Shoe's Winter build thread

So I really wanted to make my winter build with a mixte road frame from the late 70's or early 80's, one of those step through frames with the double top tubes. I'm still scouring clist looking for one and if one comes up in my price range I'll jump on it fast, but as of yet, I've got nothing.

Instead while perusing clist I found a listing for a free Raleigh (1980) reliant and a TREK 800 antelope (1991). Both are from a local bike shop and in varying condition.

My garage had, at the time of bringing them home, 8 bikes in various states of (dis)repair... I finally sold the 24in Haro I had wanted to use for the build, but was far too small for me to ride with any comfort. I wish I had kept the components off of it.

So I have to consolidate... That means getting rid of 2 of the bikes left (7 total), pillaging 1 for parts so that I'm left with only 4.

I decided that I would strip the Raleigh down and use the parts on the TREK to make my winter build. The Raleigh has some useful parts that are much nicer than those on the TREK. I'm also pillaging parts off the blue 'Ray I've all but ruined...

I have stripped the Raleigh down to all but the crank, which I will be using on the TREK. I took the neck off the raleigh, with it's Suntour shift levers (very nice and functioning very well) and swapped it out for the TREK's neck. I liked the lines of the Raleigh neck better. Plus it is aluminum and looks nicer. Swap was fast and easy.

I've stripped all the brake levers, shifters and cables off the TREK. I'll be able to clean the frame and sand off the lame Antelope logo so I can cover it up. I may or may not call this the MadWagon 2.

The TREK is just the right size for me to easily get on and off. I can stand over it without being on my toes. The motor will fit in frame or on the back easily.

I'm planning on swapping the crank and gears out for those on the raleigh... Essentialy I'm using the TREK frame with broad tires to put a road bike's crank and gears onto. I"m going to see if I can get the freewheel from the Raleigh on to the rear hub of the TREK. I'm also considering using the SunTour GT components that came off the Raleigh. The Shimano Exage are carp, pure carp. While thy function I don't like how they look or how the shifters work. The inside of them are metal but the exterior is cased in plenty of plastic.

I'm using an Echo weedeater as my motor. Engine runs smooth, sounds great,but is low on the CCs coming in at only 21.2cc. I'm going to use a jackshaft and gearing.We will see how it goes.

The pic below is of the TREK before modifications and changes. It's not pretty but it's a solid frame is relatively good shape. Few scratches and no rust to speak of.

yeah, I have a pellet burinng stove in my living room. My house is about 1300sqft and it heats the whole house easy. I use about 3/4 a bag a day a bag costs about $6 So figure about $4 per day to heat on average cold days, less on warm days.

I would not recomend this brand of pellets though, for anyone looking into a pellet stove. Pennington may do good fertilizer and lawn seed but not so much on the pellets. These burn with a lot of ash and therefore are less efficent than other pellets of better quality.

I love the stove though

It's very cheap and some of the fireplaces are very attractive- mine looks like a small fireplace like you'd burn wood in. A little glass window lets you watch the pellets burn and watch the flames. Super easy to use too. There is some maintenance- Mine has only a 40lb hopper for the pellets, so I have to check it morning and night and fill as needed. Each bag of pellets is 40#. I also have to clean out some ash each day, but i"m will ing to takethe 10 min a day for the savings I get in oil. It used to cost up $12 to $20 a day in oil for our house.

Check around your area for places to find the pellets before you make an investment in the stove. It can be agravating to find pellets if they aren't easy to find. I have a lot of places to buy them around me- I can buy a bag at a time or a ton. Also they are always on clist. BUT if you live in an area where they aren't plentiful... it can be a pain in the keister to get them.

I'm going start this off by stating something I've stated before- I hate my replacement camera. It stinks. I can't get a good shot unless I'm in perfect lighting. A smidge of darkness and it gets blurry and the image stinks.

