Month: September 2019
-
Critical mass
Starting to reach critical mass with replacement parts for Ol’ Paint. Now I need to get back to the sanding!
-
Easy swap: new thru axles
One nagging issue with Kuroko has been the rear thru axle, which tends to work itself loose. Sometimes this happens mid-ride, and the rear wheel starts to wiggle a bit in the frame. Having the rear wheel loose, even a bit, can cause missed shifts and rubbing brakes. It can be a bit difficult to…
-
Really bright, fairly windy
I had to fit my riding today in between a doctor’s visit in the morning (just a meds refill) and a dinner date in the evening. The Halfakid was unavailable — we’re looking at riding tomorrow but the weather may have other ideas. And Nana hadn’t made any onigiri. So I just rode down to…
-
Wheelbuilding action shots
I built the second wheel last night, and Nana got some shots of the process as it happened. (She fell asleep before I got to the really interesting bits with the spoke wrench and tension gauge, though.)
-
Building a wheel
I haven’t had time for a few weeks to get back to sanding down Ol’ Paint. But I’ve been looking at the growing pile of schwag in my den and decided today was the day to build a wheel. There are a lot of guides available for wheel-building, but I found this video to be…
-
Cleaned and greased
Kuroko was delivered home Thursday evening. I quickly reassembled her (just put on the front wheel and raised the saddle) and left her on the balcony. Today I put her back in the stand to readjust the derailleurs. The shifting was fine during the Tour de Tohoku, but there was occasionally some noise and I…
-
Two for Tohoku
This year Tomo joined me for the Tour de Tohoku. The route was mostly a new one, and there were a few format changes from last year’s ride. Rather than having us form in groups with guides fore and aft, we joined a long, snaking queue to walk our bikes through an inspection point where…
-
Best-laid plans of cycling giants
Tom Allen, of Tom’s Bike Trip fame and currently leading a bikepacking tour of the Transcaucasian Trail in Armenia, has suffered a mechanical midway through the tour. And oh, what a mechanical! That’s one derailleur that’s not going a single kilometer further. And proof that it’s not just newbies who get done in by a…
-
Boxed in
Now that Kuroko is fit as a fiddle, it’s time to ship her off to Ishinomaki for the Tour de Tohoku. I made arrangements with Seino transport company some time back. They’ve changed their rules and I’m not able to use either the bag I got for last year’s Tour de Tohoko or the bag…