Month: July 2019
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5mm hex and a putty knife
Following hot on the heels of yesterday’s success in removing the seatpost, today I started stripping down Ol’ Paint’s frame. Everything came off today with a single 5mm hex key, a wire cutter and a putty knife. And like that, in just five minutes, I’d removed everything except the handlebars, fork, crankset and chain. I’ll…
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Removing the seatpost
Yesterday, I didn’t have any success loosening Ol’ Paint’s seatpost with a vise. Today, I asked a colleague to lend a hand. We were just causing the vise to twist in its mount. So my colleague pushed against the vise’s handle while I pulled on the bike frame, and after a moment we heard a…
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May be over before it’s started
As a first step in rehabilitating Ol’ Paint, I got her into the workshop today. I removed the pedals because those, at least, are keepers. Then I removed the wheels and saddle, turned Ol’ Paint upside-down and stuck the seatpost in a very large vise. I tightened it as much as I could. And then…
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Relacing and truing a wheel
Following my mechanical during Lejog, I’ve been wanting to redo all the spokes on the rear drive side. The replacement spokes arrived earlier this week, and today was forecast to rain. (We haven’t seen any yet — what’s up with that typhoon?) Before starting on the wheel, I readjusted the headset. This was a bit…
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Ol’ Paint before the work begins
Ol’ Paint has been sitting unused outside the Halfakid’s apartment since he bought his new bike in January, while I’ve been planning a total refurbishment — including a new paint job, naturally. Today I picked her up to get the project rolling. We’d already cannibalized the pedals, so I brought along some that I’ve had…
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Lejog on a penny farthing
Richard Thoday, Penny EndtoEnd, is on his way to break an 1886 record for Land’s End to John o’Groats on a penny farthing! Meeting up with Richard Thoday @PEndtoend in Cheshire – #LEJOG in 5 days on a penny farthing ?. Follow that man! And support if you can @ChiIdreninNeed https://t.co/eff2PQAmNd pic.twitter.com/gSTmSc1QT3 — Mark Beaumont…
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Getting back on the horse
Having recovered from saddle sores, given Kuroko a bath, and fixed both a broken spoke and a broken shifter cable, today finally marked the first time back on the bike since my ignominious return from England and Scotland. The day dawned cloudy and dismal. The forecast chance of rain was low but not non-existent. I…
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Broken shifter cable
Following the big washing up last week, I put the wheels back on Kuroko and set about adjusting the rear derailleur. Things seemed to be going OK at first, if not brilliantly. I got everything lined up on the smallest cog, and shifting smoothly between there and the next few cogs down. But the derailleur…
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Rub-a-dub-dub
I finally got Kuroko out of the bag and set to work cleaning up all the mud that she brought home from England.