Fleming

My wife has been bugging me for a while about getting a picnic table for our patio. After looking at a few ads on Gumtree I Jokingly said "No way, I can build one for half the price!" Next thing I knew the challenge was on and this was the result. Considering my woodwork experience goes as far as putting up the odd shelf or building car audio sub boxes I am pretty pleased with it. Total cost was just shy of R1000, including 2L of Woodoc 35. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/P3215123_zps75h4ufao.jpg

I am not into road bikes but that is proper sexy. Posted from a mobile device using Tapatalk.

Thanks for the feedback. Sounds good.

My concern come from the fact that when most 9 speed derailleurs where developed the largest range cassette was 11-34 or 12-36. These derailleurs were not designed with such a wide range in mind. I think 10 speed derailleurs were developed to handle the wide range. I have no doubt that the 10 speed Sunrace cassettes will work fine.

I see Sunrace has 2 wide ratio 11-40t 9 speed cassettes. Anyone have any experience with these? My understanding is that a typical Shimano or SRAM 9 speed derailleur cant handle such a range so what are these cassettes for? I am interested in going 1x9 on my old Kona and would love to use one of these but have concerns. I have scoured the net but cant seem to find much first hand info on these cassettes. See links below: http://www.sunrace.c...s/detail/csm980 http://www.sunrace.c...s/detail/csm990 http://www.sunrace.com/files/catalog/thumbs/424.jpg

Blast from the past time. Shortly after completing this build I gave the bike away to my brother so only rode it a few times. He gave it back to me a few months ago but it needed a bit of work and just stood in the garage. This morning I decided to replace a few components and this is the result: I still need a brake cable for the back but went for a ride this afternoon anyway. I felt like a kid again on a simple bike. Posted from a mobile device using Tapatalk.

If you like Lego they have a great free software package called Lego Digital Designer. Its basically a 3D CAD package with libraries of most of the existing lego bricks that you can build with on your PC. Its not as nice as playing with the real thing but so much less costly. See link below: http://ldd.lego.com/en-us/

The Bat Bike

When I was a student I had a tow bar fitted for my bikes and first time I used it the whole boot floor area got bent. As slowpoke mentioned above, it makes a big difference if the tow bar is mounted to the body or the chassis. The difference with using a tow bar for towing and bike racks is this: When using a rack the weight is offset away from the ball. This greatly exaggerates the forces being applied to the points where the tow bar is mounted to the vehicle as the weight twists the tow bar instead of just pushing down on the ball as it would when towing.

Awesome soundtrack. Anyone know what it is?

True

I got this beauty for my birthday a few years ago. Built it once and had it on display in my lounge but now its disassembled and lying in a box. Think I need to get it out again and have some fun. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/DSCF0156.jpg

I have used this in the past when my steerer was only about halfway into the stem. It seemed to work well enough but wasnt very light. http://bbbcycling.com/bike-parts/headset-parts/BHP-21/ Stewie911, yours looks perfect.

I won't ever spend a cent in Action Cycles after my last visit there. A few years ago I decided to try revive my 10 year old halogen bike light. I charged the battery and it still worked great. Only problem was the bracket to attach it to the handle bar was designed for the older 25.4 handle bars and wouldnt fit my new over size bars. I remembered that all new bikes come with a reflector attached to the seatpost and most bike shops take these off and throw them into a box. I thought it would be simple enough to use one of the brackets from one of these to fit my light. I walked into Action Cycles and was helped by some lady. I explained my story with my light and asked if I could buy one of the reflectors. She wasnt sure what I was talking about and called one of the technical guys. Again I explained the situation with my light and asked if I could buy a reflector to try make a new bracket. The guy told me it wouldnt work and that I would have to buy a new light. I went to another shop and was given a whole handful of different sizes for free. Guess what, it worked beautifully.

