Bicycle Workshop Projects

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2010-06-28T16:47:00.001-07:00

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Project: Peugeot Revival - Part 2

2009-02-08T20:26:00.001-08:00

We've spent many hours thus far on the Peugeot, and things are starting to look good.
The frame was stripped and inspected. Very little oxidation in the frame, so we proceeded to clean the frame and parts.

There was a lot of surface contamination of the paint, but we were able to buff out 90% of the flaws and brighten the yellowed paint.

In the interest of keeping the bike in retro form, many of the parts were cleaned and polished, some to a sheen brighter than new!

The front Campagnolo hub was cut from the old tubular rim and was dismantled and rebuilt with fresh grease. The rear wheel won't be suitable since we're creating a fixed gear out of this old bike.

The hub cleaned, greased, reassembled, and polished. Note the torch in the background -- lots of seized parts. The heat, when used properly, coaxes them free.

Much more to come, see you soon.

New! Photo Gallery!

2009-02-02T11:51:00.001-08:00

Take a look at some of our recent visual history, and check back in a week or so for updates!

Behold the gallery

Project: Peugeot Revival - Part 1

2009-01-28T17:53:00.000-08:00

Deep winter slush.
That about sums up today. Though our walk-in customers were non-existent today, we were still working on current and future bike projects.

There are quite a number of old projects I am delinquent in writing about, but to avoid falling behind on this one too, here's the fresh meat.

Lugged Reynolds 531

This bike was last rolling on road about 15 years ago

Not salvageable, but most of the bike is in decent shape

The owner has requested a fixed-gear conversion. I've got some plans that take the project a little further than originally planned. More to come, but if you're impatient, drop in on us and see what's cooking. We'll keep the coffee on for you.

2009-01-07T18:32:00.001-08:00

Welcome to our projects page.
Over the last 2 seasons we've been collecting photos of all of our interesting projects. As time allows, we'll start posting write-ups of the past, current, and future bike build projects.

New Gear

2006-08-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

(originally published on http://twosixinch.blogspot.com)

After a year of solid abuse -- despite being built as a race-only wheelset -- my rear rim had to be replaced. Running a 350 gram Olympic ZTR rim makes good sense when trying to build a 24-hour race wheelset. Lightweight is priority one.
I became so addicted to the quick acceleration and nimble fee that I couldn't go back to my ugly workhorse wheels.

When I say a year of abuse, I mean serious abuse. Aside from milage, the wheels have withstood mini-hucks that would leave long-travel contemporaries shaking their heads. Abuse enough to blow my fork 4 times, but I'll get back to that in a bit. The rims stayed relatively true but I would check them for true every 2 weeks with only a few 1/4 turns needed here or there. The problem that eventually grew out of hand was with the super-thin sidewalls where the tire bead seats. I worked dents out each time I put fresh tires on , but the last one showed a fatigue crack in-line with the dent.
Since Stan's NoTubes systems run a lower pressure than a standard tubed setup, the tires will bottom out against the rim more often. Normally a pinch-flat would result, but since we're tubless, its a non-issue. The Olympic ZTR rims' claim of superiority in a NoTubes setup is due to the lowered sidewall height in order to create a tighter seal witht the tire. As a longtime Stan's devotee, I can say their claim is spot-on. I would almost never burp air, even when landing a drop with the rear-end askew. Just based on visual inspection, tires seat faster and better than on conventional rims.
The new rear rim laced up, though was difficult to get round. I'm not satisfied with the wheel being less than perfection, but at 347 grams I can't expect every rim to be an ace. If I can get another year out of it, great.

Along with wheels being abused, the RockShox Sid World Cup that has been on my bike since day-one is being retired. After 4 months of use the for was returned under warranty for a problem witht he Pure damper leaking oil where the remote lockout attached. Due to incorrect front brake routing though, the techs a SRAM wouldn't do the work without getting me to pay for the steerer/crown/uppers assembly first, since the brake cable rubbed a groove into them. I agreeed, and the fork was like new, until 4 months later when I blew the floating piston in the damper . I rebuilt the fork, and life was good until January of this year. Exiting the trails via an old leaf-covered fire road, I struck a rock that ejected me directly off the bike into the gravel. I was fine but the dropout on the right side fo the lowers cracked badly, with the oil leaking all over mother nautre. Again, repaired at SRAM but they wouldn't waranty the fork. At least I got rid of the hideous bright blue lowers.
The fork blew yet again 3 weeks ago while singlespeeding. I'm going to rebuild it and sell... I already have a new Manitou R-Seven Platinum (80 mm, in black) handling the sproing duties up front, and so far so good. The bushings need more break in, but that is to be expected. The Platinum is the top dog of the R-Seven line-up, offering Manitou's Snap Valve SPV dampening. Taking the proven SPV platform dampening to a new level, Manitou recognized that a firmer platform was needed for people on the XC end of the mtb spectrum. As advertised, the R-Seven is surprisingly stable, yet perfectly plush the moment it needs to be. I'm still toying with air pressures, but right now I think I'm riding with SPV @ 100 psi and will go up more since I am currently singlespeed. For the Vermont 50 I will increase the main air pressure 5-10 psi to account for all the added gear and roll with 100 in the SPV

