I go where I'm thread.

Somehow, I think I knew this day would come. I do not believe it was by chance that I purchased a die handle and a 1" 24tpi die off of ebay a few months ago. I used them today to extend threads on my new fork for the Rockfish F-1 BMX.  The fork had 1.5" of threads already cut, but I had to extend them another 1.75" to make it compatible with my head tube. Park Tool's article on thread cutting was really helpful.

Fork prior to cutting more threads. I threaded down into the black painted area.

My awesome die handle.

1" steerer x 24tpi

Thread shavings. Clear these by spinning 1/8 turn backward every 1/2 turn.

First pass, super oiled up. Copious amounts of lube required.

First pass.

Second pass.

Third pass, all clean and all done!

All in all, it probably took me an hour of work and a lot of arm strength. I had to make several passes with the die set at slightly different diameters. During the first pass, the die is set quite open. The die is closed a little with each following pass to cut the threads a little at a time. I used almost all of my chain lube in the process.

The title of this post is a play on a lyric in a Silver Jews song - Pet Politics.

3 Speed Rescue

After providing some parts for the Sachs Torpedo hub, Thomas invited me to show my recent build of a German 3-speed.



Here she is as rescued from Craigslist. Rusty but straight and mostly complete.



Original rack and mounting plate. Mounting plate stamped with (my paraphrase of the German) "Made in Germany under license to Pletcher." Chrome on the rack was pretty bad.

Nice, virtually indestructible Sachs Torpedo 415. Made from the early sixties to the mid seventies.

Missing indicator chain, shift cable and trigger. Hmmmm.

Nice block pedals. Cottered cranks and chainring were a little pitted, but salvageable.

Taiwanese front rim not original, but good enough.

Altenburger calipers front and rear - further confirmation of German lineage.

Rust and corrosion and grime, oh my!

Alloy brake levers to match the calipers.

Nice lugged steel frame. The decals were too far gone to read.

Nice welds on the seat stays. It's a quality machine.

Typical "North Road" style bars - not worth re-plating. Getting that stem out was the hardest part of the strip-down.

Open bottom bracket. Single leg kickstand was too short, probably a later addition.

All stripped down.

Ready for blasting and powder-coating.

Ta-da! Finished product after assembly.

Velo Orange "Left Bank" bars for a clean city-bike look. New Nitto 50mm stem.

Leather grips to go with the new Brooks B72 saddle. NOS period trigger shifter for the hub gears. Fresh white cables look great with the red powder coat.

Breaks cleaned up nice. I'll probably switch to Kool-stop salmon brake pads - I'm not happy with the performance of the black ones on the steel rims.

One of the clip-on cable guides was missing, so I used two new ones.

Cleaned up cranks and bottom bracket. Also, new Pletscher double-legged stand.

The Sachs gear-hub with chain and cable attached. Thanks again, Thomas!

Period Pletscher mousetrap rack from ebay. Bolted right on to the Pletscher mounting plate/brake bridge.



The chainguard was chromed, but too badly pitted. I went ahead and powder coated it to match the frame and forks. Looks pretty good, I think.

These tires are pretty good, but I think it needs whitewalls. May add fenders, too. All together a pretty satisfying rescue, and fun to ride.

Definitely Homebrewed

Helmets off to a great homebrewed bike clip. No comprehension of Spanish necessary.