Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

Bought a head doctor.



I hate those star nuts.

 

Gggnnnnrrr /Bites knuckles

 

I had two choices. The first was to smack the star nut all the way through. I've done this before and let me tell you, it's no fun. You end up with a ton of missing skin on your knuckles. The second choice was to just cut the fork with it in and smack it out. The third was use a head doctor. It's bad enough on a BMX fork, but look at how long they are Edit. Looking at that? you can't even smack the star nut all the way through. It's blocked at the brake mount end.



It would have taken all bloody day.

Oh yeah, update on the back wheel. So last night I went down and noticed something really odd. The non drive side cone nut was still in the wheel with the bearing cap. Eh? how in the F has that stayed put? maybe the bearing cap presses on or something, but it should still have fallen to bits. Then it dawned on me that he did show both sides of the wheel. Only he left a tyre on it in certain pics and it wasn't there in others. So I thought it was the front wheel with no skewer in, as he was selling both.



So I am pulling away, won't budge. How in the hell is it defying gravity?. So I screwed the axle into it from the drive side and gave it a tapperoo. Out it came, cap with it, leaving behind a sealed bearing. So basically the non drive side is sealed, yet the drive side is not. And now I know what they were talking about when they said "you can't get that part any more". They meant the cone nut which goes into the sealed bearing. Now thankfully it never fell out and was nicely in there. Had that been missing? well, I would have been screwed, and had to ask my mate to turn me one on his lathe. So at least if it ever does go poop I can get another one made, as I have it as a reference.

 

Right, that is most of the wheel prep. I started by wet sanding the brake lip. One side had tub glue all over it, so it was harder. Needs another pass.



Other side is better though. Have misted the clear coat but it's still drying. Needs a good clean with isoprop and a tack rag tomorrow.



Will go at the lips again later and move onto a brillo soap pad.

Here is the axle assembly. The spacers are on wrong, I just didn't want to lose anything. Left side you can see the sealed bearing cone. IE the vital part you can't replace without having one made.

 

Holy crap. I figured I would do a dry run of fitting the rear tubular tyre before it was all clear coated and decalled up. I noticed on the box it said 28". I could have sworn 700c was 29". Any way, it was far too small. So I checked the web page, sure enough it says 700c. What I didn't know is you have to stretch it on. JFC it's not easy !

I've left it on there overnight. Apparently you need to do that before fitting it permanently. I also did a test cut of some decals for the wheels. I bought this hi viz vinyl back in 2017 when I got the bike. I was going to do logos for the alloy wheels, but the move got in the way. It has been sitting in my loft in a tube ever since lol.



What I mean by test cut is, that's cheap £2 white vinyl. I am using the proper 2080 3M stuff for the actual ones, but it's expensive and I will only get one shot.

 

Right, weather is cack so I won't clear coat the wheel today. Instead I sanded out the fork ready for black paint, then masked it.





Was a bit of a sod, but hey it's done.

 

Tape off the crown race so any paint won't effect the way it sit's into the lower bearing.

 

Like this?



Pedal bin liners.

 

Guess that does the job.

 

Yeah saves a butt load of tape tbh. Took off the masking because there was a chip in the clear coat on the exposed carbon section. Needs a tiny bit more wet sanding, then they can get clear with the wheel. Going matt also.

 

Fork done.





Wheel done.

 

I knew I would bloody forget something !

 

Accepted the fact I am old (53) and need a comfier ride.
Arrives next week:

 

Wicked. That does indeed look super comfy !

 

Clear on the drive side went a bit milky when it dried. It doesn't bother me but if it does I can always go over it with a brillo pad.



Didn't happen on the other side.



Will rebuild it later. Need to find my gunk so I can get all the 30 year old grease off the bearings that I stripped from the NOS hub.

 

Tyres on. Rear was not that bad. It's now sat with 110 PSI in it whilst it bonds. You have to leave it like that overnight.

 

Rookie errors, Tyre branding should either line up with rim branding or the valve core. Take it off and redo it.

Isn't that right @legoman ??

Other than that, looks good.

 

It's tubular, so good luck with that.

I could piss around doing that on the front, like I do with my carpet queen BMXs, but I CBA.

 

I'm not happy with the front wheel. I keep looking at it and the red for example is going to look terrible. There is nothing else red anywhere on the bike. The hub is also totally out of place as well. It was cheap AF (£28 delivered) so will make for a cracking spare.

Instead I bought a Campagnolo Calima for £62. I think it will pair beautifully with the rear, and of course the gorgeous campag brakes I have.