Meandering Velonauts

Things are going slow rebuilding the Novara Safari. Overall progress has been delayed with trips, rides, work, and general lazyness. Things picked up on Sunday as parts arived in the mail Friday afternoon.

So what am I doing to the Safari? Well, I’m changing the shifter to SRAM Attack triggers and the brakes to BB7s. I replaced the stock housing with Avid Pit-stop flak jackets. The handlebars were redone with cork grips and matching cork tape. I rebuilt the Truvativ FireX bottom bracket, which removed the play in the cranks.

I’m nearly done working on the bike, and ready to ride into work a few mornings. I hope to have the bike done tomorrow or wednesday. I haven’t checked the weather forecast for Thursday or Firday, but I’ll be out there rain, snow, cold, or shine.

After a few hours of research I discovered my brake’s oil volume (still at factory settings) was too great. This higher volume of fluid was pushing my pistons out ever so slightly, causing brake rub and tight lever action.

On the front, I followed people’s suggestion of just opening the caliper bleed screw and push in the pistons. This method let a ton of air into the system and forced me to bleed the system. The result was 1/16th clearance on each pad and great lever modulation.

On the rear, things were a little more tricky. I decided to fill one of the bleed syringes with oil and bleed caliper first. I then created vacuum in the caliper and gently pushed on the pistons with a tire lever. This worked great. I didn’t have to bleed the brake system after moving the pistons in.

Many people are mad at Avid for shipping their products in this state. They feel Avid should have done a better job seating pistons, bleeding lines, etc.. This would allow people to simply bolt on disc brakes and ride. I’m not one of those people. Avid assumes their brakes will be installed, configured, and tested by trained bicycle mechanics. A trained bicycle mechanic would re-size lines, bleed system, configure pad spacing, true rotors, etc.. So for the do-it-yourself bicycle mechanics I say “step up your game by learning to install hydraulic brakes like a pro.”

Brakes tested on Kenosha Pass and worked flawlessly. I’m now a little smarter and have a great set of brakes.

My commuter bike has been in stuck in the workstand now for 3 weeks. First week was waiting for new parts, delayed due to someone stealing my credit card number. Second week I was out of town for work/short weekend vacation. This week I am so swamped at work that I’m getting about 1 hour max bench time per night. Tonight I’m still at work, preparing for windows patching and server testing. Uhg, wont get back to bike until tomorrow evening.

So I’m left with no commuter bike this week, and spending all free time wrenching. I hope to have her ready on Saturday, as I plan on doing a nice mountain bike ride on Sunday.

While working on one of my bikes a few weeks ago I had a need to research and order a few parts. I thought “gee it would be nice to have a shop computer.” Welthis morning I finished my mobile bike shop computer station. Yeah!

I got the computer from work for free. I had the monitor laying around. I loaded Umbuntu 9.04 and installed Linksys USB wireless network card. This morning we purchased the rolling kitched station from Container Store.

Nice little rig, when seated on my park shop stool.

Having spent much of my youth working at bike shops I have an appreciation for bicycle maintenance being part of the sport of cycling. Working at a bicycle shop you have access to the shop’s tools, parts washers, solvents, and lubricants. During your day off, before your shift, or after hours you find your self getting your ride ready for that next epic trail or commute to class. When I left the bicycle industry to pursue my current career I took with me ideas, techniques, and skills to continue to maintain my family’s bikes.

Since then I have built a nice little repair shop tucked away in our basement. I have nearly all the conveniences of a modern bicycle shop and I’m able to build, repair, tune, and clean nearly everything on a bicycle. Shop time is relaxing and allows me to continue to play with our bikes between rides or when the weather outside is poor. I have music playing, maybe a beer on the bench, a wrench in my hand, and our dog laying by my feet. My favorite way to relax, in my shop, is stripping down a bike and cleaning the drivetrain.

Some of the features include Park professional bike stand, Ultimate portable bike stand, steel top workbench, Park professional truing stand, pancake air compressor, desktop motorized parts washer, overhead speakers, bench vise, rubber floor mat, parts bins, rolling toolbox, and nearly ever tool needed to work of today’s and yesterday’s bicycles.

Things I hope to add to the shop in the near future include beer fridge, pedro’s bottle openner, wall mounted TV, comfertable chair/couch, rolling computer stand, more rubber floor tiles.