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Rotor Truing Test

Published January 25, 2010

After acquiring a hub (from a trashed wheel that I was given) and borrowing a dial indicator I decided to test out a prototype of the disc brake rotor truing stand that I’ve been wanting to make. Initially I’d planned on making a wood base to hold a hub and either a feeler gauge or dial indicator, but after trying this all out in my bench vise, I’m quite happy with this setup.

I’ve ordered this dial indicator from Grizzly Industrial, Inc., which is the same one seen in the picture above. Next I’ll probably make a plastic or wooden block to fit in the jaws of the vise and hold the bottom of the quick release, and then future truing activities will use a setup just like this.

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Titus Racer X 29er

Published January 23, 2010

Here’s my new bike, the one which I’ve been hinting at for a while now, a Titus Racer X 29er. This is a discontinued model that I was able to get at a fairly reasonable price because it’s replacement is considerably higher end (and also titanium alloy or carbon fiber only). I’ve had the bike for roughly a month and have been taking my time getting it set up as I want, with an appropriate saddle, pedals, brakes, and other such bits.

Now that it’s essentially complete I wanted to take it out for a test ride. With the recent lack of snow, reasonably warm weather without much risk of mud (due to cold ground), and heavy precipitation forecasted for the next few days, today was the day. The result was a basic 21.1 mile ride over the course of 1:37:28, for an average of 12.9 MPH. Everything on the bike performed wonderfully and as expected, although I did realize that I need to move the saddle forward a bit and adjust the suspension a bit. The seatpost may also have slipped down a few millimeters, but that’s probably because I didn’t have the seatpost clamp particularly tight.

Thus far I’m really happy with the bike. I’m still waiting on the arrival of Carnegie’s Bar from Ragley, but that should be here any day now. It was ordered from Chain Reaction Cycles in the UK (Ragley does not yet have US distribution for their stuff), and postage from the UK always seems to take a while. I look forward to trying this bar because it looks like it’ll be comfortable, but if not I’ll probably be able to sell it for close to its cost.

If you’d like to see the full geeky list of parts currently on the bike, take the link below and look inside.

Continue readingTitus Racer X 29er
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IS1621N on BCK-08 PCB

Published January 19, 2010

In other cheap Chinese device news here’s DealExtreme p/n 8422 with the case removed, powered by a benchtop supply, peered to my Nexus One, and playing audio. I’m hoping to redo the output circuitry on this and put it in another case to make a decent Bluetooth audio device for connecting to either a home or car stereo. It runs off of 3.7 VDC and has an on-PCB antenna, so it should be pretty easy to work with.

The PCB contains an I.S.S.C. IS1621N and FM24C08B EEPROM, which likely contains the IS1621N’s config. I’ve requested the data sheet for the chip from I.S.S.C., so hopefully I’ll have that soon and can work on it. I’d also like to change the identifier string in the EEPROM, but I probably won’t touch that until I know what the IS1621N expects to find in other parts of it. I also hope to find an example implementation, as it should be easy to build off of that to get line level output.

Here’s a few more pictures of the board:

· Detail of the FM24C08B EEPROM which likely houses the config for the IS1621N on the BCK-08.
· Top / button side of the BCK-08 PCB.
· Bottom / component side of the BCK-08 PCB showing the I.S.S.C. IS1621N Bluetooth IC and FM24C08B EEPROM.

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TFXTDOL

Published January 19, 2010

I guess this is what I get for buying discount ZIF sockets on eBay: one “genuine” TFXTDOL-brand DIP28 ZIF socket. It’ll probably be fine, even though I had to fight with pins which are too wide for sockets and almost too wide for the drill holes in one of the SDrive NUXX prototype boards.

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Kenda Small Block Eight

Published January 18, 2010

A rep from Kenda was set up at Ray’s MTB on Saturday displaying all manner of tires, tubes, and such. Conveniently all tires were also available for sale, at US$20/each, which is quite a bit below retail. I’ve been wanting to try out the Small Block Eight (SB8), a small knob smooth-rolling tire good for hard pack surfaces, so I picked up a pair of them in 29″ x 2.1″, the only 29er size made.

The Nevegals (which came stock on the bike, front and rear) don’t roll particularly smoothly but supposedly offer great control. Following some online recommendations I fitted the SB8 on the rear of the bike, leaving the nice, big knobs up front for better control. We’ll see how this shakes out once I actually start riding the bike, but at least I’ve now got a few options to play with. If nothing else I’m sure I can sell the Nevegals and SB8s for a reasonable price to fund some other tires.

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Popcorn!

Published January 18, 2010

I am currently eating the popcorn pictured above, which was popped in in a pot on the stove, in a bit of veggie oil. It was then tossed with Penzy’s Brady Street Cheese Sprinkle and a bit of freshly ground chipotle. Yes, real chipotle, first cut up with scissors, then broken down in a blade mill, and finally finished in a mortar and pestle with a bit of salt.

