town&countrybiker

My Raleigh 20 is almost in a perpetual project state. I ride it hard, but there are always things that need to upgraded or replaced. Last week, I finally go frustrated enough about the lack of braking on the bike, to actually do something about it. (I almost went into some bushes, as the brakes were not grabbing the rims.)

After some research (calling Harris Cyclery) I decided to try out the Kool Stop Continental Brake Pads in the Salmon compound. These are supposed to really help decrease stopping distances.

The first step was to take a 10mm socket. put it on a driver and remove the old crusty brake pads.

Next step was to install the new Kool Stops, while aligning them with the rims so that the pads grab only the rim (not the type too). I then pulled the brake levers, everything seemed OK. The package says that a few brake applications may be necessary to set the pad material onto the rims to help the pads grab. After some hard stops on my test track, I would say that the Kool Stops are a worthwhile performance and safety improvement especially for old bikes still running steel wheels. This is a very worthy $20.00 safety and performance upgrade.

I also installed a set of Kool Stops on the Black Express bike, the test ride was night and day! This bike really stops nicely now.

I was riding the Root Beer Bike week or so back and as I was rounding the last turn onto my street, I heard the tell tale hissing sound of a massive flat.

Upon further inspection, my front tyre was losing air, and as I checked the situation further, I noticed that there were literally tons of little holes in my Kenda gumwall tyres. The Kendas are cheap but the kind of mileage that I put on the Root Beer Bike, I need to step up the quality ladder.

After some searching, I found a tyre that seems to be the stuff: Schwalbe Delta Cruiser in 26×1 3/8 in whitewall! This tyre has a modern tread pattern and looks to be more sturdy than the 27 inch whitewalls that I put on my Grand Prix a few years back.

I also put some new tubes in while I had the tyres off.

The Schwalbes look great and the handling and stopping prowess of the Root Beer Bike has also been greatly improved. Looking forward to riding the wheels off!

We have been having the most amazing Spring Break weather. It has been about 70 for the past 4 days. Needless to say the bikes have been coming out!

I received a nice annual dividend from REI, so I did some shopping. I figured out with both my dividend, I could purchase a new B17 Brooks saddle for a grand total of $4.00! I ordered it right away and I got the package yesterday.

The package included a Brooks spanner for tensioning saddles once they become loose, but they also included a copy of The Brooks Bugle. This saddle came with instructions, so I followed them and put Brooks Proofhide on the underside of the saddle as in the above picture.

I then rubbed some Proofhide into the top side of the saddle.

Here is the saddle that will be replaced.

Here is the 20 with its’ new B17 Brooks saddle, and its components recently polished. The test ride was great. Now I need to break the saddle in.

bluff @ FT Sheridan in fog

I got out the Root Beer Bike for a few mile ride on the Fitness Path this morning for a break.

The Fog has been thick and rolling off of Lake Michigan since last night. I have not been riding much as the winter has dumped a ton of snow which is just starting to recede. The temps have started to climb into the 40s, so I have been working on getting myself out on the bike.

I headed south towards Ft. Sheridan and took the pic above. The Lake County Forest Preserve has rehabbed the area and cleaned it up considerably. The fog is covering the Lake totally as you look over the bluff.

old puch ready for spring

We bought this Puch mixte from the mid 70s off craigslist 2 years ago. We modified it pretty heavily to make it an extended rider for weekend trips.

The way it sits, it has the following modifications:

repurposed cruiser-style bars

shellacked cork grips

VO brass bell

VO Croissant bag from a few years back mounted on the bars.

Planet Bike black plastic fenders

Brooks B17S Saddle

Suspended Seatpost rear rack from parts bin

New tubes and 27″ Schwalbe white wall tires

I have been using the basement workshop to spruce up the bike a bit. The metal parts had a coating of neglect and in some areas some surface rust. I used Simichrome to rub out the metal and make it shine. The brake levers, stem and cranks probably show the most improvement. Yesterday, I got out some McGuiers Cleaner Wax, and put a light coat of wax on the frame and the chrome bars. Waxing an old bike frame sure can make a world of difference! Angie plans to repurpose an old bag to mount on the back rack. This will be the perfect cruiser for heading to Evanston!

grand prix driveline

Looking at my Grand Prix project from 2008, that I haven’t ridden for a year or so, it appeared that it could use a good once over. In my spare time, I have been using Simichrome on parts of the bike that appear dull or have surface rust. That has worked out.

Yesterday, I decided to tackle the driveline. This bike is close to 40 years old, and I don’t think that its’ chain, or derailleur have been freshened up for quite some time.  I picked up some Simple Green at the store and grabbed a juice bottle from the recycling container.

First, I put the bike on the VO simple work stand on top of some old newsprint. I then got out my Park all in one tool to remove the chain. I have not removed a bike chain in a while, so I am glad that I had a decent tool to help with the job. I made sure that I looked at how the chain was set through both the front and rear derailleur so that the reinstall would go smoothly.

grand prix rear derailleur

I used the chance to get at the sprockets on the rear derailleur with some Simple Green on a rag so remove the dust, dirt and other gunk that had collected over the years.

