tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69435679719745844262024-03-06T02:17:15.581-07:00Moustache CyclesFrames. Forks. Handlebars. Racks. Since 2009Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-22918260647580147132018-01-10T20:54:00.001-07:002018-01-10T20:54:18.773-07:00Krampstache V2.0<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Y'all may remember the <a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2013/12/kramp-stache-complete.html" target="_blank">Krampstache</a> from here back in late '13, or perhaps you first saw it when it got its 5 minutes this past spring when Ray derailed in LA and wheeled it into Radavist World Headquarters to have it packed before Kooking off in Aussieland. <br />
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That article can be reached <a href="http://theradavist.com/2017/04/raymonds-australia-bound-moustache-cycles-bike-packing-rig/#1" target="_blank">HERE</a>. <br />
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A little back story:<br />
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This bike was built shortly after Surly had gone out on yet another limb and introduced us all to its latest buzzword: "Plus Tires," and had given those early adopter types a bike to try it on, Krampus. Ray snatched one up and in the subsequent months I had the opportunity to watch him ride it on a couple off-road multi-day routes. I was impressed at how well that bike maintained its momentum and traction over things that would knock my 29er to a crawl. But as with many production bikes the fit was off and there were some things about it that just didn't add up: why such a slack head tube angle on a bike that still needs to steer, why the insanely short head tube, why a suspension corrected fork with no option for suspension? It was a jumping off point, and enough to convince Ray to have me make the next one around a more tour-minded stance. The resulting build featured the only choice in tires available at the time, setup ghetto-tubeless (tape in sealant was still gaining momentum), and laced to Surly's abomination of a rim, the Rabbit Hole. Again Choices were few. The build was largely my choice of tried and true parts that the most skeptical cynic would trust.<br />
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While I was obviously thrilled to have my work featured where the geekiest of us all frequent for a bike I had made more than three years prior, the flurry of comments that followed displayed a little blemish that I sure didn't remember being there when the bike left the shop. And even given the fact that the article produced more interest in subsequent rack production (sorry folks, I just can't chase one-offs around the globe for something *that* custom...only with a frame) than it did criticism, I just couldn't shake the bother that in the limelight that one little detail slipped through my fingers. <br />
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The comment was: "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">As awesome as it looks, I'm skeptical of the long term reliability of the rack/headset interface. The rack collar is not flush with the headset top in the photo and this is not going to improve with touring use." </span><br />
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And there it was staring me in the face; 10th photo in the sequence. I'd say the comment was pretty spot-on; I'd have those concerns if it were my bike. <br />
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It didn't leave the shop that way, no way. It doesn't show in my fairly extensive photo record. I wanted to defend myself in the commentary in the very least, but my 9 year old lap top hasn't had a supported browser in at least four years and would allow none of this. Neither would my cell phone so far into its life that it mainly ran on A/C Power.<br />
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Needless to say Ray was off to tour down under and I was anxious to get my hands back on this bike. When he returned we hatched a plan for a rebuild that would forward the existing steel platform into modern era with new wheels, a front generator hub with integrated light and usb charger, a 1x11 speed drivetrain, and some better, actually tubeless, rubber. And finally I'd get to crack the mystery of the misaligned headset race. <br />
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The first thing I noticed upon pulling the stem cap was the star nut had pulled up. Not likely the cause of our issue, but potentially a contributor in not allowing a proper headset adjustment. This has been something of a persistent difficulty with certain thinner wall --> larger I.D. steel steerers as it seems many star nuts are made for the thicker wall aluminum steerers. A better suited replacement was installed. </div>
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The second thing that caught my eye was the paint chipping away at the rack collar from the bottom (headset side). This seemed quite unusual for something that should only butt against the top cap....</div>
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....unless it wasn't.</div>
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Ding. Ding. Ding. There's the problem. The Cane Creek 110 headset leaves one thing to be desired in an otherwise great product. For some reason they make this top cap to be compatible with their proprietary "Interloc" headset spacers. Stupid. This is no doubt a product of some overpaid engineer's mind; it goes a long way to solve a problem that simply doesn't exist, and takes it so far as wrapping it up in space food packaging commanding $5 a pop at lengths no greater than 5mm. Now normal aluminum headset spacers would not typically be a problem here, but in the instance of the truss rack it uses thinner wall --> smaller O.D. 4130 than does the lighter aluminum counterpart, and was of just small enough outer diameter to start to slip inside the interlock groove, hence the paint wear. Cane Creek "remedies" this condition on their 110 series headsets (but not their 40 series headsets) by providing this small but magical gold ring to fill the void, or as the case may be to be lost in the vacuum of time and space. Ray's Tourer was missing that piece of magic for one reason or another. Again, normally not a problem...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoO_OSTqqNNGTXLkqOmdzcfWrJ2aveh3J8INcIJcErzgM89dxit1Lnpvp7x4AoThnVlTHR1PuYJFT_0Gkscp_boxfC3UKer2batEjW3vHxNi0DCdOwYUOd0GfZTzD7Rz2XUixqQcjLdSc/s1600/IMG_0051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoO_OSTqqNNGTXLkqOmdzcfWrJ2aveh3J8INcIJcErzgM89dxit1Lnpvp7x4AoThnVlTHR1PuYJFT_0Gkscp_boxfC3UKer2batEjW3vHxNi0DCdOwYUOd0GfZTzD7Rz2XUixqQcjLdSc/s320/IMG_0051.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I had considered the binder bolt in the original construction of this rack but opted out thinking it would be unnecessary and that the clamping force from the headset adjustment would be enough to pinch that upper attachment, and that the binder would be unsightly and excessive. I continued to consider it through subsequent rack builds, and finally I caved on the binder, retrofitting one to this original after deciding to do this to my personal rack this past year.</div>
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To paraphrase one commentator: the upper attachment of this truss assembly exists in part as a tie off point to eliminate the rotational swagger created by inertia of top loaded the gear under steering forces. He understood completely. It also helps to distribute the braking forces put into a 3 inch tire with a 180 pound rider and another 40-50 pounds of gear. The more I pondered this the less the loose slip fit of the upper attachment as a headset spacer alone seemed to be sufficient at performing either task. I have since opted for the binder.<br />
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Now for the upgrades:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKxo9w_y1NAxFoNIgqywiGcNVGLxkRPTwQlTSFgtqAZczC82FsLN6iSlaD6o1rXd9GwD0YhvcpCtDC6Jry_g7v-SklYu3vf7S8yVry3pzMIoP6Lf-HoyexSre5YbaHuDJMTwDaMqHIUJQ/s1600/IMG_0056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKxo9w_y1NAxFoNIgqywiGcNVGLxkRPTwQlTSFgtqAZczC82FsLN6iSlaD6o1rXd9GwD0YhvcpCtDC6Jry_g7v-SklYu3vf7S8yVry3pzMIoP6Lf-HoyexSre5YbaHuDJMTwDaMqHIUJQ/s320/IMG_0056.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ray and I liken this to the Pre-Runner Package. New full floating rear axle with 11-50 wide range cassette, beefy tires for fast rolling in the dusty conditons, a baja style light bar, and a generator to power that stereo and run those lights. The wheelset makes a remarkable difference in the responsiveness of the bike and all in all we landed pleasantly forward of where we started. The Kooks got the better of him down under, and well, kook on!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkHPwzn_QPX-ebeK2P0GM_MzdTVshm0erJx0bomvFTlACwC5Hm10Q7uXkmWoMoEySXChDFp2hNtlFX2jfuL8-GfE7DHlpUl4tYP2Vx_0wpDzwLWpju2t6SMocPvVueFKJEeBZafuwvpt4/s1600/DSCN7251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkHPwzn_QPX-ebeK2P0GM_MzdTVshm0erJx0bomvFTlACwC5Hm10Q7uXkmWoMoEySXChDFp2hNtlFX2jfuL8-GfE7DHlpUl4tYP2Vx_0wpDzwLWpju2t6SMocPvVueFKJEeBZafuwvpt4/s320/DSCN7251.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Before:</div>
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaTFefTiXEhpm9KJfsllqXZ4odlliEJiBF2a58mKU6z1Pvn2tKPzg4Iyum_wp1wnBLj2psgDaB4syrAgofzrgv9Gob-givSeTcPyvWqgPdx70G-is0Tfov3TnOLAiT1rw4dRYNAc2XOKU/s1600/DSCN5491.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaTFefTiXEhpm9KJfsllqXZ4odlliEJiBF2a58mKU6z1Pvn2tKPzg4Iyum_wp1wnBLj2psgDaB4syrAgofzrgv9Gob-givSeTcPyvWqgPdx70G-is0Tfov3TnOLAiT1rw4dRYNAc2XOKU/s320/DSCN5491.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The After:</div>
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<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-51938210557271100102017-12-03T22:17:00.001-07:002017-12-03T22:17:30.883-07:00The Intern<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Some years back...maybe 2011....2012, I found myself in a conversation at our monthly art walk with an interesting, pleasant member of our community. Of course it was conversation about handmade bikes; in particular it was a bike he'd seen me riding one through his neck of the woods. The "Rust Bucket" as its come to be known in its retirement days; my original frame from UBI nearly nine years ago; Rust Bucket was still in its prime, pre-Colorado Trail. The gentleman was an enthusiast and an admirer of the handmade segment and he mentioned to me the conversation with his son about the desire to learn about this craft. Come to think of it I'm not sure if the desire was his or his sons. Before I recognized the words coming out of my mouth for what they were, I heard, audibly, "I could teach him." My own jaw nearly hit the floor. Having been an outdoor educator out of college, I've always liked the idea of passing on knowledge of the world I know and love. Soon a neighborhood kid, seventh grade and in the prime of his own awkwardness, started showing up at the shop.<div>
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The first time he came he was escorted by that good parent, by that sense of obliged fatherly duty that precedes willingly pawning your only son off on a total stranger. We talked about the bikes in my fleet as I sussed out his existing premonitions about those bikes. I'm having a hard time recalling the house fleet at the time, but I remember being impressed by his recognition of my same crudely-finished touring bike for what it was, 29x2.35s and all. As one who started working in bike shops at an age not much older than this shy kid, I don't think I would have know what I saw before me were I in his position. That day ended with an agreement; a loose but ongoing weekend commitment to teaching and learning in the bicycle world. An internship was born.</div>
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Early assignments were generally the dissection of bikes; at that point I took on a good bit more repair work and general bike wrenching than I have in recent years. Learn what you can from taking the right pieces apart, then reassemble to your level of comfort, and let me pick up the rest. Knowledge gained one would hope. After a few months of service though, the fleet in the other room brought more stares and wanderlust than anything I could offer through rusty old repairs. With a commitment as loose as ours, the wanderlust was passable enough. Dreamers are welcome with the least degree of help required....as long as they're nice and respectful. A day came when this middle school kid showed up with a big wild smile on his face. He eagerly pulled a $100 dollar bill from his pocket and said "I want a bike." I knew where that money came from and it wasn't from cutting grass. Kids don't do that here...there's no grass to be cut. I told him to give it back to his mom. If you want a bike, you can work for one. At that point the formalities began. The resulting projects have been going on for, at this point, a majority of the time I've spent in my current shop space.</div>
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I told the intern he could work for a frame...one of his choice, built to suit his needs. His time would be valued at minimum wage for materials compensation, and his labor compensation would be valued as one adult working month, 160 hours for him to keep track and deduct from his own ledger. He was told that if he were working for this bike it wouldn't all be in the face of learning bikes, and that sometimes this work would not be glamorous. Sometimes it would be the wood pile, sometimes worse. He excitedly signed the name to the top of his time ledger "Jaccb." And thus began the years of ridicule that followed. Upon being granted this opportunity, he thought his time of completion would be that very summer, before entering the 8th grade. I smiled and nodded disapprovingly, a gesture that would get ingrained into my muscle memory in the years to come. Jaccb had never worked for a thing in his life; this thing was going to count. </div>
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I can't entirely recall all the projects over the years. They ranged from polishing the cabinet beneath the surface table, to disassembling and reassembling the shop space, to rebuilding my personal bikes throughout their various configurations I don't know how many times, to cutting up rags, to the wood pile. Jaccb recently recounted his hardest day to me recently. He showed up and I asked him if he'd eaten breakfast. Cereal he said. I shoved a plate of hashed browns in his face and told him to eat up, he'd need it. We loaded up the chainsaw in the Volvo and went out to cut firewood. He got a briefing on saw and scene safety and stated hauling the logs to the car. Years later he recounted that day as one of the hardest he's had to date in his life....I nodded my head disapprovingly then, I nod disapprovingly now.</div>
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Over the months that followed our agreement I could see Jaccb's interest start to wane as his efforts peeled hours back by the single digits. The realization of the actual time required for this payoff, began to set in by his eighth grade winter. Ski season became more appealing than that unrewarded time spent slaving away cutting up rags in that cold shop underneath those beautiful bikes he wanted so bad to call his own. Times between seeing Jaccb were, varied and could span months. I would try to save him meaningful work that I thought would be in his interest and skillset, but eventually the work would need to get done. My own availability would begin to change as well. I started taking on other side jobs as riding the wave of Forest Service savings began to stifle my living situation. Weekends were harder to come by, but Jaccb would persistently pull those ones and twos off his ledger as the months went by. At one point a whole year passed without seeing my intern (to fault us both), I did hope that our agreement was not a lost cause.</div>
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We began to find our groove again when Jaccb was in his Junior year. He had taken a job at Huppy Bar, and was saving for the parts he'd use to build his bike. He began to realize his timeline. I began to realize the commitment I had made to serve my intern's skillset. It seemed unlikely that building a frame on his own would result from our agreement, but I was still optimistic that our time would provide him an insight into the skills required of a shop setting, and allow him to explore some of those specifics under his own artistic creativity. He is quite an artist after all. </div>
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My list of shop improvement projects grows longer by the day and rarely shorter, but this seemed to be a good proving ground for the intern. I had him pick one...he chose the sign. I've been in need of a sign for a long time for shows and for the shop's character. We committed to this and I went shopping for materials. Oak plywood and a crash course in power tools. He completed a rough outline of the shape in cardboard, and set that to the plywood. I think in the end he was blown away by just how long something that seemed so simple could take. But persistence and diligence carried him through his efforts. I can't recall how many times the words "I'm scared" were uttered from Jaccb's mouth. To me this meant it was not all lost, that this effort could be in fact working. He was scared to lose the time invested into his workpiece, a sign of pride in his own sweat and his will for that work to be good enough for my continued investment. He finished the sign with roughly 40 hours left on his ledger, and I told Jaccb that his last 40 could be spent working on his own bike. </div>
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By this time his project was penciled in his own mind. He'd still have to make the decisions on geometry specifics though I let him choose up front whether he wanted to make "his" bike or "my" bike. If he wanted to adorn the frame he'd worked for with with the moustache on the head tube, it would ultimately be subject to my design approval. With this he made a wise choice to differ to hands on experience over what's trending in the magazines. Within that construct Jaccb wanted something timeless, something outside the reach of his existing bike fleet (teenagers with bike fleets.....sigh), but something that would work within his preferred riding style. Something that would take him to new places and farther distances than any bike before. He opted for the rigid for its pure soul and dedicated character. Keeping to the paint schemes familiar to this shop he designed a bike to the basic aesthetics of the <a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2017/07/camper-special.html" target="_blank">Camper Special</a>, but the geometry favors a bit more aggressive riding rather than all day slogs. Its longer and lower, the rear end is shorter. It is designed around a Maxxis Rekon 2.8" rear tire rather than the 3.0 of the Camper Special. If favors a lower handlebar for a rider with a more flexible body and longer arms. Before this bike Jaccb had never realized that a given bicycle rider might fancy a given seat height between bikes (my thought: "I must have failed you, intern"). So this is his first bike to consider seat height in the overall setup. Whoa.</div>
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As we worked through the project, the parts started massing. Jaccb built his own wheels (his first set), did all the drafting work, metal prep, some milling, some drilling, some mitering, plenty of math. He dropped things. Expensive things. He professed those things as being "OK" despite having absolutely no idea. He carved out the head badge, and generally stood guard as the pieces and his patience started coming together into something more tangible. Finally. It was becoming my debt to pay rather than his to earn. The finish work is his own, save for a few touches I just couldn't let slip through the cracks. After staring off into that sea of beautiful bikes hanging in the fleet, practicing a bit, and mostly just a lot of idle waiting, this is how the intern builds his bike, right down to the color and post paint work. I had the privilege of supervising as this bike got built up the day before Thanksgiving. We spent the day, despite me having heard the hurry up spiel multiple times from the now overly-anxious intern.</div>
