Sunday Updates

Hi

Been real busy of late so just going to run a sunday update of what's happening.

The Fly is finally all built, i had some trouble getting the rear wheel to run true but the local bike shop LBS tightened the spokes for me and it seems good now, now i believe you should learn to do as much bike work yourself but some times you have to admit your out of your depth like i was with wheel true, get it into your LBS and get it fixed and whilst your there ask how to do it, try and have a chat with an engineer, even if it's still something you wouldn't attempt to do yourself  at least you will understand it a bit better.

Running a SRAM chain with powerlink and a 48/18 gearing with sr apex cranks and a sturmey archer cog, the commute to work took about half an hour for 4 miles, the gears span out on the big downhills but i can coast so it's o.k, commute back sucked, there is a load of hills, i stayed seated for most of them but theres on near my house i had to dismount and walk the bike, i think my legs where fried after the other hills but i will get there.

First things first, this is purple not pink and it's a boy's bmx! O.k now we got that out of the way, i picked this up 2nd hand, one crank arm was missing and she was a bit rusty but the engineer i spoke to about it infoorms me the top tube was about the right size for me and she was only a couple of years old, she hasa Velocity 44 sticker on her which is based in Stirling and i think has only been open a few years.

Another thing finding 3 piece crank arms is pretty hard when your looking at going cheap, even Ebay wasn't much help, Velocity 44 supplied me with crank arm spares, they where going to charge me £25 but the nice fellow let me talk him down to £20, cranks are mint condition and with all the bolts, not sure if the chain ring will work with these cranks if not that's another purchase.

So new crank arms, pedals and chain and she run good, i need to get the bottom bracket checked at the LBS, when i removed the crank arm i had to pull it off and it looked like a washer from the BB went flying off into the nether never to be found again, i have zero experience wiith BMX BB's so i'm getting it checked withe LBS before the cranks go on, no point putting them on to take them back off if the BB is messed up.

So why BMX?? Well mostly just fun, i have my bike to commute and that's fine but bikes are a source of joy and i wanted something that i could chick around and not worry about breaking stuff, i plan on tearing up some dirt trails with it and i to learn some basic flatland stuff with it, i'm too old for the crazy stuff but i'm hoping the BMX will be a challenge and will maybe improve my bike skills in general.

TNT

Fly Bottom Bracket cont

Hi

So to round off the bottom bracket post all that was left was to regrease and refit.

Didn't think i mentioned this last time, one of the balls from the old races was floating about inside the bb shell, not been looked after vary well.

These where intially bought for the lizard but that has giant races so was quite chuffed when it fit the fly.

All cleaned up using WD40, like using this at is cheap i just make sure i wash it off after use.

So pic shows a c spanner and magnetic dish, get a dish and a pick up tool really invaluale tools, also match your ball bearing orientation from your old races which usually means the balls facing outwards, tighten up your cup by hand and then add the lockring, you want your axle to spin but you don't want excess play so play about with the tightness of the cup then snug up the lock ring using your c spanner.

Another tip i picked up was to attach your crank arms loosely and spin them to see how well you have tightened and grease your bottom bracket, if it needs adjusted just pop your crank arms off a play about till your dialed in.

TNT

Fly Part One Bottom Bracket

Hi

So Fly bottom bracket overhaul

So C spanner lockring and i forget what the other part is called,fixed cup is on the other side but you dont really need to remove the fixed cup to service the bottom bracket, they can be a bitch to remove so if you don't have the right tool best leave be.

Pics

 

Lock ring removed with C Spanner

Grimy inside

So ill cover the clean and new bearings and grease going in on the next post

TNT

 

Raleigh Pioneer

Hi

So need to get the Pioneer updated and ready to ride, don't really like the name Pioneer so she is getting named Fly.

So here she is a Raleigh Pioneer Action Sport hynrid with upright bars and 700c tyres, came complete with front and rear mudguards.

So i planned for the missus to pick me up and to pop the wheels off and pop the whole lot in the boot, not so, wheels where a bitch to get off and with rear mudguard not wanting to come off there was no way it was going in.

So after a long walk home with the frame (i got picked up by a mate halfway home,not too bad) i got to have a prope look and i think she is a beauty, frame is in a lot better ncik than the Lizard, more normal sized bottom bracket than the Lizard as well.

The extra wheel i picked up with the quick release ahd to go back to the shopa nd they quite kindly swapped it for an alloy freewheel so it looks like i will be running a freewheel on the Fly and a freehuib on the lizard, the axle is near perfect in line with the frame, only needs a few mm in adjustment when i get my cone spanners.

Picked up another front 700c, the Raleigh steel one was rusted and the axle was bent so a new one was needed.

Bottom bracket overhaul next

TNT

Update -Lounging Lizard and Raleigh Pioneer

Hi

I have had to put the lizard on hold just now,currently working on  a Raleight Pioneer action sport as my main commute bike, its a lovely bikr, steel with 700c tyres, she should fly.

She needed new wheels, the front i have sourced easily but the rear came with a quick relese which i was planning on changing to solid axle but that seems to after talking to a few different mechanincs that is a PITA so beware if your going down this route, quick release won't generate enough tensionto ensure good chain posistion, you really need a nutted axle.

I had an episode of delight trying to remove the rear mudguard from this bike but that's for another day!

