Your latest bike project?

[hozn]

@hozn 169699 wrote:

Little wheels!

These are a set of 359-ETRTO wheels (aka the folding bike “16-inch” size). I’m going to use these first on the 20″ bike and transition to the 406 etrto (BMX 20″) a little later.

Every now and then an idea that seems clever at the time turns out to be really dumb. This is an example.

The idea of using 359-ETRTO tires made sense as an in-between step for the 20″ bike. HOWEVER, I should have done a little measuring and a little more research on tire availability. The largest affordable tires were the Comets and they are still only like 32mm. This has the bike riding *way* too low — the crankarms/pedals would be very close to the ground just riding in a straight line, not to mention turning …

I rather doubt anyone out there is thinking right now “if only I had some disc-brake, 130QR, 359 wheels”, so I’ll figure out something else to do with the parts. Too bad about the gold spokes …. ! Lesson learned: when you’re going rogue, you might want to consider compatibility with all of the frame’s dimensions.

[Vicegrip]

@hozn 177956 wrote:

Every now and then an idea that seems clever at the time turns out to be really dumb. This is an example.

The idea of using 359-ETRTO tires made sense as an in-between step for the 20″ bike. HOWEVER, I should have done a little measuring and a little more research on tire availability. The largest affordable tires were the Comets and they are still only like 32mm. This has the bike riding *way* too low — the crankarms/pedals would be very close to the ground just riding in a straight line, not to mention turning …

I rather doubt anyone out there is thinking right now “if only I had some disc-brake, 130QR, 359 wheels”, so I’ll figure out something else to do with the parts. Too bad about the gold spokes …. ! Lesson learned: when you’re going rogue, you might want to consider compatibility with all of the frame’s dimensions.

Metal frames are not cast in stone. They can be modified. Dropout to yoke distance can be changed, rear dropouts can almost magically move a bit away from the BB and more. Seat tubes can become shorter and lift BBs up too. I know a guy….

[Vicegrip]

@hozn 177956 wrote:

Every now and then an idea that seems clever at the time turns out to be really dumb. This is an example.

The idea of using 359-ETRTO tires made sense as an in-between step for the 20″ bike. HOWEVER, I should have done a little measuring and a little more research on tire availability. The largest affordable tires were the Comets and they are still only like 32mm. This has the bike riding *way* too low — the crankarms/pedals would be very close to the ground just riding in a straight line, not to mention turning …

I rather doubt anyone out there is thinking right now “if only I had some disc-brake, 130QR, 359 wheels”, so I’ll figure out something else to do with the parts. Too bad about the gold spokes …. ! Lesson learned: when you’re going rogue, you might want to consider compatibility with all of the frame’s dimensions.

Metal frames are not cast in stone. They can be modified. Dropout to yoke distance can be changed, rear dropouts can almost magically move a bit away from the BB and more. Seat tubes can become shorter and lift BBs up too. I know a guy….

[hozn]

@Vicegrip 177983 wrote:

Metal frames are not cast in stone. They can be modified. Dropout to yoke distance can be changed, rear dropouts can almost magically move a bit away from the BB and more. Seat tubes can become shorter and lift BBs up too. I know a guy….

Ha — It’s ok. I don’t think I could have my “16-inch” 359 cake and my 20″ 406 cake coo! With the 20″ wheels, it works great. Given that this frame is larger than the hand-me-down he’s using now, I’ve decided to wait until his birthday at the end of summer to give it to him.

[drevil]

@Vicegrip 177983 wrote:

Metal frames are not cast in stone. They can be modified. Dropout to yoke distance can be changed, rear dropouts can almost magically move a bit away from the BB and more. Seat tubes can become shorter and lift BBs up too. I know a guy….

Asking for a friend: does “this guy” have experience in titanium?

[Vicegrip]

He does. But…. He does not work on Ti bikes. Ti is a love / hate metal for me. I love to work with it on some things but not bikes as I need to be able to sleep at night. It is not hard to weld with the right equipment and methods. Without it is unpossible. Ti likes to crack through threads and in other places without easily identifiable reason at the home shop level. Ti is more prone to grain issues and you simply can’t “see” the grain and draw of the tubing or castings. Ti has a bit of “I am pretty” mean alloyed into it. It will crack just because. “Oh, I am you fave frame and you waited for 14 months to get me? You just check out my BB in 13 months….”