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The sun had set before the once prototype XTR brakes were bled and the final bolts checked for tightness. Jaccb sent out the door. Some time had past before his enthusiastic return and proclamation of perfection. It was a lengthy and proper late fall test ride. I asked for my spin. I was impressed too. For being a bike that pushed my comfort zone a bit in terms of design balance within a riders perceived desires and actual abilities, I was pleased that a bike as long and low as this one felt so....shreddy. It steers with a quickness that you'd want in a rigid bike but feels planted and stable so that corrections aren't a constant. Accelerations are snappy and despite a rugged build, the bike keeps an overall feeling or light nimbleness that felt refreshing. I hope for an extended test ride. Good thing we didn't end up building this bike that summer of eighth grade, I have a feeling it would have turned out a lot differently! </div>
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Jacob's own words from his Thanksgiving Day ride freshman year of college:</div>
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"Ride report! This is the only bike I've been n that feels right on the first ride; the handlebars and where the wheel sits makes a super comfortable ride I get along with perfectly. Its super nimble, easy to throw the rear around and put it down right where you want it for maximum pump. I was definitely not any slower than I would be on my Chromag and I didn't have any problem doing the same lines. It climbs very well and super comfortably. I had the front tire at about 17 at the beginning of the ride which bounced me everywhere and it made it very difficult to hold a line but dropped it down to about 10 and that feels perfect, it handles the rough very well. The long front end and the rigid fork does make it harder to bunnyhop but I'll get used to it. I am so stoked on this bike and it came together perfectly, absolutely nothing I want to change about it. I also test fitted my bags last night and the seat bag will work with the dropper but only gives me a few inches of drop before the collar but its enough drop to help with long tours, no problem with it hitting the rear wheel. The crossed braced handlebars give the handlebar bag a nice wide platform and keeps it super secure. Love all the parts we picked out and the gearing is perfect. Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity Richard, it has been such a great experience and I learned a ton. The bike is just a fraction of what I got out of this. Can't wait to ride with you!"</blockquote>
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Nodding, this time approvingly. <br />
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Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-27383176437483540272017-10-27T08:50:00.000-07:002017-10-27T08:50:04.220-07:00Heidi's Packed Plusser<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oh Shit I said it.....or I typed it....right there in the title....the "P" word. Before long I'll be throwing around other lay terms like "boost" and all the other adverbs and adjectives surrounding all the dubious marketing brought to you by the likes of those that need to sell a few more bikes this year. Before I even realize I'll be answering the generally innocent question "Is that a boost plus bike?" with a perfectly frank "Yes." Dread. Terror. What has this webspace become?</div>
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Taking on this project was about as big of a pill for me to swallow as the marketing jargon of the present day industry. I'm sure there are bikes at least somewhat like this in size available on sales floors around the world, but when a smiling and excited customer standing 5'2" shows up wanting the full gamut of options whipped together in a trail-ready bikepacking format with maximal suspension travel, I tend to raise my eyebrow before agreeing to such a project. This one needed some research and design work up front to make sure all the requests would (quite literally) fit the order.</div>
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The order was for a bikepacking rig with 120mm front suspension, clearance for 27.5x2.8 (plus...there, see that!) tires, dropper post, rear rack provisions, 2x drivetrain, all while keeping the resulting frame as light as feasible for the duty load. Sounds quite a lot like the bikes I've been building of late until you start to consider that all these provisions must fit onto a frame whose rider is 5'2". The first consideration for me when taking on a project is ride quality. There can be no compromises here. If customer requests add up to a package that I think will in any way provide a less than stellar ride I say no...simple as that. </div>
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The first order of business was to measure her existing bike in a consultation setting and determine any changes that would be made. Her existing ride was a Small size Transition Scout. While it looked as though it was a lot of bike for her frame, she seemed to like it and a later ride would show me she was quite able to throw it around despite its heft. Next a scale drawing was rendered to make sure that a fork and wheel of that size would fit into Heidi's new cockpit with an appropriate bottom bracket height, seat angle, and handlebar position, while still having room to attach the top and down tubes to the head tube. For a given set of contact points, losing the rear suspension and travel reduces the available space for which to place a front triangle as the static bottom bracket height (and therefore the rider's height off the ground) is lower relative to the full suspension. Keeping all else equal, placing contact points onto the lower BB height eats up space in the head tube and I'd need at least 100mm of oversize head tube to join the top and down tubes. 120mm would be the max fork travel and would allow her to keep a handlebar level to her established saddle height using a flat bar and a 100mm head tube.</div>
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With the cockpit and contact points a go, I accepted the project. The details were far from being worked out, but as the parts were provided, one problem was solved at the time. Since the front end was established the rear end was the next to be considered. This is really the only part of the frame that is three dimensional, but all the parts specifications, bends, and tolerances need to add up exactly. After watching Heidi ride and considering how this bike was to be used, I determined that a short stay was not going to offer her the benefits that others may see. The yoke I use to tuck rear ends in tight and keep maximal tire clearance adds a half pound to the frame weight, and the benefits didn't outweigh the costs on this frame. The chainstay length could kept be the same as Heidi's existing bike without a yoke or curved seat tube, and the seat tube angle would be 3 degrees slacker (73 degrees instead of 76) placing her seated weight further toward the rear axle. This configuration at a horizontal chainstay of 425mm would allow plenty of clearance for a Maxxis 27.5 x 2.8" tire with a boost spaced double front chainring.</div>
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The boost spaced crankset was mated to a 157mm thru axle rear end to give the best possible chainline with slight favor to the lowest gears. When drawn out and measured the boost 148 rear hub is better served to give an improved chainline with a standard spaced crankset. How is this and who am I to make such a claim you might ask? Well, I measured the parts in hand...several times...and yes I saved my work. I feel a better explanation is due; perhaps another blog post is coming on, but in essence MTB chainlines haven't measured out to match between cranksets and cassettes since we ran 2.1" tires and square taper bottom brackets...</div>
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The rear end was assembled keeping a close eye on clearances. A large diameter and wide rear tire, a disc rotor, a double chainring crank, a front derailleur, a dropper seatpost, and a rear rack all need to fit into this space, and on this bike that space is a lot more compressed than on others. Plate style thru axle dropouts were chosen to keep overall rear end width to a minimum with the wider rear hub. The seat stays extend directly from the plane of the top tube and, as the seat tube is as short as it is, those stays attach a little more forward into the top tube than usual, maintaining the space for the seat stay bridge. </div>
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The finished product is what you see. The color fades from dark metallic blue at the head tube to dark metallic green at the dropout...and the finish was aced out by Nick at Mountain Shine Finishing here in Flagstaff. He's gotten really good with the fades. I sent Heidi out the door on this bike a few months ago, that ought to say how behind I am on these blog posts. She's been out shredding the west, but I had a chance to catch up with her this fall and to hear her thoughts about her new steed. Her first comment was, "Sometimes I forget which bike I'm riding." Well considering her other bike is a Transition Scout, I'll take that as high praise, THANK YOU! On a ride shortly thereafter, the review fell as the words "I love this thing!" </div>
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From my perspective: its rare that I get to make a bike in this size range, especially one that asks all the demands that this one did, and that said I have no personal tangible way of knowing how this bike will ride save for rider feedback. My designs originate from years (over 20 at this point) of studying bicycles, particularly mountain bikes, from comparative analyses of geometry tweaks between bikes or all sorts, and from watching riders ride bikes in demanding conditions. We can't push design forward without pushing limits of these machines in use, and with that evolution in machine comes evolution in the canvas of terrain. Today bikes (particularly hardtail bikes) are being ridden on terrain I would have never thought possible 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago, and Northern Arizona continues to open my eyes to what is possible on a bike. Thanks, Heidi for this project, and for allowing me to continue to push my limits as a builder.<br />
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<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-39458598689354063312017-07-30T14:27:00.000-07:002017-07-30T14:27:42.415-07:00Camper Special<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bike packing is all the rage these days....I guess that's what its called now. There are companies out there specifically taking on and marketing to people pursuing this activity. I've always just know this means of travel as "touring". Going for a tour means freedom from plans and embracing the unknown. Anything can happen. Your only resources are yourself and your buddies and what you have on hand in any given moment. To me "bikepacking" sounds like an activity based on a plan, but a Tour implies the pursuit of freedom from. I guess somewhere they meet in the middle and I suppose that middle is your vehicle. Your trusty (we hope) steed. I'm calling my new one "The Camper Special". You know, like a '72 Chevy: Reliable, servicable, maybe not the most efficient thing ever created, but it always got the job done without so much as a hiccup, it probably even left you surprised once or twice about what you just got through. The Camper Special was a parts and trim package offered by big three American auto manufacturers on their heavier 3/4 and 1 ton pickups from the early 1960s to the late 1980s. Heavy Haulers. Typically trucks bearing the camper special emblem had two-tone paint, upgraded brakes, axles, and wiring for towing or a drop-in tailgate camper shell. Following in the footsteps dredged by internal combustion Americana,
the Camper Special (bike) replaces a fuel hungry V-8 with an appetite for adventure and
heavy human-powered hauling.<br />
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Conceptually this personal project has been in the works for over two years, but if you've been following along here over any length of time I'm sure there is evidence of many of the concepts in play coming into fruition well earlier than that. Selection of parts and frame interface components was directed at keeping a functional timelessness to the package, as well as the ability for everything on the bike to just plain last under performance. It has been my hope in the design to create a fully rigid bike that is equally at home maintaining comfort and strength on loaded multi-day, multi-week tours as it is on the gnarliest gravity-fed single-track northern Arizona has to offer. Control and efficiency are the primary concerns here rather than speed. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.</div>
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The result starts by utilizing 650B x 3.0" tires (you could call them
"plus" tires) on a horizontal dropout short-stay frame for
adjustability between lines of duty. The "Coco-Moto" dropouts (these are just lovely by the way) were pried from the very hands of Mr. Steve Garro himself as was one of his new custom drawn Columbus 38mm down tubes. Bolt-on hubs meant retaining a 135mm outer lock-nut dimension, so the rear wheel was laced with symmetrically between the hub flanges kicking the cassette body out 7mm to the drive side for proper chainline when matched to a boost crankset on a standard 73mm BSA threaded bottom bracket shell. The rear end of the frame is then built asymmetrically to accept this wheel. Tire clearance on the short (420mm minimum) chain stay is accomplished by a plate yoke milled in house and a curved seat tube rolled across town.<br />
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Parts spec is pretty standard for one of my personal builds....a mix of what I have around, what I know works, and what I want to try out. Race face cinch cranks get the nod for their flexiblity between 1x and 2x setups with proper chainline. Touring I would expect to run a 2x front ring with a fixed seatpost, daily riding with a 30T 1x and a dropper post. Drive train is 10 speed with X.0 gripshift, XT 36T cassette, and GX rear rock catcher. A Hope bottom bracket, 4 piston brakes, and floating rotors are spec'd to try out. Hadley hubs are laced to Syntace W40 rims with Trail Boss TCS tires. A Cane creek ZS 110 headset, Thomson BMX stem, and house-made riser bar finish out the build.</div>
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The dedicated rigid fork utilizes my own custom thick-walled,
externally-tapered steerer tube and raked blades at 50mm offset. Headset is straight 1-1/8" on a 44mm headtube allowing for a better join area to the 38mm downtube than would an external cup head tube. I have not embraced the 1-1/2" tapered steerer for steel rigid forks as this is an excessively heavy piece of metal that cuts down on the surface area of the blade miter at the crown. I
find the steerer tube with a diameter matched to that of the crown area
of the fork blade to be the most appropriate for brazing as the miter
of the blade then wraps the steerer tube rather than being attached only
to the side of it. The whole area is then flooded with molten bronze
creating a very strong joint. Again, this is a rigid specific bike so
swapping to other forks is not a consideration. Rigid specific is the only way I build my forks as there are just too many compromises in anything else: There are rigid bikes and there are suspension bikes....your choice, but the one bike that attempts to do both depending on the mood makes too many compromises to the ride of either bike's personality it is trying to emulate. Basically: Suspension correct is incorrect. This fork will, however, accept a 29"x3.0" tire and wheel if I ever wanted to try it, though after initial rides I think this combination would unfavorably influence the steer-ability and climbing of this bike.</div>
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When it comes to gear hauling on a bicycle, I'm a racks guy. Yes, there is the weight penalty. Yes, they're expensive. Yes, the soft packing setups these days are marvelous and if that's your thing, Great! To me though you just can't beat the stability and overflow capacity offered by a <u>good</u> set of racks. I accept the weight penalty. I've never known how to pack light anyway. I never know what I'm going to pick up at the next stop or where I might need to tie it on. The racks for this bike are derived from personal touring setups on trips to <a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2010/03/tour-log-baja-day-6.html" target="_blank">Mexico</a>, the <a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2011/09/from-tour-and-from-this-summer.html" target="_blank">Cascades</a>, and the <a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2012/08/colorado-trail-brief-photo-essay.html" target="_blank">Colorado Trail</a>, and offer refinements to the systems used on these trips. I have always been a fan of the front (non-low-rider) panniers for how they balance the load and weight the front tire climbing. Most of your time on a bike and especially on tour is spent climbing so the longer you can spend pedaling your bike without getting off to walk the more efficient your use of calories will be. Every starting effort whether walking or pedaling with the kind of load I've been known to carry costs precious calories. If your bike is still tracking, you just need to keep the pedals turning. Easy enough, right. The pit-falls of front panniers can be their general poochiness and flop. Clips that aren't tight enough and attachment points that promote steering lag quickly degrade the benefits of where that weight is placed. This is all highly noticeable when the terrain turns rough. Everything secured to the front end of the bicycle should be as tight and as close to the steering axis as possible. </div>
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This rack takes those points and makes some accommodations. Clip on panniers are ditched in favor of standard 10 liter dry bags that are cradled by the rack then strapped to the side. The rack's attachment points at the dropouts and above the head tube promote flex of the stays and damping through the load being carried while cutting down on braking flex in the fork. The upper struts extending from the front platform serve to secure overflow loads to the steering axis without interfering with the cables. This can also be used as a means to attach your backpack in less demanding terrain, a much needed relief at times. The ability to transfer gear from body to bike depending on terrain is something to consider when heavy biking. Hiking a steep grade or mountain pass is the time to carry weight on your back rather than pushing it on your bike, cruising a dirt or pavement stretch is just the opposite. Your body will thank you.</div>
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The rear rack is a bit more of an experimental design in being a light weight top loader. I carry my bedroll here and pretty much nothing else. It could have been kept a bit more minimalistic, as my sleeping bag/pad weighs only around 5 pounds, but it seemed like a bit extra area for tie-ons would be useful leading to the lower structure below the platform. My thought in keeping the attachment points forward of the axle is allowing the flex at the attachment points and through the stays to provide some damping control to the rear of the bike through the load on the rack. The load carries its own inertia and in doing so works to resist the movement of the bike through the jarring of the rear wheel. All hardware is 6mm stainless and frame attachments are backed with nylock nuts. No attachment points directly on the frame or fork are threaded save for standard frame H20 boss placements, rear derailleur hanger, and bottom bracket shell.</div>
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I got the chance to take this bike on a shakedown ride for a week on the
Kaibab North Section of the Arizona Trail, and since have managed a few
rides on the trails around the shop. This bike is a blast to ride.
I've found its confidence inspiring and feel as though I can hit the
same downhill lines as with my 140mm hardtail at almost the same speed.