Anyway. I shoveled the walkway and headed to the garage to get a little more work on the TREK done. I managed to easily get the brakes swapped, the blue 'Ray's brakes fit perfectly and look a lot better than the brakes on it. I also pulled the brake levers from the blue 'Ray and they work well, but are the wrong color. I'm not sure what I”m going to do about that. I'd like to get grip shifts for the bike, but the issue is that if I use the old Suntour gears I won't be able to use an indexing shifter I'll need a friction shifter. Though I suppose I might be able to jerry rig something.

Road gears are bigger than mountain bike gears. With the taller road gears I might actually be able to help the engine as I pedal. The goal is to use the mountain bike gears on the jack shaft. We'll see how it works.
So far I'm still happy with how the bike is looking.

this week so far has been a big bust on working in the garage. Thought it's been warmer the rain has made it cooler, then add the wind and my garage is chilly indeed.

I did get in the mail my freewheel removal tool and my crank removal tool. I got them through buildyourbike on ebay. Shipping was slightly slow but prices were cheap, what more can I ask? Of course everything seems slow when I'm waiting.

I got one of the freewheels off no problem, the other I haven't started to work on yet. I'm sure it will come off easier than this one did. It was a tough mother to get off the hub. I want to use the vintage freewheel- it's a Suntour with gears with lots o' teeth. It's also in great shape.

As for the cranks they came off super easy. The raleigh cranks are pretty and in very good shape. I'm pulling the raleigh label off and leaving them blank. I may see if I can lay in a similarly shaped spot of paint and hand paint in something humorous... we'll see if I can get my lettering decent

I spent a little time cleaning both sets of cranks and both look as though they have never really been ridden. the bearings on the TREK sound good but i"m going to strip them out clean and repack them. The raleigh sounds like it's got sand in there and the bottom bracket is covered in grease. It's like it sat in a hot oven and the grease slowly baked out. I'm going to order a tool to get those out. I may need to get a tool box just for bike tools. I'm slowly amassing a great group of nice tools for cheap off eBay. It looks as though they used some sort of nasty sticky greases on the chain. A new chain will be in order for this build I may go for something in a nice color. lol- baby blue

the paint on the top tube looks okay there is a little orange peeling but it is only noticeable on one side. I'll repaint this summer if I don't like it.

I have ordered 2 11 tooth sprockets off of eBay through TNS scooters. They combined shipping. They are for a double D shaft Here's my thought. The shaft on the clutch bell of the Whacker I'm planning on using is 9mm square. the Double D sprocket opening is 10mm on the long side. I'm thinking if I'm careful I can squash the shaft in my vice to the right size, the key will be slow careful pressure. I'll be sure to get pics. I'll se it in place with bolts and nuts in just the right places. I'll also chop the shaft to the right size.

just posted up a good write up on my blog. I got my sprockets in teh mail. I bought them from CS Scooter on eBay. $7 each for a 11 tooth sprocket for a double d shaft... lol

Anyway they came in today and wonderful day that it was it was 60 degrees out (it's December right?) and I got out of work at 2:30pm. Sweet deal.

I get home, shop the case off around the Echo's shaft leaving me with about an inch or an inch and a half to work with. I thoght I might be able to put it in my vise and squash it... Yeah I wish. I'm about 1 foot too short and 50 lbs form being able to do that. A few good whacks with a hammer and I was able to reshape it enough that all I needed to do was grind the corners with my dremel down about a half mm each and I was able to stick the sprocket on. Then slip a 12mm socket over that and pound away to get it set close enough to the case to make me happy. Enough room that a chain will move easily and far enough on to make me happy. Tomorrow I'm going to grind down a 1/4 inch piece of all thread to fit into the shaft and JB weld it in. I'll drill a hole through the shaft and put a cotter pin in it to hld the sprocket on. We'll see how this works.

The pictures show the sprocket, with a 10mm double d hole next to the 9mm sq shaft. Later with it pounded just barely on it. Then on the shaft fully. ANd Finally I included a picture of the Mac Eager Beaver that I have with a Echo like case that will eventually I think get the same treatment.

