Random observations:
* This morning's cloud shrouded sunrise shortly before 6am created a hazy glow was hauntingly pretty.
* Twice in the last six days I have seen cars with Alaska license plates. Why are these foreigners invading our peaceful midwestern countryside? :)
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Rather than do something crazy like training this week, I have spent the last couple days pretending to know how to put a bike together.
My new wheels have been built up for a while so last week my new Vittoria tubulars arrived and I purchased some glue Monday night. Tuesday evening I mounted the tires on the wheels to begin the stretching process. The first tire seemed a little more difficult to mount on the rim but maybe that was because it was my first attempt. Once the tires were mounted I pulled out the future TT frame. First, I installed the chainrings, then the brakes, followed by the derailleurs. For the time being, I had planned on using the bar stem from my cross bike. If I had put a little thought into the process I would have realized the stem would not handle the beefy 31.8mm aerobar. Thinking ahead is not my strong point.
Yesterday, I stopped by the shop after work and picked up a new stem, some brake cables and a chain. The new stem and bars went on smoothly. Then it was time for the cables. I threaded the cable through the little hole on the brake levers but the metal "head" of the cable would not fit in the lever. Initially, I thought it was only a matter of the slot on the brake lever not being wide enough. I began filing down the opening to make it larger. The work was slow and the more I worked it became clear that the metal head on the cable was not only too thick to begin with but that it would be too long to fit as well.
By that time my German stubbornness had reared its head. The darn cable was going to fit come hell or high water. I started getting goofy and took the cable downstairs and fired up the grinding wheel. That began a series of about five or six trips up and down the steps to see if my work was sufficient enough to fit in the brake lever. It was not. With each unsuccessful trip, my frustration grew greater. As I did more and more work on the cable it became clear that standard brake cable just would not work. By that time I was proud owner of unneeded and rather inelegantly modified set of cables. I looked around some old parts and discovered some shifter cables laying around. The smaller head on the shifter cables was the perfect fix to my problem.
Far less frustrating, but still mentally challenging, was figuring out how to internally feed the cable through aerobars correctly. Properly feeding the cable was a case of taking two steps forward and one step back. Again and again I would realize something that needed to be done before the step I just done. Eventually, everything came together but by that time I had decided to quit for the evening and not start tackling the process of connecting the cables to the various components. That is a headache for another day. At least, the bike looks like a bike again. Albeit, a chainless bike with dangling cables and no working components.
Now you can invite friends from Facebook and other groups to join you on Windows Live™ Messenger. Add them now!
* This morning's cloud shrouded sunrise shortly before 6am created a hazy glow was hauntingly pretty.
* Twice in the last six days I have seen cars with Alaska license plates. Why are these foreigners invading our peaceful midwestern countryside? :)
-----------------------------
Rather than do something crazy like training this week, I have spent the last couple days pretending to know how to put a bike together.
My new wheels have been built up for a while so last week my new Vittoria tubulars arrived and I purchased some glue Monday night. Tuesday evening I mounted the tires on the wheels to begin the stretching process. The first tire seemed a little more difficult to mount on the rim but maybe that was because it was my first attempt. Once the tires were mounted I pulled out the future TT frame. First, I installed the chainrings, then the brakes, followed by the derailleurs. For the time being, I had planned on using the bar stem from my cross bike. If I had put a little thought into the process I would have realized the stem would not handle the beefy 31.8mm aerobar. Thinking ahead is not my strong point.
Yesterday, I stopped by the shop after work and picked up a new stem, some brake cables and a chain. The new stem and bars went on smoothly. Then it was time for the cables. I threaded the cable through the little hole on the brake levers but the metal "head" of the cable would not fit in the lever. Initially, I thought it was only a matter of the slot on the brake lever not being wide enough. I began filing down the opening to make it larger. The work was slow and the more I worked it became clear that the metal head on the cable was not only too thick to begin with but that it would be too long to fit as well.
By that time my German stubbornness had reared its head. The darn cable was going to fit come hell or high water. I started getting goofy and took the cable downstairs and fired up the grinding wheel. That began a series of about five or six trips up and down the steps to see if my work was sufficient enough to fit in the brake lever. It was not. With each unsuccessful trip, my frustration grew greater. As I did more and more work on the cable it became clear that standard brake cable just would not work. By that time I was proud owner of unneeded and rather inelegantly modified set of cables. I looked around some old parts and discovered some shifter cables laying around. The smaller head on the shifter cables was the perfect fix to my problem.
Far less frustrating, but still mentally challenging, was figuring out how to internally feed the cable through aerobars correctly. Properly feeding the cable was a case of taking two steps forward and one step back. Again and again I would realize something that needed to be done before the step I just done. Eventually, everything came together but by that time I had decided to quit for the evening and not start tackling the process of connecting the cables to the various components. That is a headache for another day. At least, the bike looks like a bike again. Albeit, a chainless bike with dangling cables and no working components.
Now you can invite friends from Facebook and other groups to join you on Windows Live™ Messenger. Add them now!
1 Comments:
be careful using shifter cables as brake cables. typically, they aren't as beefy and make snap earlier than a brake cable. this is your tt bike, so you shouldn't be braking except for at the finish line and then you can use the crowd to slow your pace. ;-)
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