Outside My Comfort Zone

I'm really, really unfamiliar with mountain bikes.  Thankfully, I know how to adjust derailleurs, which is all this bike really needs, otherwise I'd have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

This thing is massive.

There's some slipping that's happening while shifting, so I'll do some cable and derailleur adjusting and check bearings and such while I'm at it.  Some grease and a good cleaning will do this bike good.  

I can't even get the whole bike in the frame.

I'd really like to familiarize myself with mountain bikes more, so I'm glad that I'm getting an opportunity to work on one.  Someday it would be nice to add a mountain bike to my stable, so in the meantime I get to see exactly what I would be getting in to.  And hey, I got to ride a 29er for the first time!

Even the beater needs upgrades sometimes

Timeshare beater bike got new tires a few days ago, because the ones that were on there were no match for the goatheads that plague my hometown.  

The Shipyard was the most necessary tool.

It may have been a minor upgrade, but it made a huge difference.  In my haste though, I grabbed 4000s' and not Gatorskins, but oh well.  I love these tires - I run them on my road bike, and they roll quite nicely, and while they're no Gatorskins they're still tough as nails.  Visually it's nice too; I liked the white, but I feel the black gives the bike an overall better aesthetic.  Maybe.  I'm still a bit torn.

As far as beater bikes go, I'm the worst when it comes to something like this.  It's in my blood to want to upgrade and constantly make things better than they need to be, which is why my timeshare ride still looks as pretty as it does.  Some people can abuse a bike until parts fall off, then they just replace them.  I lack the willpower to do this.  I should have just ridden this thing until the tires disintegrated into a sad little pile of dust, but crap like this keeps me up at night.  At least, it does with bikes - I wish I could be this careful about things like keeping my house clean or remembering to turn off the lights before leaving for two weeks.

Oh well.

It is a pretty bike. 

This is where it sleeps.

It was also my dad's birthday, and he got a slew of awesome bike gear that he's loving so far.  I'm pretty jealous of the tech compatible gloves, actually.

I know that sound. That's a bad sound.

Hopping on my bike to head home yesterday, there was an immediate "uh oh" feeling emanating from the bottom bracket.  After gingerly riding to the train station, I accessed the damage: crank was fine, belt was fine, pedals were dandy - but there was play in my bottom bracket axle.  It was hard to feel, but it was definitely there and definitely the source of the lovely song that my BB had been singing during my afternoon ride.

Once I was back in my shop, I was able to do a better test to determine it was the axle.  The BB is the only thing that remains stock on the Trek at this point, and since I don't know much about its history I can only imagine how many miles it has on it.  I also suspect my recent intermittent sprints during my commute probably didn't help, and a rather intense sprint that I did on my last stretch of road before pulling into work yesterday morning is probably what did it in.

I didn't have a spare BB to install, and every shop was closed at this point, so all I could do was angrily wrap my bars with some new Lizard Skin tape.

ARE YOU HAPPY NOW

After waking up, I located a new BB - 68mm shell, with a 113mm axle, to be precise, and set to work.  

Beautiful day today...if I can't ride outside, might as well work outside!

Replacing a bottom bracket is pretty easy once you know how to do it and have the proper tools.  I have a great story of being at the coalition and having to use the Sheldon Brown method with eight people to remove a cup, so I can see how it's a bit daunting to some.  This one turned out to be no problem.

Crankless!

I pulled the crank and checked the axle again - there was definitely play, so I knew I wasn't just going to be swapping the BB for nothing.

You served me well.

I pulled the old BB, a cartridge bearing plain looking thing, and cross checked it with the Shimano UN-55 I had picked up earlier.  Same measurements - good to go.

Brand new and ready for lots of mileage!

These two thankfully used the same tool for installation and removal, so I didn't have to buy another one.

One of the many types of Shimano BB tools.

Everything got cleaned and regreased, and installation was easy.

Fresh new axle!

Anyone wondering, the belt just kind of hangs out when I pull the crank.

Just hangin' out.

Once the crank is back on, I rechecked tension and chainline.  Since there was some play in the previous BB, I wanted to make sure my alignments were still correct, or that the new BB didn't throw off the chainline.

Pretty spot on!

The belt tension felt a bit high, so I adjusted it down a bit.  It's the same as tensioning a chain, just a slightly different dropout design on this particular District.