Steering is still quick and playful as I'd have it and the vertical
inputs maintain a lively response. Climbing is an improvement over
that bike as expected. I haven't felt a rim hit on the front
rim in a while. The tire pressure is a delicate balance on the TCS
Lights and I'm thinking that I may favor some tires with a heavier
casing down the road. I had been thinking that the rear tire would see
some rapid sidewall wear with a frequent occurrence around here being
threading a rear tire between sharp rocks. So far this hasn't seemed the case, but I have a 2.5" Breakout on stand-by.<br />
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An interesting point of discussion here for me is the stability of this
bike. It's not particularly low as I prefer pedal/chainring clearance
and a higher center of gravity, though maybe a bit lower than others
I've owned recently. Apples to oranges; BB drop is 39mm. This bike
hits a marked point of straight line stability at around 6 MPH. It'll
steer out of it when you want it to
keeping it fun. I would have to guess that a fair bit of this is the
volume and mass of the tires, but this bike stays glued to a straight
line like nothing I've ever ridden. I'm talking take your hands off the
handlebars on the washboards to take pictures kind of stability. Anyway, its been a new excitement to get this bike rolling and dialed in, and I'm looking forward to some extended adventures on it in the coming months. Thanks for following along....</div>
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<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-77716013812439391452017-06-03T08:28:00.003-07:002017-06-03T08:44:10.952-07:00Touring 29er FOR SALETime to sell off one from the personal fleet:<br />
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Asking $2500 complete as pictured, but price is negotiable with build. Custom frame fork and bars by me. Frame was built in 2013, but never saw all that much use and probably has about 2000 miles on it. Its been parted out and re-built once or twice and that said is a versatile platform for a good number of builds, and I am happy to keep, trade out, or re-build the build to make this bike fit your needs. Price will vary of course. Frame bag from D-Bo goes with the frame. Fits riders 5'7"-5'11" or so.<br />
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Frame Features:</div>
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<ul>
<li>True Temper Supertherm main triangle with custom bent 4130 rear triangle and lugged seat tube.</li>
<li>Horizontal bottle opener dropouts with custom adjustable chainstay disc mount optimized for rear rack use and single-speedability.</li>
<li>Custom 4130 segment crown fork with rack mounts</li>
<li>Touring geometry and tubing selection for heavy loads and all day comfort</li>
<li>3 sets of H2O Bosses</li>
<li>Lots of tire clearance: up to 29x2.4" or 27.5x2.8" rear/29x3.0" front with room for mud</li>
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Frame Geometry:</div>
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<ul>
<li>585mm/23" ETT</li>
<li>Good Climber 71/73.5 deg HT/ST</li>
<li>420mm/16.5" seat tube center to center</li>
<li>435mm/17.125" minimum chainstay</li>
<li>54mm BB drop</li>
<li>130mm x 44mm head tube for straight or tapered steerer</li>
<li>27.2mm seat post</li>
<li>475mm axle to crown fork for suspension correct rigid (pictured) or 100mm Rockshox</li>
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Build as pictured:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Wheelset: handbuilt XT M756 hubs laced to WTB Frequency i25 rims with front quick release and rear bolt-on conversion. Tubeless ready. Less than 200 miles on these. </li>
<li>Drivetrain: XT/XTR 3x9 with XT cassette, XT Shifters and direct mount front derailleur, XTR m952 rear derailleur, Hollowtech crankset and Shimano external BB.</li>
<li>Brakes: Avid BB7 with Avid levers, 180mm front 160mm rear rotors.</li>
<li>Thomson stem (whatever size you need to fit) and seatpost, Specialized Phenom Saddle.</li>
<li>Chris King mixed tapered headset in Brown (no longer available) I have a matching BB available as an upgrade.</li>
<li>Custom handlebar in house ~12 degree sweep</li>
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$2500 complete, negotiable</div>
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(this <u>frame</u> new would be almost that much)</div>
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please email if interested:</div>
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moustachecycles(at)gmail(dot)com</div>
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I'll be out of town June 5-11 and will answer emails when I get back</div>
Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-4715536544076548952017-04-20T21:42:00.000-07:002017-04-20T21:42:18.332-07:00AZ Road Dirt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As noted in the last post, paved roads are sparse in the northern half Grand Canyon State. At least are the sort of paved roads one would want to ride a bicycle upon. Dirt roads, however, are endless....everywhere. We have a distinct dichotomy to these dirt roads, with those ranging from (at times) smoother than the highway surface to those that are rougher than the nastiest mountain bike trails. </div>
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For the adventurous, a ride aimed at putting in even a slight distance on the roads of our national forests quickly turns to mountain biking. Bearing this knowledge from my own adventures here in mind, I set out to build a capable and confident dirt road bike for Kristin. Not a mountain bike, nor up to the extremes pictured above by any stretch, this bike is designed to keep it fast and comfortable on the improved to unmaintained roads rather than the two tracks and logging/mining roads, and still hold its own during those instances of adventure where she finds herself unexpectedly mountain biking.<br />
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The major design premise of this bike is the handlebars. The "shallow drop" bars are a three piece design first conjured from a project titled "<a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-widest-drop-bars-ever-made.html" target="_blank">The Widest Drop Bars Ever Made</a>." The reach of the forward bend of the typical drop bar is significantly reduced and the hoods position is mimicked with extension/lever clamp area. This shorter reach allows for the front wheel to be located further forward
through a longer top tube than a traditional road or cross bike would
allow, which has the effect of lengthening wheelbase, smoothing the
ride, and calming the steering. All these effects to handling become particularly important on the rocky descents of Arizona dirt, and save energy over the course of a long day in the saddle. Width at 600mm also aids comfort and stability, though would vary with rider preference. This bar also forgoes the familiar integrated shifter brake lever controls in favor of mountain bike/22.2mm clamp shifters and brake levers.<br />
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The frame design places the rider fitting in the cockpit with the primary riding position in the drops where braking is the strongest with a 90mm stem. The taller head tube length is achieved from this position and this particular fit required a sloped top tube. The tops of the bars toward the stem clamp will offer a slight upward position for reprieve, as handlebar drop from the saddle is very slight on this particular bike. Angles are traditional NORBA: 71/73 head/seat and BB drop is 66mm. Tire clearance is for 40mm with room for that nasty AZ mud. </div>
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The build kit on KP's Dirt Love is some-what non-typical, even by my standards. The Industry Nine cross hubs are mated to WTB KOM i21 rims and Nano 40 TCS tires, tubeless of course. From here we diverge a bit. I just had to try the new Yokozuna cable actuated hydraulic brakes. They're meant to make for an easy conversion for use with short pull (STI) levers and seemed like a good fit if ever a traditional drop bar were installed. So far performance exceeds all expectations, especially considering they cost about the same, maybe a hair less than the Avid mechanical discs I was initially going to spec. They did require a bit of material be removed to achieve proper adjustment with the 160mm rotor atop the Paragon front IS disc tab (not the first brake I've had this issue with). Long term verdict is still out, but pending a seal failure, these units feel and work great.<br />
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The drive train is the newest 11 speed offering from Box Components. I was curious about the shifter thinking that a traditional rapid fire or Sram trigger shifter might interfere with the main cross bar of the handlebar....all work fine, but the Box offering has a good feel and works well with this handlebar. The derailleur leaves a little bit to be desired in terms of adjustment, it seems that the inner limit just isn't quite inboard enough, even with the limit screw backed all the way out. It seems to shift fine through the range. Its not the nicest stuff out there, but is priced accordingly. The 11-46 cassette fits the traditional HG freehub and is value priced. Its looks fit the price...cheapest cassette I've bought in years...but it utilizes an aluminum spider (a must) and actually shifts quite well mated with a Sram 11 speed chain.</div>
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Crank is a Sram Apex 1x unit with a 42t narrow/wide chainring. Its mated to the new bottom bracket from Hope Technologies. I am hoping that this BB will far outlast the stock offerings from Sram and Shimano. </div>
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The rest of the build is my typical Cane Creek/Thomson mix.<br />
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This year's cycling event will take us to the Sawtooth National Forest
for Rebecca's Private Idaho 100 miles of gravel. We'll see if the roads
of the Sawtooth are as harsh as those of the Coconino can be. Should be exciting! </div>
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<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-57013983674034836992017-01-24T11:44:00.001-07:002017-01-24T11:44:58.820-07:00A Year in the Drops<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Where I left this monologue hanging over six months ago was becoming known to my riding buddies as “fun-hater summer.” I sure can’t deny that. Training rides for <a href="http://www.lotoja.com/" target="_blank">LOTOJA</a> (cringe) took a much different shape than any I’ve know in the time since my racing days in Athens, GA. First of all they were, yes, training rides. Secondly they involved drop bars, skinny bald tires, and (gasp) spandex. Fun-hater indeed. I reluctantly pulled my old team kits out of their stash to find their stretchiness having been defeated by the dry Arizona climate. No less, they’d have to do. Wearing something less than once a year doesn’t exactly warrant a new purchase.<br />
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Summer training was in full swing by the time I headed north to Grand Canyon on the Arizona Trail Association’s annual youth trip. To take advantage of what I considered to be short days on the bike I decided to make it as difficult on myself as possible and ride the road bike on trail. When I say road bike, what I mean, of course is...cross bike, gravel bike, super commuter....whatever you’ll call them these days. In my neck of the woods most of the “roads” you’d actually want to ride a bicycle on are far from being paved. Most of the paved roads are two lane highways with no shoulder featuring baffled tourist drivers trying to figure out why their text messaging won’t work going no less than 80 miles per hour. Seems more like a death trap, but in fun-hater summer we’d be riding plenty of these roads in due time. None-the-less I haven’t owned a road bike in the purist sense of the word since even before I buried that spandex in a drawer. After the Grand Canyon run I donned a pair of slicks and nearly all the riding for the next three months was on those undesirable roads described above. <br />
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Despite my gripes we actually have three descent road rides here, all of which Kristin and I would become familiar with. First of all is the Sunset Crater-Wupatki loop road. Most commonly this ride is done by locals as a full moon downhill shuttle ride on beach cruisers. The area road bike guide suggests riding the length of this road south to north and looping back via Highway 89 uphill. I prefer to do this ride as an out and back....minimal traffic, maximal scenery. Its actually a divine piece of pavement. <br />
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Secondly we have the Lake Mary Road lollipop around Mormon Lake, sometimes the largest natural lake in Arizona. Its retention of water is entirely dependent on rain and snow fall and the body of water can vary between absolutely nothing and several square miles of surface area. Nonetheless its always a great place to spot wildlife and the road out and back from Flagstaff is senic and has a descent shoulder. Climbing all our local hills on the way, we managed to stretch this lollipop to 90 miles doorstep to doorstep, with a stop for cocktails at a pool party near the end making it all worth it.<br />
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Kristin and I (remember this whole double century thing was HER idea, HER family legacy) became most familiar with after work Snowbowl laps. This sub-two hour round trip from the house climbs 2000 feet in about 14 miles, most of the vertical being in the last seven miles. Zip down. Repeat. The fitness gains from this climb are compounded with the elevational advantage, the hight point is 9000 feet above sea level.<br />
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Even through this we were behind on our training....and we knew it. I was discouraged, and hoping not to be discouraging for it. I felt it, not that there was much I could do about it. The training guide for LOTOJA says to ride “centuries,” yes,, in the plural throughout the summer, and to work up to 150 miles by early August. We had yet to ride A SINGLE century, and our frequency for getting out was weekends plus maybe a short day mid week. She was working long, long days for the Forest Service in one of their busiest local summers in memory, I was trying to keep up on shop projects after full 40 hour weeks of carpentry. Eventually we drew up a training calendar which we barely stuck to. In that, we had committed to riding to our friends’ wedding in Prescott. South of Prescott actually, bonus miles. Their frequent travels said that door to door via the interstate the trip was exactly 100 miles. <br />
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We would not be taking the interstate. Actually the hope was to take dirt roads and make it a two day ride, but time and necessity forced the pavement card once again. We needed the road miles and we needed the long single day much more. It wouldn’t be an ideal ride in most circumstances, but leaving on a Friday at first light, we opted for the 89A route through incredible Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. Oak Creek Canyon is probably the most idyllic roads for cycling in Northern Arizona....right up until the cars come packed with tourists obliviously slowing stopping and photographing everything with no regard for the fact that they’re obstructing a federal highway with a guardrail on one or both sides nearly the entire length of it, often with vegetation growing past the rail and into the center of the lane. Now going downhill on a bicycle in the morning, before the tourists show up, a cycler with minimal effort can maintain a speed near to that of the cars traveling the same direction. Uphill is just a bad idea, though I do see those that dare attempt this ride every year. We escaped the narrow roads of the canyon just as the horde of tourist vehicles began to pour into the canyon from both Flagstaff and Sedona. <br />
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We stopped for lunch in Cottonwood, the highway between hardly worth a comment save for the miles ticked off, and started our climb to Jerome, road narrow, shared with more cars than we would have liked. Reaching Jerome and pedaling through its narrow streets was the closest I’ve ever felt to riding through the Alps in le Tour; the town is built clinging to the side of Mingus mountain and the street passing through is so narrow here that it seems to be an afterthought to the buildings brushing by us with no room to spare. We pedaled quickly through the town for fear dodging cars and once through it resumed the grueling mountain climb surmounting a total length of twelve miles with nearly 3,300 feet of vertical. Average grade: 5%. The downhill reward ended all too quickly and with that we came into the unforgiving land of diesel giants driven by depraved, forgotten, out of work white men with heavy with heavy, swollen red feet of elephants uncontrollably surging downward with every passing bicycler. We’d reached Prescott Valley....the only place in the state with an anglo population so homogeneous, and with golf resorts so prolific, and with international border issues bearing absolutely no effect, that it was deemed pure enough to host the campaign rants of the Donald himself. Before long we’d be stopping in at one of these resorts ourselves, to stink out the place in search of soda and candy, before going on to endure some more elephant footed carbon rich exhaust in this desert grassland. This torture came in the name of training, but I’m pretty convinced that our survival was dumb luck. We reached the wedding party and were greeted with cheers and cold drinks. Unfortunately, we were too tired to remember much of the weekend....maybe it was the diesel.<br />
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LOTOJA:<br />
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We’d registered for the Mens/Womens open in the cyclo-sportif category meaning we weren’t in it for the race, but for the personal accomplishment. This, conveniently, gave us the very last start time of the day. We’d been notified that the finish line would not be counting riders who crossed after 8:30 PM. Our start time was 7:35 AM, giving us just shy of 13 hours to cover 207 miles, requiring a mandatory average speed of 16 miles per hour with no pee breaks. Now we’re pretty sure that this average would have been the maximum average speed of any of our many months of weekender training rides, and today we’d only have to do this all day, or rather the whole day given to us by the formalities. The route thoroughly covers Napoleon Dynamite country before ascending into the Caribou National Forest of eastern Idaho and dropping you into a windstorm in Wyoming. LOgan TO JAckson....LOTOJA....get it? <br />
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From the gate we found ourselves in the slipstream of the finest category in the race. The co-ed effort was driven by The Lactic Acid Cycling Club of Boise, Idaho; a group of the classiest die-hard roadies whose smooth cadence would pull us into the first rest stop 30 miles out in no time. With only a slight lapse of our support crew holding up the line for the plastic bathrooms, we were off again, though this time in scattered company. We’d missed the group we started with, and found ourselves trying to organize amongst stragglers. Friendly folk, but none could match the climbing legs of the Flagstaff Goats when the road pointed up. We found our climbing rhythm alone on that first hill, just as we had all summer long and just as we would with all the others. Coming off the first pass in an energy saving tuck we faced a shock. Three, then four, then five unshapely, older cyclists passed us on the down. As we regained a rolling flat we figured it best not to waste our energy, so we tucked in behind them. This day being Kristin’s first experience with pack riding and the draft, she got to witness now, what not-so-smooth riders looked like: yo-yos bouncing uncomfortably on their saddles, constantly alternating between standing and sitting to find that momentary stretch relief. I was disgusted, but our position at the moment didn’t seem to warrant the converse to the situation: us pulling them. We followed along, tucked in in a headwind until a railroad bridge pointed sharply upward and we Goats seized the opportunity to leave our heard of sheep. <br />
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After that we rode alone. We’d seen the groups of corporate office relay teams come and go, and the better riders from our own start were well ahead, leaving only the people destined not to finish between us and the finish. When you start dead last in a field of 1700 riders, you’re only going to pass people en route to the finish, not the other way around, and on a perfect day for LOTOJA standards, this means you have to pass something like 800 people. That’s right, only 60% of the people who signed up for this ridiculous event even finish....and that’s on a good year! The solo ride through the remote hills of eastern Idaho were some of my favorite miles of the summer. On this day being alone was unexpected, but in this area its the attraction. We were approaching the halfway point and the road pointed upward again. This time an unending string of bicycle silhouettes sat atop it until it curved out of sight. And one by one those silhouettes took human form in their suffering under the relentless September sun before disappearing into our short Goat memory. One by one they took form and one by one they dropped off without an answer. Kristin had picked up a tail. A younger fella in a college jersey. He just couldn’t let another girl drop him so he clung to her without a sound, grasping for his dignity as he panted in follow. He said nothing, but stayed around through the next flat allowing she and I to take turns at the lead while he sat on. I guess I can’t complain too much, its the same thing we’d done earlier, though only to much larger groups. We’d reached the last major climb, and the steepest one. I was feeling spry and decided to give it my best go just cause. Kristin did us a proud one and passed one of the girls from the Boise team for herself and with a cheer of encouragement from being back amongst our start group. We screamed off the top finding ourselves quickly cooled off by the wind that blew us right back to our familiar training grounds of Highway 89 and its nonsensical motorists. Different state, same highway, same rumble strips, same drivers.<br />
