n-1: Crack of Doom strikes again

[rogerzilla]

Isn't that about 200 miles away from the Desolation of Fridges?

[Kim]

Isn't that about 200 miles away from the Desolation of Fridges?

Yes, but having defeated the hurdles of supply chains and brexit, there's a guy called Eddie with a van who should be able to sort that bit out relatively easily.

[Wowbagger]

How spiffingly exciting!

[rogerzilla]

Is it another green one?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Presumably Kim gets to choose the colour of this one, so it'll be matt black with black reflectives and lights.

[rogerzilla]

Or white, to better blend in with the fridges.

[andrewc]

Presumably Kim gets to choose the colour of this one, so it'll be matt black with black reflectives and lights.

with the GPS programmed for the heart of the sun....

[Kim]

HPVelotechnik ORANGE, because I'm too colourblind to make those sorts of decisions^[1], and I didn't feel like a) paying another couple of hundred Euros or b) waiting until the heat-death of the universe for them to do a custom paint job.


_{[1] Orange is basically green anyway.}

[andrewc]

I'm told ORANGE is the new black....      Hope they get it down from Glasgow quickly for you. 

[Kim]

Achievement unlocked:



Kitchen pr0n to follow when it's fully assembled.  I got as far as fitting the lowrider rack^[1] and kickstand, so that it can stand without support, but various bits are staying unattached until I've had time to fettle wiring, mudguards etc.


_{[1] A complete bastard of a job, as it means undoing the suspension pivots and then trying to line up both parts of the frame, both luggage racks and a vital washer without trapping any gear cables or whatever.}

[StuAff]

 

[RichForrest]

Achievement unlocked:



Kitchen pr0n to follow when it's fully assembled.  I got as far as fitting the lowrider rack^[1] and kickstand, so that it can stand without support, but various bits are staying unattached until I've had time to fettle wiring, mudguards etc.


_{[1] A complete bastard of a job, as it means undoing the suspension pivots and then trying to line up both parts of the frame, both luggage racks and a vital washer without trapping any gear cables or whatever.}

You got all the bits to get it sorted and ready for this weekends camping?

[Kim]

Achievement unlocked:



Kitchen pr0n to follow when it's fully assembled.  I got as far as fitting the lowrider rack^[1] and kickstand, so that it can stand without support, but various bits are staying unattached until I've had time to fettle wiring, mudguards etc.


_{[1] A complete bastard of a job, as it means undoing the suspension pivots and then trying to line up both parts of the frame, both luggage racks and a vital washer without trapping any gear cables or whatever.}

You got all the bits to get it sorted and ready for this weekends camping?

Not quite (it needs a sprocket-swap and I'm planning to get another left crank shortened so I can use the stock chainset, and no doubt other things will arise as I get to them), though camping's academic as I can't leave barakta unattended for more than a couple of hours until she's rated for weight-bearing and can get to the toilet herself.

Planning to have a good meditate on internal routing of lighting cables etc, which is undoubtedly going to result in Bad Swears, but worth doing now before I work out what position the boom's going to be in.  The seat brackets have changed, so any question of reusing the known-good old seat and reproducing that riding position has gone out the window, which means Voodoo Ergonomics.  All good fun...

[Cudzoziemiec]

Looking forward to seeing this in the metal and plastic with a Kim on board, sometime, somewhere.

[andrewc]

In her usual cool & laidback manner. 

[fd3]

Congrats on the new bike!  I think VT Orange is far more fetching than dull silver anyhow.
Next time your bike catastrophically fails in Cotteridge pop by for a cuppa.

[cycleman]

It's been tangled 
Looking forward to seeing you on your new mobile deckchair soon 😀

[rogerzilla]

I want to see teh oRaNG3.