I made a video but I don't know how to work this )**^&*^ camera. the instructions that came with this heap are like those that with the happy times- just this side of useless and serve more to confuse than to help. Hindrance.

I posted a full write up on this to my blog. I was reading Creative Engineerings post where he built some mounts wiht a bushing made of some rubber. Looking at it it reminded me of a skateboard truck. I Had to wonder if I could use a skate truck as a mount, so I'm going to try it.

I'm going to use 2 trucks, off a freecycled skateboard. Dirt cheap mongoose carp. These are solid trucks Better quality trucks have a press fitted axle that slides through the whole truck. These are some molded alloy. The alloy may have been just molded around the axle.... Anyway. What I will be doing it Chopping the majority of the axle part of teh trucks off. Drill one side where the axle was, tap and bolt into it./ On teh other side the way hte engine mounts are, I will drill through the whole truck leggy part and mount with a bolt.

The truck will sit upside down with the deck part on the frame of the bike, attached there with some small U bolts, 2 each truck. On the truck itself I'll use some epoxy putty to form fit it so the truck doesn't move around. I'll be able to get at the bushings for adjustment, which should stop a lot of the vibrations that I might otherwise feel.

No pics yet it's too darn snowy and cold to get into the garage for anything longer than 10 or 15 minutes

I draw the line for working in there when I can see my breath

After I shoveled 12 inches of snow of my driveway and walkway yesterday I got hit again with what looks like another 6 inches or so. Cna't catch a break. this evening it's switched to freezing rain and while it was above freezing I made a quick run to the garage to see if I could make some headway with the skateboard trucks.

Looks like it's going to work pretty easily. The base of the truck that attaches to the deck of the skateboard, has a series of 4 holes. those are a perfect fit to clear the down tube. I was able to cut the legs off the trucks with ease, though I measured twice wrong and cut one a hair off. It's not a hard fix, I can buy longer bolts than expected and put some nuts on there to fix it in place. The other I'll cut properly. I may see if I can get my hands on another used truck.

The pictures below explain perfectly what I'm trying to do and how i"m going to attach the whacker to the truck.

I spent a hour or so int he garage getting the other truck ready for mounting. It didnt' take very long but I did manage to break 4 cutting disks on my dremel while doing it. It's more than long enough and will do the job well

I"m pretty happy, i got a new camera and it makes me quite happy as it takes fantastic pics.

Didn't get anything done on the bike this weekend though we had some fantastic weather. I had to focus some time on my hobby that pays-making books. I made the mistake this year of not getting as much done with them before the holidays and now I'm paying for it. Oh well.

I did buy some new work gloves, I posted a rant on my blog about finding gloves that fit and aren't totally lame in color and style. You guys have it easy, you can walk into any improvement store and there is a whole rack of leather gloves to fit you and not in lame color combinations and styles. We ladies have to contend with pathetic colors like lavender, baby blue and hot pink; then add to that misery flowers. Yes most glove manufacturers like to first make he ladies gloves in a sad color then add flowers. Sweet crying baby j3sus, I just want a pair of work gloves that fit and aren't totally lame! Is that too much to ask? I would buy a pair that are baby blue but not a pair that are baby blue with flowers. Who ARE The geniuses that come up with this?

Anyway, I found the LAST pair of Men's small size and they fit, sort of... Even a lengthy search online netted me with more lame color and flower combinations. THe other choice was that I buy some more gardening gloves- which have a baggy loose fit and I shredded them working on the bike in just a few months. The other thing, most of the women's gloves come in one size fits all? Seriously? We all have the same sized hands?

Rant over.

I did pick up the U Bolts I need for mounting, a new bit for my dremel- a fancy metal cutting bit, yeah power, and some odds and ends. And $20 in other crap I really really needed. Apparently I'm a terrible cashier too, I forgot the really important thing I was there for- the safety glasses. Not in my bag an not on my receipt. I must have left them at the self checkout. Which means I need to make another trip to home depot and probably spend another $20 on more things I really really need.