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We were suffering through a cross wind. The shoulder has a serious rumble strip just inside of the white line leaving little room for error in this tiny window of space. We were mostly alone, and the ones and twos around us couldn’t seem to organize and work together. For a few miles we tried to rotate through the wind but never could find much of a sweet spot. Then on our left came the train. It was hard to pick out the otherwise distinct sound due to the traffic and wind noises, but the roll of the peloton was upon us. And not just any peloton, it was our group from the start. Ol’ Lactic Acid. We enthusiastically jumped on. This group was smooth. Each of them good cyclists as individuals, but they rode together....a lot. The miles flew by almost as fast as the riders who were grinding out this unforgiving stretch on their own. This was what hooked me on the notion of road riding all those years ago, and to find it on this day for even the moment was a rejuvenating thrill. The cool thing was the group knew we had latched on; they didn’t mind. They were cordial and friendly; wait, roadies can be cordial and friendly? The didn’t ask us to pull, hell, they were barely even rotating amongst themselves, and not that we could have. I glanced over at the the computer of the rider next to me: 23 mph. Oh, so that’s how you finish this ride. I’d forgotten what it felt like to go that fast. It feels effortless if you get the pack thing.<br />
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We stayed with the Lactics through the next rest stop and they invited us along for the following, despite some hardships even hanging on. When the took a break we opted to continue, and at this point we knew we’d be on our own to the finish with 50 miles to go. We felt confident that our starting groups generosity had granted us a shot to finish but we knew we couldn’t just hang on and feel like we earned it....and really we knew we couldn’t just hang on, they were out-pedaling us and we were feeling the distance. With 50 just miles to go the pee breaks seemed to come so frequently, and every stop made it that much harder to start again. The journey from bike seat to plastic bathroom got more and more painful. Walking had become an aching labor. Re-mounting the bike seemed like starting an engine in the cold with a next to dead battery. I’d settle in, but the inconvenience of this frequency caused me to slow my liquid intake. We got about 20 beautiful miles from Alpine Junction to Hoback Junction along the Snake River, where Kristin’s Dad, a 25 year veteran of LOTOJA, says you can “feel the pull of the Tetons.” Personally, I felt the pull of the Snake, as we were riding upstream, and I would have rather been swimming. <br />
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From Hoback, things just got miserable. I was nearing the end of my will. Kristin took over motivational operations, but I was increasingly in a bad way. I didn’t want to drink, because getting off the bike was getting too painful. We were down to foods that just sounded bad. There was no brain override. Caloric deficit had taken over. Still pedaling though. No one mentions the little rollers leading up to and through the town of Jackson. They seem like mountains for the first time all day. I’m sunk. We keep pedaling as the sun sets over Jackson. The bike paths around the west side of town are a welcome break from the highway. Wanting none more than for this day to be over at least I can be distracted for a minute by these quiet, narrow paths, with deer grazing in adjacent fields rather than focusing on my hunger and that little space to the right of that thin white line separating me from paralysis or death. It ends all too soon and we’re back on the highway pedaling frantically into the dusk, feeling that we should be there by now. Somehow we both put all the demons aside and pedal like we mean it. The miles just keep going by, but how? We should be there by now. Its only getting darker. Sometime between the dusk and the end of the show we finish the ride, hands clasped in honor of the team effort that was Fun-Hater Summer. And it was a team effort, we worked together at times, but both had our moments of pulling for the other. All 207 miles in just shy of 12 hours rolling time giving us just over an hour for pee breaks and cold food. A few riders came in behind us, but not many. All those people we passed either passed us back or did not finish. I collapsed by a fence. Kristin coridally greeted her family who had supported us all day driving about from stop to stop and pushing us onward. I couldn’t speak, nor could I walk. I had to crutch on my bike just to stand. What a mess. <br />
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<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-5374935260489045772016-06-05T12:07:00.002-07:002016-06-05T12:17:56.773-07:00State of the Shop: A Clear and Dusty Day In JuneAs I wrap up my thirty-fifth lap around the sun I thought I might give you all an update of the goings on here at the Moustache Shop. There has been and is still a fair bit of prototyping going on at the moment, and there is a lot going on that I am excited about and hope to be working out in the coming year. <br />
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<b>Handlebars:</b> This is something I continue to pursure rigorously, as I believe a custom handlebar is of great complement to the fit, function, and comfort of a custom bicycle. It places the riders hands in a position of comfort for the long haul and allows for so much in the design that just can't be achieved with off the shelf parts. They are a highly personal item as any one's individual preference of hand and wrist position can vary wildly from the next person's. The compound bending operation is moving along swimmingly, and riser bars are taking over my work space. With a greater understanding of the process every bar the end goal is in sight. The end goal being custom riser bars precision bent to order at widths, rises, and sweeps, to be user determined. For the foreseeable future these will be a 22.2mm offering with shims to 25.4 mm or 31.8 mm. I aim to create a new bending unit to improve on the quality of the current offering. Presently the bars are straight as measured on the surface plate, the bends are even and symmetrical. Not bad for a small hand operated tubing bender. I am looking to expand my materials offering with these into a complete item that needs no further finish. The biggest drawback to a chromoly handlebar from my point of view is the need for finish to prevent rusting. This makes adding handlebar components a bit more difficult, but complements a finished bicycle nicely. It is my hope to be offering these bars in titanium by the year's end, but feel the offering should represent a finished, branded product. <br />
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<b>Bicycles:</b> Well here's some bad news. My main tubing supplier, True Temper, has decided to close its bicycle tubing division. This is unfortunate because the big tubes I've been using to make these Flagstaff Special Arizona hardtails are not offered anywhere else, and the metallurgy used in making these tubes was absolutely top notch. Other options are being explored as to how to fill the void within the frame building community. I'm hopeful that the void can be filled with a domestic manufacturer, but more hopeful that the advancements in steel made by True Temper are not lost to the sands of time. I have a small stash to be rationed appropriately. The biggest effects of this loss will no doubt be felt by their distributor, Henry James Bicycles, and the BMX segment. <br />
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With all the industry "progress" and change in axle, wheel, tire, and bottom bracket formats, choosing appropriate frame components has become increasingly challenging. As a small operation it is difficult to filter and stay on top of advancements, especially considering the clout of hype surrounding any new release. I aim to be in this for the long haul, even if my output volume is low, so that means carefully screening options as they come available. I am rarely an early adopter of anything, and tend to favor the products that have been proven in the long haul. Some of these new comings make sense, and most are in fact aimed at a solution of some sort, problem is that with technology of any sort there is less consensus of how-to-solve and the (in)compatibilities within the solution. This can mean pricey investments in new tooling for a one-man operation, for a "we'll see" component offering. Sony Beta comes to mind here. For me it becomes a matter of "stay the course" and build directly to the rider's needs, not the manufacturer offerings. Hopefully, under the careful eye, this is evident in all my work to date, and into the future. Your bike should outlast the current fad of offerings and be useful and relevant into the future. Bikes last a long time, fads do not.<br />
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I've been working through a build with 650Bx3.0" tires and in understanding the perks of "plus" (seriously folks, can we abandon this term?) find it useful to view the new wheels and tires in a familiar context. I dusted off the ol' Rust Bucket and got some test laps in on the new wheelset. The project goal when finished is a flex-tuned rigid bike capable of any trail in Flagstaff. Its a tall order, but the complete bike functioning with the user in mind (in this case me) trending numbers just won't do. It'll be an interesting product.</div>
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<b>Roadies:</b> Myself and the lady are becoming roadies. Kristin signed us up for the Logan to Jackson 200-mile bike race; its sort of her family legacy. <a href="http://www.lotojaclassic.com/main/main/index.html" target="_blank">LOTOJA</a>. For me this is digging up a part of my soul that's been buried since moving west. I used to really like riding road bikes (I was even a shave-leg), but looking at this web page makes me think that I'll be finding myself in the company of cycl-ISTS that I prefer to mock in the "Yean, I'm an asshole from Flagstaff" manner (I'm sure there are plenty of nice folks at this event, I'm just calling it as I see it--my rough and gruff in the face of intimidation, and, really, I find this ride intimidating). I still like riding road bikes, it just happens that we have not many roads to ride a road bike on. Well, we do, actually, they just happen to be dirt and strewn with jarring sharp rocky cobble.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdevTCoI7L3RmtlS3ev8AZJzA8n058SGe_S4Rizd22nihidvDKqxVE1qdTRcKePOfDpCUlamQq_3li9tO6MXaZ3OMsm-JIV1P_ywx0oI-R_FxH9YyFyZxyZ1UHqC9eyxFeJXcJHe3V1k/s1600/DSCN0099.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKdevTCoI7L3RmtlS3ev8AZJzA8n058SGe_S4Rizd22nihidvDKqxVE1qdTRcKePOfDpCUlamQq_3li9tO6MXaZ3OMsm-JIV1P_ywx0oI-R_FxH9YyFyZxyZ1UHqC9eyxFeJXcJHe3V1k/s320/DSCN0099.JPG" width="320" /></a> </div>
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With all that fuss about plus, and now that we're roadies, one product I'm quite excited about is <a href="http://www.wtb.com/products/exposure-30c" target="_blank">WTB's road plus</a>. I'm less excited about the name, but basically its a high volume tubeless road tire meant to tackle and hold up dirt. The TCS bead has proven worthy in the worst of Arizona conditions, and is a go-to item for mountain bike wheelsets, so I'm excited to see their mixed surface offerings. In that mention, Kristin and I will be training on dirt, since that's what we have. Her bike is a road racer and very limiting in surface, so she'll be getting a new ground up dirt machine just as soon as I can whip that together. I'm excited to try some new ideas on that one. Expect that in the next month. </div>
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<b>Re-visiting a past adventure</b>: Tomorrow morning I depart of the Arizona Trail heading north with the south rim of Grand Canyon as the destination. I first completed this ride ten years ago nearly to the day as it was on my 25th birthday. It was my first overnight bike adventure (actually it a two overnight adventure, the second night being somewhat unplanned. Cosmic Ray's Fat Tire Tales and Trails guide said the 75 or 80 miles would take 12 hours, so I rightly figured I was good to do it in 6. I had purchased a rear rack for my single speed Surly Crosscheck and strapped my gear on with a rope. First tour. I got a prompt start at high noon on A Clear and Dusty Day in June with the 7000 ft. sun barreling down on my back. Wow, Arizona, land of rude awakenings. I had run out of water before the sun had set, and despite bringing a filter, had not encountered any water on the route...that's funny.<br />
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Luckily a group of Boy Scouts had camped at Cedar Ranch, the of three stops along the route that used to be the Stage Coach route bringing the first tourists from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon. The troop leaders topped my water, marveled at my horrific setup, told the boys they were chumps for being so whiny when there was this guy with duffel bag on a road bike riding farther than they were, and sent me my way. I, however, was more than a little embarassed, considering myself an accomplished outdoors-man and cycler who had survived the Montana wilderness for the last two years....and to be saved by, of all walks of man or woman.....the boy scouts. Not good. But Grateful nonetheless.<br />
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I pressed on into the evening hours through the ranch bottoms and came across Tubs Ranch, some rotten board construction I quickly realized was infested with pack rats. I decided to sleep outside. I was pushing my bike as I inspected the grounds, and apparently some tumble-weed plants thought I was trying to steal their hard-earned water and gifted me with goat-head thorn seeds all about my tires. Being one who had at that time not embraced sealant I awoke to find both tires flat. No big deal, I'm prepared for this. I changed my tubes and de-thorned the treads and started pumping. At about 5 psi it got to where the tires weren't getting any more air. I tried to ride this and headed off in the wrong direction (Cosmic Ray said [read] "bring a compass take the route most north!"--I thought "who ever needed a compass?"). I quickly turned back for Tubs after my tires were soon, again, completely flat. That's funny. </div>
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Luckily a group of Boy Scouts would be along in an hour or two. Maybe I could get some help from them. They stopped in the shade of the one Juniper tree and took their lunch. They pumped my tires and one of their leaders gave me a new mini-pump. I asked if I could mail it back to him and he said, "just keep it." How embarrassing. They topped me up on water again, as I had drank off the entirety of my night's ration, and again they sent me on my way. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM4qFLTLJQOFPlsU2o9kYIGJTl7XOf4uqmJEK6471dIh7DBNE4g6gCMDBLX8reGbDDDTq-oxE1U6pIjig6MGbJmLt45Gc0RbAM14LhyDL0r1a3RVXCgrnOiNl8sljya-xnPzzms_NzE3M/s1600/DSCN2169.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM4qFLTLJQOFPlsU2o9kYIGJTl7XOf4uqmJEK6471dIh7DBNE4g6gCMDBLX8reGbDDDTq-oxE1U6pIjig6MGbJmLt45Gc0RbAM14LhyDL0r1a3RVXCgrnOiNl8sljya-xnPzzms_NzE3M/s320/DSCN2169.JPG" width="320" /></a> </div>
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I arrived at the canyon promptly in the late afternoon with the sun beating down from above, famished, but exhilarated from the sight. I turned west on the Grand Canyon tourist road route 64 and stopped at every tour bus pull out before making my way to Grand Canyon Village where I spent the rest of my time in the park stuffing my face in front of the grocery store. Tourism at its finest. After the break I pointed my bike south down Highway 180, a dismally scary road to ride, though beautiful, camped the night, and completed the return trip with a proper AZ morning start.</div>
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The trip next week will be more on pace with that trip of the Boy Scouts, but I'm reminded of my effort ten years ago and feel my steed should be reminiscent of the Surly. So I'm taking the super commuter. Fun-hater style. I haven't decided to go single speed yet, but who knows. We're taking four days to ride to the canyon, and the trip is for the Arizona Trail's <a href="http://www.aztrail.org/stewardship/seeds.html" target="_blank">Seeds of Stewardship</a> program, for which I have worked the past few years. We have 8 high-school students doing the trip, some have completed last year, others will be for the first time. I sure hope they can pick up for what will no doubt be my baggage on the group. Report to follow.</div>
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Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-35371608054397963602016-05-24T13:08:00.001-07:002016-05-26T08:32:27.236-07:00Press Release:<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://4flagtv.com/episode/dapper-dre-rides-a-moustache" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Dapper Dre Rides A Moustache</span></a></h2>
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Our Local Internet TV Station came out to do a piece about the bike I was building for their host, Dapper Dre. The video debuted this week for Bike to Work Week. Click the link at the top to view full size and check out the other propaganda at <a href="http://4flagtv.com/"><span style="font-size: large;">4flagTV.com</span></a></div>
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Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-48896112091045736682016-05-16T10:25:00.002-07:002016-05-16T11:21:21.530-07:00The Professor's 36er<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEt_mQz6bu7X_9iMouHUJEQo5H43hCVG9bampRLqC_fwza308wjKaC3jwvhsCSvBZL8TjD0_KFoUJ9Deu6UnQk4PJ2BPkmxuVUXBEizdbzznTXKI_jMMPuAfYRkeqZXlINA7x7OnWG0M/s1600/DSCN0209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEt_mQz6bu7X_9iMouHUJEQo5H43hCVG9bampRLqC_fwza308wjKaC3jwvhsCSvBZL8TjD0_KFoUJ9Deu6UnQk4PJ2BPkmxuVUXBEizdbzznTXKI_jMMPuAfYRkeqZXlINA7x7OnWG0M/s320/DSCN0209.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Well, despite its size, this bike slipped out the door last month without me getting any pictures of it. So when I got the invite over to the Professor's house last weekend to take some pictures of his historical artifacts including his new bike I jumped on over. Here you have it better late than never: the largest Moustache to date....36" wheels, 27" of top tube, 30+" cruiser bars and nearly a 900mm saddle height. <br />
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A bike this size is best viewed through a comparative lens, so for full effect click on the images for the slide show. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIP53ma-rOZ_WlFCPiYfTQgSrxkj3GX7DOXoWhITgN1rzPX0idH4jVU2siW6F224k3uXzXpPmLCCCMpM57uvmBBQGwV0C03nDjg_3nHieoQBRUjC7Qk-Ka4pK5hg0JPn5rgGsYiw0ncVM/s1600/DSCN0221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIP53ma-rOZ_WlFCPiYfTQgSrxkj3GX7DOXoWhITgN1rzPX0idH4jVU2siW6F224k3uXzXpPmLCCCMpM57uvmBBQGwV0C03nDjg_3nHieoQBRUjC7Qk-Ka4pK5hg0JPn5rgGsYiw0ncVM/s320/DSCN0221.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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Tall man stands next to a large bicycle...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95EP0krySYA9VbYPE628kBs2kChCcfebpZ6iyzlPUJhTUUg8MJYCzpmR3WQwxpLS87o6eiBQdToxlf91KIslYuZwGDwUnBMVCzaIfCdAhZ2okk6j1E3jcOf7vF-4TpjkGBFCaevd7JME/s1600/DSCN0226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95EP0krySYA9VbYPE628kBs2kChCcfebpZ6iyzlPUJhTUUg8MJYCzpmR3WQwxpLS87o6eiBQdToxlf91KIslYuZwGDwUnBMVCzaIfCdAhZ2okk6j1E3jcOf7vF-4TpjkGBFCaevd7JME/s320/DSCN0226.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Man of above average height stands next to large bicycle.</div>
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Tall man rides large bicycle.... <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO0dTSW1dsv9u8K8XO6fLSPEvs1JF0x1Zf3vjRdIoqJGCn2_YOcdirBZpCfnw-XkEYzjods96qYfL19VzdmTdwn6z8CGjeU_Yer_tJqsgUXbDbsRQoIxnzwP2SulnbL-K0MU6VS0bdwGc/s1600/DSCN0225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO0dTSW1dsv9u8K8XO6fLSPEvs1JF0x1Zf3vjRdIoqJGCn2_YOcdirBZpCfnw-XkEYzjods96qYfL19VzdmTdwn6z8CGjeU_Yer_tJqsgUXbDbsRQoIxnzwP2SulnbL-K0MU6VS0bdwGc/s320/DSCN0225.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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29" wheeled bike made for tall man buried behind Professor's new Moustache 36er.</div>
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Tall man shows gratitude toward maker of Moustache; maker feels like palmed basketball.</div>
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Ride impressions?: Well I think now just about everybody on the NAU campus has seen or been run down by this guy and his new... thing... with a crooked smile on his face as he drives the crowd. A lucky few in the friends circle have been fortunate enough to ride it. Smiles all around of course, but from my few moments before it left the barn: this thing is a train in more ways than one...(good thing the Professor likes trains); it steers like its on rails and momentum is key. All laws of physics apply: ....an object in motion....F=ma....for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The gyroscopic effect of those wheels is noticeable, at least to a guy of above average height and below average mass (figures based on US National averages for height and weight). The whole platform is one of much intrigue, and now with one down I welcome the next one. For those over 6'6" or so this is a real and viable option for a custom bike. The whole package came together quite nicely for the Professor at 6'9". I would be curious to spend a bit of time on one my size as well (hey we can all dream can't we?).</div>