Apart from the wheels i putting on a single piece crankset, regreasing headset and bottom bracket, buying a lock and she should be good to go

More soon

TNT

New Handlebars

Hi

Wasn't always sure on the funky green colour of my handlebars, was in the local bike recycling centre and i found a gem in the parts bin and a bargain at £3, going to buy foam for them, was tempted to buy tape but i would have to pay somebody to tape them for me because i haven't learned to do that yet so foam for just now.

Sweet

Brake cables have come in just waiting on a cutter for them,video to follow.

TNT

The Lizard part 4 - Bottom bracket and headset in

Hi

Been away on holiday so no bike work done till i came home.

Picked up a locking nut for the headset to replace the damaged one,got some grease for the bike and picked up an adjustable wrench that fits the headset and bottom bracket and also some cutters, big note here guys bike cable is tough so your cheap cutters aint going to cut it (sorry!), i ended up paying for Draper cutters that have a god reputation and at £11 they aren't breaking the bank, i will hopfully do a video review of them as the brake system is the next big job.

 Cleaned up nicely

Crappy pic of the reinstalled bottom bracket, big tip here guys take pictures of the orientation of parts it really helps when your trying to put stuff back together.

So brakes,cranks, rear cog,stem,saddl and post still to do

Bike has internally routed rear brake cable so should be fun trying to route it through again, brake post coming next

TNT

The Lizard Part 3 - Headset

I wasn't really planning on taking the headset apart but thought i need to learn how to do it so i did.

The quill stem came out easy enough, i used the hammer trcik where you place achock of wood on top of the hex bolt that was loosened and she popped right out.

Stem removed,bearings grimy

Luckily i did take the headset apart it turns out the top luck nut was falling apart, will need to source a replacement.


Will need to remember the tool measurement i use, tools where a hex nut and a crescent wrench.


TNT

Home made Bike stand

So my trampoline got wrecked in some heavy winds last winter because someone didnt tie it down, ahmmmm

So i was left with some parts which have made a o.k bike stand, two trampoline legs tied to a post ad covered in insualtion foam and good old duct tape

Pics

The Lizard Part 2 - Bottom Bracket

So as the Lizard was a old style bike it comes with a large shell to accomadate a cup and cone bottom bracket, it looks like this

So you have your crank arm with a 14mm nut and you will also need whats called a crank puller, a lock ring bolt which required a 23mm wrench and the piece with the hole in it requires whats called a pin spanner to remove, there is actually two holes here the other one isn't in the shot.

Pin Spanner

Now these tools are what was required for the Lizard, i will put another post about sealed bottom brackets and some of the tools needed for different types of cup and cone brackets.

Crank arms removed, two holes for pin spanner clearly seen.

23mm locking nut comeing off

Bottom bracket removed, pretty grimy inside

Cup and cone bottom bracket, the long thing is the axle, the two circualr things are the ball bearing bearing races, all pretty grimy

Scrubbing up nicely

Axle length in case i need to purchase another one, these seem to be rather rare now, other options include some of the older style BMX three and one piece cranks that come off simialr bottom bracket shells as this one, i have purcahsed new races for this and shall be using this bottom bracket again as it seems it decent nick.

TNT

The Lizard-Part 1

So this is my first baby, i wanted to try a mountain bike first, an older one  with horizontal dropouts or as close as i could ge them, the Raleigh Lizard was a pretty nice colour as well and that sealed the deal.

So there she is, a Raleigh lizard and three wheels, managed to blag a cassette wheel so i can easily put a conversion kit on the back hub.

This is her after she was stripped down, didn't realise a bike needs specific bike tools so wasnt't able to take off crank arms,bottom bracket,chain or stem, lesson learned and tools ordered.

Plan is to change bottom bracket, find single piece crank set, convert rear wheel to singlespeed using a converson kit, new stem and handlebars, new seat post and saddle,new singlespeed chain, clean and repair brakes, put new brake cable on.

That should do her, i will probaly tinker about with things as i go.


Computer is playing up so will post more tomorrow

TNT

First Post

First post so here goes

I kind of got turned onto the idea of Singlespeed bikes/fixies becaue if im honest im a bit of a dummy when it comes to gear selectionon on a multi speed bike, i would get there in the end but for me it kind of ruined the experince faffing about with gears.

I biked quite a bit when i was little and biked to work when i was a bigger boy, mostly mountain bikes and at one stage BMX but that was short lived, never really got into road bikes, they just didn't feel as solid to me as my mountain bikes where.

I was pretty clueless as to bike repair and maintenace when i was younger as well, i think i coated everything in WD40! with the hope of it not breaking.

So now im a bit older and a tad wiser the bike bug has bitten me again and in a big way.

So i could go out a buy a brand new singlespeed/fixie but for me part of the appeal for these type of bikes was to do it myself, to make it mine, to stand back and say yeah i did that.

So i picked up a old Raleigh mountain bike frame and got started and HomeBrew bikes was created.

HomeBrew because they are all reconditioned bikes with some new but moslty re used parts, i didn't want cost to be a prohibitive factor if people want to buy these bikes, for me the chance to get people on thier bikes is more important.

The Raleigh is my first ans she shall be mine but hoping to build more including raod bikes which are probaly better suited to fixie/singlespeeds tha MTB.

TNT