Gravel bike? Humbug, Scotland needs proper All Terrain bikes

[epicyclo]

Front wheel built. Looks nice and shiny with all the polished alloy - the way a bike wheel should look, none of this black spoke, black rim and hub rubbish. I'd forgotten what fun putting a lot of tension into a single wall alloy rim could be, but it all worked out nicely.

Then I stripped it and rebuilt it because I noticed the logos on the side of the hub didn't line up nicely with the valve hole and rim joint. Well, it would have nagged away at me if I didn't. May as well build it right.

I'm now impatiently waiting for the rear hub to arrive.

The brakes are here, but I'm already going off at a tangent. Found a disk brake adapter in the attic.... I think that will have to wait until after this weekend at Aultnabreac.

Maybe not though, as cantis are lighter, and I want this bike to be light as possible for a lugged steel ATB frame in singlespeed/fixed mode.

BTW Jamie and I are planning doing the Aultnabreac loop this weekend with a few from the Highland Classic bIke group. Any retro (or otherwise) bikes welcome. Just get in touch and we'll give details - it will all be last minute stuff, just in case new CoVid rules come out beforehand.

All well and truly socially distanced of course - hard to be anything else up there.

 

[clubby]

Re:

Have had to re build wheels before when I realised I’d ended up with crossed spokes at the valve stem instead of parallel spikes. Luckily it was before final tensioning. Lining up spoke hole with logo is next level though and also the reason I like hubs with no markings

Have a great ride guys. Really would love to get up your way for a ride sometime. Maybe next summer.

 

[epicyclo]

Rear hub arrived today. Much jubilation and drooling over Sturmey-Archer art.

There's not many 130mm OLD flip/flop hubs on the market, so I was pleased to get this.

Built it up tonight, so that's both wheels ready.

Bike build tomorrow.

 

[velomaniac]

Re:

So glad that although I'm on the milder end of the autistic spectrum, I am not a anally retentive. Lining up the logo's with the valve hole indeed, jeez :roll:

Just ride the bloody thing, don't stare critically at it, it's a bodged together gravel bike not a fashion statement

You'd freak out if you could see what I just did to an innocent Puch Promenade 20 with a 12" hacksaw :twisted:

 

[epicyclo]

Re: Re:

So glad that although I'm on the milder end of the autistic spectrum, I am not a anally retentive. Lining up the logo's with the valve hole indeed, jeez :roll:

Just ride the bloody thing, don't stare critically at it, it's a bodged together gravel bike not a fashion statement

You'd freak out if you could see what I just did to an innocent Puch Promenade 20 with a 12" hacksaw :twisted:

I'm making up for my misspent youth when I did all sorts of cruel things to innocent bikes.

"Bodged together gravel bike?" - I prefer correction of a historical anomaly.

BTW I'm old enough to know the good reason you line up the makers name with the valve hole - although it is not relevant these days, but a job should be done properly, even a bodge.

 

[velomaniac]

Re:

You line up the logo with the valve hole to quickly find the valve hole at a glance. Useful in a race when fixing a puncture quickly and returning to the fray with minimal delay. However if not in a hurry as is my default setting being a tourist, not a racer, its at bit too ott for me. Further if you need a large logo to find the valve hole then "you should have gone to specsavers" but then that can also apply to correct sized spare inner tubes

Sorry Brian, my glasshouse is full of holes due to my uncontrolled throwing of stones

 

[epicyclo]

Re: Re:

You line up the logo with the valve hole to quickly find the valve hole at a glance. Useful in a race when fixing a puncture quickly and returning to the fray with minimal delay. However if not in a hurry as is my default setting being a tourist, not a racer, its at bit too ott for me. Further if you need a large logo to find the valve hole then "you should have gone to specsavers" but then that can also apply to correct sized spare inner tubes

Sorry Brian, my glasshouse is full of holes due to my uncontrolled throwing of stones

The practice is older than that. Once upon a time valves were a bit of rubber tube, and hubs had central oilers. The makers name was usually 180º from the oiler.

So if you lined up the makers name with the valve hole, there was no risk of oil dripping from the oiler on to the valve when the wheel was parked with the oiler down, and thus perishing the valve rubber.

It was really about ensuring the oiler faced away from the valve, ie was upright when the valve was down. (Some hubs had no makers name)

I was taught this by an old guy in the early 1960s who was taught it in his apprenticeship by a guy who would have been building bikes in Queen Victoria's time.

 

[velomaniac]

Re:

Amazeballs :shock:

Is this still relevant if you have an SA hub with an oil hatch. One of the things that started me on the crazy world of bikes was inheriting an immediately post WW2 Raleigh Sport ladies bike from the back of my Grandpa's shed in the early 1990's. Both hubs had oil hatches which were hinged metal affairs and not exactly oil tight 9

 

[epicyclo]

Wheel finished and on the bike. Dithering whether to to succumb to frailty and add another gear - there's room on the the other side of the hub for another cog.



Velo must have mates in Sturmey-Archer. When I tried to line up the logos on this one (they're on the flanges) the logos were at 90º to each other. Bummer, frabjous unjoy. At least they will be hidden by the cogs, otherwise I would have felt obliged to remove one set (no, not really ).

Stripped, cleaned, and regreased the headset.

The Tektro CR720 cantis have been fitted. All the bike needs now is me to finish off the cabling. A simple job one may think, but I've thought of a way to complicate it, so it may take me a bit longer.



The seatpost and handlebars need a bit of polishing too...

One thing I intend changing is the chainring. It's anodised alloy, and I don't like black chainrings. They should be shiny and steel, but I don't have one spare. I'll run it with that one to make sure I'm happy with the ratio, and then order the appropriate stainless steel version.

The seatpost, stem and handlebars need a bit of love from the polishing cloth too...

 

[Woz]

Loving this thread and build.