My jaunt up Takaosan earlier this week confirmed that Kuroko’s spiffy dynamo lights are working, so it’s time to bring the Forking Dynamite project to a close. I’ve had a couple of finishing touches waiting in the wings — for more than a year in at least one case — and today was the perfect opportunity to polish these off.

Supacaz bar tape is always highly rated, and it did go on easily, but I was disappointed how quickly it wore through. It was ready for replacement before I started gathering parts for the Forking Dynamite project, and along the way I bought some Brooks handlebar tape for the replacement. (It’s been sitting on the den floor so long now it was dusty.)

The omamori for bicycle safety should be replaced once a year, if I’m to stick with tradition, but I’ve hung onto this one for quite a while. It finally got done in by a drive home on an Ohio highway in pouring rain (attached to the back of a van), and last weekend’s Tour de Chiba drenching didn’t improve matters.

(I’ll return this one to the shrine where I got it. Honest.)

Anyway, it was quite easy to remove the old, threadbare tape — easiest part of the day’s work.

Before starting on the job of wrapping the nice Brooks tape, I reviewed Calvin’s tutorial. I was rather surprised to find I had done up the Supacaz tape using Method 3 from this video — I must have watched some guide previously, even if not exactly this video.

When I removed the Brooks tape from the box, I was pleasantly surprised to find they’d included pre-cut bits to wrap around the juncture of brake lever and handlebar (as demonstrated by Calvin in the video above). Things got awkward quickly after that, though, as I tried to follow Calvin’s thorough instructions. The bar end plugs took a concerted hammering with the mallet to go in fully. I did my best to cut the tape so it would butt up flush against the plugs, but I’m me and not Calvin.

During the wrapping, it was very difficult to get the tape to pull flat against the bars. I’m assuming this is at least half because the tape is very thick and firm — the other half being that I’m all thumbs. The pre-cut bit for the levers didn’t want to stay in place, while the main bit I was wrapping just didn’t want to conform to the curves the levers demanded of it.

In the end I used a lot more electrical tape than I’d bargained for. And the results … look fine from a distance. With my luck this tape will last a lot longer than the Supacaz and I’ll have many, many miles of riding to rue my clumsy wrap job.

Bag’s groove

I’ve had the handlebar bag sitting around nearly as long as the Brooks tape. I knew I didn’t want to try putting it on before I could remove the handlebar-mounted headlight. Things were tight in the cockpit.

When I arrived in Ohio without my cockpit bag (and the minitool, etc., it contained), I knew that I wouldn’t be satisfied until I got home and put the handlebar bag to use. After removing the old tape and the headlight, and wrapping the new tape, it was time for a try.

And … it’s awkward. It’s a bit squeezed in between the Garmin mount and the dynamo light. (It doesn’t really interfere with either, and I’m assuming I can still fit the Garmin’s external battery.) On the left side (rider’s view), it tends to interfere with the bell — a very important safety component when riding mixed-use courses in Japan. I snipped away some of the foam rubber piece that fits between the handlebar and bag, and positioned the straps carefully.

Once done (and assuring myself the bell can ring), I started filling the bag up. It can hold a spare innertube (Kuroko’s are not slim), tools (in their socks), a lock, tissues and wet tissues, and my keys. It probably can’t hold Nana’s world-famous onigiri (not without a lot of squishing).

(I have a musette I could use for that, but I don’t really like carrying things that way.)

I’m going to give it a try. If it rides well and doesn’t interfere with the bell, it will still be useful even if I have to put the saddlebag back on for the onigiri (and windbreaker, etc.). It will probably be more comfortable than the cockpit bag I’ve had for several years.

Other maintenance

When I rewired the dynamo lights that involved removing the stem cap, and of course I didn’t get things tightened down just right after that. I could feel just a bit of play on the Takaosan ride this week. So I removed the stem cap, loosened up the stem, seated everything properly and torqued it all to spec again. Done and done.

The other thing that was apparent was the front disc rubbing. I put Kuroko up on the stand when everything else was done and had a go at adjusting it. When I was finished, it was just the same as before. I was already tired from fighting with the new bar tape, so for now I’ve just put it all back together and sprayed both brakes with some cleaner. I’ll probably have another go on the weekend, if not before.

And now I’m running out of excuses for not cleaning up my den …