First these are loosened.

There are a few areas that can be tweaked to adjust tension.  The dropouts themselves have to be loose, and then the tension bolts are tightened or loosened.

These little guys.

After a few minutes and only getting my finger almost chopped off by the belt once (if it were a chain, I probably would be missing a thumb right now) everything was good to go.  I'll test later to ensure everything is playing nicely together, but right now I want a smoothie.

The whole process maybe took thirty minutes.  I think the most time consuming thing was cleaning the grease off my hands to take photos!

My Tires Are Melting

Generally any temperature above eighty degrees renders me completely useless.

DO NOT WANT

Nonetheless, I can never go more than a few days without riding or tinkering with something, and since the heat was keeping me off the bike I tackled a headset problem that timeshare bike was having.

I do wonder what color that saddle was originally.

For those of you not familiar with Zakat, my timeshare bike, understand that the frame is of unknown origin and uses standards that no other place in the world seems to use, specifically the headset.  Its fork was borked beyond repair when I got it, which required me to replace it, and when I tried to replace the headset I discovered that nope, nothing else fits it.  Literally nothing.  Believe me, I tried.  So I ended up fudging together a headset out of a few other headsets (I've been informed that I am going to hell for this, I know) which is not something I recommend.  Seeing as this was a beater put together with spare parts to ride around my ultra hot hometown and I'm not racing anything with it, I opted to take my chances.  So far I haven't died.

Anyway, the headset was rattling, and the cure was another spacer.  Once the night cooled off to a refreshing 100 degrees at 10 PM (kill me) I hunkered down in the garage to add the spacer.

Boom.  Easy.

About a minute later I was done and also drenched in eight gallons of sweat.  A bit of tweaking and the rattle had stopped, everything was fixed, and I was good to go.  

I love these handlebars.

Since I had everything out I did a few more tweaks here and there and checked everything with the intention of going on a night ride, but it was still too hot to even breathe.  I've ridden through storms, wind, pit bulls and Los Angeles, so it takes a lot for me to not ride...this is just too much.  

Here's to hoping the weather stops being stupid relatively soon.

(Wrenching) On A Sunday

It was one of those help-a-friend-remove-a-bottom-bracket-then-replace-a-pitted-headset Sundays.  First up, pulling a Phil Wood bottom bracket from a frame that's bound for donation (or possibly fated to become a commuter for someone in need of a ride).  I'm the one behind the camera in all of these shots, though the reason there are so few of them is because for the most part I was covered in Phil Wood grease doing headset trickery.

The most important tool when working on bikes.

The frame in question was an old Raleigh Technium with a rather pretty color scheme of maroon and gold.

Loosening the lockring by hand once it had been unscrewed enough with the lockring tool.

Probably there is a proper wrench to do this with.  This isn't it.

This turned out to be surprisingly easy, considering some of the things I've had to do to pull old bottom brackets in the past.  

Phil makes bottom brackets look so pretty.

Phil Wood is pretty close to where I am, and they have exceptional customer service.  I believe this one was originally found in a Fuji frame that I picked up for about $20, and Phil made it look pretty again as part of the warranty, I believe.  Not to mention after being in that rusted out Fuji frame that looked like it survived (and fought in) a few wars, the bearings were still smooth.

Next, a new headset for an old Trek that had been being ridden around with a headset that was pitted in a crash (cringe).  

Removing the old headset, which came stock with the bike in the 80s.  

There's a rule when working on bikes that nothing can ever go exactly as planned, so there was a minor setback when the NOS headset that we picked up turned out to be 1 1/8" instead of 1", but after a quick trip back to the bike shop everything was straightened out.  If things ever do go as planned, be prepared for something terrible to happen next time (like fenders).

Old components, and a fork waiting for a new crown race.

Cups are pressed!

It actually looked pretty nice with the NOS Shimano 105 headset that was put on it.  It will look really nice once this frame gets a new paint job, which should be soon.

This old Trek has a new lease on life.

All back together.

Perfect way to spend a gloomy Sunday afternoon.  Even little tasks like this that I've done many times before are always enjoyable, and I feel like each time I learn something new.  Plus, it's a great way to hang out, and when it's over everyone smells like Phil Wood grease and Simple Green.