The First Rideable Night of my F-1 Rockfish

I've wrenched on bikes quite a bit. The majority of the wrenching I've done has been for friends and strangers at the Charlottesville Community Bicycle Shop. It always felt great to get neglected bikes and parts working again with some ingenuity and elbow grease. And although it feels great to wrench for other people, there's just nothing like piecing together my own bikes. I've been conceptualizing and building my own bikes since my freshman year of college and one thing does not change: the first ride on a project bike is a blast. There comes that day in every project when I make a realization that I have everything in my possession to take it for a spin, even if it's not complete. That realization means the evening is ruined and all other plans are cancelled. I wrench until the wee hours of the night if I must, just to hop on for that first limited ride. I have to know how she handles.

I remember my first mountain bike ride on Observatory Hill on my first build in 2006, Penelope:

I remember blasting down the streets of Charlottesville at 4am with blinking yellow stoplights just as I finished the final welds on my tallbike:

And I remember taking a spin around the block as soon as my 3 speed road bike had a brake on it:

Those bikes were all juvenile builds of sorts, as my recent builds have matured and become somewhat coherent. More frequently I start from the frame up; sometimes building just the right wheelset or building the bike for a specific purpose. This week, I finally got my Formula-1 BMX Rockfish rideable:

Mechanically, the front brake and 3 speed hub are working, so it's all good to ride! I'm still working on the back brake (braze-on cantis?), searching for the right seven speed shifter for the cockpit, and looking to get the bike painted and decaled. As for the ride... this is the quickest accelerating, tightest turning, smoothest, and most fun bike I've built. I put some B.O.B. Nutz on it to haul my trailer and the build will make a nice beater/commuter/utility bike when done! It's super quick on those skinny 406 tires. It's definitely road worthy.

I wish you the very best on your maiden voyages. Mine have all been super.

Single-speeding your Double Chainring Bolts

If you've ever converted a double chainring-ed bike to a to a single chainring, you've likely run into a problem with the length of the chainring bolts. Double cranks usually come with bolts and nuts that are a little longer to compensate for the width of that second ring. Sure, you can buy some single speed chainring bolts or washers... or you can just take care of it yourself and save a few bucks.

What you'll need:
-chainring bolts and nuts
-5mm hex wrench
-a clamp, vise, or the ability to use two hands
-a file or dremel

1) Thread your chainring bolt into the back of the nut a few turns, like so.

2) Slide the chainring bolt onto your 5mm hex wrench.

3) Either secure the hex wrench to your table, a vise, or even hold it with your hand.

4) Run a fine file across the nut approximately 20 times.Congrats, now your chainring nut is likely short enough for a single chainring on a double crank. If not, file some more. 

The finished product with a magnet to collect filings.

Good things come to those that drink good beer...

Rachel won a New Belgium 2011 Fat Tire cruiser from an online drawing! We picked it up from Jerry, a New Belgium "Beer Ranger" today. This is our 7th bike in our one bedroom apartment!

New Belgium Cruiser made by Felt.

Rachel poured us some help.

We did the assembly quickly. Very painless.

It really is a very comfortable bike. It rolls smooth, albeit quite heavy. It looks like aluminum... but that's all steel! Great for a flat place like Dallas.

Slowly but Surely

I took the time to completely clean and regrease the internals of the Sachs 3x7 hub today...

Sachs 3x7 hub internals.

If your Sachs hub is gummed up and you want it cleaned up like new, talk to me and maybe I can clean it out for you for a few bucks.  The whole bike is taking shape and I should have another $200 of parts coming my way in the next week or so to start to flesh it out. Exage cranks, 53 tooth chainring, Soma High Rider stem, Kalloy seatpost and collar, Panaracer slick tires, headset spacers...

Rockfish F-1 BMX taking shape.

I picked up a brand new Forte 10 speed carbon derailleur for $35. It looks fly and that's a great deal for what seems to be a well built derailleur. It should index correctly with a 7 speed shifter... and if not, there's always friction shifting.

Forte 10 Speed Carbon Rear Derailleur