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Mike, your spirited involvement in this project made it truly a pleasure. Please enjoy this bicycle for a long time to come. Thank you for the project!<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">History Lesson: Sound Mechanics of the 1900s</span><br />
<br />
The
Professor was kind enough to invite me in to see (and hear) some relics
of his archive over a hundred years old. As a moonlighting musician
that's been working on an album with a full band, and as a bike builder
and aspiring machiner, it was interesting to hear how this was done in
the first era of recording, as well as watch the result.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilena4gv6439CQeRf9f-58WtJ-BqpBjJvKfBisHWH_cfcPARYs9JQO1vHh5tIdmEdf4i4NKcFJKesARW239px0wmw8Yu-t50FHAlJA2pJXyCtebhACbJ3CTUls3wepoZuVdq4AuWIV8EQ/s1600/DSCN0182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilena4gv6439CQeRf9f-58WtJ-BqpBjJvKfBisHWH_cfcPARYs9JQO1vHh5tIdmEdf4i4NKcFJKesARW239px0wmw8Yu-t50FHAlJA2pJXyCtebhACbJ3CTUls3wepoZuVdq4AuWIV8EQ/s320/DSCN0182.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The
Edison Home Phonograph of design by inventor Thomas A Edison (yes, that
Edison). Patents on the picture below date between 1896 and 1906; this
machine is of the later creation. I'll do my best effort to set the
stage and repeat what was described to me, but my brain has never been
one for retaining dates, let alone factoids. Electricity has been
harnessed and Edison has already invented the network through which it
is being distributed (1870s). Most of this distribution though is to
commercial interests in major cities and it seems most homes did not
have electricity until the 1920s if not later. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_radio" target="_blank">Radio</a>
has been "discovered" but yet to be "invented" (Guglielmo Marconi is
given popular credit for this in 1902 after more than 80 years of
discovery and advancement in the filed, and the first radio broadcasts
of human voice did not occur until 1916). So the phonograph is a
machine for mechanically reproducing sound, and without a doubt an item
of luxury at this time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsvJ6_wubIlYvoQtGbtRVDhxxvXitTUNu10g7bq2IMQ8-Me2q8pcqC3llawqJ0bbuoRxXo3BA_OnaOjSMfmxBkcUvG2v7qVf-fdyNwL-iqTGedn3xm3k0vkg37JhmX8jZHMrixsPbXjhE/s1600/DSCN0192.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsvJ6_wubIlYvoQtGbtRVDhxxvXitTUNu10g7bq2IMQ8-Me2q8pcqC3llawqJ0bbuoRxXo3BA_OnaOjSMfmxBkcUvG2v7qVf-fdyNwL-iqTGedn3xm3k0vkg37JhmX8jZHMrixsPbXjhE/s320/DSCN0192.JPG" width="320" /> </a></div>
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Without
electricity this machine uses a spring loaded wind up with weighted
controllers to produce a spin of a certain RPM. . I would have to think
that the devices regulating the final RPM of the player spindle would
represent advanced machining of the day. The drive mechanisms sit in
the box below the feed and amplifier. The record is tracked with the
slide at the rear of the machine. The two arms extending off the slide
serve as the tracking feed for the record and the play back. This
machine tracks off a metal fine pitch screw (above in the immediate
foreground) rather than directly off the record. Playback is direct
amplification of the needle through a horn of varying size. Below the
small cone is sitting behind the player itself, and a large cone is
attached to the player in the picture.</div>
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Records
for this machine were cylindrical and each play will degrade the sound
quality. A record contains a single track. Below the Professor shows
off his extensive collection. These days a track could rival i-tunes in
best price or make the record companies jealous at their margins
alike. Tracks for your 1900s era Edison player could range between
$0.30 and $300.00. <br />
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The
recording process of the time would have been quite interesting. An
artist would have to go into the Orange, N.J. studio to record the track
in a single take. The process was mechanical and the sound of the room
would be carved into a wax mold by whatever device. No separation of
instruments, no over-dubs. Now you have essentially a lost-wax casting
process in play. The wax mold is turned to a steel transfer for
production of the final product.<br />
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Content
of the songs tend represent interests of the time, so there is a lot of
western themes with cowboys and Indians. There is also, interestingly,
or maybe not, a lot of subtle and not-so subtle over-tones of white
privilege. The track below is by Billy Murry with the music by the
Edison House Quartet. You can listen through the <a href="http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/index.php" target="_blank">UCSB cylinder archive</a>, and there is much more detailed information here as well. I was unable to play the track directly but the download worked. <a href="http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder3206" target="_blank">Ida-Ho!</a><br />
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With
direct amplification, sound quality becomes more noticeable with
speaker size. This large cone is not something you want to be drug out
of your costume closet. When in use it would be hung from a single
point at a balance as the small end of the taper needs to be able to
move freely with the player needle.<br />
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<br />
The
Professor's personal digitization efforts. This part I like
particularly well. Blending the old and the new through a simple
functional device. Direct amplification of digital sound. Thanks for
the tour of the archive, el Professor!<br />
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Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-55858018161478316222016-04-09T10:07:00.000-07:002016-04-09T10:07:57.246-07:00Dapper DasherI've been mixing two or more projects this winter...well...tow major projects and I can never keep track of how many minor projects, but you've likely read about some of them if you follow along here, and plenty of these minor projects are just small steps in advancing the greater offerings of the Moustache Shop. I posted about the plate crown fork several months back as it was an accomplishment in retro-technology and the first step in building up the Dapper Dasher. A little background is due here:<br />
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<br />
Dapper Dre is the one character I know that has the whims of our city wrapped around his finger. The city makes a move towards progress and development, Dre has been waiting at the corner for this very moment to throw mud in her face with a smug grin and then roll in it right along side her. He exists symbiotically with a city trying to grow despite its many constraints. His lifestyle has grown from simple but ridiculous events that light a fire underneath the public to bring out their best both in dress and in character to inspiring our public through his antics on both on stage and on the internet. His enterprises have grown from famed purveyor of costume attire to celebrity entertainer, but nothing has been left behind. The wave of Dapper Dre is growing in intensity. I never took Dre as the custom bike type, but Dre has not owned a car in the ten years I've known him. This bike is not my typical commission, its the bike to carry a vintage lifestyle into the great unknown space of the future. Traveller of retro-space. Class was to be considered on all fronts.<br />
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After the <a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2015/11/plate-crown-fork.html" target="_blank">plate crown fork</a>, the frame was a sigh of relief: simple diamond frame for modern accoutrements like 650B wheels with disc brakes. Everything you wanted in 1985 but maybe didn't know about. Room for 45mm tires with fenders or 2.2" tires without. Northern Arizona is a rocky place, even if you're just on a commute. The position is one for comfort over the long haul, and with back pain riders like to be upright, so the <a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2016/01/cruiser-bars-riser-bars-and-compound.html" target="_blank">cruiser bar project</a> came about mid-build and has proved a worthy endeavor. The handling is stable and predictable thanks to the slack angles, upright position, a long rake fork, and a high-ish bottom bracket keeps pedals off the rocks when travel turns to raw earth. </div>
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Space Junk.</div>
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Bikes work out best when there is a cohesive plan from the inception and this one had it right down to the color scheme. Burgundy with copper accents, silver and black components mix meeting at the crankset. The burgundy color was achieved by putting down a sparkly layer of cosmic blue with a candy red top coat. You can see the blue coming out with the tap. Certain lights bring out the combination as a vibrant purple. Remember your color mixtures kids.</div>
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The build for this bike had to match the rider's taste for vintage. I chose to represent this with the best parts available from all times past and present. The wheels are 36 hole Velocity Atlas touring rims in polished aluminum laced to my favorite: Hadley Hubs with Phil Wood custom cut spokes. The hubs use Hadley's ti-bolt option in the rear for future adaptability in a potential trailer project with a traditional 9mm QR in the front and a bolt on skewer. These hubs are brilliant, with excellent machining throughout, quick 72-point engagement from the titanium freehub body, adjustable bearing preload and simplicity in rebuiling. The choice between shimano and sram xd drivers is also available. For this project we went with the Shimano option for back compatiblity with the NOS 8 speed m900 12-32 tooth cassette. Oh yes! This piece was matched to gray XTR derailleurs and mated to Suntour XC Pro top mount shifters. The best in vintage mountain bike drivetrains.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkph-RXaG3jh5D2AYJXOS-SqcT161wVaGxNziWa-Q74A4HoDp1iY5RMm0yE1CJAYWFEoFXHVYdJ5Wc5llToxiz0MZYdKj2NBCDeXKUB7RbiJBpyNByFl0u-zzC-7ZDYyzXGXrEK0DyXs/s1600/DSCN6481.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkph-RXaG3jh5D2AYJXOS-SqcT161wVaGxNziWa-Q74A4HoDp1iY5RMm0yE1CJAYWFEoFXHVYdJ5Wc5llToxiz0MZYdKj2NBCDeXKUB7RbiJBpyNByFl0u-zzC-7ZDYyzXGXrEK0DyXs/s320/DSCN6481.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Further rounding out the build are Honjo aluminum fenders, Rivendell Fatty Rumpkin tires, Avid BB7 brakes with Speed Dial Ultimate levers. If you're questioning the brakes, think about this: before these came along you had the option of Hayes 22mm post mount hydraulics that were finicky at best...these brakes eased the transition from rim brakes to hydraulic discs in a simple and elegant manner that was easy for any average joe to grasp. Paul components just now released a disc brake that is functionally a clone of this design that dates back, what, 16 years? I'd say that's pretty timeless.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdyMSU4LpKYS-qcEm10D3cgC_8lwfGSIuv5-MlIKCkj8r8qGyo2rpmGg0RKBRoKi-mlFEldreIUHe9nEsPVQDcuf_PmLaCIA8_jIV-dATuS-EmZAHcGzDODFm23nzBruKVobc_dlvUfJo/s1600/DSCN6583.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdyMSU4LpKYS-qcEm10D3cgC_8lwfGSIuv5-MlIKCkj8r8qGyo2rpmGg0RKBRoKi-mlFEldreIUHe9nEsPVQDcuf_PmLaCIA8_jIV-dATuS-EmZAHcGzDODFm23nzBruKVobc_dlvUfJo/s320/DSCN6583.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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The rest of it was accomplished with a White Industries double crankset with a 26/40 tooth ring combo attached to a Phil Wood square taper bottom bracket. Should be service free for at least the next five years, probably more like ten or fifteen. Headset is a Cane Creek 110, and Thomson supplies the seatpost and BMX stem. The seat is a Brooks kevlar and rubber model.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqClNp5Ufnmn11IlpX2RZlpwWeavuF7dZ7TKn_FbHXlSK_c9WyfZmr2vOTj2sMpM2WiUAsjAE3O8KVLlGNJuULX3qsGxgs1k6T5rqRywinPI27NLclHkN_xBCIcAzD6JjcETTH8ViR7I/s1600/DSCN6602.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqClNp5Ufnmn11IlpX2RZlpwWeavuF7dZ7TKn_FbHXlSK_c9WyfZmr2vOTj2sMpM2WiUAsjAE3O8KVLlGNJuULX3qsGxgs1k6T5rqRywinPI27NLclHkN_xBCIcAzD6JjcETTH8ViR7I/s320/DSCN6602.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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The racks were created to match the overall theme with wood inlays reminiscent of a flatbed pickup from the '60s. The rear will accommodate standard panniers from any number of makers while the front is more aimed at a large cargo like a trunk.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqaLolLIyW_ih-Xm7oFqC74i6brr7-zZafgj3gmXxcD38XAt6VAz8PhIrh_EXf6T106J-8jAznLF7eRlmgqKRyPM4L6ReL7o1HuClJ9xwIxrsAcoVm4jmmDlsd2Uhww31wAHGLCaZmWQ/s1600/DSCN6604.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqaLolLIyW_ih-Xm7oFqC74i6brr7-zZafgj3gmXxcD38XAt6VAz8PhIrh_EXf6T106J-8jAznLF7eRlmgqKRyPM4L6ReL7o1HuClJ9xwIxrsAcoVm4jmmDlsd2Uhww31wAHGLCaZmWQ/s320/DSCN6604.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Upon receiving this bicycle, Dapper Dre turned up in production mode, cameras rolling. The bike was unveiled from beneath a tarp and christened with the bubbly. Champagne was sprayed about, coating that lovely red finish before being licked off by the man himself. A hilarious spectacle. Pee-wee quotes were quoted, and circles were ridden. "Its not for sale Francis"</div>
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Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-72914932876857319122016-03-23T08:43:00.000-07:002016-03-23T08:43:36.823-07:00Stock Parts....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipLc6QjiFqd0ddtl2mB8GT7Cs7wetPsrUIEXxFMarKs4A_FhioxHnVApwavrPVL2QNl7y4qkdLa6ed1-Y1TerpNOGiH4p-UTziJt_HO0pc6aVB26rmADE7hq0Q11EVWoBU3af9NJW4R8k/s1600/DSCN6406.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipLc6QjiFqd0ddtl2mB8GT7Cs7wetPsrUIEXxFMarKs4A_FhioxHnVApwavrPVL2QNl7y4qkdLa6ed1-Y1TerpNOGiH4p-UTziJt_HO0pc6aVB26rmADE7hq0Q11EVWoBU3af9NJW4R8k/s320/DSCN6406.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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....Blockhead. I needed some fork ends that would take a way oversize piece of straight gauge as a fork blade and a 10mm axle. The yarder is running a rear hub for a front hub. Nothing really seemed to fit the bill so I machined these little pieces out of some 4130 plate. Quite simple really. 8 corners, 90 degree angles. They line up the blade with ample room for the disc rotor and there's enough space left over in the miter to manipulate the spread of the crown a bit. Brass is sweat both inside and outside the fork blade and the rest is capped. I'll get a good picture of the finished product before its all gone, but have neglected to so far.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy-m6TGtD2Oi-7kmwB_2qJ2AYoMSbETalzzTK9K_cBFeo5p4lFV_QqkgLXu7MTXczbXONRKPcGVEEsohL9z9buRWkVgKGuvjoSc83GZtBarMnVgz3HuplUX6tusNsNiHm1snz3H8IwSqI/s1600/DSCN6417.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy-m6TGtD2Oi-7kmwB_2qJ2AYoMSbETalzzTK9K_cBFeo5p4lFV_QqkgLXu7MTXczbXONRKPcGVEEsohL9z9buRWkVgKGuvjoSc83GZtBarMnVgz3HuplUX6tusNsNiHm1snz3H8IwSqI/s320/DSCN6417.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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One Paragon item I never thought I'd use is their tapered steerer (<a href="http://www.paragonmachineworks.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=MS2009" target="_blank">MS2009</a>). It is a beautifully machined piece of 4130 with relief internally to match the transfer of stress loads of a fork flexing from bump and brake into the steerer and headset and on into the main triangle. In my mind it has seemed excessive in most rigid bike applications versus a straight steerer. I find a straight 1.125" steerer, or for increased braking demands a externally tapered steerer for a 1.125" headset (<a href="http://www.paragonmachineworks.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=MS2026" target="_blank">MS2026</a> or <a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2015/04/turning-4130.html" target="_blank">my own made</a>) more appropriate for brazing a unicrown or segment crown fork for most bicycles (meaning up to a 29" tire and 3" width or less). Increased leverage from added length of the fork blades on the 36er coupled with a 200mm disc rotor creates a need for extra strength in the fork crown and the tapered steerer is up for the task. The crown tubing pieces wrap the fork blades and in this case approach the size of the steerer base. Tube diameter and wall thickness are a crescendo of sorts, growing thicker towards the top. All told the 9 inches of steerer tube stack will most likely remain its full length when the build is complete.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpamC-XtYCdBstq_KWd4AmRSHXzCVUnXWryBrMYNFQxWNm03dkMuLtfPiMy4smSy9GMkU9okl8xnPIaHuqQqObZ0Q0BkiKRE5mhaLnxfmnTWZ2DYOKGzexUcRRgvz9Fli6LiVJimQF5wM/s1600/DSCN6416.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpamC-XtYCdBstq_KWd4AmRSHXzCVUnXWryBrMYNFQxWNm03dkMuLtfPiMy4smSy9GMkU9okl8xnPIaHuqQqObZ0Q0BkiKRE5mhaLnxfmnTWZ2DYOKGzexUcRRgvz9Fli6LiVJimQF5wM/s320/DSCN6416.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-51028517267040658672016-02-18T09:38:00.000-07:002016-02-18T09:38:51.447-07:00Project 787....No this isn't the introduction of carbon into the materials list as the commercial jet manufacturer did with their similarly titled project. It is however in reference to the size of the project, namely the <a href="http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ba-n.html#beadseat" target="_blank">BSD</a>. While the aforementioned jet manufacturer likely felt similar about their project in size and scale, they are a large corporation with substantial public holding and an infrastructure that occupies the better part of a major world city; I am a guy with an impoverished affinity for tools, access to a 300 square foot shop, and the desire to make awesome bikes for people. So to talk about the scale of this project being let's say... similar to that of the jet company... is likely the greatest understatement of the day. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzNG-GJ5yn6SlZWZNbRyPC1yD5ksuqegEPfhfhSEa7PMU5LTxxU5kEZUkqMFXsZEFdrlUMIqaKXtnv6li1gwS1TwdOISYuBsB2pBvmTcQAGx1iBmDe5WM-UD00NcsFMzNCm1bfbGayAb4/s1600/DSCN6343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzNG-GJ5yn6SlZWZNbRyPC1yD5ksuqegEPfhfhSEa7PMU5LTxxU5kEZUkqMFXsZEFdrlUMIqaKXtnv6li1gwS1TwdOISYuBsB2pBvmTcQAGx1iBmDe5WM-UD00NcsFMzNCm1bfbGayAb4/s320/DSCN6343.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now, I'm not really one for novelty bikes or fad, I hope my work to date speaks to that, I generally try to talk folks out of ideas that I would think to be less than good. There have been plenty of over the top requests that I have flat out declined before even considering the time involved or final price. More often though people's ideas are really just based in that of a good riding bicycle, but muddled with the latest hype. With a little direction and specificity their dream is easy enough to achieve. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCi2oNLax65cqvE1ZsoQ6IlY9O4AxfuS_47FIobg4RrpoP_-eNtmT3eLnwWWzuc0f6Wqv9iTB1RvcxsiyR7QFVT-O5nbPG0ATAfDmQjdiYzQFYpDJf4iIh_UDATEHwR_m39YVmDlTp4XM/s1600/DSCN6342.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCi2oNLax65cqvE1ZsoQ6IlY9O4AxfuS_47FIobg4RrpoP_-eNtmT3eLnwWWzuc0f6Wqv9iTB1RvcxsiyR7QFVT-O5nbPG0ATAfDmQjdiYzQFYpDJf4iIh_UDATEHwR_m39YVmDlTp4XM/s320/DSCN6342.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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My ongoing email conversation with the Professor is as of typing this: 70 emails long. 70 emails with little more than a wheelset to show for it. The conversation started clear back in September with the subject line "Big Bike," to which the Professor briefly introduced himself (as a sizeable figure that, well, let's just say Lebron James would look up to), his well worn bike collection (that included a couple other customs), and his desire (Big Bike). He concluded by asking if I would be interested in meeting up for further conversation. I obliged. I had never really considered making a 36er before, nor what would go into doing so, but this proposal was 100% necessity. The rest is me nit-picking the details of every imaginable element that could possibly be conjured into, onto, or beside a two-wheeled structure. For the Professor, this is an object of necessity, he dwarfs his current 29er.<br />
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A good bike build starts with the hubs in hand, and with a BSD of 787 mm, and a rider weight of 285 lbs, nothing can be overlooked. I turned to Phil Wood for the hubset... err... most of the parts of what would ultimately become the hubset. The snow bike front hub 135 mm OLD and tandem rear hub 145 mm OLD were the last ones sitting on the shelf in 36 hole drilling. These will work. The reason for these hubs is the wider flange spacing allowing a similar spoke angle (flange to rim) to that of a 29er, even though the radius is nearly 3.5 inches larger: stability. With the hubs in hand I began to realize that the quick release configuration these were sent with just wouldn't do, so I went about turning new stainless axle ends for an in-house bolt on conversion since PW didn't have the parts. The cool thing about these hubs is the axle is the same regardless of configuration and is internally threaded M8 x 1.25mm. Spacers threaded onto the axle O.D. handle the interface with the frame and the location between the dropouts. I took this opportunity to align the snow bike front hub to rear disc spacing. This better centers the flanges and gives better disc rotor to fork blade clearance. Onto wheel building.<br />
