Testing out my wheel build and a bonus mile bike update
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- This is an update video on the wheel rebuild and a bonus update on my custom steel bike 21,000 miles). I've pushed this bike through the paces and share my thoughts on it as well as things I might consider changing if I were to do it all over again. Hit that like button, guys! For the Al-go-Rythm 😜
#custom #bicycle
Link to Ms. Cools Medium blog please!
I know, right?
Yes please!
Hello, the link is medium.com@/tmcools
I think that was Ronnie UltraRomance on that Harley near the end…
Sure looked like him.
adorable doggie.
Good British steel touring bike would use oversized top tubes
I built a wheel where the valve was between crossed spokes rather than parallel spokes, but could still fit the pump in, just. This amateur couldn't be bothered re-lacing and rode the bike like that for a couple years. My secret spoking screwup lol.
I've often wondered about that. If you don't get the spokes parallel to the valve will you still be able to get a pump on. I guess you can!
Like the mic.drop! In relation to you saying that probably,a bit of extra weight doesn’t matter too much....after following the development of bikes from 1970’s road racing on steel frames..1980’s lots of mountain biking on Steel,then later Aluminium frames..then finally all my bikes Carbon fiber and MUCH lighter...however,couple of years ago built steel Ciocc 1990’s Road Frame 11 speed Campy Record- love it! Few months ago bought a used Steel 853 Stanton Sherpa Mountain Bike Frame...stripped my Carbon hard tail frame and began to doubt my decision based on the massively heavier steel frame. HOWEVER the Stanton rides so much nicer! More nimble,More Responsive,Climbs beautifully and am now convinced that for most of us,who are not in ‘World Tour’teams, the weight of a bike ain’t it! Realized I had been blindly following the latest trends and often profit driven whims of the Bike Industry!
Great video, look forward to the next one. Many thanks.
Always learn a bit more on bike geometry and construction. Not always apply the in depth nerdy as I ride different bikes, but I do look at them more knowingly with every HW session. Thank you. And now we want to know more about Ms. Cools blog.
Toe over lap sucks on road bike when clip in doing stand on Traffic lights....never never has been a problem MT biking for 40 years for me :)
Its so cool that the wheel worked out! Seeing Mrs Cools handling the microphone made the weekend start really well :-D . / I know it adds some extra weight but we have put some washers with a really high diameter under and on top of the fenders and same on fragile bottelcages to make them last longer. Liebe Grüße
Mark from Maryland , long time subscriber.
QUESTION :
Have you ever ridden that famous "Repack"
I think its the cascade trail near the pine mountain trail in Marin county ?
That's a very interesting story and I'm guessing not terribly far from you
Could you touch on that sometime ?
Thank you very much
Hi Mark. Yes, I've ridden it a few times on different bikes. It's a nice twisty decent off the mountain right back into town. It feels like you've been transported from remote wilderness to civilization. I think that's why Fairfax is such a popular place to ride bikes.
Don't feel alone in the re-do. Almost every bike mechanic has finishedthe lacing only to realize a mistake and has had to unlace and do it properly. Happened to me on my 2nd wheel build. It's just learning without an attentive servive manager and pre-internet. Bought the exact same book you have and it led to a long mechanic career. Nice vids btw. We share similar tastes in a lot of things methinks. Cheers
One of the primary reasons I prefer low trail bikes is the steering control. With mid trail bikes with shorter fork offset they tend to require more body english to steer at higher speeds. Low trail bikes steer more effectively. Also the front loading geometry allows one to use lighter tubesets. Mid trail bikes have to be made stiffer to accommodate the rear loads they carry. Toe overlap is normally adjusted by lengthening the top tube and shortening the stem/reach. I find it essential for riding singletrack.
About trail, I call 100% bullshit. My custom Rohloff tour bike with 70/ 70 angles was made at 53.5 mm trail. Damn thing refused to steer!!!! Going a fast downhill right curve one day, I couldn't even stay in the car lane.