Project Titus

2006-07-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

(originally published on http://twosixinch.blogspot.com)

Going to iron out the kinks tomorrow afternoon.
2006 Titus Racer-X

I was handed a matte black Racer-X frame and tasked with creating an XC race bike, specifically a bike made to tackle the 2006 Vermont 50 on September 24th. Also of importance is durability, since this bike will likely see a lot of milage and all-conditions abuse over the next few months.

Front to back and top to bottom, we start with a 31.8 carbon FSA K-Force riser bar mounted with Gripshift XO's and Magura Marta SL stoppers. The cockpit is mounted to the bike with a Thompson X4 stem complimented with a matching Thompson Elite set-back seatpost in the back. The stem/bar combo is pleasantly stiff compared to the flexy weight-wieny setup on my personal bike.
The front end is currently suspended with a temporary fork taken from another bike. The 2007 Fox F100X is still a few weeks away. That's why we have the silly stack of spacers... if we cut the steerer, the fork would be useless on its doner bike. Oh yeah, its a 2006 100mm Rock Shox Reba Race.
Gold Chris King headset. I added a Chris King Owl T-shirt to the order for myself and then built the wheels.

Anchored by Salsa Flip-off skewers (steel), the DTSwiss 240s hubs spin a featherweight wheelset. I utilized Stan's slightly heavier Olympic ZTR rims (about 30 grams heavier per hoop than the real-deal ZTR's) and laced them with DTSwiss Competition spokes and alloy nipples. After the last half-dozen wheelsets I've built I've really come to love Wheelsmith's Spoke Prep, which comes in 2 colors which aids in maintaining some sanity when dealing with different spoke lengths. It doesn't hold nearly as strong as blue threadlocking compound, yet still provides confident friction when tensioning and truing. Kenda Kharma DTC tires sealed by a Stan's NoTubes kit & their lightweight (they claim a scant 5 grams per wheel) yellow spoke tape. When talking with the sales rep at NoTubes, he said that it is possible to run their sealant with only the yellow tape and their valve stem. If no rubber rim strip is used, you can save about another 60 grams of rotating mass. I might beta-test this on my own bike, but am somewhat skeptical about the long term airtightness of this setup, not to mention questions about durability. Why even bother selling a rim strip then? hmmm....

The drive line is almost 100% SRAM, with a pc59 chain linking a carbon Truvativ Stylo crankset and a PG-990 cassette. We opted to splurge a bit and put on a pair of Crank Brothers Twin Ti pedals to first round out the the look of the bike, but also shave a little more rotating mass. Just shy of 50 less grams over the Eggbeater SL's, though avoiding the titanium spindle that renders max. rider weight to under 185 lbs. and keeps an extra $125 in our pockets.

Shifting is handled by XT front and X.9 rear derailuers. I used Avid's Flakjacket sealed cable system for roping everything together.

Rider-specific suspension tuning to follow shortly...

Ian's Gary Fisher Cronus Singlespeed

2006-05-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

(originally published on http://twosixinch.blogspot.com)

BEHOLD!

97.68% done, the bike still needs a 1/2 link in the chain and a tensioner. We're using my Rennen as a stopgap measure and the remaining parts will be here Thursday.

Working with an eBay purchased steel frame ($40) we did our best to keep the parts under $1000, including wheels built by me.

DT Swiss 450 rims laced to Surly New Disc hubs

Salsa Moto Ace bar & stem, WTB headset, American Classic post

Truvativ Stylo SS cranks & BB

Project Voodoo: Complete.

2006-03-03T22:02:00.000-08:00

(originally published on http://twosixinch.blogspot.com)

The Voodoo SS was actually completed almost 2 weeks ago, and has seen a handfull of rides thus far.