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Being that this is a bike built on unicycle parts there are some things to keep in mind... namely limited parts selection. There are these rims, maybe another choice, that lace to a choice of two or three hubs (crank attached via ISIS interface), with your choice of three lengths of 14 gauge spokes in 5 mm increments*. Hardly a wheel builder's dream world. With my hubs already in hand I had failed to consider the option most closely resembling the dimensions of the unicycle hubs. Hub choice for my criteria above was already quite limited. What came next was a wheel builder's dilemma, how to resolve making up the differences in spoke length not covered by the sizes available. I'll let those of you still reading stew your options here.</div>
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*if anyone reading has a source for blank spokes in the 380mm range I'm all ears*</div>
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Alongside all this is the now emerging problem that none of this bike will fit my existing tooling. From wheels and beyond, this bike is the tool-maker's project. The goal for the rest of it is to keep things as simple as possible, but a compiled tool's built photo for this project is definitely in order. First off, the truing stand got a 5 inch lift kit....</div>
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...As did the dishing tool get an extension.</div>
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The project is now moving into the metalwork phase with a tensioned wheelset. The front is based on a rear MTB hub spacing and 10mm axle for strength and future compatibility; the tandem spaced rear is laced offset 4.5 mm to the drive side equalizing spoke tension between hub flanges and favorably bumping the chainline; the frame will be built to accommodate. Gear inch calculations are amplified through the large diameter wheel so a 11-36t ten speed cassette will be used along with a 28t BMX sprocket. Everything parts wise will be chosen from the "tried and true." To be continued...Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-70708583059282010912016-01-31T23:02:00.003-07:002016-02-01T11:09:19.168-07:00Frosty Winters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Frosty Winters are the Flagstaff way, not always accompanied by snow but sometimes, and between winter storms are periods of nagging cold and freeze thaw glaciation that render most outside activity next to impossible save for morning ice running. It reminds me of the opening scenes of The Empire Strikes Back when the Rebel Alliance has fled to the Hoth system. Even our savior to the south, Sedona, has been plagued with red mud and for the most part un-rideable. Like winters of old so I'm told. Maybe I should look into acquiring a tan-tan. And so it hit me the other night while staring off at the stickers on my guitar case waiting for show-time at the Monte Vista Lounge. 10 years. 10 years in Flagstaff. 10 years of Frosty Winters being bailed out by world-class mountain biking one town over. 10 years ago to the night Friday night I rolled into a town on a Frosty Winter night to make a new home and start a new job at the Arizona Conservation Corps. When I first arrived I grabbed a forest map and a burrito before heading to the first beer joint I could find and catching a local act, Gravy, before nestling down in the back of the Space Cruiser on an open forest road that shown no signs of winter, no place to go but the forest. I was a true <a href="http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=hobo&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8" target="_blank">HOBO</a> in every regard. The burrito was sub-par, the beer down-right terrible, and the music left plenty to be desired...not my thing to say the least. A few days later work had begun and I had resolved that I could probably spend the year in Flagstaff before moving on to the next great spot. Well ten years later....</div>
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I can imagine no better way of spending the ten year anniversary of my residence in Flagstaff than playing a show at the Monte V. Many Friday nights of my earlier years were spent wrecking my eardrums at the V. To be on the stage this night was remarkable. The crowd: amazing. A lot has changed in this fair town in the last ten years. The beer is good these days, at least some of it is, the music scene rivals any other small western town, and the mexican food is, well, incredible. If I knew ten years ago that we would be riding the bikes we now ride the ways we now ride them, I'd have been in awe. I distinctly remember resenting half of the trails I now LOVE. Living here has brought me to a new understanding of bikes and what they can and should do, so I say to the people of my adopted home: THANK YOU! Thanks, for having me, teaching me, and showing me your ways, for embracing the eccentrics and keeping us all in such good company.</div>
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Frosty Winters (the bike) is as much of an contradiction as winter in Arizona. Its owner, whose namesake the bike takes, is not frosty at all, quite friendly really, and the bike will no doubt see more long summer days than anything else. This frame features the latest blend of machined metal turned into performance ride traits aimed at taking its pilot closer to the edge more comfortably than ever before. Its dressed up in a two coat powder job of Chameleon Teal over Ink Black marvelously executed by <a href="http://mntnshine.com/" target="_blank">Mountain Shine Coatings</a>. Really the photos do the paint no justice at all, as it shifts shade quite a bit in varying light. Reminds me of my old Klein Q-pro...better perhaps. The paint looks straight black, but the sparkles shift from green to blue to purple and given the right low angle light, the bike just radiates violet.</div>
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Basics specs for this ride are for 130mm travel MRP fork, 29x2.4" tires, chainstays in the 425mm ball park, 142x12 thru axle, dedicated 1x drivetrain, 30.9 dropper post with external top tube routing....the preferred way in these parts.</div>
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Some details of the in-house yoke that make this bike possible. I'd say its the favorite method I've used to date. It uses thicker plate than before but the relief keeps the weight identical and the hollow brace reduces weight further while stiffening the whole assembly. </div>
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Legend has it that within the first fifteen minutes of riding, this bike had already saved its owner when a low light A-line was unexpectedly piled with debris in the ongoing user group land battle leaving the only one option: PULL UP. The impending crash was thwarted. Its tales like this and plenty of others that make me psyched to keep this effort going! Moustache RIDES! Thanks for the project Frosty. Enjoy the ride!</div>
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<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-83954903794211060502016-01-22T09:57:00.001-07:002016-01-22T13:49:44.459-07:00Cruiser Bars, Riser Bars, and Compound BendsI've been mulling this one over for a while now. Several years. I've made various efforts towards compound bends with chainstays over the past couple years, mostly rotating by eye or with an angle finder and producing a fair bit of scrap metal in the effort. Handlebars really put your bending skills to the test. And the came to step up and pass the test. Commercial handlebar offerings don't meet the needs of the next two works in progress, and the one guy that makes such an appropriate product I guess isn't much for email. So my hand was forced, Lemmy died, and I'm throwing All the Aces. I'm taking cruiser bars and riser bars on at the custom level. Custom rise, custom sweep, custom width, custom comfort, 7/8" clamp cause its the BMX standard, unchanged.<br />
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Of course tooling updates were in order. But I wanted to try things out a bit first before fully committing to a new bender. I have a design fairly worked out in my head, but that's still a far cry from having a working unit in hand, so I figured the prudent thing to do here for time sake was update the ol' Handy 7/8" bender once again. The ol' Handy has been $100 well spent. It came from ebay in 2010 and since this picutre has been through several updates to improve its performance. Its design flaws show a bit in thin wall tubing, but it has facilitated nearly all my learning of bending mechanics. It is shown below with the first clamp mod. For this project the clamp was scrapped in favor of a new one...imagine!</div>
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With the new parts in hand several bars were drawn out, raw lengths calculated, and the bends made sequentially. As for the rest of the details, well, I've got to leave you something to think about. I will say that by far the hardest problem that I'm still trying to wrap my head around is the vector math involved in creating a three dimensional part. I got stumped several times on paper before taking the try and see approach to prototyping. I'll continue to pursue the magic formula, but for now the bars are straight (left and right grip area are parallel on the surface plate, and the clamp surface is flat when the ends are touching), and the bends are even and symmetrical. This hand felt like a big win, but the game rolls on.</div>
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Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-27008700709116487132015-12-24T11:25:00.000-07:002015-12-24T11:25:44.899-07:00Rotary Table in Service<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So the expense of tooling up with machinery never ceases. At this point the wish list for machine tooling out spends the vehicular wish list ten fold at least. Not that I'm shopping for used Jaguars or anything. Just a new bike or two and a....well never mind. The last bit of <a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-trade.html" target="_blank">The Trade</a> with Joe mentioned a few posts ago was this rotary table. Its a six inch Phase 2 horizontal/vertical import table, but it came with the Sendero Cycles main tube mitering block to be setup vertically on the Bridgeport. Given that I already have a mitering system in place I decided to remove the attachments and start with the table ground zero as a horizontal unit. I hope to use this table to produce some bending dies to further facilitate some frame building methods already in practice at Moustache Cycles.</div>
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As with any piece of machinery, you have to somewhere, and when an opportunity to put this little table into rotation came about it seemed time to remove the dust. A six inch table is a bit small for my ideas, but the spatial concepts are the same so I thought I'd better start learning with what I have and build from there. I little internet research suggested to build the table out to job so with some scrap metal in hand I took to this. First project: 34.9mm seat collar with integrated upper rack boss. Apparently QBP is out of stock of the Salsa units for some time to come, and a current project requires a piece such as this.</div>
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Step 1: Centering the table with the spindle of the mill. For this I turned a #2 morse taper out of a piece of 3/4" Stainless. This is a much harder piece to make than it looks. I used the 4 jaw chuck to keep the work piece as true to itself as I can. This is aligned with a dial indicator not shown. The taper comes to .050" for every inch along the x, but in degrees the precise measurement is finer than I can measure or calibrate on my 1986 import lathe. A real machinist would precision grind this piece, but neither having this equipment nor the knowledge of the process I went with the lathe, turning it down as close as I could, and checking it along the way with a MT2 drill bit adapter I have. The slop in the piece was discouraging, but I found that once I was close with turning the taper, and as long as I had a length of the original diameter to work with, I could reduce high spots with a file/emery and hone in on my "precision fit."</div>
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With the taper pin fit and tapped into place I needed a way to remove it so it got drilled and tapped for an extractor bolt (think square taper cranks). The taper pin will catch a 3/4" collet from the mill quill, and if I really cared from there I could use an indicator to get a more exact center. For this I figured the pin to collet closure would do, but I checked it several times by chucking the pin and finding the point where the taper "stuck". Table centered. Now its time to build in some work holding.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIn1zG0h404Wj1fwiTTCeMAKuO3-7pZfha2On2hkUPNGpO50FKwmVCsleKiYHLkn1ee7Fqd23MxA32QrS3VuD97afYTnbyG8CUpTQcgZ9em4W1eAFNgA_5KfUufdiboqkSxjRStO5LaPA/s1600/DSCN6361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIn1zG0h404Wj1fwiTTCeMAKuO3-7pZfha2On2hkUPNGpO50FKwmVCsleKiYHLkn1ee7Fqd23MxA32QrS3VuD97afYTnbyG8CUpTQcgZ9em4W1eAFNgA_5KfUufdiboqkSxjRStO5LaPA/s320/DSCN6361.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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One of the more useful pieces of reading I did before attempting this read something to the effect of "with your table centered, you can use it to build itself out." That said in my mind this was the most complicated step. I had roughed out the work piece into a rectangle with the holes drilled and the shoulder bored through the center, but mounting even a small piece such as a seat collar was going to test the space confines of this table. The work piece would need to be centered to the table through its bore so I turned a nicely toleranced adapter sleeve to slip the centering pin. No clamping pressure here though as the pin is not secured from the underside of the table. The clamps would need to attach the work piece squarely to the table, keep the graduations of the table in phase with the desired cuts, and allow the mill cutters to extend beyond the work piece to make a full cut. The table has 3/8" tee slots for use with 5/16" hardware, a size that was seriously lacking in my collection....(add hardware store to the wish list). I decided to make some 8mm tee-nuts out of some aluminum scrap...aluminum nuts, I know. I found a semi suitable mounting plate in the scrap collection and nicely the color helps show the work a little better. I clamped it to the table on some parallels and drilled a bolt circle with countersunk holes to not interfere with later work holding. We'll call this the clamping plate. I left that cool fin in tact to scare swimmers, only to find out that it prevents full 360 degree rotation. The plate was re-centered on the table, this time with its own hardware, but still on parallels. I should note that it has a low tolerance 3/4" hole drilled through its center, allowing my taper pin to pass through.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-aEhb_VcFcGxfrGjl9agon1x8Bo9-96qa87987uFfQaoa0Cayt17VbMf-vUk_LrA2AWaow-M3QZ0O7ODXeIFmnV-MIFNRlJFfzqv70GO4OeS4r-uEknBI3Z0aOi4YSrSZOQK5dexnhEE/s1600/DSCN6362.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-aEhb_VcFcGxfrGjl9agon1x8Bo9-96qa87987uFfQaoa0Cayt17VbMf-vUk_LrA2AWaow-M3QZ0O7ODXeIFmnV-MIFNRlJFfzqv70GO4OeS4r-uEknBI3Z0aOi4YSrSZOQK5dexnhEE/s320/DSCN6362.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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At this point my roughed out work piece is centered on the clamping plate, but not attached. A couple small adjustable clamps were devised and corresponding bolt holes drilled on the clamping plate. Now the clamping plate is squared and bolted directly to the table surface and the work piece is squared and bolted to the clamping plate. Six cuts later and I'm nearly finished. The angle cuts were made with a single flute countersink bit, but results with this were less than pretty. An angled end mill would be more desirable, but I have none. I could have angled the mill head, but I've found that one of the absolute worst tasks in the machine arena is squaring the mill head of the Bridgeport. So at all possible effort now that its square I try to leave it that way. I'll take an ugly cut on a sample work piece by a long shot. It cleaned up decently enough with files and abrasives. </div>
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So there you go. I think this whole walk can be summed up by saying that there's lots of steps and even more brain power, meaning a huge time sink and learning curve. But with all that its pretty fun. I'll be looking to complete a few more tooling projects with this table setup as is before switching it to vertical and attempting those dies I mentioned above. </div>
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<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-31797827338305181122015-11-17T10:18:00.000-07:002015-11-17T10:18:49.447-07:00Plate Crown Fork<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidex8rqO00t-G_xVw0sgI4k5_F6lYSIiPQxAkC0xvFlrozrXDGSsCu2S9ZJxlioNunSmrAl5HaOBNMpYgbFUsD6Zul2oo0AL1d5UisxPFS6I67gRu4m6I3EJ1wuVBxs48s6nV-mBltb5I/s1600/DSCN6224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidex8rqO00t-G_xVw0sgI4k5_F6lYSIiPQxAkC0xvFlrozrXDGSsCu2S9ZJxlioNunSmrAl5HaOBNMpYgbFUsD6Zul2oo0AL1d5UisxPFS6I67gRu4m6I3EJ1wuVBxs48s6nV-mBltb5I/s320/DSCN6224.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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This was a fun beginning to a much bigger project that came about when the man behind Dapper Dre Enterprises mentioned that he liked the look of bikes that were more classic and angular. He mentioned liking a bike I made some years ago, so after our conversation I revisited that bike and the blog entry I posted about it, <a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2011/04/rays-tourer.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>. It was a traditional level top tube touring bike, but the plate crown fork stood out, so why not revisit that. I re-read that post and at the time had concluded not to make one of those for a good long while, or until I have a mill. Yeah, I remember now why, drilling out matching holes in plates with a drill press and then filing them to round sounds like a terrible idea. At least I raked the blades to achieve offset rather than angling the holes at the crown...you can probably see where this is going. Anyway, fork now complete, my favorite comment about it so far came in the form of "How the f^@k did you make that." Well it took a while but here are the basic steps.</div>
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Lots of time went into the working drawing and pre-planning and angles were calculated rather than measured. I periodically have to recall those high school trig classes out there in the shop and this fork required several of those old formulas...really practical math, folks. As well I cut a new die for the crush bender to form the lower plate; the upper is the railroad track die used to bend the yoke on Joe's Murray in the last post. </div>
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This thing came in handy for once. The Palmgren 400 lathe milling attachment. I picked it up at my local machine supply, Quality Tool, about a year ago in serviceable condition for $100 and haven't touched it other than to clean up and oil. I bought it initially thinking it would be the tube mitering station, but quickly thought better of it, things just didn't quite compute. And yes, Flagstaff has a machine tool store even though it doesn't really have too many machines, and I won't bother linking you to it because the guy that runs it is even more of a techno-luddite than I am, so you can find him in the yellow pages, or just drop by, he is there, tucked into the corner by the beauty college with barely even a sign. Yesterday I picked up a Kennedy tool box loaded up to the gills for not too bad either.</div>
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Steerer hole cut into plates and tacked against the crown race seat. The top plate will actually serve as the crown race seat the sleeve is just to give the proper O.D for the race's press fit. This whole sub assembly is then sweated with brass and cleaned up. </div>
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Time to make the holes for the legs. Calculations for rake and crown to hub widening are programmed on the Palmgren and the compound slide respectively. Then marks are centered before cutting.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv3FLk6LtavZrN5KDRV70e-5JDAdt8MggPUFWW61m1I2r35qPSURtJu2qokeg8_HUS9k6aw0CjpjCJoEZDg_sXU9OtvJ5XDTbsWed3XOoTD3kVr45-bOeiYPZADe3k1pcy8umEIaoQip4/s1600/DSCN6202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv3FLk6LtavZrN5KDRV70e-5JDAdt8MggPUFWW61m1I2r35qPSURtJu2qokeg8_HUS9k6aw0CjpjCJoEZDg_sXU9OtvJ5XDTbsWed3XOoTD3kVr45-bOeiYPZADe3k1pcy8umEIaoQip4/s320/DSCN6202.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Holes cut....I almost lost it here. The expansive angle to the hub was set for the other side so my cut went the wrong way. Luckily, the metal to the inside (steerer tube side) of the hole was all still there and the 1.625 degree angle of cut was not enough to drastically affect my canvas. At this point I still didn't have much of an idea of how the fork was going to look in the end, but with the mis-cut I started getting the idea. I would have to close that gap in at the outside, just like any old lug point.</div>
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The rounding cuts were added while in the lathe followed by much manual sculpting. The closed holes were carved into lug points and made for some fun tight quarters brazing. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqb3MbAGDnxSR3P-8y-TLqqJ78kmZx9FYlTtinBwQHdcl70C73Kw4rGReooVQ4Io5K9kB4T8QdkZFsj8BUp00MPJEblFlnAQmMB-tRFLd06rUU6v5U4rYNYCcPF0aLbGgnLzVEPlLKz_s/s1600/DSCN6228.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqb3MbAGDnxSR3P-8y-TLqqJ78kmZx9FYlTtinBwQHdcl70C73Kw4rGReooVQ4Io5K9kB4T8QdkZFsj8BUp00MPJEblFlnAQmMB-tRFLd06rUU6v5U4rYNYCcPF0aLbGgnLzVEPlLKz_s/s320/DSCN6228.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Looking forward to seeing this with a layer of paint and then all done up on the bike which is in process as I type this. Lots of work into this one! </div>
