Syscrush

I emailed Velocity USA direct to inquire about my special-order rims, and they were finished today. They'll be shipped today or tomorrow, so I should see them soon. Can't wait!

Syscrush

Still no sign of the mystical special-order rims, and we're dealing with one of the warmest, sunniest springs on record. Some of the weather we've had in March feels more like June, makes it really trying to not be out riding my groovy new bike.

Anyhow, I didn't manage to find a good deal on a nice saddle at the bike show a couple of weeks ago, so I went and picked this up at Urbane:


The thing of it is, it makes me really want a nice, symmetric mount for my front light, something that mounts to the steering stem somehow would be ideal. From my hunting around so far, I'm coming up empty, kinda sad.

thirdgenbird

Some specialized globes have an led built into the face of the stem.

thirdgenbird

Here she is:



I know you wanted to stay quill, but this is all I could think of.

Syscrush

Thanks a lot 3GB. That looks great and it's definitely something I'll keep in mind, but I'm already committed to a quill stem on this build. I did find some options that have an asymmetric mount but a symmetric light placement, like this one on Peter White's site:


I think I'll look for something that bolts to its base, and fab up my own tidy mount.

JReade

I've got these Knog Blinky lights that attach without marring the frame/bars etc, and I love the easeof use and easy removal, especially for my faster bikes, and the city bikes (theft proof!)



However, I feel like when I'm riding on the hoods, my arms will obscure them from the side, as I've had a few people come really close to hitting me in low light by turning in front of me. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I think lights on the bars behind your hand position isn't the best.

That seat, however, I love the light position.

Dan Burkhart 

Is he watering it hoping it will grow?

Syscrush

He says that he's testing water resistance, but I think you're onto him.

BTW - still no word on those rims, hopefully they'll be here by the time you get back from your next haul.

Syscrush

Looking around a bit more, it seems that the Cat Eye LD-260 has a mount that would work fine for what I want:

Amesja

Did you order it through Niagara? Sometmes they take FOREVER to ship stuff. It's even worse the second time around if they send the wrong stuff.

Still, I gotta love their prices. If I want something fast I'll go to the LBS.

Syscrush

Ordered through LBS, who had to place a cross-border special order with Velocity USA. Rims were shipped by Velocity last Mon or Tue, still no sign of 'em. I don't know if they send stuff USPS or courier, but given that I still don't have 'em, it must be USPS, which means that they could spend any amount of time stuck at the border.

Amesja

Ah, didn't realize you were not in the USA. Stuff can get held up in customs forever sometimes and even so the mails can be really darn slow.

I'm spoiled by the fast delivery I get here in Chicago. Once an item eventually ships its the rare package that takes more than 3 days to get here. Being a major shipping hub in the crossroads of the USA has its advantages.

Dan Burkhart 

I have a supplier that I use frequently on the west coast of the USA and I rarely wait more than about a week for stuff shipped via USPS Priority Mail.
On rare occasions, however, it has taken up to 3 weeks.
Hoping the rims come soon. I want you out riding that bike.

Syscrush

My years of experience ordering electronics & motorcycle parts from the states is similar to yours: it's almost always here within a week, but there's no upper bound. I had a shock held up in customs for 6 weeks one time. I managed to call the customs office it was in and asked if there was any way to get an ETA on when they'd let it go and they laughed at me.

When you ship by courier, the biggest part of the speedup you get is from the fact that they offer brokerage services so nothing's held up at the border. The trouble with that is that you typically get hit with $40-50 in brokerage fees on top of the shipping fees. I'm fine paying that on orders of $1000 or more, or stuff that's super time-critical, but otherwise I just cross my fingers.

Russcoles11

I built myself a city bike. It came out a bit differently:

The saddle was only like that temporarily, I wish people would stop mentioning it!

Its a 1966 Royal Enfield Revelation fitted with Sturmey Archer XRD5 drum brake 5 speed hub and Elite VT front drum brake. Small wheels means good acceleration and drum brakes on small wheels means good reliable braking. This is a surprisingly light bike and works well in the city where you may have to stop frequently at junctions and accelerate away again. Its also surprisingly fast geared 45-105 gear inches with 20x1 1/8 schwalbe duranos. The long wheelbase means much better weight distribution than other small wheelers.

Syscrush

Cool bike! It does show that the term "city bike" means something different for everyone...

Syscrush

OK, the long-awaited day has finally arrived. RIMS ARE HERE! I've got my rims and spokes ready for action, not sure when I'll be able to run 'em out to Dan's place to have the wheels built and everything finished up. Pics coming soon.

Also, I've found myself a light that should suit my needs well:

Syscrush

Pics of the rims...

thirdgenbird

that is about the color of the rigida dp18s that i have laced with nylon/plastic/carbon spokes, i really like it.

Syscrush

To be honest, I was hoping that the dark grey would be closer to black, because I've got a lot of other black stuff on the bike, and I wanted that contrast with the silver hubs, and to have black rims contrasting with the machined sidewall and matching the black tires.

However, I'm going with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires which have a grey sidewall, so I think it'll tie in nicely, despite not being exactly what I had in mind. I do really dig the retroreflective effect, it was important to me and I'm glad that I went through the hassle of getting these specific rims.

Although it took a bit of the wind out of my sails to see that the guy immediately ahead of me in line was picking up a carbon HED H3 front wheel. I consoled myself by imagining him nailing that sexy $1000 wheel into a sewer grate.

Syscrush

I'm getting pretty excited about that Skully, too. A good buddy of mine said it best: "Phil likes skulls".

Here's me with my godson proving the point:

Syscrush

So, today I ran my collection of parts out to Dan's place, and hung out for a bit - felt good about leaving everything in his capable hands, and left expecting everything should be done in time to take advantage of the nice riding weather coming on Sat...

Turns out, the shop who cut the spokes didn't do it right. Dumb barstids. I thought about measuring & counting them myself at the time I went to pick them up, but I was pretty sure that this would be:

1. Pointless because they're pros who can cut a spoke to a specified length and count to 36.
2. Sure to guarantee to upset them and make sure that they'll never be happy to see me again.

Well, now I know that #1 is totally false and I don't care about #2 anymore because I'll never be happy to see THEM again.

Anyhow, I'll get it sorted out and do another run out to Dan's place to get the correct spokes to him. And I'll know it's worth it because a good mechanic who actually does stuff right is rare, and worth his or her weight in gold.

Syscrush

OK, I called the shop this morning and they agreed to cut me 28 new spokes to replace the ones that they screwed up (from 1-3mm short). When I went in to get them, the first few cut were the wrong length - so it looks like they discovered something wrong with the cutting rig. Took quite a while to get it all sorted out, but they got 28 cut to the right length, and I had an excuse for a motorcycle ride out to Oakville and back.

I've gotta say, even though they did provide me with new spokes I was really not impressed with the service. I understand that mistakes happen, so I don't want to be too hard on them for the initial screw-up, but neither of the 2 guys I dealt with (one on the phone and one in person) were at all apologetic. Come on, guys - this is your mistake and it's a big pain in my ass, so how about saying you're sorry FFS.

Ah well, I was glad to get out and see the work in progress, and Dan let me take his Rohloff-equipped cargo bike out for a spin... And wow, I think I can see where the money goes with those fancy hubs! Pretty fantastic.

Syscrush

Fredo's home. I've done one quick shakedown ride around the block at Dan's place, and then another in the parking garage here after I put the front wheel back on. Going out for a little ride now, about 25k round trip to see how everything feels. Planning on doing about 50k tomorrow if everything works out OK with my new bike and my wife's.

Pics to follow!

Epicus07 

Still no pics?