Show us what you did today, thread

[clubby]

Re: Re:

Excellent news regarding the bottom bracket - agreed, victory is sweet! :xmas-big-grin:

I've been perambulating around on this thing for over a week as my car's in t'workshop....

Still maintain that Saracen made some cracking bikes for the money.

Yeah, Kili Flyer was one of the bikes I lusted after when I started riding. Shame it all went a bit Raleigh/Muddy Fox in the mid nineties. Brand never really recovered. Even now the mags and website seem to ignore them.

 

[Mr Panda]

Re:

Yes the earlier ones were very good until they became a marketing brand and assembled "overseas"......like so many other things.....sad really. I understand the short term business economics, but that philosophy has done the country great harm on many fronts.

(bit deep for a Sunday afternoon)

:?

 

[Mr Panda]

Re:

Jamie, Jamie, Jamie - that bike is actually on the bed FFS!

Wish I'd had mudguards on this afternoon - clothes still hanging in front of fire....

 

[velomaniac]

Re:

Personally I loved the mid to late 90's Saracen bikes. To me some of the mid to high end ones were very cool especially the full sussers such as atop end full carbon urt model. All I could afford was a rigid aluminium Dirtrax but it was for me a revelation, my first bike with rapid fire shifters, v brakes, 1 1/8" headset and a superstiff frame that made hill climbing a sprinters dream. Amazed now that I was once a seriously quick hill climber if not particularly gifted in any other area of mtb.

 

[Jamiedyer]

Re: Re:

Jamie, Jamie, Jamie - that bike is actually on the bed FFS!

Wish I'd had mudguards on this afternoon - clothes still hanging in front of fire....

Well yes, Mr P it was actually on the bed in the spare room before it was dismantled, but seen as how in two posts where I posted those pictures, all anyone noticed was that it was on the bed, I have today, nearly a week later taken a couple outside so not to offend those who don't like bikes on beds (and to protect the innocent, namely me )
So later this afternoon I took a couple of photos of the recently almost completed Mercian KoM. Still needs guards and some longer hoods for the Mafac levers as they don't come down to the bars, so fitted some cheapish bar tape with a bit of extra tape but frankly, while it will let me ride, it looks absolutely dreadful, even by my standards.
So I then thought with the weather so dry and a nice afternoon I would ride into town on the LHT and drop in at the Bike Shop and see if he had any old hoods that might fit and also to check out some mudguards before fitting the old ones. No luck on either count but was a nice ride and while it was very cold I had all my gear on so was fine, with the one exception being on a long downhill that my head was freezing through the vents in my helmet, like an ice cream headache I have ridden with my skull cap but I tend to overheat with it too quickly. Should have just pulled my buff up higher. Anyway it was a really nice ride and after I left the shop I went down around the harbour and seafront before taking the backroads home. I am really liking riding at night lately out in the backroads.
Hope everyone else has had a nice day and maybe got a ride in.
Take care, stay safe and have a lovely Christmas no matter where you are.

Jamie

IMG_4504 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_4507 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_4508 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_4515 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_4521 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_4528 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

 

[dyna-ti]

Nice pics as ever. Must be great out there in the outside world

As per im stuck in, though keeping myself busy doing a mantelpiece for the front room to replace the horrid one I got from B&Q

Todays job was to make a mock up of the main supporting columns, mainly to get the angles right and to set the height, which denoted how deep the sections are for the infill. Pic is mdf with maple stringing, the completed will be bubinga(shown as mdf), and the same maple stringing(inlaid)
Its a 6 sided column which will stand about 27" high. Set on a square box in maple,with turned discs to help marry it into the column. The flat sections im thinking of putting a deep cove(like a concave) into, or maybe something more ornate, just to break up those flat sections and give it a softer more refined look.
Its a fair size room, so this seems more in keeping with that, 55" wide on the top, and stands about 41" high, extends forward by about 6". And it gives me something to do.

Tomorrow I make them for real, and i'd better get it all right, as theres no spare bubings

 

[jimo746]

Re:

The Mercian is looking great Jamie, you cant even notice the hoods from the photos. I'm liking the purple 3DV bottle cage too

Dyna, looks like you'll be busy for a while with that project :shock:

 

[dyna-ti]

Re: Re:

Dyna, looks like you'll be busy for a while with that project :shock:

Actually, its not too bad time wise. My only real consideration is the neighbours, but i've most of the heavy machining done now, and the biscuit jointing(angle grinder noise) or router table isnt that far off a washing machine or hoover on the go.

I've made the 6 sided columns ,and today its the glue up for them(6h each).
After that its their hexagonal bases and tops, which again is mostly the router/router table.

Be after Xmas, but with naff all to do in a day it should be done before the new year.

Had I an actual workshop outwith the house It would probably take 4-6 weeks but alas, those are beyond my meager income

Any of you lot got any projects on the go ?. Be a break from bikes all the time and I think we all need a break from that, at least to widen horizons of the forum. More off topic, but folk seem to like off topic

Biscuit jointing -
This is a jointing method where the tool has a small circular saw blade that makes a cut into the timber to allow a 'biscuit' which is a compressed wooded disc, made of beech, that is shaped the same as the saw blade to fit into it.
Glue,which contains water causes the disc to expand slightly and locks it tightly in place, as well as the mechanical action of the glue drying.
While not the strongest joint, it is ideal for lining things up which the glue goes off. For these columns which are tricky at best to align perfectly it is about the best method.
Pics

 

[velomaniac]

Re:

Now I understand those strange bits of hardwood I found on an ebay trawl for hardwood dowels. In my book all "biscuits" are good. Nice work Dyna but all my projects are bike related and not progressing at all. :roll:

 

[epicyclo]

Re: Re:

...Any of you lot got any projects on the go ?. Be a break from bikes all the time and I think we all need a break from that, at least to widen horizons of the forum...

I have one for the new year.

Velo has challenged me to come up with a wooden bike for the UK Single Speed Champs.

I may be picking your brain.

Actually I'll start now. Where can I get planks of ash or hickory. I figure I may as well try to build something that will last longer than one lap.

Oh, alternatively thin veneers of something boatbuilding quality - the idea of making a monocoque has appeal.