So..... cycling

[Jonny69]

I've seen sense. The rims and tyres are going back. The rims are too contemporary looking for the bike, being anodised aluminium, and I couldn't get a matched pair. I do need new rims, but I think I'm going to try and find some vintage ones so they look right.

[LeperousDust]

[Jonny69]

You were right though, £100 for rims and tyres is too steep for an old hack

[LeperousDust]

I'm a tight fisted ******* like yourself at times, i think were fairly similar except you have a lot more hands on experience with the oily bits of a car... It's funny how quickly you can get carried away with "projects" and its always nice to have an outside perspective telling you to calm down! I know i need that at times. I find i can be too passionate about things

[Lozza]

Bah I keep coming in here reading and it's making me very green! I haven't been able to get on my bike for the last three months due back/hip issues, and I really miss not having my daily ride, not only for the fitness side but also the convenience of not having to worry about parking places etc...

but on the plus side I now have a freecycled wire basket for the front... can't wait to get back on it! I'm also keeping an eye out for any cool bike up for grabs on freecycle.. but it seems they are all in Jonny's group!

[Jonny69]

I usually have to ask for them Lozza. Ask for old junk bikes and you'll be surprised what turns up. They normally need a new set of tyres and bit of an oil.

[Jonny69]

Pox. I tried to swap the pedals on the Yellow Peril today. The left hand pedal (the one with the left handed thread) needed some serious cranking and pulled out a lot of the thread from the crank with it. The new pedal went on and tightened up ok though, so all not lost. The right hand pedal was another story and simply wouldn't budge. I'm left with a rounded off pedal axle and a mangled 17mm spanner which I'm not too happy about. I'll have to cut that pedal off and use a Stilson if I want to use the new pedals

[Jonny69]

I accidently put a bid in on a flip-flop hub on eBay and surprisingly won it at a sensible price. Let the wheel building begin



So I just need to find a pair of narrow classic-looking polished alloy rims with 36 holes and I'm good to go.

[Jonny69]

I've sorted out what I want to do with my fixed wheels. The flip-flop hub is an oldie looking chrome item and wouldn't have matched the large flange alloy front hub on the Yellow Peril. It will, however, look absolutely spot on on my Viscount which has a matching chrome front hub and good chrome rims. So the Viscount is going fixed/freewheel.

I've wanted to build some slightly more special wheels for some time and I think if I'm going to do it I'll do it properly with new everything. I've nabbed a pair of matching alloy 32H hubs:



And I'm going for some very sexy polished Velo Orange rims:



I'll lace those up with stainless spokes and wrap them in some 700x20c tanwalls and it should look pretty special on any of my bikes but keep that classic look.

I relaced the chrome flip-flop hub into the Viscount chrome rim last night. Hahaha, it's not even close

I've done two things wrong. My local bike shop doesn't have any spokes that long so I had to reuse the old ones. Basically, when I followed the lacing guide I found they all stuck out and wouldn't nip up enough because it had originally been laced with a strange pattern, so I had to redo it. It's very difficult to get a wheel initially true with old spokes and tight nipples. Second mistake I made was winding them all up the same amount assuming it would pull the wheel somewhere close to being true. Wrong

So do yourselves a favour and start with new spokes

My local bike shop were good though. Since they didn't have the spokes they managed to get the 5-speed freewheel off the old hub so I could get the spokes off it and they gave me a chrome 18T fixed sprocket for nothing

[Jonny69]

I relaced a wheel last night. Chrome flip-flop hub into chrome 27" rim. Hahaha, it wasn't even close

I've done two things wrong. My local bike shop doesn't have any spokes that long so I had to reuse the old ones. Basically, when I followed the lacing guide I found they all stuck out and wouldn't nip up enough because it had originally been laced with a strange pattern, so I had to redo it. It's very difficult to get a wheel initially true with old spokes and tight nipples. Second mistake I made was winding them all up the same amount assuming it would pull the wheel somewhere close to being true. Wrong

So do yourselves a favour and start with new spokes

My local bike shop were good though. Since they didn't have the spokes they managed to get the 5-speed freewheel off the old hub so I could get the spokes off it and they gave me a chrome 18T fixed sprocket for nothing

I persevered with the wheel today and it's straighter and truer running now than it's ever been before! I just built my first wheel

I had to make up a little spacer out of some tube to go behind the sprocket to get the chain line straight but I have now officially built my first fixie. I've taken it round the block and it rides nice, just about to go out on it for the night. Gad damn is it hard to get your feet in toeclips when they're moving or what