Tour de Cafe in Plano, TX

At work I've committed to lead a Sunday morning ride out of the shop. It will formally be known as "Tour De Cafe." Our lead tech came up with the idea, and I'm excited to lead it. Pretty much we'll leave the shop at 11am, ride 5-10 miles to a coffee shop, get a cup of joe and ride back. This will be a great ride for beginners! Definitely conversational pace and no-drop. If you're around Plano, TX and want in, just let me know. I'll give you more details.

And while I'm on the subject of coffee and bicyles, gotta give props to this:

Wooden Fenders from Woody

I've been put through the proverbial wringer at work, hence the lack of recent updates. I've been told it's all for a greater good... so I'm trying to keep my head above the water for now. I believe the worst is over, but I haven't quite recovered...

On the homebrewedbikes side of things, I've done a small amount of tinkering while waiting very patiently for Aaron with RevTilton Cycles to finish braze-ons for my frame. I found a sweet bicycle fender shop: Woodys Custom Fenders. His craftsmanship is beautiful. But more than anything else, I like that he sells his scraps for dirt cheap!

I picked up a box like you see above. They'll be great for my current projects because I'll have 20" wheels on my Rockfish and a 16" trailer wheel. About a week ago I got bored and replaced my trailer fender that had seen better days. Now it looks classy. The curve of the fender scrap I used didn't quite match the curve of the 16" wheel, so I boiled it in water for about 30 mins. After boiling it, I then clamped it to the rim to hold it's shape while it dried. Turned out great. I sanded it with 220 grit and put on two coats of polyurethane:

I borrowed all the hardware from the previous fender:

If you've made your own fenders, let me know and send me some pictures. I'll feature them. 

Utility Wheelset on Ebay

Finally parting with my 3 speed utility wheelset. I put it on ebay two days ago:



It's a beautiful set. 3 speed sachs torpedo hub in the rear, sram i-light dynamo hub in the front, wheelsmith double butted spokes, rhyno lite rims, blue anodized alloy nipples... and it comes with a shifter, cable & toggle chain for the rear hub and spanninga dynamo lights for the front. Check it out if you're interested.

Sean's Homemade Panniers

My good friend, Sean, has his homemade panniers featured on BikeHacks.com. He waterproofed them with Plasti Dip. They're super nice, go take a look:

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.