dunderhi

After catching up on all of chores that I have ignored all Summer, I find I have some free time in the Winter months to take on a "project." Last Winter, the project was the refinishing of my 40yr old Schwinn Paramount track frame, which I got to race one Friday night at Ttown this Summer. I couldn't have been happier. This Winter I decided that I needed to improve my Winter training regiment by removing the monotony of just riding the rollers every night, so I bought a Tacx Neo and I'm riding through France each evening. Unfortunately, I decided that just buying something was cheating, so I decided to make my roller riding a little bit more interesting by introducing a motion system. After watching several DIY videos and reading a few threads, I came up with my own design, which has one key attribute: Switching between sets of rollers requires only as much effort as picking up one set of rollers and replacing it with another.

Below is what we came up with: I picked the color and Mrs D put it almost everywhere.




After an hour on the rollers this evening, I will say it felt pretty comfortable with this setup. Although, I set it up with six inches of play in either direction, but the most I saw the platform move was about three inches, which is probably due to having a decent amount of bungee tension.

So, what are your Winter projects this year?

carleton

That's freaking awesome.

taras0000

I may just have a crack at those rollers as I have to reassemble mine after the moving cross country. Today I made a bottle opener out of a screwdriver because I wanted to make a bottle opener and I also wanted to play with my torch.

gtrob

Those do look good, and pretty close to the $800 set of rollers Ive seen people use that do the exact same thing.

winter project for me...find mid 11s I did an 11.4 last night but had the motorbike lead me out lol

MarkWW

I'm currently in the process of wet sanding the decals off a set of PRO wheels that I recently picked up. I was expecting it to take at most a week, but I think I've spent a month on it here and there so far.

I also recently built up a closeout caad10 frameset as a 1x10 crit and trainer bike. Naturally, I wanted to test out the narrow wide ring on the first ride, so I took it along what I remember being a decently hard packed gravel road along the railroad tracks by me, but really it's loose rock ballast from the railroad bed, so I managed to slice the sidewall of the front tubular on a rock. The tube didn't pop, though, so my next project will be trying to figure out if I can repair the cut without pulling the tire off.

dunderhi

@carleton - Thanks

@taras0000 - All it took was one trip to Home Depot, go for it.

@gtrob - Thanks, I understand Elite wasn't too happy with people posting DIY videos. As far as 11.4 is concerned, would it count if Carleton's provided the lead out?

@MarkWW - Sidewall repair? Maybe we finally found a use for rim tape.

Dalai

Nice dunderhi.

Not winter here but I have a big list of bike chores that have built up which I need to get onto.

I have just had a studio built in the back yard to use as a bike room, so am just in the middle of making custom made shelves to store wheels and hang the bikes plus also insulating / soundproofing and cladding the walls so I can use on the old school ergo I picked up recently for early morning and late evening sessions without annoying the neighbours.

In regards to the ergo, will be stripping it down, getting it powder coated then rebuilding it adding a spare wired SRM = poor mans Watt bike.

Converting a Zipp 950 disc to a track axle. Had track axles turned and new bearings delivered, just need to get the spacing sorted.

Adding an old wired SRM Amateur I picked up for $100 to my fixed gear commuter so I don't miss any data.

Other projects include tinkering with the TT bike (Tririg Omega brakes and return to centre shifters to be UCI compliant again) and CX bike (upgrading the brakes to Avid Shorty Ultimates) for next winter TT and CX series.

queerpunk

my winter project is using a power meter to get faster.

taras0000

]@gtrob - Thanks, I understand Elite wasn't too happy with people posting DIY videos. As far as 11.4 is concerned, would it count if Carleton's provided the lead out?

Carleton has the requisite equipment on his steely.

JimiMimni

I like your style. I'm doing the EXACT same thing.

Dalai

What took you guys so long? Bought my first SRM back in 2008!

queerpunk

shrug. i kept getting better even without one.
that, plus, budgets.

JimiMimni

I wasn't even riding bikes then! Best. Excuse. Ever.

Dalai

Fair enough. As an older individual I've found it invaluable, as I can't just go out and smash myself day in day out as I could when younger...

I've bought all my SRM units second hand, so always worth considering as an option. Though having said that the Track SRM cranks rarely come up for sale.

TrackMonkey7

Track Nats is gonna be as close as it'll probably get to me unless I move or Boston gets a velodrome, so it doesn't make much sense for me not to go. Unfortunately I'm, still a middling cat 3, so I can only focus on timed events. My winter project is to figure out if my current bike would be suitable for a TT bike, which it doesn't seem to be; the top tube is just too long, and I've got a bit too much stack to get low enough. These qualities make it great for mass start events, though.

I was eyeing a 2012 Felt TK1 on eBay that was a good size for me, and while it was pretty spendy when I was looking at it, before the auction closed, the price went way too high for me. Drat. I think I might settle for a Specialized Langster Pro as I work at a Spec dealer, even though I'm not that excited about it. The new paint job doesn't look great to me (the matte black with no logos was much cooler), and it's very similar to the frame I have now, so it wouldn't be much of an upgrade. That being said, it would fit me much better, and that trumps any perceived benefits a carbon frame might offer me. Being able to pay more bills is a plus, too.

gycho77

I think you should look for used Bridgestone Anchor PHM9.
You can find them in 830 dollars in Korean market.
Korea is next to Japan. So a lot of professional njs cyclist sell the frame to hipster. lol
And the hipster will sell the bike in 830 dollars

TrackMonkey7

I have considered that frame even though it's almost certainly sprint (keirin) specific. It's handsome for sure, but I feel like the geometry wouldn't be conducive to a TT bike.