learning to fix

Well, it's been a good run. I'm not done done, but, I am done until I rebuild.

The bike had been riding fine, with that worrying squeak persisting, but not causing any noticable problems. Just now, riding down the street, I hit a bump, and in the space of a second or two, the bike sort of exploded. The saddle snapped off from the post it was attached to, I recovered a couple metal bits that appear to be how it used to be attached, but this leaves me confused as to what snapped because they look pretty much intact.

Also, the rear wheel finally did separate completely. The tube and tire have come apart from the rims and I don't really know how to fix it. I'm probably just going to bring the whole thing home with me and fix it when I've a bit more time over the Summer.

I think even if I do manage to get it back together, I'm not going to go riding much until bringing it into a shop for a full work-over. That this particular destruction occurred only a block from my home and when going to somewhere only 4 blocks away as a final destination, with minimal injury to myself (banged my toe, pinched my finger b/c of what I was carrying in my hand) is I feel quite fortuitous. If it had happened one of the times I was riding along the Lake I would have undoubtedly been stranded and possibly in a much worse situation.

until next time then.

So, today I had a day off, more or less, and I spent most of it futzing around putting the whole bike together. I started off with making sure that the wheels fit where they were supposed to.

After that, I spent some time removing things from the frame that had been sitting on it for about a year now, such as loose disconnected brake cables, random screws that used to hold in things like the water bottle holder, and so forth.

Next I spent a little time getting the front wheel in, in such a way that it didn't actually rub against the brakes when it spun. After successfully doing that, it was on to the rear wheel.

I spent a long time trying to get the wheel positioned correctly in such a way that the chain ran pretty straight from the crankset to the cog. After suffering much frustration at a rusty part of the axle that was making moving this one nut really difficult, I got it about right and tried screwing it in. It looked pretty good, I screwed on some pedals, and then started trying to track down a chain tool.

A while later, I successfully got my friend on the phone and went over to his place to finish up. I put on the chain, and tried it out.

Turns out I still need to spend some time working on the height of the handlebar and saddle. The cranks are a little long too, I think. They seem to come dangerously close to the ground as it is, and if I were turning a lot, probably worse so.

I'm also not used to the whole fixed gear feeling either. It's a bit weird for me, especially given my funky left knee.

But, I'm going to stick with it and see how it goes.

Oh, and I think the rear wheel isn't quite circular, which is a little scary, but I'm not really sure what I can do. I need to bring it in to a bike shop, I'm pretty sure.

So, after much ado, I finally got around to buying some wheels on craigslist. They're tubular, which... means very little to me, and I worry that this will ultimately be problematic.

The rear wheel is on a track hub and some... errr... I forget the company, rims. I don't know any of these companies or anything. I do know, however, that it has a track hub, that my 16t cog fits on it, and the lockring too. So, yeah. I also somehow still have neglected to figure out how I will go about pumping them as needed.

Beyond that however, I think I've now got the makings for my bike, I need only learn how to put the pieces together.

I haven't updated though I should have a while ago. After doing some more research, I've concluded that converting my current rear wheel is neither practical, nor particularly safe, nor cost effective. The two options that originally came to mind were either buying a rear wheel with a proper track hub, or, buying the necessary parts and learning to build my own.

However, with further consideration, I decided that if I want this wheel to actually work, I probably shouldn't build it. At least not at first. Maybe when I have one functional one, I can put some time into building a second one as my first wheel building project, but I feel like I've already gotten myself in over my head accidentally on this project alone.

So, I have started watching eBay and craigslist, and now that somebody I know has provided me with valuable insight as to good local bike stores, I might start calling them up and checking them out too. While this shifts the project from rather quite cheap to slightly above cheap, I feel it is still entirely a worthwhile endeavor and expense.

I am told that I should seriously consider getting new cranks too, though the reason for this has not yet been made perfectly clear to me. In any case, they're on the list of parts to watch for on the cheap as well.

So I apparently need some special tool to remove the freewheel sprocket cluster thingy. I don't know if I need some cassette thing or just a normal threaded removal tool, and so forth. I am thinking I will perhaps carry my wheel to a local store, ask what I need, and if I can buy it there. Depending on the cost of having them simply remove it for me, I might do that too. I know so little about this, it's kind of silly.

I bought a Shimano Dura-Ace 16t cog. I got it just before leaving for Thanksgiving and I haven't so much as looked at it since, as finals have been on my mind. I'm leaving for China on Friday, so when I get back on New Years, I'll finally have some more time to actually put this wheel together.

Ok, so, nothing has actually changed. That is, I haven't done anything physically to my bike. However, what has changed is I've spent some time doing some reading, and scouring craigslist in an attempt to find some parts I'm going to need. I believe I've found most of what I'm looking for, and I've found somebody with what I believe are the tools I'm going to need.

So, the plan is, at this point, to buy these parts (namely, a brake, some handle bars, maybe a new stem, a track cog and some clips), remove the freewheel from my current rear wheel, get some spacers, put together the rear wheel with the track cog on instead, possibly redish the wheel, and... then that should be mostly it.

So... I've got a plan, I think, now I'm just trying to close on the various people I've started talking with about parts.