

Here's what they look like:

And in action:

And the final result:

You can see the external thread on the hub.

Bike Project Part III

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I hadn't considered this bike to commute to work on due to the uncomfortable riding position with the drop bars.

So the first part of the project is to address that. Again, a little bit of reading identified a process called 'Chop n Flop'. That's basically to chop the drop bars on the curve and flop them over.

Here's the result:

I just need to clean up the bars and put on new bar tape. I'll wait until I've finished the whole thing before I do that so I don't damage the tape.

Bike Project Part II

So here's a picture of the bike as I just pulled it out of storage:

It's very dirty, got two flat tires, loads of rust spots on the frame and chrome fittings.

I've done some reading on the subject and one of the key issues is the orientation of the rear dropouts (where the rear wheel fixes into the frame). With a vertical dropout, there's no room to move the rear wheel to adjust the chain tension. In my case, the dropouts are more horizontal than vertical:

So hopefully there should be enough room for adjustment - otherwise I might get away with a half size chain link. I really want to avoid a chain tensioner because they just look ugly!

Bike Project Part I

After finishing City to Surf with what I think is a respectable time, I was keen to get back into cycling to work. I reckon the cycling did make a contribution to my fitness level for C2S.

So I've had an idea to bring a bit more interest and variation into my cycling, by hopping onto a bit of a craze that seems to have hit the cycling world. I've decided to Single Speed my old Raleigh Strada!

I bought that bike in about 1988. It had a lot of good use when I was in the UK, but basically hadn't been used since I went to Hong Kong in 1995. It's been hanging in my basement since we arrived in Australia in 2002 - gathering dust and slowly rusting.

I can't bring myself to sell it - too much sentimental value / not enough actual value, and I can't imagine using it as a road bike - not enough time and too uncomfortable to commute to work. But I've had some inspiration from seeing various articles on Single Speed Bike conversions.

More to follow...

City to Surf 2009 Review

Wow! My offical time of 1:17:01 was a pleasant surprise.

My target of 90 minutes was smashed (and clearly very conservative).

There are a few factors worth noting that I think contributed to the success:

• Starting from the Green group enabled me to get up to pace (but not too quick) straight away.
• Carrying a water bottle the whole way meant that I didn't get held up at drink stations.
• Being more aware of where the uphills and downhills are so that I could be prepared to adjust pace accordingly.

But one thing I think I have to work on if I'm going to do this again is to adjust my posture. I always suffer with a sore neck after any run longer than about 40 minutes, which generally turns into a bad headache later in the day. So perhaps some problem with my head leaning forward too much...?

So based on that - perhaps next year I should have a crack at my all time record of 1:11:48 set in 1991. I just need to train properly with some solid hill work.

For the moment, I'm just waiting for the weather to get a bit warmer in the mornings so that I can get back on the bike.

City to Surf 2009 Preview

The plan was to take a break from cycling to work, partly to avoid the cold mornings, but also so that I could focus on training for this year's City to Surf.

Well the break from cycling was easy(!) but I've only managed to get in about 2 x 5km runs per week with a couple of weekend 'longer' runs since the end of May.

In theory, running at lunchtime is a great option... the temperature's close to perfect, the route is fantastic around the Pyrmont waterfront, there's a couple of guys in the office who are keen too. In practice... there are lunchtimes at the pub and work distractions to get in the way.

However, I feel as though I have enough base fitness to get me around in less than 90 minutes - which is no great shakes but it will keep me in the Green group for next year - and maybe a chance to train properly then!!!

So... we'll see how we go with this year's and next year's targets.

Still here?

I'm glad to report that exercise has proven to be an easier habit to get back into than Blogging.

Since my last post in January, I've been cycling fairly regularly - 2 to 3 days per week, at least up until the last few weeks.

A combination of rain, cold and rediscovering another form of exercise have been the reasons that the cycling has dropped off a bit lately.

Actually, the rain isn't too bad, and I have some winter gear to protect against the cold, so I can happily focus the story on the 'new' exercise.

The excitement surrounding City to Surf starts about this time of year and I figured I'd give it a go again. So recognising how precious my sleep is in the mornings, I realised I'd struggle to run before coming to work. I briefly considered running to work, but at 15km -it's just a bit out of my range!

So, the solution... run at lunchtimes!

I thought I'd better test my running legs closer to home first, so I headed out for a 5k run a couple of Sundays back.

What a disaster! It felt like my quads were being hammered (literally) with every step. I think I only ran for about 2k in total and walked the rest of the 5k route. I thought (hoped) it was just that I don't stretch very much, so I spent the next few days stretching at every opportunity.

I then tried the lunchtime run with a colleague - and thankfully managed a bit over 5k in a bit over 30 minutes. No pain. A great route - fairly flat and next to the water.

Now I've done 5 of those sessions in the last couple of weeks, with a 7k run at the weekend. So I'm hoping to build up from there. There's a couple of colleagues who make up the lunchtime training group, so that helps us all to stick at it.

I'm not prepared to commit to any target time just yet for C2S this year. But we'll see how the training goes...

New PB...

I had a day off (work) yesterday, so perhaps the extra days' rest paid dividends this morning with a new PB of 23.2km/h.

I seem to be settling around that 23km/h mark in both directions.

Or it could have been that I was lucky with the traffic lights. A minute makes more than 0.6km/h difference.

I'm just happy that I'm sticking at it and not suffering any injuries (touch wood).

The challenge will come as we get into winter here. Darker mornings and evenings and colder too! I can buy cold weather gear and I have lights, but will that be enough??

Benchmarks...

Happy New Year!

I've certainly had no problem feeling motivated to keep cycling to work after the Christmas and New Year break.

I came in by bike on Tuesday and Thursday of last week (the first week back).

I did have a small concern on the ride home on the Tuesday. I felt a twinge in my right knee. I got a bit worried about that, because I've never had that kind of problem before. That's why I missed Wednesday, but I couldn't contain my enthusiasm anymore than that, so I rode in on Thursday. The twinge re-occurred on both journeys to and from work.

But I did set a benchmark time for the homeward journey with an average speed of 20.8km/h. So quite pleased with that!

I had brief thoughts of a knee reconstruction - but more rationally I figured it was just a case of the strength of my body catching up with my enthusiasm. So I rested over the weekend.

I came in this morning and set another benchmark - 22.7km/h for the journey to work. And no twinges. So hopefully that's a good sign. Balancing the exercise with rest should enable me to improve my strength and fitness without incurring any injuries (touch wood).