I have also been strongly advised to substitute bacon grease for the veggie oil in the next batch. This seems like wise advise.

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CrankBrothers Shoe Shields

Published January 18, 2010

After hearing about CrankBrothers Shoe Shields from my friend Erik I decided to give them a try. There is a fair bit of wear on my shoes (photo) from the Eggbeater pedals that I use and these thin metal plates should head this off and keep the shoes functional for even longer. Priced at $10.99/pair (at the local ACF) it wasn’t worth trying to make my own, as I don’t have a ready source of stainless steel nor an easy way to make similar cuts.

When the replacement pedals (Eggbeater SLs – photo) for my failed Eggbeater MXRs arrived today I decided that while fitting them to the bike I’d also replace the cleats and fit the Shoe Shields. While new pedals and cleats will normally feel a bit nicer, the addition of the Shoe Shields and their smoothing out the bottom of the shoe to better-than-new condition made clipping and unclipping during a test ride feel wonderful. While I imagine they’ll stand up to wear, it’ll be interesting to see just how long they last.

If you’d like to see more photos of them, including the packaging, install directions, thickness, and detail of the materials used, check out my CrankBrothers Shoe Shields album.

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Ride Until Failure

Published January 17, 2010

Today I met up with Rob and some friends of his at the intersection of 22 Mile and Shelby, heading out for ride intended to go to Metro Beach and back. As the weather was forecasted to be a partly cloudy 38°F surprise in the middle of January we figured it’d be a good day for a long ride. We proceeded to ride at a decent clip up to Nick and Marty’s place in Mt. Clemens, stopped to fit chemical toe warmers, picked up Nick, Marty, Jon, and Bob, then continued on to Metro Beach. One guy who was with us since Shelby Township dropped off here, as he lived in Mt. Clemens and had brought his single speed set up at 32:18 and the sustained ~16 MPH ride out almost wore out his legs.

By the time we got to gazebo at Metro Beach (the end of the path) I realized that I hadn’t eaten enough this morning and I’d run out of glycogen. Despite having food (gels and good granola) available. this coupled with a bit of wearyness from yesterday’s trip to Ray’s had me questioning if I’d be able to make it all the way back home, including the last four miles before my house which are very rough, frozen sidewalks. Since Bob had parked at Nick and Marty’s he offered to drive me back to my place, which was a really wonderful favor, as making it all the way back home would have otherwise proved quite complicated. I guess the partial avocado (it was kinda rotted), bowl of oatmeal, cup of coffee, and pretzel bread / cheddar sandwich that I had for breakfast wasn’t quite enough calories for this ride.

All said, the total distance for today’s ride was 42.18 miles, averaging 13.3 MPH (peak 24 MPH) over 3:09:28 of moving time. With yesterday’s 15.7 miles, that puts this weekend up along a somewhat exceptional summer weekend. My legs are only slightly sore and I didn’t collapse, so I guess I’m doing all right.

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Ray’s MTB

Published January 17, 2010

I just got home from a trip down to Ray’s MTB in Cleveland, a really nice bike facility built into some old factories. We spent most of our time riding the the XC course, with stops in both the beginner and intermediate rooms, staying away from (but watching) the expert things, including some of the stuff that appears to be straight out of video games.

The trip worked out well, as I drove down Friday after work and split a room with Erik and Kristi. Lots of good food was had, and the weather was just about as nice as one could hope for in late January. Being above freezing put Ray’s building itself somewhere perfectly comfortable in shorts and light gloves/shirts.

At one point I let my front wheel slide while coming down a ramp and fell, but it only scuffed up my knee. The only other real problems were caused by other people, most notably kids on BMX/street bikes who can’t ride up hills but insist on riding the XC course. If they planned right it wouldn’t be a problem, but instead they’d stop part-way up hills, walk to the top, and stop. With the course being almost completely plywood it made stopping very difficult and restarting almost impossible. Then there were the collections of people who’d stop on any available mid-course platform, backing things up terribly…

That all said, this is definitely a place I’d like to visit again. Despite the few irritations riding there was a whole bunch of fun and quite a nice way to do some technical riding in the middle of winter. If you’d like to know more about it, head over to the Ray’s MTB website and check out the videos, maps, and things like that. There’s also a bunch of videos from there on YouTube. This video in particular shows a lot of the XC trail, even though it’s last year’s layout, which I’m told did not have nearly the number of lines (different route options) available now.

A few photos were taken today, but of those most ended up being crap. Here’s the few passable ones, including the one up top of the beginner room looking down from the place where one rides up a steep ramp into the ceiling/rafters:

· Erik’s bike, Kristi’s bike, and my bike in the hotel room when we went to Ray’s MTB in Cleveland.
· 24oz can of Colt 45 in my bike, in the hotel room. Works every time.
· Looking down from the ceiling in the beginner room of Ray’s MTB.

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