[Kim]

Some progress, chiefly swapping the front wheel (because dynamo - I'm doomed to have mismatched wheels) and rear tyre (and rim tape, because the the plastic stuff looked iffy and I had some 19mm Velox right there), fixing the p*nct*r* I somehow managed to inflict in the process, fitted mudguards, adjusted the headset (considerably less painful due to the availability of FRIKKIN LAZERS to determine when the wheel was straight) and brakes, fitted the lights while waiting for the glue to dry on the tube repair but haven't done any wiring yet.  Kickstand appears to be slightly too long, which is irritating (but admittedly less irritating than it being too short).  Managed to b0rk the quick link on the chain, on account of it being non-reusable, which is pointless.  Reusable ones on order.  Noted the absence of any V-brake mounts, which means I can't fit the parking brake.  Have molished a Mike-Burrows-compliant hydraulic disc brake compatible substitute for now, and will keep an eye out to see if that external latching lever thing that Hase came up with a couple of years available might be available as a spare part.

I have at least had plenty of practice fitting and removing the Rholoff wheel.  This, at least in this incarnation, is the benchmark for-low faff IGH.

[Cudzoziemiec]

A Rohloff?!!! You've been spending too much time with that Wowbagger chap, you have!

[Kim]

A Rohloff?!!! You've been spending too much time with that Wowbagger chap, you have!

No, I've spent too much time mucking about keeping derailleur gears indexing properly, to say nothing of bending and bashing the chainring guard^[1] back into shape after dropping the chain, encounters with dangly bike spaces and the like.  I can't help feeling the bike was intended to have gears-inna-can from the outset.  Solves all manner of fiddly problems, I just have to get over my aversion to grip shifters (I'm anticipating that being able to shift while stationary will help with that).  The Rohloff does appear to have the Wowbagger-proof flange, which is reassuring.

On a related note: Hydraulic brakes.  That's two fewer cables to fill up with rain and stop working if I have the temerity to spend a weekend in Wales.  (Though I note HPVelotechnik have developed little brake lever gaiters to help with that.)


_{[1] With a single chainring you can have a rigid guard as part of the chainset, rather than the bendy one.}

[Blodwyn Pig]

Congrats on the new bike!  I think VT Orange is far more fetching than dull silver anyhow.
Next time your bike catastrophically fails in Cotteridge pop by for a cuppa.

I absolutely agree, “ I loves Orange, I does “

[Cudzoziemiec]

A Rohloff?!!! You've been spending too much time with that Wowbagger chap, you have!

No, I've spent too much time mucking about keeping derailleur gears indexing properly, to say nothing of bending and bashing the chainring guard^[1] back into shape after dropping the chain, encounters with dangly bike spaces and the like.  I can't help feeling the bike was intended to have gears-inna-can from the outset.  Solves all manner of fiddly problems, I just have to get over my aversion to grip shifters (I'm anticipating that being able to shift while stationary will help with that).  The Rohloff does appear to have the Wowbagger-proof flange, which is reassuring.

On a related note: Hydraulic brakes.  That's two fewer cables to fill up with rain and stop working if I have the temerity to spend a weekend in Wales.  (Though I note HPVelotechnik have developed little brake lever gaiters to help with that.)


_{[1] With a single chainring you can have a rigid guard as part of the chainset, rather than the bendy one.}

In which case, weren't you tempted to go for a belt drive too, for even less maintenance, possibly not even needing a chainring guard, etc? Possibly they don't work well on such a long transmission.

[Blodwyn Pig]

  Noted the absence of any V-brake mounts, which means I can't fit the parking brake. 

Untitled by mark tilley, on Flickr

Do you not have these wee beasties on the lower swing arm?  Failing that, I always use a toe strap around the rear brake lever, (front brake lever on an upwrong.)

[Kim]

In which case, weren't you tempted to go for a belt drive too, for even less maintenance, possibly not even needing a chainring guard, etc? Possibly they don't work well on such a long transmission.

Contraindicated on account of suspension, I think.  Needs a tensioner to allow for chain length changing^[1] as the sproingy bits do their thing.


_{[1] While the no-squat geometry presumably keeps the drive-side length reasonably constant, the non-drive side will still vary.}