Outer Chain Ring gone as well

After the aborted attempt earlier in the week to remove the outer chainring, I got hold of some M10 washers from my local hardware store. These fitted over the outside part of the chainring bolts, so I used 1 on each bolt, on the back of the chain ring, to let me tighten them down properly onto the crank.

I've decided to hang on to the outer chainring for the moment, rather than eBay-ing it, in case I need to use it to sort out a proper gear ratio when i finally go fixed.

I will get some picture of the latest changes up next week, when my missus gets back from her mothers with the camera!

Bits for Sale

I have listed the bits that have come off the bike for sale at eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330257229525

Few quick jobs

1) I've finished the handlebars with self-amalgamating tape, follwing a tip from someone on www.cycle-chat.co.uk. Much neater than the crappy finishing tape supplied with the handle bar tape - it was much to thick and inflexible, and too short to boot.

2) I've also remove the rear mech, and shortened the chain - so I am now at least single speed.

3) I tried to remove the outer chainring, but the washers I bought didn't allow me to do it. Although they fitted over the inner part of the chain-ring bolts, they also needed to fit the outer part as well, so I need to look for some slightly larger ones (M9 rather than M8)

Once I do get the chainring off, all of the items that have come off the bike (Front and read mechs, gear and brake levers, and outer chainring) will be going back on eBay in an effort to recoup some of the cost.

I'll try and get some pictures of these latest bits up later.

Cheers

Matt

Handlebars Mk 2

As you can see from the pics, I've had another go at the handle bars. I wasn't happy with the shape of the chopped road bars as I couldnt seem to get my hands on them properly - the curve was getting in the way.

This new set is made from a bog standard 540mm MTB bar that I picked up from eBay for a fiver (inc. postage!). I managed to close the clamps on the brakes back down far enough to make them a snug fit, unfortunatly I could only find one of the allen key headed bolts that they came with, so the other one has been bodged with an M6 bolt and a stack of washers. It's fairly well hidden though, so I'm not overly worried about it. There was enough thread left in the holes past the section that I mangled the other day to make the bolts hold properly.

I took about 7cm off each end of the bars. This is a happy compromise between being able to fit between cars, and still having enough leverage to pull properly up hills. I'm not a great fan of the 3" courier handle bar - I can't see that you have any real control of the bike. I know from experience that this length works well for me.

Don't worry about the string - it's just there to hold the bar tape down over the weekend as I left the finishing tape at work - not tempted to use ordinary black electrical tape as it slips and leaves a horrible sticky mess over everything.

Handlebars and thoughts thereon...

The handlebars as I have them set up at the moment are shown in the picture above. To be honest I’m not sure that I’m really getting on with them – there doesn’t seem to be enough of the straight bit left before the curve comes in for me to comfortably get my hands on. This means that I feel like I don’t have a proper hold of the bars as part of my hand is on the curve. With the nature of the ride in the rush hour traffic I don’t have long enough stretches to get my hands up on the “bull horn” section as it leaves me too far from the brakes.

The straight bar that I brought of eBay showed up yesterday so I may stick that on tonight – another advantage is that the brake lever clamps will fit properly around it – all I need to do is find the bolts where I dropped them in the shed the other night when they wouldn’t fit back in after opening the clamps up to get them around the road bars.

I still have one roll of the bar tape left as with the bars being so short I didn't need to use all of it, so this can go on the flat bars as well.

Gear Ratios

Well good job I did all that calculating… Having ridden for the last day or so I seem to have settled in 42*15 (73.9 Gear inches). I need to give it a couple more rides, particularly on the way back up to the station as that is a much more uphill route that the way down.

Turned out not so bad in the end

I’ve now had another look at the brake/handlebar situation in the daylight, and it’s not as bad as I thought. I’ve only stripped a small section of the threads on the brake clamps – there is plenty of thread left in the body of the brakes. All I have to do is find some longer bolts that will reach through to the remaining thread and they will be fine – the alignment doesn’t appear to be so far out that the bolts won’t line up with the holes.

All the new bits from this morning are on, the handle bars have been taped and brake cables replaced – so back on the road tonight.