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<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-67703961608381089172015-11-10T08:59:00.000-07:002015-11-10T08:59:21.371-07:00The Trade<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Steel for Steel. A nicely equipped, tough as nails, American made touring mountain bike frame built for long travel forks and plus sized tires....and in exchange....a nicely equipped, tough as nails, American made metal munching machine. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQ_hh7Ydw5upB7eTSS3xfwz9d3TjQNqADcl7ne1Mnt_rFK1QlX0-aAkp6JzqyG-5TYmZfJU4EOT67HvhEGPRhzv8BkSWRzyFfd1at6HiVjsQcW0N0hgghBPxFG9v0uxehlqj-0hD30qg/s1600/DSCN6120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQ_hh7Ydw5upB7eTSS3xfwz9d3TjQNqADcl7ne1Mnt_rFK1QlX0-aAkp6JzqyG-5TYmZfJU4EOT67HvhEGPRhzv8BkSWRzyFfd1at6HiVjsQcW0N0hgghBPxFG9v0uxehlqj-0hD30qg/s320/DSCN6120.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I got wind last fall that in the garage of a notable Flagstaff mountain bike personality sat a Bridgeport mill, collecting dust, taking up space, no longer needed in shop operations, not even five miles from here. I was immediately interested, but with winter approaching and side jobs waning for the season, had little money to afford such a hunk of metal. I tracked down the owner of said machinery and arranged to head over for an inspection anyway thinking maybe an arrangement could be made. Save for a little dust it seemed quite clean, minimally used, included a fair assemblage of attachments, an adjustable boring bar, a swivel vise, and perhaps most importantly a phase converter for the variable frequency drive. You mean I don't have to climb a ladder to change speeds on the belt and pulley drive?!?....OK, I want!, but how? Then out of the man's mouth whose name is worn on more bicycle frames than I can imagine...."I'd be willing to trade you the value of one of your frames toward it." Joe Murray, you sir have a deal. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtuPlSrv9YcHCwuObsmJi5NE6ycKkT3kMFz9-muzJyiXPMpFo0nT58BvuWYqapES5oeILNSmGYPhdwtBu-Y_Pww77oNf1iebmgg6jHxHcsNtwNPr4ZxNClHx5vmJz0_d3hL3WLMdDKE-s/s1600/DSCN5900.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtuPlSrv9YcHCwuObsmJi5NE6ycKkT3kMFz9-muzJyiXPMpFo0nT58BvuWYqapES5oeILNSmGYPhdwtBu-Y_Pww77oNf1iebmgg6jHxHcsNtwNPr4ZxNClHx5vmJz0_d3hL3WLMdDKE-s/s320/DSCN5900.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I mentioned that I would like to make the bike on the machine and arranged to pull it out of there as soon as possible. The Viking crew was wrangled on a slushy Saturday last December. One Kubota tractor with fork attachment, two three quarter ton Chevys, two two-axle trailers, the standard arrangement of carpentry tools and rigging, one hour of time at each shop, lunch at Satchmo's. Done. What would a guy do without the Neffs? </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhua7vFCQo87YyEXPlLOqvkgc_s3M4BZU2BfFl0GpIgGQpj_LoHirS9l4PeHvDxj69F_NF5nRTO9rIa2PD5Jwrsd2vduuf4JkAm94Z4pdbk0i79x-_60C8Pc5fEx6u1t_QGYwK3PCsgKic/s1600/DSCN6124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhua7vFCQo87YyEXPlLOqvkgc_s3M4BZU2BfFl0GpIgGQpj_LoHirS9l4PeHvDxj69F_NF5nRTO9rIa2PD5Jwrsd2vduuf4JkAm94Z4pdbk0i79x-_60C8Pc5fEx6u1t_QGYwK3PCsgKic/s320/DSCN6124.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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I rounded up all the scrap metal I could and spent few months learning this machine. Old metal was repurposed; fixtures made from scrap, bolt patterns, Tee-slots, Tee-nuts, tapped holes, boring!!! So many possibilities. I do love me some recycling! Joe stopped by on a ride with a sweaty folded computer print out in hand. A scale CAD drawing of the bike he wanted me to build. It was time to pay the debt. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUX6b6MkculNqHKoqa47ki6tg71T9XTmQpdnWY2Dq905Y3Y9cthEYM_Erhh6P3vNiQ3F8nPRFSTjgE-s4sqp4PiXLdZNbQN9D8A1KFvgRSN2EJMfWH_PHBqPig45o7x1NZvD4QFGc7ExU/s1600/DSCN6110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUX6b6MkculNqHKoqa47ki6tg71T9XTmQpdnWY2Dq905Y3Y9cthEYM_Erhh6P3vNiQ3F8nPRFSTjgE-s4sqp4PiXLdZNbQN9D8A1KFvgRSN2EJMfWH_PHBqPig45o7x1NZvD4QFGc7ExU/s320/DSCN6110.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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The bike to be wanted 29+ wheels and 150mm of Fox 36 fork. We discussed some specifics which included a dropper post, a granny gear (YESSS!), thru axle rear with offset for good chain line, and rack mounts (YESSS!). A properly sturdy bike with timeless accommodations. I must say that of all the production bikes I ever owned, my favorite, and the only one that ever really fit me was the one of Joe's design. I took the dimensions from his print out to full scale on my drawing board to double check clearances and setup the jig. The seat tube would need to be bent and some serious tire/chainring clearances would need to be resolved as always. It was time to make my own plate bender (see back a few posts: <a href="http://rideamoustache.blogspot.com/2015/09/yoked.html" target="_blank">Yoked</a>). Commence mill work. Working with a 30.9 seat post and a bent seat tube required a call to Solid bikes for one of their seat tube plugs, a real nice piece of turned and internally relieved 4130. This piece comes as a press fit to be stitch welded, but would be reduced to accommodate brass flow into the joint. The seat tube is the pre-bent True Temper Chromag downtube with the lower (actually in this case the upper) butt cut completely off.<br />
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Now building offset rear end bikes for large tires presents a new set of problems to solve, especially when considering it is not likely a bike I will ever own myself. Finding the center line on the jig is no problem but confirming the accuracy of your work without actually having a 142 thru axle wheel dished so the hub sits 6.5 mm to the drive side is a little bit more complicated. I did however have a freshly laced 29er wheel with a 135mm XT threaded axle hub at my disposal, so I devised some concentric end caps and spacers to make up the offset dish. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZFwTO37YPmFot1StkipfyNO3VLJJrYcqd-xBGwBkSGhXi_kWMErM7P7UIPgB4ErjsQeJ62TcXlwm-JrNx46eRLgtxRiCjvihT1NJ6z0Abvlyi0X31UcJ5WIkQE-WBY_hbpiFdReNMpY/s1600/DSCN6161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZFwTO37YPmFot1StkipfyNO3VLJJrYcqd-xBGwBkSGhXi_kWMErM7P7UIPgB4ErjsQeJ62TcXlwm-JrNx46eRLgtxRiCjvihT1NJ6z0Abvlyi0X31UcJ5WIkQE-WBY_hbpiFdReNMpY/s320/DSCN6161.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The cones fit thru the dropout and thread to the 10mm axle. The one on the right is longer since it has to accommodate the additional 7mm of spacers making up the difference in outer locknut dimension. Now this regular old school 135mm center dished wheel sits on the centerline of this offset bike allowing me to visually confirm that this monster truck won't have an unwanted rear wheel steering issue. Thank goodness.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7M08JN_RduKF6H6xKnYzHXemSsnILeQtCIzG-oC_2gmL4-vcc5euyBLXVBpKArBtDvvcDeqbPHNXTtr7EgJEVcFg_53Td2UMhSe9NMyz3kjMIaw2oM5VCopMi_bTCskQ86V4Zc_ttVmI/s1600/DSCN6159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7M08JN_RduKF6H6xKnYzHXemSsnILeQtCIzG-oC_2gmL4-vcc5euyBLXVBpKArBtDvvcDeqbPHNXTtr7EgJEVcFg_53Td2UMhSe9NMyz3kjMIaw2oM5VCopMi_bTCskQ86V4Zc_ttVmI/s320/DSCN6159.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Onto final frame prep. I went with an 83 mm bottom bracket shell to accommodate a granny gear without having to use some oddball crank like a Mr. Whirley. The shells come .5 mm over width to allow for facing after getting distorted in the heat cycle....and they do. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO8jat-s_qsE71Vj0cGbhTB9agrujfF1s1lZIoaQ4-JIwwtxo-frqqAIHOpvsBeZmQkCIJG7GlVPFW89voMaKP4_gqCjua3ZwUMkiuI1hdgP6t7VC2JpKgQoBb_oXuXZGWDC7iXWnJdis/s1600/DSCN6132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO8jat-s_qsE71Vj0cGbhTB9agrujfF1s1lZIoaQ4-JIwwtxo-frqqAIHOpvsBeZmQkCIJG7GlVPFW89voMaKP4_gqCjua3ZwUMkiuI1hdgP6t7VC2JpKgQoBb_oXuXZGWDC7iXWnJdis/s320/DSCN6132.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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So now she waits in a high gloss orange waiting for some unmarked parts to be slung on and abused. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqrOhJPWCV6ZTRZU1D6rxYwY-qizso-jbmUSvj9v3bWPUnHyFIp16BzGyurafJVGW-WVDSktN-1yWYkObh5x_ku6U8auVr_SxmFLKSNgIY-oFNMxBB_kQDwaQOkplpmSV4wA1OS7QBK3w/s1600/DSCN6205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqrOhJPWCV6ZTRZU1D6rxYwY-qizso-jbmUSvj9v3bWPUnHyFIp16BzGyurafJVGW-WVDSktN-1yWYkObh5x_ku6U8auVr_SxmFLKSNgIY-oFNMxBB_kQDwaQOkplpmSV4wA1OS7QBK3w/s320/DSCN6205.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Thanks for the project and the trade, Joe! I hope you like your bike.</div>
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Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-87125439821628770492015-10-25T21:07:00.000-07:002015-10-25T21:27:48.492-07:00Ponies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been balls deep into the wood pile this week trying to get the homestead ready for: </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 1.8em; line-height: 1.3;">El Niño. </span></span></h1>
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<h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading" lang="en" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #252525;"><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading" lang="en" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">Then sometimes your old retro-grouch bike geek buddy rolls up to your wood pile with a van full of sweet new wonder bikes and offers you a private demo of the new Salsa Pony Rustler. Pretty hard to pass that up. There have been bike demos down the street all year, seemingly every weekend. I didn't take out a single bike that wasn't my own all year, but after throwing a leg over the Bucksaw last November, I have been a good deal intrigued by Salsa's line-up. They are one of very few (my opinion) companies really pushing the developmental envelope continually for the last five years, rising to the requests of some really top notch riders and characters, and in doing so have both opened up what were once nice markets to the masses, and outright creating others. The Pony Rustler does just this: its a capable machine and I came away mostly impressed. Being a nit picker and overly keen on my own steeds I had few complaints but most of them were fit related to a personal choice level. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></h1>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px;">The B plus platform is here to stay and the potential here for cool fun bikes is off the charts. I can't say I'm a big fan of spec'ing the boost though, or really why the industry decided to side step what people really want in these future bikes. ("Boost" is what the industry is calling the widening of the drive line to accommodate the space required from 3" wide tires) From Salsa's point of view I get that its what's available in the form of OEM parts that work; its more that I don't understand the move from the industry. The boost front hub gets a wider 110 mm OLD (outer locknut dimension) spacing. Downhill bikes have run this since the original Boxxer fork I believe if not sooner, AND you get a 20mm thru axle that greatly improves performance. Why make a silly and inferior hybrid axle system for a bike that's clearly meant to rip up downhills when better options have existed for years? And the same goes for the drive line. The argument here is that going to the 83mm downhill spec bottom Bracket will move your pedals outboard, and it will....a whole 5 millimeters per shoe, I think cleats have more adjustment than that. </span></span></h1>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #252525;"><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading" lang="en" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px;">But going here will allow you to run something really novel in the world of future bikes....a granny gear. With more people heading out with loaded rigs for overnighters and more, all those gears we used to take for granted ten years ago are actually still quite useful. Less so for big rings, but those 2x setups are pretty attractive. Think Colorado Trail, y'all. I believe we referred to it as the granny gear 500 back in 2012, and even in the world of carbon wonder bikes I just don't see the topographical facts of mountains changing. Really though, its four days after Marty McFly and Doc Brown flew into 2015 in a retrofitted nuclear powered DeLorean. And just where are those hover boards, anyway? Can't we have these new wonder bikes without the influence from the road bike weight weenie market? Don't be a sissy. Its just a couple grams.</span></span></h1>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #252525;"><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading" lang="en" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px;">Those guys back in 1985 were proud to be making cutting edge 30 pound rigid bikes and you would have been proud when it got you to the top of the mountain and bugs in your teeth the whole way down. I propose we re-appropriate "boost" as a fitness term for the added effort of having to heave that extra 10mm of crank spindle and 5mm of thru axle to the top of the mountain.</span></span></h1>
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Ok, rant over. Back to the matter at hand. I don't really pay much attention to the mainstream bike market, save for what parts and "standards" are doing. I, for one, am not the type of person in the market for a new carbon squish. The whole point of posting this tonight is to give nod to those pushing technology in our sport, and to those truly talented beings of our biking world, one who just rolled up in an orange van and will offer much in the push into the future. But today the notes were taken, and one of the most compelling notes was just how stoked the rest of the public was to ride this bike at the official demo yesterday. So I do say Mr. Spielburg: Here's your future.</div>
<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-26780968011046609252015-09-13T14:25:00.000-07:002015-09-23T14:34:37.310-07:00Yoked!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So here we are into September and I think my bicycle output up until now would qualify as a personal "least productive" year to date. That said I'm still here making stuff and plenty of that work is still bike oriented. A lot of those efforts have been going across city limits to the other custom bike shop. This year has been a year more consumed by tool building, and the payoff will be worth the effort both in the time saved over the long haul and more so in the overall quality of the finished frames. There's only so much you can do with hand files, folks, and the argument here is not man vs. machine: which method is better. The hand files still get touched to every piece of metal that makes its way onto the bike, but you just can't manipulate metal with files.</div>
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I've resorted to various forms of plate yokes on at least a few different bikes now, and with the dawn of the plus platforms becoming increasingly bright, the need to accommodate sound structure in an area with minimal space is ever present. I needed a way to accurately persuade plate metal in a symmetrical fashion that would allow for maximal tire and drivetrain clearance. I kept looking at this piece of railroad track we had sliced off its base a few months ago out at the Viking Ranch. When it comes to industrial scale metal work the Viking Ranch is way more capable than the Moustache Shop. His drop saw accurately sliced the mushroom top of the track off effortlessly. Now to put it to use. The first step in manipulating metal is work holding. The track was drilled and tapped on the face and on the side and a clamp was made to hold a 3/16" plate at tight clearance so minimal flex is transmitted through the clamp. The face clamp is used for the primary bends that need to be symmetrical and the side clamp will be for the secondary bends farther back toward the rear axle. </div>
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Now to apply the force. Keeping the pressure as close to the bend radius as possible will assure the metal being bent follows true to the form, but I did want the ability to change to 1/4" plate if the need presented itself and allowing for a little leverage off the track sides seemed like it would save my vise, so I kept the rollers a bit outside the width of the track. The single leg attachment on the bottom of the female "crush lever" assembly is to orient the clamped work piece. Above the primary bends have already been applied to the machined raw plate. Below the secondary bends have been added with a more basic lever assembly and a reposition of my work piece clamped in the form.</div>
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Before being bent the flat 3/16" plate is cut to something of a diamond shape and the center is relieved to a thickness of .100" on the inside where it will be attached to an extension from the bottom bracket shell.</div>
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The yoke and extension are then brazed together and proper inside penetration of the brass is ensured.</div>
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The sub assembly is then mitered to the correct length for tire and chainring clearance and tacked to the BB/seat tube sub assembly. </div>
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Stays are now ready to be mitered and attached. I picked up some slotting saws at a machine shop closing in Phoenix and got the slotting arbor on the Barker PMO mill attached and running for the first time. Makes a crisp cut. </div>
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For such a small mill I have been really impressed with what it can do as a versatile bike machine. So far I've done just about every miter on a frame and fork with the exception of seat stays, and all with a very basic swivel vise and a cabinet full of Paragon tubing blocks. Clearance is tight, and setup is probably not the fastest out there, but the miters are accurate and its been a fun transition.</div>
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Stays are mitered and tacked first at the dropouts then at the yoke. Now awaiting the rest of the bike. It'll be a sweet one, I promise!</div>
<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-76360136577790225092015-06-17T15:04:00.000-07:002015-06-17T15:04:14.753-07:00...In Dealing with Arizona MudGrowing up in the Dirty South, mud, rather, "muddin'" was looked at as sport rather than obstacle. There were bike rides through my teenage years that were purposed with finding the largest puddles we could and riding through them. That was what big rings were for: full speed charges through puddles after rainstorms, pulling up that front wheel at top speed until it came down through the pooled water to stamp into the sticky ooze below and relieve the rear wheel of all traction duties ejecting the rider over the bars. That was how I learned to wrench bikes in more ways than one. The Georgia/Alabama red clay that provides the namesake of the dirty south was a source of pride amongst those who ventured outside. I remember entering a race where lawnmower goggles were the preferred attire over sunglasses of any sort and the first downhill quickly turned into a run to the creek at the bottom for an impromptu bike wash to get things rolling again. That clay turned into a slick peanut buttery grease that would stop tires from rolling and kill all fun in any direction. Racers would routinely apply cooking spray to frames and tires and I even remember one spray on product ("Mudd-off" I think) that was dedicated to the task of shedding mud from bicycles. Oh where we would be if it actually worked! I guess I would have nothing to type about today.<br />
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Flash forward twenty years to life in the other dirty south...the southwest...home of the Basalt lava flows of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_volcanic_field" target="_blank">San Francisco volcanic field</a>. Producer of a mud far more unforgiving than anything ever witnessed in the east. Yeah, I know, you think the southwest is a desert of endless sunny days with ridiculously warm temperatures making it uninhabitable to normal humans. Well the third part may be true, but this year has brought about an above average rainfall for the spring leaving areas open for daytime bike adventure long into a season that most years would have left forgotten in the heat by April 1. I was fortunate enough to receive a phone call from Will over at WTB who was en-route to a five day Coconino 250 attempt over memorial day weekend. In that moment the wheels were set in motion for a long weekend adventure. I wouldn't be able to make the whole 250 with the group that identified themselves as the California Camels, but it did allow for a multi day adventure ride through some new country to meet up with another steller adventure that you can read about <a href="http://www.wtb.com/blogs/wtb/33143684-rambling-bout-arizona" target="_blank">HERE</a>.<br />
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My ride over the weekend would be from Flagstaff to Mingus Mountain and back around Sycamore Canyon, but the early start to monsoon season left the route selection to be a touchy detail. Rim country (referring to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogollon_Rim" target="_blank">Mogollon Rim</a> of the Colorado plateau extending from central Arizona to southwest New Mexico) is a likely place to encounter the Basalt flows and the mud that they can produce, so any chance of rain when riding in this area, especially on unfamiliar roads and trails should not be taken lightly. Descending the rim with a loaded bike is often a granny gear affair for 2000 or so vertical feet (that's right, granny gear downhill), but add some rain into the equation and prepare for a long and slippery walk for miles if you're lucky. Choose wisely. <br />
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My route was looking good as the threatening skies kept temperatures down but never unleashed on day one. The power line descent known locally as the Casner Route appeared from the top to be dry enough, and it held through to the bottom. It wasn't until the next day that the signs of what could be started to appear.<br />