Here's Dave and his new SS:

There are 2 issues yet to be resolved, the simplest of the pair is the rear cog.
As mentioned during the initial build, the cog was taken from an old cassette and we chose the 21T over the 18T. Dave is ready to "turn the volume up a notch" and roll with a 20T. I have a Surly steel cog waiting to go in next time i get my tools on the bike.

The second issue is a bit harder to solve. The wheels were hand-me-downs from a pile of scrap parts. A co-worker stripped a Gary Fisher Opie since it has the same frame as the the $1200 Fisher GED and he already had an old Azonic Steelhead ready to donate its organs.
Just for fun, he and some others jumped/rode that poor $360 Opie really hard. The bars broke, ending their fun and saving the rest of the parts from certain death. The rear wheel is hammered. It has a big flat spot in it and doesn't stay in true long, so the rear V-brakes have to be spaced far from the rim. That in turn requires the lever to crush your fingers before the brakes do much work. I have a loaner wheel on deck from my personal collection, but also ordered a Salsa carbon brake booster since the seatstay flex isn't helping matters.

On the rear end the Rennen Rollenlager would not sit flush with the Ritchey dropouts, so we went with the cleanest cheap option...

Surly Singulator

Last year I ran a singulator with little luck in either push up/down springs. Soon after installation, a friend adjusted it for me and stripped the spring out. Why they use a hard steel spring secured in a shallow, soft aluminum body is beyond me. I hate poor product design and this is a good example of what not to do. Worse yet, the singulator is not new on the market and this issue has not been resolved, nor have any of the others. For example, to set the spring tension you must use a cone wrench. On the 2 bikes I've installed the tensioner on, both had recessed or "protected" dropouts that left little or no room to get a cone wrench. Even when I could manage to get tension and then fix the 5mm hanger bolt, the bolt would loosen and release tension over time. To top off the list of complaints, the spring tension was never enough to guarantee a drop-free ride on our rocky local loops. I would drop a chain every ride... until i started using a zip tie, just as pictured in the above photo.
Ghetto-fab, but it works better than the Surly spring.

We contacted Salsa to find a green skewer nut for Dave's vintage rasta Flip-offs. The sent him the part free of charge and threw in a bunch of stickers, including the one over the frame hole (which was first sealed with multiple layers of packing tape).

Pedals were put on too...

Building this bike was a ton of fun, and it has got Dave amped to ride.
I might have another SS build in the near future... I can't wait!

Dov's Surly 1x1

2006-02-24T14:07:00.000-08:00

(originally published on http://twosixinch.blogspot.com)

The bike was completed yesterday, and ridden for the first time this AM. The verdict:

The Surly exceeded my expectations big time... Thanks again!

~dovi

Here are the specs:

Surly 1x1 frame
Rockshox Reba Race (w/ Poplock remote lockout)
Chris King headset
Thompson 100 mm stem
Thompson 27.2 x 400 mm seatpost
Bontrager Race Lite Lux saddle
FSA K-Force DH handlebar
ODI Ruffian lock-on grips

Avid Juicy 5 brakes (160 mm rotors)
ACS Claws 20T freewheel
Sram PC-1 chain

Crank Brothers Mallet C pedals
Race Face Evolve XC SS crankset
Surly New Disc hubs (front & rear)
DT Swiss Competition spokes & alloy nipples
Sun DS1-XC rims

All of above assembled by me:

SS again...

2006-02-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

(originally published on http://twosixinch.blogspot.com)

I couldn't resist.
A slow day at work and SS's on the mind.
A customer saw the recent SS Voodoo Project and ordered a custom-spec'd Surly 1x1.

So here's mine, converted in about an hour with some help:

SS Update

2006-02-11T16:31:00.000-08:00

(originally published on http://twosixinch.blogspot.com)

Joe Murray rocks!

He wrote me back within a day... how's that for customer service???
Whatever Dave decides to do with his Voodoo, I wanted to applaud Joe and Voodoo Cycles for showing me that the love runs deep int he MTB community. There are so many new brands out there that neglect customers. Out of sight, out of mind i guess.

The SS is nearly complete... the headset we chose isn't working out and we still need to get a legit tensioner on there. Should have it done and rideable for our weekly Wednesday Night Ride.

Also in the works, a home movie documenting our Wed. night rides, a tradition that goes back quite a number of years. (I've been riding with Dave since about 1993)

The Snow Storm of 2006 seems like it isn't much of a blizzard, and seems like it won't affect our riding too much.

Building a Single Speed: part uno

2006-02-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

(originally published on http://twosixinch.blogspot.com)

For the past 2 winters, I've converted my Vicious into a single-speed. My former boss David who moved to open a shop in New Mexico was an avid SS'r so I joined the ranks on a whim.

