Friday jam. I had a great song in mind assuming that 'surely someone has uploaded it.' No. So instead you get what was my favourite song off of Double Barrel during my college days. I played this one approximately one trillion (wow!) times on my radio show:
And a bonus jam:
From the shop:
Good fit up on a seatstay. I fit and tack each chainstay and seatstay seperately after doing any requisite bending. After a pair is tacked, I then install the bridge and complete it before welding everything up as it keeps the rear hub spacing from getting too tight, eliminating some (or all) cold setting.
I used to fit each pair together (meaning: fit up work would be done on both chainstays and then I would install both into the jig and tack). This was a little tedious with my Gary Helfrich built Arctos jig, especially because it was one of the last ones made and Gary never gave me all the pieces that were supposed to come with this (e.g. the toggle clamp for holding seatstays, amongst other stuff). I just sucked it up and learned to do it without it by using the tools most valued by any framebuilder...two hands and a squinty eye. I wished I'd switched to my current way sooner as it is a lot more consistent even though it seems inefficient, just goes to show you that you're always learning on the job.
Having standalone jigging for building and coping seatstay and chainstay assemblies seems a lot more common with all the great Anvil fixtures from Don Ferris in such high use. Pretty trick. I and my antiquated ways + non-existent machining skills will just sit quietly over here in pen-and-legal pad/rotary phone/analog signal land.
Lots on deck and more to come!
As most know, I like riding skinnies everywhere and I've always loved long reach (47-57mm from the pivot bolt to the centerline of the pads) sidepull brakes. Why? They're super simple, a snap to setup, quiet (even in the wet), and if you're running minimal rubber on terra firma they provide enough power to keep you out of (or get you into more) trouble.
The downside has always been adequate clearance, both for mud and loose stones as well as getting the damn tire (especially with sideknobs) through the brakes when removing or installing a wheel with inflated rubber.
When I built my current bike (which I eventually will tell the whole story about here), I had visions of a Jobst Brandt style ride (except fixed wheel) using nothing but 28-32c slicks on it. I thought someday I'd build myself a bike with clearance for at least 45s. Or probably not. This is it, po natty bo. Pal BS built me a fork with a brake hole placement giving a pad placement ~52mm from the bolt rather than the full 57mm.
Riding a fixed through rough terrain on skinnies is a different animal than riding a freewheeled multispeed, so I decided that I'd rather have a little more rubber underneath me to make things less pizza cutter-like. I had some long reach dual pivot Shimano R600s laying about, but after installing one up front with a 'cross knobby...the clearance was crap. I found some old single pivot DiaCompes in my pile of junk along with some NOS DiaCompe touring levers with the old style quick release...
The single pivot brake definitely gave better clearance and bonus points for the non-driveside cable entry...perfect for running the brake lever Brit/Euro/moto style like I like with a non-aero lever. Nice and smooth with no abrupt bends or kinks in the housing. I fit DuraAce carriers with replaceable salmon Kool Stop inserts on the brake and it worked, you know, OK. I mean 'Fair'.
I rode this way for a couple of years and for this usage, honestly, it was kind of flexy and wambly...just waiting for some flesh to be torn by sheared aluminum.
A nice, Japanese made DiaCompe touring lever before...
...and then after a few years of flared drop bar whiteknuckling. The picture does not express the rattly multiple millimeters of movement borne from getting that extra 0.001% of braking power by bending the shit out of it. Pull harder you fool! Bwaaaaw!
Forget that. Time for something a little more robust and modern. The clearance problem with dual pivot sidepulls was still there.
Above is the trusty Shimano R600 on the left and the Tektro R356 (essentially the same as the 520-somethingorother brake they've had for a while). That extra bit on the forging of the Shimano (indicated by my dirty finger) can be a problem when fitting large tires. The Shimano of course is incredibly nice (even the stock pads are great) but Tektro is a bit better as far as clearance.
As mentioned before, wrestling a 35mm 'cross tire through sidepulls is a pain...so having a quick release on the brake levers as well as the calipers themselves is great for opening up the pads that much more to get the tire through. It is still a tight squeeze, but doable. It is well nigh impossible without both. The Tektro levers (R200 for normal-to-large hands and R100 for smaller hands) have a pretty slick one compared to the old style ones as shown on the DiaCompes above or even the old Shimano Exage levers...Campy style...
Clearance with the new caliper:
Not as much room as I had with the single pivot brake, and quite frankly...something that I would find unacceptable on a customer's bike, but I'll go through all that on the FAQ when it's done. It's actually not bad, it is sort of a hard picture to take properly. Anyway, it works fine, the brake + lever are great. I'm not worried about mud clearance so much as a stone getting lodged in there...but one must let things go.
As I described before: For years and years I wanted to have a sidepull up front. Before I was really sick, and as per usual, I built my own bike out of blems (wavily extruded tubing, machining marks on track ends, etc.) and for good measure I totally f**ked it up. If it had been a customer's bike it would gotten the hacksaw, the recycle box, and the DO OVER button. But, like the BMW mechanic who drives a tatty 2002tii covered in primer with no passenger seat/carpet/headliner/working dash and an exhaust note to rattle windows, I have my long term partner 2+ years and counting. STFU and pedal.
There are a number of long reach sidepull bikes in line (they are my 'favourite' after all) and one is UK Rob's. Rick Hunter build him a beautiful, simple unicrown fork and the 57mm brake reach is in full effect:
That's it.