Okay, Finally got round to getting some decals made. Not exactly the color I wanted but I am still pretty happy. Next mod will be a change to flat pedals and a 2x9 conversion. Just waiting for a parcel from "you know where." http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/P2101287.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/P2101286.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/P2101273.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/P2101285.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/P2101282.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/P2101276.jpg

I used this stuff: http://www.alcolin.com/diy-products/wood/paint-stripper Cost about R80 for the tin from builders. Just paint it on the frame, leave for 15 minutes and the paint comes off easily. Most of it just wiped off but some needed a bit of scraping. I had to reapply a few times to get into all the nooks and crannies but it was a easy job. Also, most bikes have a clearcoat over the decals. The first application will strip the clearcoat and most of the paint but will leave the decals and the paint below them. You need to peel these away after the first application. This is what it looked like during the second application: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC170929.jpg

What he said.

I am looking for a biggish all mountain tire for the front of my bike and really like Continental Rubber Queen 2.4. All the reviews I read say that this tire is huge for a 2.4, even bigger than a 2.7 Maxxis which makes me concerned that it wont fit in my Reba fork? I have run a 2.5 Michelin Wildgripper with no problems in the past. Has anyone fitted a 2.4 Rubber Queen to a 2008 Rockshox fork? Did it fit? What other big, all mountain tires should be considered? A riding buddy has the Maxxis Advantages 2.4 (I think) and loves them. What about Highrollers?

Took longer than expected but here are the fully assembled pics. Anyone want to guess what color decals I am going to for? http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC220968.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC220967-1.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC220980.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC220984.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC220986.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC220987.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC220988.jpg

Used rubbing compound followed by car wax. There are some areas where the shine isnt consistent but on the whole I am really happy with it.

I used Alcolin paint stripper which worked extremely well. Just paint it on, leave for 15 minutes and the paint practically melts off the frame. Used the discovery card to scrape it off and a toothbrush to get into the little nooks and crannies. There is still one or two small spots of paint deep inside the cable stops but this is covered up once you install the cables. All the welds and little corners in the suspension pivots are 100% paint free. One thing to note is be very careful of the paint stripper. If you get it on your skin it doesn't burn straight away so you dont worry about too much but after a few minutes it burns like hell and doesn't wash off very easy. Wear Gloves!!! Thought of clear coating it but did a lot of reading on the net about guys who have done this and recon it will keep its shine as long as I give it a polish once or twice a year which is no effort. I have always polished my painted bikes quite regularly so its no extra effort. Also read stories where guys had clear coated the bike and oxidation of the aluminium started under the clear coat. Apparently there are small pores in the clear coat that sweat can penetrate and then cant be washed off.

Complete bike. Sorry about the poor quality. Camera batteries were flat so used my cell phone. Will take some better ones tonight. http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/2011-12-20211817.jpg

Thanks for the complements guys. Thought about it but the link matches the fork, bars, seat post etc so I think it looks good in black. It probably is one of the most versatile bikes ever built. Frame was pretty shiny straight after stripping but used some rubbing compound to improve the shine and then polished it with car wax to seal it. The card was used as a scrapper to scrape the paint off the frame. The plastic scrapes well but is soft enough to not scratch the frame. Its my wifes old card from before we were married so was destined for the bin anyway.

So this is the hub and we love pictures. Thought you might like to see what I spent my weekend doing. I ride a fairly old Giant AC. I got the frame from a mate for a good deal but never really liked the color. I always liked polished aluminium bikes and decided to try this finish on my AC. This is what the bike looked like before I started: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/P6050114.jpg Stripped Frame: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC170928.jpg Getting messy with the paint stripper: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC170929.jpg Stripped and Polished: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC170934.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC170933.jpg Assembled Frame: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC170939.jpg Semi Assembled Bike: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC170943.jpg http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b69/stuartfleming/PC170942.jpg All in all I am really happy with the way it turned out. Still need to finish reassembling it and get some new decals cut. Probably only going to get the decals done next year. I suspect the signage places have shut down for the holidays.

Nope. Knysna Cycle Works