EJM73

Lemon Pledge

Prowler 

Not so much wrenching, but a big day. Rights of spring. Wrenching this winter involved two big projects. Frame up rebuild of my ShopSmith MkV and troubleshooting and fix of a Honda tracked snowblower. Both projects looked pretty intimidating with parts and fasteners all over they place with great uncertainty on success. But both were a success, leaving the shop/machine room a mess. So yesterday was the first day mowing grass for the season, straightening out the machine room then bringing the "good bikes" down from the loft. Oh, what joy to see the line up ready to play in the warm air.



Schwinn Voyageur, Raleigh Professional, Nishiki International, Crescent Pepita, Fuji TSIII and my "Ersatz Gran Prix". And Toro commercial mower. Nice line up. Usually the Gran Prix would go back up into the loft for the summer but I may take that to ride in New Hampshire this year. I could almost hear them arguing: "me first! NO, me first! Scab! Me FIRST"

curbtender

Reversed another bottom bracket on a garbage save. Always makes me wonder how much trouble the last guy had putting that in.

geeteeiii

Been testing my new "gravel" build. Needs some slight adjustment and it should be good to go for the season. Mostly built from disgarded parts i found at work, with the tires being the most expensive part by far. Friction shifting a 9 speed is suprsingly decent.

capnjonny 

for the last few weeks I have been repairing water damage on my 1965 Shasta Compact travel trailer.

When I bought it 14 years ago it needed substantial work done to it. When I was done I had completely disassembled it down to the trailer frame and completely rebuilt it, this time with a custom interior. I did the wood framing first , followed by re installing the original (repainted) exterior alluminum sheathing, door, and windows, and resealing the roof vent and the molding covering the joint between the rooof and walls.

In a reverse from how it was originally built, I installed the interior paneling last, then the cabinetry. This allowed me to do all the rot repair, consisting reframing a portion of the roof and the wall over the door, from the inside.

I am now iin the final stage of replacing the trim that hides the joints in the plywood paneling.

In order to do all this I had to move most of my tools and "junk" from my 4x8 work table so I could cut paneling and repaint it .

Now that I am about finished I can re junkify my garage and get back to restoring funky old bicycles.

I have enjoyed my trailer for many years now, taking it to Burning Man every year since 2016 and will do so again this year.
I will be working again at the event with the Gate, Perimeter, and Exodus crew at Gate, Apex, and probably Airport, working mostly Build week.

Hopefully some of you will make it to the event. If you do, come on by the Black Hole Bar for a drink. I go by 'Wrecking Ball' at the event.

IdahoBrett 

On the home stretch for one project. So I decided to check a few things for the next bike project. I checked the frame with a string. It’s straight. I swapped out an axle spacer to fit the dropout of this bike. Looks like I get to learn all about wheel dish. I know what it is but I have zero experience.

VintageSteelEU

Did the Soviets use metric tubing? It looks suspiciously narrow. If I remember correctly, they used weird standards for some threads as well.
That's a very eclectic mix of parts.

bikamper

Due to lack of conscious preventative maintenance on my part, it was Carburetor Rebuild Day for my pressure washer.


Carb, itself, was easy. Getting it off and back on the Tecumseh engine was a job.

hazetguy 

A while back, one of my machinist friends made me a press plate which allows me to support the housing of a Phil Wood bottom bracket, while being able to press out the axle and bearing.
I figured it was about time to try it out. I recently picked up a Phil bb that is going to work for what I want it for. I was just going to remove the seals, clean and re-grease, but someone before me had made a mess of the seals, and I just happened to have the correct sized bearings in my parts stash, so I figured why not...

disassembled


reassembled

daverup 

I think Sheldon Brown's Wheel building guide is a good place to start. There will probably be a time soon when you will want a spoke tension meter..

Desert Ryder

Picking up parts tomorrow for a new project. I'm thinking for a 26" BMX style cruiser
Ukai 26 x 2.125 HE Blue anodized rims. Unknown hubs at this time.

geeteeiii

Metric tubing yes, headset is 26mm and bottom bracket is BSA in metric.

georges1

Perhaps the first time that it was a headache to install a race face bottom bracket that I had to use adjustable pliers, lots of grease and a cloth. Not very pretty but I managed to get it done

bikamper

Mistakes were made by getting rid of my old Troy-Bilt garden tractor last year yet keeping the tow behind lawn equipment. The zero turn mower, while the catsass in mowing the lawn in one third the time of the old tractor, has an engine between my arm and the levers to raise, lower, or stop the equipment. I can't reach it. So I threw together an extension handle using metal from my experience pile, hack saws, a drill press and stick welder. Right now, it looks like hell, but functional AND removable. A few more holes to drill to finish it then will post embarrassing pics.

Pompiere

It was for that reason that I removed the trailer hitch when I got my zero turn mower. I was never going to use it, plus it stuck out about 4 inches. You couldn't see the hitch from the seat, so eventually, I would have hit something with it while operating in tight quarters. I still have the tractor for other duties.

bikamper

I know what you mean about the hitch. I have to hit my ditches at an angle so I don't hang up on it.

Hind sight being 20/20, I should have held on to the tractor but it was 25 years old, came with the house when we bought it, and kept outside. It was a haven for wasps, the seat was always wet, and also doubled as a mosquito fogger. It was a PITA to get out when it would get stuck in a ditch, too. It would get stuck no matter how I approached the ditch.

RCMoeur 

This came in on a regular customer's bike yesterday at the co-op. Upon seeing it, I pronounced it "Honorable Mention - Practical Modern Sculpture". He thought it was a perfect description. Helped him replace it, and the front shifts smoothly again.

sbrudno

Any idea how that happened?

RCMoeur 

Sometimes, it's best not to ask. But knowing the owner's skills as a raconteur, we'd probably get some sort of explanation involving an escaped lion or fending off crazed Taylor Swift fans.

VintageSteelEU

Looks like a fairly straightforward fix.The biggest challenge would be finding some spacer of a roughly correct size

RCMoeur 

I recently purchased two more Park Y spoke wrenches - the beefier new design seems less prone to failure than earlier versions.

The only minor drawback is the size numbers are very small. So I put durable colored tape (actually beaded retroreflective sheeting) on each size corresponding to the Park color code. I have a couple of these already tagged in such a manner, and it speeds the truing/building process considerably.

jamesdak 

Finally got back to the Miele after work today. Cabled it up and put on a new 9 speed chain and pretty much dialed it in. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the bars wrapped and it will be pretty much ready to ride. Still need to get a couple of bottle cages for it though.

I went more modern with the idea that this will probably be one I ride in the rotation for a year or two and then pass on.

sbrudno

As supportive as my wife of 50 years is, she would KILL ME if I brought my bike into the living room!
Yours looks in repose in yours.

Desert Ryder

Started piecing it together. I'm calling this an "economy build" BMX cruiser.
I plans: Remove the multi speed and install a single speed freewheel.
Change stem to 4 bolt BMX stem. Install higher rise BMX handlebars.
Change 3 ring crank to single.

bwilli88 

Old Schwinn Le Tour a lady friend of mine wanted a more upright posture. Got rid of the chrome wheels because of rust and simplified the shifting, nice ride.
Cleaned a bunch of garage dirt first.