Fortunately I broke the whimpy thing 3 times in Vietnam and China. LOL. The new one is a tandem fork bent from 50 mm stock rake to 66 mm, trail went to 61.5 mm. Turns like an angel. Both forks shimmied with weight on the back, the stays are 19.5" with a 46.5" WB. I do have plenty weight on the front also.
So both hands on the bar 99% of the time.
My frame was designed for swept comfort bars, so the 610 top tube nixed the toe problem.
But then I have knee overlap. LOL.
Thanks for the update! Long time viewer. Still riding my Specialized Expedition, wish I followed up with you about your old wheelset (with the dynamo) you had on your Expedition. Cheers!
Interesting bike. What is the chainstay length? Which axle to crown?
Nice wheel! The radial truing is always the hardest. After watching your videos about this frame I went with single oversize .8/.5/.8, mid trail, but Reynolds most curved fork blades and their medium-sized seatstays to support a rear rack (I don't use a front rack). I built this frame myself. It rides like a dream but you do get more of that springy "steel feeling" with standard sizing, which I have on my custom road frame. But I think single oversize is a good choice if carrying bags.
Sweet! Did you oversize the TT or just the DT? Is it lugged or welded?
@@Henrywildeberry Oversized both. So 1 1/8 TT and 1 1/4 DT. I thought it better to stick with convention, although it's thinner walled than most commercial touring frames probably. Welded and I used Reynolds 631. I also went with threadless headset (1 1/8 steerer) and a slight angle on the TT (about 4°) to increase the stack a bit.
I built my frame from columbus spirit 757. And I used overs sized tubes for the exact reason you mentioned and it can take a beating on the trail. I used a Straggler fork. I have very minor ovetlap. But it does bug me a little that I didn't get it more exact.
I carry a Stein cassette tool and a spare spoke. That way a broken spoke can be fixed on the road. On my fixie the spare spoke slides into the Tri bar at the slot in front. The Bontrager pump fits inside the opposite Tri bar in the back. Co2 stored separately. I don't always carry a lock ring tool for this. The rear wheel doesn't go too far out of true when a spoke breaks. When the 3rd spoke breaks, it's time to replace all the spokes!
I recall another blogger mentioning a remote double mic set up,. I can't remember much about it or who it was, but this might be good for Miss Cools on your travels if your system permits. Sometime she if difficult to hear, but then again, maybe it adds to the unique zaniness of your videos ? Wish I could get reasonably priced aluminium mudguards where I stay and not only the plastic ones which crack regularly. I think I have more tape on them than plastic !
Hi Henry, nice bike! What kind of brand is it? American make? I'm from Europe so I'm not that familiar with American frame builders. Nice and informative video by the way 😀
Thanks Peter. The frame was built by a local builder named John Fitzgerald from Fitz Cyclez.
Your updated bike as hypothetically designed seems quite similar to the Rivendell Bleriot, which is my (current) favorite frame design. The advantage you have is being able to run 48s with fenders which is quite nice. Analog Cycles seems to have come to much of the same conclusions as you when it comes to fork offset/low trail geometry. They solved it with shorter stems/short reach handlebars and longer top tubes, which seems quite interesting to think about. At any rate you’re right, toe overlap has never really been a problem for me “in the real world”. It’s kind of like friction shifting uphill or hard cornering with a lowish bottom bracket: you pick up the skills you need. I’m not really a frequent UA-cam commenter, but I like your videos quite a bit, thanks for making them.
Analog has no clue about low trail bikes. I would not trust his off the cuff assessment. I have had 4 low trail bikes and currently have the two 700C versions I ride on a regular basis. I did go with trail in the high 40mm range and slightly stiffer tubing and love the way they ride.
@@mikeschiller6728 I’m no bike maestro but what they say seems commonsensical to me and matches up with my experience on low trail bikes. I’m open to being wrong though! - what do you think is being missed?