[bentbike33]

@Vicegrip 177983 wrote:

Metal frames are not cast in resin.

ftfy

[rcannon100]

HEY! Leave my HVAC repair man – I mean VICEGRIP alone! He is about to climb up on what I am promising him is a very very quite possibly stable roof of the dog shelter and attempt to juice the HVAC.

What could possibly go wrong??

[Vicegrip]

Oh, I have already done early recon on the roof.:eek: Drains and scuppers full of tree trash. Dear Daughter and a rake to the rescue for that issue.

A quick no tools look…. RTU #2 has pulled main fuses (bad but not unexpected) and RTU #1 looking as promising as expect as a 1995 vintage RTU to be. On the good side both units are 2 compressor systems and I hope to salvage at least 2 of the 4. Even if the control systems are shot if any of the compressor loops are good and I can get the air handlers up the rest can be rewired with a simple analog setup. What do you want guess the air filters look like? I bet we can knit a dog from each filter.

Stella says. “Nice thread hijack! Back to bikes please.[ATTACH=CONFIG]17860[/ATTACH]”

[rcannon100]

Isn’t this thread about your latest rescue dog project??

I heard you hung out with Darby?? Great dog right! Dont you think Darby would make a great dog for someone on the forum??

[hozn]

So, I have a couple of in-progress kid bike projects. They are slow loving because I am constrained by birthdays. My wife doesn’t think it makes sense to give presents as large as bicycles “just because”.

I am building a road + cx bike for my soon-8yo son. He’s asked for one a few times and he’ll love having something faster to ride on pavement. And he can use it for CX team next year.

I’m starting with a Raleigh RX24. Which by itself is probably just fine. And at $340 on Amazon, is a really great value! But that wouldn’t be a project, would it?

Claimed weight is 21lbs; I haven’t weighed it (I haven’t even fully assembled it.). This really is a brilliant bike. The disc brakes open up lots of opportunities for having it serve different purposes. I will be exploiting that heavily as I look to fit larger wheels than the oddball British “24-inch” 540 etrto stock wheels.

Goals of this project are

(1) to improve the brakes to something that can be stopped quickly with (hopefully) single-finger braking — with small hands — from the drops. Better calipers, better housing, better rotors.

(2) Convert to a wheel size that actually has non-wheelchair tires available.

(3) to bring that weight down to something respectable for a road bike, even with the disc brakes. Less than 1/3 my son’s weight (60lbs) seems reasonable. Well shoot for 17lbs and see how close we get.

[drevil]

@hozn 178017 wrote:

This makes me chuckle a little because I know if I had kids, I’d be doing the same exact thing. Only 1 out of 8 of my nieces and nephews is kinda into biking, but he was really careless about the (several hundred dollars) bike I gave him and got it stolen, so I’m not building another one for him until he shows me he’s more responsible and invests in it also Even though it’s suburbia, leaving a bike unlocked at a bus stop?????. Until then, I do this to/for my wife’s and my own bikes… scheming changes and upgrades all the time

Next week I have a new fat bike frameset coming in, and I keep running in my head how I’m going to set it up. I’ll post up progress pics.

[Vicegrip]

I don’t see any cuttin’ or grindin’ on your well thought out plans. :confused:

Why do I keep thinking that our kids are going to grow up, move out and never look at a bike again….

And Yes, Darby looks like a fun dog for a big fun dog family.

[hozn]

@Vicegrip 178023 wrote:

I don’t see any cuttin’ or grindin’ on your well thought out plans. :confused:

Why do I keep thinking that our kids are going to grow up, move out and never look at a bike again….

And Yes, Darby looks like a fun dog for a big fun dog family.

I know; this one is boring.

I am sure you are right about the kids too.

[vvill]

Will be curious to see your thoughts on the Yokozuna calipers!

I swore I wasn’t going to have a wheelsize in the family between 406 20″ and 26″ but ended up getting a good-value-but-heavy 24″ disc-brake hardtail for my son. It’s quite a bit heavier than the Isla Beinn (which my daughter’s riding now). I do wish he enjoyed riding more but unfortunately there aren’t a ton of places to ride nearby anyway.

I keep thinking of ways I could lighten up the bike. The easiest being to swap in 26″ wheels with slicks (…which I happen to have laying around already) and putting in a n/w chainring to replace the triple crankset (don’t think he’s ever used the FD), but somehow I doubt it’ll affect how much he really rides.

[Author]

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