jbpence

you are correct. Its happened to me on this forum, and now its me doing it.

I have a place in Kunming to store things, so I am bringing a variety of spare parts. I'll be making additional trips there - the bike travels with me, the parts will stay there.

tuz

hey that's an awesome bike thanks for sharing! And your tour sounds fantastic.

About the too-short stays: since the bike is TIG'd doesn't the builder have to make an entire new frame to replace them?

jbpence

nope - according to folks who know titanium welding it can be welded and rewelded. one of its benefits as use as a material for bike frames. mind you i am not an expert here

ricohman

As a hobbyist welder I agree. Nearly all metals can be reworked without trouble. Some, such as Reynolds 853 get stronger at the weld joints.
Can you lose strength cutting off welded tubes and rewelding them at the same joint? Yes. But it may never be a factor.
I've built quite a few cages out of cro-moly tubing. Whenever we needed to rework a cage to make it fit the vehicle we always had two rules.
Never add to a piece of tubing.
Cutting tubes shorter was ok but the piece they were originally joined to was always replaced.
My buddy recently started welding ti. The equipent cost more then my mig setup + both my arc welders.

antokelly

im beginning to loose faith in this frame.it started off great but went slowly down hill when the builder started to gear the bike up ,and discovered nothing fitted properly.is the framebuilder going to guarantee this frame 100% will it run it a straight line.if you had as much troble with buying a new car ,you would tell the dealer to drive it himself.

onbike 1939

I'm interested that you're going to use the new version of the Extrawheel trailer. I too have pulled the classic using a short-wheelbase light tourer and found this worked well. I would imagine that the trailer would work particularly well on rough tracks as it tracks superbly. The big advantage of course in using this particular trailer, is that it lessens the forces on the bike and doesn't have much effect on the handling at all. The usual disadvantage of any trailer is weight and your trailer avoids that as well. I'm going to be very interested in your account of your journey and do hope you're going to post this.
Best of luck with your trip and more power to your elbow.

jbpence

Onbike 1939: Yes the trailer does handle great on rough stuff. I've pulled the classic on some REALLY gnarly singletrack, rotten asphalt, etc. I REALLY like how it makes a bike feel while pedaling while standing, something I've never been able to say with loaded panniers. Running downhill on smooth pavement at 45 MPH, same - panniers always seemed scary, this trailer just sails along, the bike much more stable because of its connection to the weight behind it.

I really like the fact that we were able to design this bike with that trailer in mind. I didn't want just another touring frame, this one combines elements that I wanted, and not designing around a design center that included loading the bike with 50 pounds of gear means I am getting a bike that rides great just as a stand alone rig aas it does when touring with that trailer- though it certainly is capable of running with loaded panniers should I desire or need to. And thanks for the kind words!

Antokelly: YOU'RE losing faith in the frame? Good thing you aren't the one needing any faith in it then. My experience is that when we lose faith, our expectations are answered.

antokelly

i wasen't been sar'castic my good man ,oviously your expecation's for this frame are good .im happy for you, but if i spent that kind of money on a custom build, i would be looking for perfection first time .but good luck with your new bike and your tour.

mattlavallee

I recently returned from a bike tour in Yunnan Province and was greatly impressed with its people and its scenery. I can't claim to have ridden it in its entirety, but the villages I saw along our route were certainly an enriching experience. I'm curious what type of volunteer work you plan to do. A thought that was on my mind as I rode through was that those villages will likely modernize, but I'm of the opinion that the biggest "force" driving that is the villagers' own desire for the same comforts they see their countrymen enjoying. Like heat, reliable electricity, sewerage, and vehicles. I agree that it would be a great shame if these villages and these people's lifestyles were to change dramatically, but I also felt that it was a bit selfish of me to think that way. I'm not the one who has to walk 10 km to find firewood to heat and cook. I'm not the one who has to go to the outhouse and squat over a concrete hole in the winter. I'm not the one who has to climb up from the terraced slopes pulling a cart loaded up with veggies. I was told many in the younger generations are leaving the area to work in the cities. It seemed to me people who weren't leaving want the implements that will allow them to lead a more comfortable lifestyle, and that's where I envision them spending their dollars from tourism. I can't really expect them to swear off those luxuries just for my entertainment as a tourist, but I'm not sure how you could maintain the culture without essentially cutting them off from outside society.

Hopefully you have a better answer to that question, and hopefully you have a way to accomplish your goals. I'm just not sure how it can be done without unfair expectations of the people. Good luck with your trip!

yaybikes

not enough pictures.

jbpence

mattlavallee: very thoughtful post. The last volunteer work project invloved building a new latrine for a small village. All of the younger people in the village had goneoff to school or to work in factories somewhere else. 200 villagers shared a latrine with only two stalls, no roof. The liines in the morning were huge. They now have an 11 stall latrine. This is in a village that up until last year had no road to it, just a crude donkey cart path.

The villagers life is changing now that they have a road. One of the possible projects there is to remodel a building to make a small guest house for the purpose of attracting very low impact culltural tourism. NOt to present a cultural disneyland, but to allow visiters who might want to learn how the villagers farm, cook, weave and live. And of course this will change the village even more. The governments way of thinking would be to improve the villagers life either by building a factory nearby, or to move all the villagers into apartments in Kunming. This would change the villagers life even more, so the questions are exactly as you present.

jbpence

oh, and I'll post a lot more pictures in a couple of days.

GGE

Do you have plans to create a blog or journal, perhaps on Crazyguyonabike? Would love to read about your trip if you do post a journal.

jbpence

it will be on cracyguy. more picts on the way

ricohman

Please do. I am curious as to whether he will replace the stays and triangle or butt weld them.
I doubt he will add to them though.

jbpence

The spec we wrote last November calls for Avid BB7 Road Disc Brakes. They aren;t arriiving untilo tomorrow, so today, we use a pair of BB5 Roads for a learning oppoortunity. THis will also tell us that all is OK with the position of the brake tabs, something its good to know anyway

.

rear disc installed


mounting a caliper


caliper installed


what a clunky looking caliper. wait a minute... I look at the area where the pads grip the disc. Thats right! This is a 160mm disc. This bike wasw built to use a 180mm.



which looks so much cooler.


really, cooler



putting on the Cane Creek brake levers



Tomorrow, the BB5 calipers come off and the BB7s will get put on.

TruckerMike

Nice build - thanks for all the great build pics. What are your thoughts on using a torque wrench for a high-end rig like this? Over-kill or the only way to go?

Fueled by Boh

if your mechanic isn't using a torque wrench he doesn't take working on your bike very seriously. especially (obviously), if it is a high-end bike with torque-sensitive parts.

Chatbox

Man, this thread contains some serious bike porn!!

jbpence

more picts coming soon. My guy doesn't use a torque wrench - he seems to 'know'. I've checked him with one though. He's damn good.

monsieuroctagon

Who did your decals?

jbpence

those are the black sheep bikes decals. they built the frame. their stickers.

jbpence

Here is the bike at the end of the first day.

so far:


but that without a lot of the odds qnd ends


add most of the rest of the crap and its still under 25 pounds

jbpence

on day one, we installed Avid BB5 Road disc brakes, the bb7s are here today on Day 2, so here is a shot of the BB7's installed



https://i490.photobucket.com/albums/r...g?t=1233707953



The BB7's are nicer than the BB5's becuase they have an adjuster for each brake pad. The BB5's have an adjust for one opad only, the other pad is set with the cable tension. Ick.

jbpence

Getting the cable through the housing


routing the cable to the brake caliper





installing the Shimano Ulltegra Bar End Shifters




Kevin likes what's happening here