After I removed the chain, I put in in the juice bottle that had some diluted Simple Green and hot water. I shook the bottle up for good measure and let it sit for an hour or so. The gunk was definitely turning the cleaning solution a dark gray color. I then drained the bottle and put in a fresh hot water and Simple Green Solution and repeated the process.

simple green doing its' thing

After it looked like the bottle cleaning was complete, I made a hook out of a coat hanger and fished the chain out of the solution. I set the wet chain on some newspaper. I then spent 20 minutes or so with a rag and cleaned between the links. It is not perfect, but quite an improvement.

Then I reinstalled the chain on the bike, carefully re threading the chain as it was originally. I then got some Finish Line Dry lube and moved the pedals and applied the lube to the chain. After that, I spin the pedals a bit to work the lube through. I am pretty happy how it turned out. Now I need to find a saddle for the bike.

I built up an older Raleigh Grand Prix a couple of years ago. I didn’t ride it much in the past year or so, but I originally built it to be a comfortable country road riding machine. It worked well in some trips that we took to Wisconsin.

As such, I left the standard 10 speed drive train in place, as the thought if having 10 gears should make the bike more versatile in the hinterlands.

To be honest, the Simplex gear has always been the weak point of the bike, but that will stay for now. I have considered moving to 700c wheels and using the prebuilt 3 speed wheels from Velo Orange, but the 27″ wheels with their new Schwalbe white walls look too good to toss. They will stay for now. I should see how the 700c wheels from the Raleigh One Way look on the GP.

raleigh grand prix rear

I also removed an old rear light that came with the used chromo plast fenders that I added to the bike. I had a little green reflector so I added that. Not sure of the provenance of said reflector, but it must be from at least the 60s. I think it looks sharp.

I have been using the Velo Orange work stand and the Simichrome metal polish to clean up the GP. The metal bits on the front- the stem, the chrome on the forks, etc.- all benefited from the metal polishing.

raleigh grand prix front

I need to come up with a treatment for the cork grips as the shellac is wearing off. I am thinking that some Barge Cement might do the trick as it has protected my beloved Birkenstock cork for years. I also need to round up another Brooks as the honey B17 that I got for this has been on my Root Beer Bike for quite a while.

This NY Times article makes the point that with smart phones becoming more predominant, hackers are starting to turn their attention towards them.

In my six days with an iPhone 3GS, I can see the attraction. My prior smartphones — the latest a Samsung Blackjack2, I can say that the iPhone really turned the corner as since it is not Windows Mobile, I actually find it pleasurable to surf on the device. I have increased my mobile surfing exponentially.

With market maturation, increased market penetration of smart phones, and more surfing and other online tasks moving from the PC to the mobile platform, increased hacking makes perfect sense.

I had not heard of this RickRolling iPhone incident, but the implications are pretty clear.

“Last month, an Australian student created an experimental worm that hopscotched across “jailbroken” iPhones, which are phones altered to run software Apple has not authorized. The mischievous worm did not cause any damage; it just installed a photo of the ’80s pop star Rick Astley. But to security experts, it suggested that pernicious attacks on iPhones are possible.”

Lookout a mobile security startup funded by Khosla Ventures says the following:

““It feels a lot like it did in 1999 in desktop security,” said John Hering, Lookout’s 26-year-old chief executive, who for years has done research demonstrating security vulnerabilities in phones. “People are using the mobile Web and downloading applications more than ever before, and there are threats that come with that.””

velo orange bike work stand

I do a fair amount of my own wrenching on my bikes. One of the main issues that complicates matters for me is my lack of a bike stand. Since the project is never properly secured, it seems that I am doing more work, just trying to keep the bike from becoming unbalanced and flopping on the ground.

I came across the Velo Orange Two-legged Stand. From the pic and description, it sounded like this tool would meet my requirements perfectly. I plunked down the debit card, and I got a package yesterday.

This little implement works very nicely- you just loop the hook over the down tube and then cradle the rest of the device under the bottom bracket shell. Very simple and effective. I had a spare block for front wheel road bike rollers, and I found that the block helps to make your project bike even more stable.

I did some maintenance and cleaning on two bikes last night- the wife’s mixte and my Raleigh 20. The stand performed great.  It was much easier to make adjustments and some clean up with a more stable base than just the kick stand.

I concur with the VO description that this stand ($19.50) is probably all many of us need to do maintenance. I really like that when I am done, I can just put the stand on a shelf, or use it to hold up one of my kickstand-less bikes.

snow bike off the rafters!

We had our first measurable snow fall this am. We got less than an inch, but I felt that it was time to get the snow bike off the rafters and shake some of the dust off of it.

The Snow Bike is a GT Team Avalanche. As such it is one of the old Gary Turner bikes that was created before the company was sold. the paint is some custom job that says “grunge” just about better than anything. It is a dark purplish shade with random metallic skull type shapes in contrasting metallic shades.

As such, it is a hardtail mountain bike that was outfitted with the best of kit (Shimano, Campy rims, etc.) in its’ day. For snow bike conversion, I purchased some Innova studded tires from biketiresdirect.com last year. I think that I paid around US$100 for the tires and some new tubes.

I need to address the seating position, as it feels way too “forward’ for me at this point, I think that I can make this a bit better by raising the bars.

Riding the Snow Bike on some errands today was fun, as the bike will not slide on ice. It reminds me of my old 4X4 Toyota. That was good on the slick as well.