Press "Enter" to skip to content

Day: May 2, 2009

Functional / Safe Rear Wheel

Published May 2, 2009

After getting home from Danielle’s house (and listening to one episode of This American Life each direction) I spent some time finishing off my rear wheel. Once it was dished to my satisfaction, trued, and reassembled I fitted it to my bike and went for a series of test rides. The tire was the Continental TravelContact at 55psi, which is what was on the bike when the last two nipples broke.

The first was a rather uneventful jaunt around the neighborhood using the Winwood Decksters, so then I decided to go for a bit longer ride. After donning a headlight I took off on the ~15 mile local loop, up to (and through) River Bends, back down 21 Mile, through a neighborhood, then over to my house. Along this entire route I made a point of keeping my weight over the rear wheel as much as possible, especially when going up sidewalk aprons, over large cracks in the pavement, roots, sticks, etc. Basically, I was trying to put a bit more than normal (for me) force on the wheels.

Half-way through the ride, in River Bends, a quick check showed that the wheel was just as true as when I’d left the house. Even better, I wasn’t hearing any of the occasional spoke-twang sounds from that wheel. They were still occasionally there from the front (especially when cornering hard), but the rear was spot-on.

I’ll definitely be rebuilding the front wheel in the same way quite soon. Hopefully that will be the last time I touch them.

Leave a Comment

Tilling A Garden

Published May 2, 2009

Tilling the garden in Danielle's back yard which is being put where their pool had previously been.

Danielle is wanting to get her garden planted, so today she rented a tiller and I got to work on the gardens at her family’s house. Earlier in the day it had been covered by compost by her and her dad, and with the underlying sand all that it needed was a tilling.

I’d never actually used a rototiller, but it really wasn’t too bad. My arms and elbows are a bit sore from both keeping it moving and holding it back to prevent it from walking on the soil and not digging in. Beyond the 26′ circle shown above where the pool was, there was also another rectangular garden to be done, so I’m feeling a bit worn out.

Then, after the tilling there was anti-weed sheeting to lay, bricks to place, pavers to set, and her brother’s truck (which she’d borrowed to get the mulch) to wash. I’m pretty worn out. Hopefully I’ll still be able to get my bike wheel finished up before going for a test ride this evening.

Leave a Comment

Nipples: Replaced

Published May 2, 2009

One of the Wheelpro-design feeler gauges and stand being used to true a rear wheel which had its nipples replaced.

After four and a half hours (or so) of work, all of the alloy nipples in my geared bike’s rear wheel have been replaced. While the wheel is pretty true (maybe 0.5mm out at the largest spot) the dishing is still about 5mm off, so I’ll have to do more playing another day.

Also, that image above shows one of the feeler gauges recommended in the Wheelpro Book. It seems to work pretty well, although I do need to get better at using it. I imagine that will take quite some time.

(I also must fix the damned Park SW-40 spoke wrench. Its got a nice head on it, but the curved handle part bends too far over the head, so when the spoke comes off of the nipple at a slight angle the tool gets stuck in place.)

Leave a Comment