Back from Chicago, the brakes had arrived. But annoyingly, the tubes and fenders weren’t even shipped from Boston. Some screw up on their end. I don’t like putting cables on bikes. I never had. I don’t know why. It always takes longer than it should. It’s hard to cut cable housing. And getting the length…
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She’s going to be a handsome steed: swift in motion, yet steady afoot; demure in public, yet wild in private; mischievous by nature, yet polite in mixed company; her hubs stay loose and her wheels tight; femme enough to turn all the boys’ heads, butch enough to be the center of attention in any dyke…
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Well, actually, putting on rim tape isn’t too exciting at all. But it’s kind of satisfying because it’s cloth and it fits very nicely in the rim. I put a screw in the tube-valve hole to hold the tape in place. But the wheels are very finely trued and ready to go. At least as…
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Victoria hosted a wonderful birthday party for Tamara. I went there with Katie, who drove. Very exotic to drive around Northern Manhattan. Especially up to 181st St and Broadway. I walked up Broadway once, but it’s still a foreign land. Washington Heights: Big apartment buildings. Hills (gosh, do we turn our wheels when we park?).…
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I officially decommissioned Zora’s old Tour de France (RIP). I took the handlebars off. The grips came off without too much trouble. Luckily they’re very hard plastic, so I could get a strong grip on the with adjustable pliers without causing real damage. The handlebars are standard (Walt brand) with 25.4mm diameter that fits standard…
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sizing the chain shortening the chain (with another wonderful little dedicated bike tool–it just pushes out the little pins in there).
Hey look! It kind of sort of looks like a real bike! Imagine this with bottom bracket and chain and cranks! A chain ring and cranks adds to the effect: Annoyingly, the bottom bracket doesn’t use an alan wrench like my bianchi. So now I’ve got to buy a 14mm socket wrench so I can…
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“Cold setting” (AKA bending) the frame. This is where I bend the frame so that it can fit a rear hub as big as the one I’ve bought (which is 132mm long between the locknuts). Have I done this before? Of course not. An astute reader may wonder how I know what the hell I’m…
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The bottom bracket just begging to get screwed in and hit that gob of grease waiting for it. Just one of many fun dedicated bike tools. This screws the bottom bracket. Bottom bracket getting screwed in. It’s lefty-tighty, by the way. Hey, I gotta give props to Shimano. That’s the Japanese company that some people…
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Chainring, crank, and chain guard assembled. The front chainring has 46 teeth. It’s not easy to find a chain guard big enough for that. This one can go up to 48 teeth. The crank is 110mm (distance between where the bolts go). That’s BMX size. Road bikes are 130mm. You can see extra holes in…
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