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

Applications for Best Friend Being Accepted...

Sole Qualification:
Don't tell my wife which piece of furniture I used to spread the Rockfish dropouts to fit the Sachs 3x7 wheel.

Yipeeeee!

Having a hobby that allows me to get cool toys in the mail is great! It's exciting like Christmas was when I was a little kid.  I want to give a special thanks to Brian over at http://kmxtornado.blogspot.com/ - he sold me his old Sachs 3x7 hub laced to a 20" wheel! It used to be on his tadpole trike recumbent... but no longer! It is mine:

Three gears internally and 7 on the cassette. Laced to a 406mm 20" wheel.

The OLD (Outside Locknut Dimension) on this bad boy is 135mm. My Rockfish F-1 BMX frame has dropouts spaced at 126mm, so I'll need to coldset the frame a bit. I gave it a quick shot today, but didn't get too far without the right tools. Additionally, it didn't help that the seat stay and chain stay bridges are so close to the dropouts on this 20" wheel frame. Between that and the solid construction of the frame, I only managed to squeeze out a few millimeters in spacing on attempt one.

Spreading the frame slowly, with a garden tool.

Not super successful, as you may be able to tell from the caliper reading.

I'll try spreading the frame again later this week with a less flexible lever- most likely a 2x4. I'm hoping that it will not be too apparent on the seat stays after all is said and done. Only 7mm to go!

I've been looking high and low for one of these things. I've seen them on eBay, but usually incomplete, at scary prices, and on wheel sizes I can't use. I'm glad I finally found a complete one on an appropriate wheel size. It was worth the money. The next big task is finding a suitable fork for that Rockfish...

These mechanical pursuits are a great break from the job hunting, here in Dallas, TX.