Today I started passing the on the proverbial sprocket to a totally different Dave, owner of this original 1997 Voodoo Bizango:

killer headbadge

The Bizango was retired many years ago and left to collect dust... a night ride left the frame damaged, when one of the old heavy Niterider waterbottle batteries tore the cage and braze-on out of the frame. At that point, circa 2000, Voodoo was out of business. (although the brand was resurected, ~~they won't honor the old warranty according to Dave. Y'all at Voodoo reading? Contact me if you change your mind)~~

tis' a shame...

The current Voodoo Bizango is welded from a Reynolds 853 tubeset, which is an air-hardened micro-alloy steel that gets stronger at the welds with better grain structure than some older steels. My 'cross bike is 853 and it rides like a dream.

Made in the USA of Tange Ultimate Ultralite steel

Joe Murray

As far as parts were concerned, we had a mixed approach. Some borrowed parts, some new old-stock, some brand new. To start, I lent Dave my old CODA cranks from my retired Cannondale F2000, as well as a 10 year old octalink BB that spins smooth as new. These were mated to a Blackspire 32T DS chainring. All of these were originally used on my first SS project in late December 2004.

Next I pressed in an old and simple Aheadset, and we're using a Vicious Cylces rigid fork to steer the front end. This fork came from a custom painted bike, but the owner Michael decided to run suspension up front so the fork has sat unused for several years. He let it go for a song and both parties are thrilled to see it going to good use.

For wheels, we took some Bontrager Dual Duty mtb wheels that originally came on a Gary Fisher Opie. Mark, a shop employee who bought the Opie only wanted the frame, as it is the same frame on Fisher's top of the line G.E.D. and put on parts he stripped from his Azonic Steelhead. Heavy and cheap, but they are free so who are we to argue?

To finish of the wheels, we used Dave's old Salsa rasta-colored skewers, and dug deep into my collection of cassette spacers to space out his cog for a nice straight chainline. I raped a used cassette for the 21T cog, but since it has ramps on it, we'll change it out once we figure out what gear Dave wants to push. The cassette also had an 18T available, but I figured that would be too much to push up hills since Dave doesn't ride much in the winter.

ghetto fab

That about wraps things up... we're waiting on parts (tomorrow?) to finish the bike off. A 26.8mm seatpost, bars & stem, and other assorted goodies to come. I'm loaning out my Rennen Rollenlager until Dave decides which tensioner he wants.

Part 2... stay tuned!

Riding Single Speed Again

2005-12-05T14:43:00.000-08:00

(originally published on http://twosixinch.blogspot.com)

My SS is usually a fully geared steel Vicious Cyles Metal Guru, but for the 2nd Fall/Winter I have stripped the bike down to 1f'ing gear and boy am I having a blast!

Dismayed with the performance of my Surly Singulator on a converted single speed last winter, I set out to find a better way to tension my chain. No eccentric, vertical dropouts and stock wheels meant to keep the chain a hanger-mounted tensioner was my best bet.

The primary flaw of the Surly unit is that it provides tension via a spring. The spring works fine but getting proper tension was never easy, and twice I had the steel spring mar the aluminum body and render it useless. I resorted to ghetto fabing it with zip-ties to the chain stay.

This season I’ve opted for the Rennen Rollenlager, and have put in about 20 rides so far. The unit is nearly perfect in concept and execution. It tensions perfectly, all the time. The Rollenlager looks hot as well. An understated matte black anodized finish with the company’s name etched into the side. Perhaps unique in its genre, this tensioner pivots off the rear axle of the bike. Actually, to be fair, it pivots on the quick release. The clamping force of the QR keeps the Rollenlager in place but the tension is fixed solid by a 2nd bolt that threads through the body and into the derailleur hanger. GENIUS! All necessary hardware is provided and is stainless steel. It can be used with a standard QR wheel, or if street/park is more your style, it also accepts a solid axle. The chain rolls on a black urethane roller that rides on a pair of cartridge bearings. Shhh! Can you hear that? Exactly. It is quiet, and quiet makes me happy.

Upon seeing mine a friend had to have it, and uses it on his urban 26r now… like me -- he’s totally thrilled. You too can roll if you’re willing to way the $50 premium.

Here’s the only problem I’ve found: When changing a flat you need to pull the QR apart and carry a 17mm wrench to loosen the tension bolt. I always carry a small adjustable so it was never an issue for me.
Contact Rennen Design Group for more info.