Month: October 2019
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Fork out, more sanding
Yesterday, after having given up previously, I was able to remove Ol’ Paint’s fork from the frame. After stripping the frame at the start of this project I had tried hammering on the steerer tube (actually, on a block of wood placed atop the steerer tube) without any luck. I’d decided to let it be,…
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Brief post-maintenance ride
Today dawned bright and clear, with Fujisan showing off the first snow of the season. I had the day off work, so it was a great chance to wash up Kuroko following the post-typhoon ride and to have a look at the front derailleur issue. The clean-up was very straightforward. I made use of all…
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Between the typhoons
Today, with Nana out of town and the Halfakid beating up other people’s children, I had the perfect chance to take advantage of the nice weather and put in a quick (lazy) 100km. It’s been a couple of weeks since the last ride, and I’ve fixed the broken spoke meanwhile. I was expecting some leftover…
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Christmas in October
Some long-awaited components for Ol’ Paint’s rebuild arrived today. Ol’ Paint was originally a triple: three chainrings on the front and eight cogs on the back. But as a central part of the upgrade, I wanted to convert her to a 1x: a single chainring with an 11-speed cog. After some research I decided on…
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Fork in the road
I had some time before starting work today so I got some more sanding done on Ol’ Paint. I concentrated on the fork, which had more than its share of dings and rust. It’s been less than two weeks since I last worked on the bike, but rust is already forming again on the parts…
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Almost like I’m a real bike mechanic now
I debated with myself for months whether I needed a wheel truing stand. Is this something I really want to do myself vs having a professional do it right? Is it something I’ll be doing often enough to justify the expense? And more importantly, do I want to explain to Nana why there’s another bike…
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Replacing a spoke (again)
With the typhoon clean-up in progress throughout Tokyo, I thought this would be a good chance to fix the broken spoke. In addition to simply replacing it, of course, I wanted to make sure that the break wasn’t caused by hub damage. The spoke appears to have broken right near the head, so I had…
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Picking up the dropped ball
It’s been nearly two months since I started sanding the old paint off Ol’ Paint. In my defense, this is the busiest time at the office. Proper tools for the job My initial go at sanding off the paint was so frustrating that it was difficult for me to get back to it. So when…