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This bear track on Mingus Mountain shows the grease that had since dried. The pebbles that comprise the rest of the trail are nowhere to be seen within the track meaning they were carried off or pressed in. The mud crack evident in the heel pad is a sure sign that life would have been miserable here under rear wheel power when the track was laid. Other than this bit of evidence our day was again uneventful and filled with spectacular weather for late May in the high desert grasslands. An overnight drizzle along the Verde River in Perkinsville would be cause for concern though. </div>
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My route for day three was home following the Pines to Mines route. If all went well it would be 70-75 miles of dirt road, mostly uphill with ~2500 feet of vertical. No downhill fun, but a nice pedal and none too steep climbing. I was out of camp early, bidding the sleepy Camels farewell as they dozed. The overcast morning showed on and off drizzle. As I steered toward the rocky climb up the western edge of the Rim, my eyes lay on the ground before me and the residual dampness of the soil below. A freshly graded road leading toward a mining claim showed evidence of troublesome travel, but the moisture was still too low and the surface remained good. About halfway up the rim the sandstone rocks that make the Pines to Mines downhill an abusive challenge turn to basalt, the soil to a rich rust red of decomposing iron, and though it wasn't raining presently the overnight drizzle had left its mark. Tires start to clog, and tiny pebbles are released into chains and derailleurs. The release of those pebbles was indicative of a mud solution still on the dry side. </div>
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Add a bit more water and those pebbles serve as a binding agent for more mud. Below the mud is showing enough moisture to stick to itself, but has somehow released from the tire (not common). It was enough to stop movement and force a get-off, thus clogging my shoes with the same sticky clod. At its worst imagine your wheels becoming a cinnamon roll of mud and rock. Conditions here change literally by the minute, but if this area had seen real precipition, I would have no doubt been pushing a very slow and heavy bike, or maybe a sled (pushing the sled is what happens when both wheels lock up and the bike+mud must be pushed along on the skids). Out here mud clearance is only a matter of the recipe. No matter how much is built into a bike frame or fork it will be thwarted by the right conditions. The only measure that can be taken is knowing when to stop before the mess takes hold. Walking can sometimes save your drivetrain, especially if grass grows off to the side, but the best plan is avoidance entirely.</div>
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Memorial Day for me did not present this option; I was to be back on the job on Tuesday. Fortunately the mud up the rim was short lived and rapid travel resumed atop the plateau. Ominous clouds loomed around the San Francisco peaks obscuring them from sight, though it was sunny west of Sycamore Canyon. I never got rained on, save for a drizzle coming around Sycamore Rim trail. The mud started here, but by the end of the four mile stretch of singletrack, the sun had come out and the trail was rideable again. I found myself under a power line that runs directly east/west along the southern boundary of the Navajo Army Depot, and here began the mud. I fell immediately into the commitment trap as skiers call it. The intended route of unimproved dirt roads proved immediately impassible. The mud was in full slick status in lanes of travel, unrideable, and sticky at the edges collecting all vegetation and debris surrounding a tire track. The two track following the power line was muddy but passable, and the decision to keep moving along this route seemed obvious in rising panic of dwindling daylight. Walking the power line hills would be slow, but the urgency of the situation forced movement. In retrospect a route north around the Depot would have been the wise choice, utilizing improved roads, but I had not been stopped along the power lines. Three hours of daylight, twenty miles to good dirt. There was no option for rescue; no one could get there.</div>
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The hikes up reminded me of my fire line days; power line cuts make good fire breaks. The downhills were rideable, speeding travel. The hills increased in length and steepness as I came up to Volunteer Canyon. Cresting the last hill before the canyon left a dismal sight of the next power pole over half a mile away. The bottom of Volunteer canyon was several hundred cliffed out feet below; the sun in the tree tops to the west. I decided to backtrack. I needed to get to a known spot on the map before darkness set in. A singletrack heading directly south was indicated on the map near my position. I found it with a little searching around, the stacked ancient and rotting timber over the rolling topography revealed the rail grade heading south. Though not rideable, the travel would be the best of the troublesome situation. Unimpeded walking would lead me back to the impassible roads of my intended route initially. The gain in eastward mileage through my detour offered no improvement in road condition. It was dusk. I knew what I had to do. Fifteen more miles of hiking and riding, all of it adjacent to the road. The amount of moisture fallen that day was one for the records. The roads were left as a slick that would remain overnight leaving the grass and needle cast to the side as the only means of travel. Water puddled into a shallow lake between patches of grass in the open meadow offering the bike a short reprieve from some of the mud. Travel would continue in this manner for the next two hours until the improved gravel of Woody Mountain Road was under rubber. I pulled the plug a little before 10:00 pm, calling for a ride when I reached pavement. 15 hours of travel time. Over 80 miles covered. Worst day ever in the saddle in over 21 years of doing this. Saved by a rail grade.</div>
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The detriment of a day like this to a multi-day route is fairly obvious. A drivetrain that emerges from a day looking like this takes hours to revive, requiring a full disassembly, and tools that are rarely available in the field. While waiting out the mud may not always be the best option I would believe the time component to be nearly equal to that of the required bike service. Of course that excludes weathering a multi-day storm. The best option in dealing with a situation is careful route planning when travels show signs of turning. Carry a map and understand the road travel grades in selecting a route. Improved dirt roads offer a graveled surface that will likely rise above troublesome mud. Unimproved roads may be smooth but will travel whatever geology the earth's surface may offer. Avoid the basalt layers in the rain. Beware aware of Juniper areas when storm clouds are present in Northern Arizona. Choose wisely. Walking in the grass before your bike clogs up with mud can save a major headache down the road. Recognize the situation; pressing on will not change the weather, but traveling cautiously with regards to road surface when mud gets bad could ensure speedier travel later on because you saved your bike. Clean out your tires before they clog up your frame and drivetrain. A piece of stiff fencing wire does wonders at this. Clogged pedal cleats are way more favorable than clogged chain and derailleurs, just as a 60 pound bike is better than a 100 pounder. It will be slow; it will be miserable; it will come to a memorable end.</div>
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<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-4979489903718633482015-05-09T21:39:00.001-07:002015-05-09T21:39:15.656-07:00Thru Axle Unicrown Fork, Vise PedestalThis fork is on its way to Alaska after getting a coat of black powder to fit up onto a bike I did up a couple years back. It is a long time in the works, mainly because for the longest time I didn't have a dummy thru axle, but then because the machine tooling obsession took over and I really didn't want to hand miter another unicrown fork. It has the original Paragon thru axle dropouts that I ordered when they first came available, so that should put a bit of a timeline to the project to those of you who want to really pick this apart. So now its done and its about the most badass rigid fork I can imagine. Raked tapered blades, externally butted steerer, tabs for a truss rack, clearance for 29+or-"er. <br />
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Oh yeah, I welded up a sweet new rocket ship vise pedestal. The angle of the photograph makes it look small and top heavy. It isn't. Its 36" high bringing the jaws up to about 42" from the floor in hopes of getting better posture when polishing brass. Thanks to the viking for the time on the mig welder to make this happen. Its super sturdy and I haven't even bolted it to the floor yet. </div>
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Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-57539683287665361882015-04-02T09:45:00.000-07:002015-04-02T09:45:01.549-07:00Turning 4130<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A while back after purchasing that lathe I got the idea of turning some tapered non-tapered steerer tubes that would better match up with the offering of 1 1/4" diameter unicrown blades and give a nice and thick attachment point for the fork "crown." Prior efforts at achieving this effect were accomplished by brazing a sleeve onto the bottom of the crown to increase the diameter of a steerer tube where the fork blades attach. Machining this piece takes one of the heat cycles out of the equation and ultimately yields what I believe is a better product as the reduction from 1 1/4" at the bottom to 1 1/8" at the stem clamp is carried inside the head tube by very gradual 0.75 degree taper rather than abruptly at the crown race seat. This design utilizes the tried and true straight 1 1/8" headsets of any configuration (internal/external) rather than the 1 1/8" to inch and whatever taper cups that more and more bikes are going to, suspension forks or otherwise. It should be noted that these designs do certainly have their place, particularly in the suspension world, but the reason for doing this is to create the best brazed bike I can, in this case a dedicated rigid. This piece gives the blade's crown miter a full wrap of the steerer tube while simultaneously beefing up a part of the bike that sees more and more force applied to it with disc brakes and increasingly fatter tires. Fat tires SUBSTANTIALLY amplify braking forces and chattery rigid forks are discouraging at best. <br />
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Starting with some 1.25" x .125 wall 4130 cromoly, I set about designing the steerer tube from the bottom up, giving ample room for blade and crown race seat attachment. I carried the taper 80mm into the steerer and some trig starting with the O.D. of the crown race seat area and subtracting the stem clamp diameter gave me a change in <u>radius</u> of 1.1mm and a taper angle of around 0.75 degrees. Click to photos to full screen. Calculations at this point are more accurate than my tooling can read so I rounded up the math (I'm talking math into minutes and seconds here versus a machinist's protractor that reads 5 minute intervals).<br />
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With the design laid out onto the tube I setup the lathe. Now I have not spent much time with 4130 on the lathe. My first cuts were looking pretty terrible with lots of galling and I was getting discouraged when the phone rang with a call from my buddy Evan at <a href="http://idyllic.bike/" target="_blank">Idyllic Cycleworks</a>. Evan owns Moustache number 4 and has since found himself getting increasingly involved in a bicycle oriented machine shop in Fort Collins, CO. He was able to give me some pointers that started with some new indexible tooling and inserts that allowed for deeper cuts at a higher speed. 4130 is rather counterintuitive when machining. All the metals have their quirks though as I'm finding out. With these pointers and a new bit I started making some practice cuts. Turn it UP! <br />
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The roughing cut above already improved upon my initial efforts by leaps and bounds.</div>
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Messing around with tip angle for finishing cuts. Above are samples trying out different feeds rates and RPMs </div>
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The results were immediately better, but presented me with the learning machiner's problem of needing to take a thick cut for a finishing pass to get an accurate diameter of 28.6 mm for the stem clamp. I went about the process in a more planned manner than I have to date: Two roughing passes of 0.028", then a finishing pass to take off the measured remainder accounting for tool deflection. <br />
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Now with a plan on paper, the next hurdle was the taper transition. My lathe does not have a taper attachment allowing the turning of a taper under power feed, so the taper would have to be done using the compound slide under manual feed. This meant a smooth transition from power feed to manual feed would be imperative. This lathe will stop itself with the power feed on if an obstruction is met, so I made up a carriage stop. By placing this in front of the carriage where the tool bit met the start of the taper I could manually engage the compound feed without stopping. Stopping even for a second would produce a groove in the work piece that would be a direct trip to the recycling bin. There is certainly room for improvement on this method by milling out a taper template for the cross slide to follow under power, but that's another project for another day. In the meantime I managed to produce three usable steerers and one decorative piece of practice metal, and also some seriously long pieces of blued out phone cord lathe chip. The blued out coil was a happy cut in chromoly, and you still can't fake a chip.<br />
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Thanks for following along in the geek text!</div>
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<br />Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-79207337060538159322015-03-24T08:42:00.000-07:002015-03-24T08:42:08.575-07:00Handlebar FixturingI've been on a bit of a handlebar bender lately (hahaha). A calculated bender though. I mean I've been calculating my bender. I mean calibrating my bender. Wow, worst opening lines ever. So I took some of that custom drawn True Temper stock and started turning it into some bar samples in order to make repeatable bends on the home made bender which is not machined, so not totally calculable, and more meant for bending fork blades, but works just fine for 7/8" tubing.<br />
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This being the machine era has led me to start working up some fixturing for handlebar pieces, particularly bull moose stem pieces. Handlebars, especially fixed position handlebars, are always a challenge as you are taking a position that (hopefully) works for works the rider, yet that still has some degree of adjustment (bar tilt, stem height, stem extension and angle), and trying to replicate the position permanently. Probably the biggest challenge in this is the difficulty of measuring all of the varibles as even when isolated they are still very three dimensional. (Frames, on the other hand are quite two dimensional in design even though the end result is three dimensional). Different brands of handlebars place the bends at different locations along the bar giving a different extension and hand position between bars. Its not just 9 degrees bend and 700 mm wide, its where the location of the 9 degrees sits giving the end result of 700 mm. Placing the bends more inboard toward the centerline will result in a hand position with less extension and a longer piece of raw stock. Then there's rotation and upsweep and the fact that this will all be altered on bikes with differing head angles. It all comes back to hand position in whether or not the effort is a success.</div>
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I decided to start with the hardest one first--the gray one with the large single bend on the bottom of the picture above. Single bend bull moose 17/34 degrees sweep with 80mm extension based around an existing setup that was working for the rider on a bike with a 70 degree head angle with no stem angle. With the bend of the new bar being forward of where the stem clamp of the current setup would be, I was left to choose a point in space to establish 80mm of extension. For me this is done by measuring in from the ends and connecting with a line to represent a regular handlebar centerline. I used an existing bar for this measurement and adjusted as I felt necessary. Now for the hard part, three dimensional mitre angles. I plot work on a full scale drawing, but getting to this step stumped me for a while, and it made me wish for some tooling that doesn't exist yet, at least to my knowledge. </div>
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Work of this type usually goes better if there is an all encompassing plan laid out to the end, but sometimes that is just not possible and the problems must be met as they arise. The latter was definitely the case with this project. I started with making the fixture above out of some scrap solar energy parts without really knowing if it would fully accomplish what I was hoping. I figured that if nothing else it would allow me to miter the steerer clamp, but was hoping to do all mitering without removing the pieces from the fixture which could create a whole new set of variables. I made the miter for the clamp and was still puzzled by the bar angle needing to accommodate the 4 degrees of upsweep I had designed. I left the pieces in the fixture alone for a few days and what finally led me to the answer was the realization that I needed to think of these cuts around the bar and not around the bike. 4 degrees of upsweep at the end translated to a measurable 1.5 degrees looking at the side profile which was then added to the head tube angle to clamp the bar. The cut angle was matching that of the bar at 17 degrees AND I was able to mirror the cut so as to not change any settings or re-fixture between sides! Confused yet?</div>
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Now onto the next fixturing problem. Thus far I've fixed these projects for tacking with whatever is laying around that'll pass as a flat surface. Fortunately I was passed along an old Anvil seat stay mitering fixture with the directive to cut it up and make it work. Awesome words right there. The possibilities of perpendicular tee slots in machined metal are pretty endless. For now I am just using the fixture as a flat surface for clamping as you can see here. I did make some 4 degree wedges for fixturing the upsweep. The steerer clamp is held on the fixture I made for the original bull moose project some years back. Everything is lined up using squares off the flat and is then measured/marked for center. All told there is much left to be desired in future tooling, but having a few more of these done will benefit that design greatly. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpDAc9dYIpATyxcQ3zhnYqO5o6yxYHYYy_P-iHQhg3CZhBJ0C_fj_HN0Nd3pFFjGdKjOoI57aOhnSjUMfvUALaPlt9c3t9uoaEq8PQw_DPD9aJLzooLSVg3pcYg-WpFZ7p5WWEAFAaXyg/s1600/DSCN5960.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpDAc9dYIpATyxcQ3zhnYqO5o6yxYHYYy_P-iHQhg3CZhBJ0C_fj_HN0Nd3pFFjGdKjOoI57aOhnSjUMfvUALaPlt9c3t9uoaEq8PQw_DPD9aJLzooLSVg3pcYg-WpFZ7p5WWEAFAaXyg/s1600/DSCN5960.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The finished product atop another manufacturing side project. I'm really stoked with how the machine era is furthering the process. Its been a complete re-calibration on my part, but a quite enjoyable one that I feel will continue to produce better results. All told THIS bar probably took longer than if I had just cut it up with files, but that time investment will pay off in the next one, and the third one is just hours in the bank. I read an argument recently that machines eliminate the artisan (artistic) element to bicycle fab, but I find little merit in this argument. I'd venture to say that its an argument made by someone who has not used a machine. You can drive them at your will, just like the bike in the end. Sure you can use the machine to make cookie cutter product. Sometimes this is their place and rightfully so. You can also use them to create plenty of things that you just couldn't with your hack saws and files. Its all tools for the process. Sometimes you need tools to make tools. I will say that I'm glad to have the last six or seven years of doing things the way I was to serve as a background for knowing what I wanted to do in the machine era. Turns out that isolating learning curves is a good idea too.</div>
Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943567971974584426.post-69441280388978608752015-03-08T19:35:00.000-07:002015-03-08T19:35:35.878-07:00The M.M.F.F.H.UI will now proceed to sum up the most missed spectacle of the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival: the Moustache March Friday Fun Hater Unvitational.....<br />
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In the 6th promised hour and after much triumph and tribulation in the field of bonk management, the third attempt at crossing Oak Creek proved to be the divisive move in group dynamics. The bonus miles, hours, trails and roads that followed this maneuver were left to individual devices. ALL in attendance survived and were reportedly satisfied with the experience.</div>
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***The rest of the event was also top notch***</div>
Richardohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08493774466250185964noreply@blogger.com0