[hozn]

@SolarBikeCar 178251 wrote:

I few days later I had a flat tire and was on the side of the road repairing the tube when a woman walked up and asked if I needed help. she had passed me in her car and pulled off and walked back because she thought I needed help. Although I could manage just fine I asked her to help watch for traffic so I could focus on the repair and not bad drivers and she could feel useful. A previous time it was a guy who stopped as I was fixing a flat and he dug out a powered air pump.

Seriously? You didn’t pull your car off the road to fix your flat?

[hozn]

Wow, that is incredible. I’m glad the hub is worth salvaging at least!

[hozn]

Hey, vvill! I will let you know how I find the Yokozuna (they are rebranded Juin Tech R1 calipers, but the price was the same and the Yokozuna brakes include their Reaction compressionless housing too).

That bike looks pretty cool. I bet switching to a N/W.aoild save some weight and needless complexity. There are some cheap NW rings on eBay. I bet changing the wheels could be a huge weight savings. I picked up my 26″ rims for $40 (for the pair) and the hubs were on clearance from bdop since no one wants QR disc hubs anymore. So definitely sub-$200 wheelset, though it sounds like you have wheels already. (I am sure you do!)

Schwalbe and Conti have 26″ versions of the One and Grand Prix, repectively. I am sure there are other slick options too.

But at the end of the day, you’re probably right that it might not really change your son’s desire to ride.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[hozn]

I made sure to break with my tradition and wear all black on the way home so I could also ride with impunity. It was pretty awesome.

[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.

[hozn]

hozn has also reported this item.

Reason:

Quote:

It’s spam!

[hozn]

@Lt. Dan 177770 wrote:

needs a gold chain!!!

That is true.

On the whole the drivetrain is sufficient, but I am gonna replace with SRAM 11sp when this one wears out. I much prefer twist shifters, for one thing. These paddle things just get in the way.

I am sure eventually I will replace the BB with a Wheels Mfg thread-together. The BB92/PF41 was the only thing that was not ideal about this frame. But the current setup is quiet, so I am not complaining yet.

[hozn]

@Sunyata 177765 wrote:

Wow… That bike is just… wow! Please tell me you got a medium by mistake and need to sell it for cheap!

I know, right!

They do make them in medium, though. And the framesets are not that expensive by themselves. (Their shop site is kinda broken, but if you contact Tim Krueger directly, I am sure he can hook you up.)

[hozn]

My new (to me) Advocate Hayduke.

Wanted to be able to go 27.5+ and also wanted SS support. Dropper routing. Tapered HT. Boost frame (or compatible). Decided I do miss steel on my MTB, so that became a requirement too.

Was debating lots of different options, most prominently having Waltly build me another frame. Decided I need to learn more about modern MTB geo before spec’ing a custom frame. This one came up used. It has to be the prettiest bike I have ever owned. Functional components while I figure out what I like.

The 27.5+ thing will be a next-winter project. The SS conversion will probably happen sooner.

[hozn]

Good point, re: knife. I have considered getting one of these for keeping in the saddle bag: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PW56QG
(I’m sure there are cheaper options, but I was given one of these and it has lasted for years without dulling)

[hozn]

@TwoWheelsDC 177704 wrote:

The only annoying part about these “upgrades” is if you get the new groupset with more gears, you probably have to get new wheels too. If you’ve got a nice set of 11spd wheels, but then for whatever reason need to replace your groupset, you either have to buy an old groupset to match your old wheels, or buy new wheels to match your new groupset.

What I hear is an excuse to build more wheels!

At least for SRAM () the 10-, 11-, and 12-speed cassettes all fit on the same driver. There’s also XDR for the yet-to-exist “SRAM 12-speed road cassettes” (you can maybe order a 3T 12sp road cassette now?), which is wider, though may still fit on some hubs, since it is designed to be the same width as the 11sp [non-] SRAM/Shimano freehub body.

I was a little surprised that the SRAM 900 boost rear hub I just bought has an XDR freehub body (with the 1.8mm spacer, so I can run a regular cassette). Maybe someone expects road bikes to need BOOST spacing ?? — Or, maybe more likely, SRAM envisions using that extra 1.8mm to fit a 13th cog? I would like to see an Eagle cassette that maxes out around 40/42t. 50t is ridiculous for any non-MTB application.

[hozn]

@streetsmarts 177698 wrote:

Wow, I just checked out that multi-tool. That’s amazing!!
and a Torx driver for disc brakes!!
HA. I have disc brakes. I can …ummm… sorta adjust them. but someday maybe I’ll know what that’s for (adjusting calipers? just using a word I know is part of the disc brake system!! )
Chain tool included is cool. thanks!!

Yeah, I have never heard of anyone needing to adjust their rotor bolts, which is the classic application of the T25 torx. So I used to think that was a waste of space on a tool, but some bikes/groups also use the T25 for the bolts (esp. titanium bolts) that hold that caliper to the fork/frame. I could see needing to adjust those (e.g. caliper was rubbing rotor).

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