@@miatomi I agree with the long top tube/ short stem approach and my bikes reflect that. I'm 6 feet tall and my drop bar bikes have 60 to 70 mm stems and 59.5 and 60.5 CM top tubes. Not sure how Analog's zero cm stem bikes ride but combined with their slack HTA frames it would be super stable. Not what I like and the opposite of low trail.
Mic Drop!!
I find that low trail is nicer for a loaded front bag than high trail. With a high trail fork, the steering can be light and responsive unladen, but becomes thick and sluggish with 20 pounds in a porteur. With lower trail, it's a bit twitchy unladen, but smooths out and remains responsive as weight is added to the bag. My experience is with Riv-ish trail on two Rivs, and lower trail on a RBW fork that was re-raked (and also had its Canti mounts removed for MAFAC RAID centerpull braze-ons.
Oversize TT and DT with 14mm seat stays may work for you in a stiffer main triangle /compliant fork, seat stays and tires kinda way. Try a different fork with a trail around 44-48mm. That works for lighter loads. A slacker HTA may be helpful. Back when Specialized expeditions were new in the showroom, I chose the Trek 720. If you build more wheels, try asymetric rims like Velocity and Pacenti.
I have low-trail fork envy.
Henry I am not qualified in any way but clearly you need a touring bike.
My last ride was a 70s Raleigh Competition converted to 650b. I too found it just a bit too flexible for me - but only at the bottom bracket, and probably because I'm big and tall. It is standard diameter and likely in the 7/5/7 range or so. I wonder if a "Mule" tube set up would work fine for me, especially if I got a seat tube that transitioned from 31.8 to 28.6
I should probably ask a professional, though...
Though I must admit that I desperately miss my low trail! My new main rig is a Rivendell Clem L, which I love overall. I just hate the wheel flop and miss a good road geo, even with my upright bars
The Clem must have a fairly relaxed HT angle?
@@Henrywildeberry Indeed. They don't have the geo posted anymore at Riv but it's a slack HT and not a lot of rake. Whereas my Competition has a 74 deg HT and the custom fork, 64mm of rake!
Wrap the tube and BB shell with 2 layers of CF, done, stiff as a board. Leave the paint on and use an epoxy that gets real hard. That's what I did to my superheavyweight custom tour Rohloff14 bike, among a bunch of other CF things I made. Way way overbuilt, but hey it is indestructible. LOL. 120 lbs loaded. Did 2 tours total 8,100 miles.
@@GordoGambler No. I don't think I will
Miss Cools, was that what they call a mike drop 🤓. Great job on the wheel Henry and you have really put the miles on the original Fitz. It still looks great. What ever happened to the Bianchi?
Thanks Tony! It's interesting to see how opinions evolve over time. Most of what I think about the bike has remained the same, but I have learned a few things more about frame stiffness and handing from this bike. All good of course:) I let the Bianchi go a few years back to help fund the new projects.
In the Wizard of Oz they fell asleep resting in a poppy field. Don’t lay down, or maybe you should!
Watch out for green Eldorados if resting in the poppy fields, great song
Suppose you have a low spot (I.e. wheel is out of round). Is the right corrective mesure to loosen spokes on both sides? How do you determine if it is the hub that is eccentrically positioned and has to be moved, or that the rim is just bent out of shape?
For a low spot try loosening the spoke directly above with a half turn and the adjacent spokes on either side a 1/4 turn each. Continuing to tighten the spokes beyond good tension will start to warp the rim. You get a type of lateral buckling as the rim goes into too much compression. If you notice as you tighten the rim to get it true and suddenly is goes out of true in other parts of the wheel you're likely over tensioned. Back it off a bit and start over.
@Henrywildeberry thanks!
@RollinRat do you use any thread locker or other product on the spoke-nipple interface?
Almost sounds like you're after a Sam Hillborne! Mostly joking;)
what bike frame is this?
Custom.