The ugliest hipster bike; rattle-can stolen

This is the ugliest hipster bicycle I have ever seen posted on the Internet. I don’t remember where I found it but the photo is called criticalmasstheultimateweapon. I have actually lobbied in the City of Santa Cruz to make this bike illegal! That’s right ILLEGAL!. If you were found in possession of a bike that looked like this the bike would be seized for destruction and owner jailed. I am not kidding here. I work for the police department and run a web site that is a clearinghouse for bike stolen in the county. http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/pd/index.html. The most common form of bike thievery is when someone steals a bike and paints it haphazardly in order to disguise it true identity. About 80% of the homeless and criminals in Santa Cruz are riding on bicycles that either have had the brand decals scrapped off in an obvious attempt to disguise the bike, or the bike has been haphazardly painted (over the bearing and seals and spokes) for the same reason.

Due to the above I presented to the City Council a proposed law, the would first, make it illegal to possess a bicycle, where someone has specifically scrapped of the identifying marking on a bicycle, with the obvious intent to obscure the make. The law would also outlaw the haphazard painting of a bicycle for the same reasons; bikes where someone had shown due care, such as masking off the headset, bottom brackets, seatpost, stem, cranks or wheels would be excepted.

Now look at this bike. The owner has painted over the seat tube and seat clamp! Further, it appears he painted over the bottom bracket, he painted over the headset (upper and lower), and there appears to be over spray on the stem! This bike should be illegal to own! Don’t let this happen to you. Don’t risk arrest because you have no concept on how to repaint a bike to improve the aesthetics. This guy is hiding something. I don’t know what it is. I am trying to resist accusing this guy of trying to cover up the fact that he might have met Pedro on the levy and bought the bike for $20. Regardless. Everyone has a roll of masking tape in their junk drawer. If you must rattle can your bike. Mask it! Don’t paint over the seat post clamp, you may have to adjust it some day. Don’t spray paint over the bottom bracket and headset bearings. You need to do periodic maintenance on the bearings. But finally take some pride in your bike. A hipster bike is supposed to look, well hip; not rattle-can stolen.

The Soma Bike is Done!

Frame: Soma Rush (55cm); Fork: Threaded Tange steel; Headset: Tange Levin engraved; Bottom Bracket: Shimano Dura Ace (NJS) cups/bearings, Campagnolo spindle; Crank: Shimano Track (NJS); Pedals: MKS (NJS); Toeclips: Soma; Straps: Toshi; Handlebars: Nitto (NJS); Stem: Nitto (NJS); Rims: Tubular Araya (NJS); Spokes/Nipples: DT 15g; Hubs: Suzue Pro Max (NJS)Tires: Vittoria CX; Wheels: 3 cross front/ 4 cross rear; Cogs:18T (Soma), 16T (Shimano)(NJS); Seat post: Soma; Seat: Brooks; Brake caliper: Tektro; Brake lever: Soma.

The bike is sleek, smooth and white. If using a NJS part made sense I used it, otherwise I went with Soma or Tange. I have a few more NJS parts but I perferred the bike this way. The saddle is a wonder. My best friend and riding buddy handed over this beautiful Brooks B17 Sprinter. For those of you that don't know, the Sprinter was the defacto saddle for track racers in the 50's. The saddle was introduced in the 1925 and was produced for 30 years. Brooks is now making a collectors version of the saddle with a Ti frame. It's a very cool saddle.

Is a bike really ever done? This post is over 4 months old and I'm still tweaking it. If you remember back @ http://onespeedbiker.blogspot.com/2007/11/njs-part-3-threadless-steerers-suck.html I said a $160 seatpost was over the top; and I still agree. However, what if you can get the $160 seatpost for say $60? and here it is! A Nitto SP72; considered by many the nicest seatpost ever made. Unless you are holding this seatpost in your hand, you can't imagine how nice it really is. The minor marks you see is the result of the seat post being inserted into a seat tube a couple of times. I bought it used from Japan for $67.20 shipped.

The Nishiki conversion; it lives!

This is part 2 of the  The Nishiki Conversion

A more intelligent person probably would have kept the frame and thrown the rest away. I still think that would have been easier. There are also some badly rusted chrome parts that did not clean up well. Still I really like the old Dia Comp parts. As usual as the build took shape some of my plans changed.

I discussed the wheels earlier, which are the original Araya 27” hoops and one Shimano 333 hub (front). The rear is a Formula loose ball fixed/fixed hub. Further I bought a Surly 22T cog and lockring. I also replaced all the spokes; the front spokes were extras from another build and the rear spokes came (along with some extra long nipples).

Frame wise, I ended up stripping off the my rattle can copper paint, which was an awful looking color for the frame anyway. I entertained trying the rattle can approach again with a different color and then came to my senses and took the frame to the powder coater. Okay, $100 is a bit much for this project, but I won't have to deal with it again and it will look really nice. My first choice was a burnished brass, but gold metallics require a clear coat and that’s another $60. Turns out my son got his first choice, with a dark green metallic (my other green bike is an emerald green).

Second there were these pedals. I actually threw away these OEM pedals (twice!) before I took a wire wheel to them and knocked off all the rust. Mechanically they work as a well as new, but the rust really did a job on the chrome. I was left obsessing over a set of Kyokuto pedals. I have seen them in several incarnations. The first is the all steel version I was dealing with, which include a strap guide on the outer edge of the cage. I tried using theses guides but they did not put strap in a postion that seemed shoe friendly. There is also NJS style, which have an abreviated aluminum cages. The NJS style also have rivets that hold on the cage on the body, all the other versions use a tab on the body through a slit in the cage. There is an aluminum caged version with no flip tab and another that does. I checked eaby for a better set, but had trouble finding a pair for less than $50. Then lo and behold I finally managed to find the above pair for $16.50. These have an aluminum cage with a flip tap.

The Nishiki also has a Suntour Sakae steel chromed headset. While in better condition than the pedals, the chrome on top lockring took the brunt of the corrosion. The lockring is also made for a 21.1 stem? The stem steps down from 22.1. After a little investigation I discovered this the use of a 21.1 stem is common on BMX and crusier. If I wanted a replacement, I would best look for a Crusier style headset. In the mena time I bought a similar style JIS Bottom bracket that tuned out to be mismarked (this was before I realized the need for a 21.1 top lock ring. I was able to send that back, but I replaced it with a much cheaper BMX headset, where the top lockring fit, but was a might puny. I may just stay with what I have (it's not THAT bad). The bottom bracket was in questionable condition with the spindle races being pretty shot, but the cups were pretty smooth. The owner of one of the LBS(s) in town, is a friend who lets me rummage around through most his old parts bins. He used to charge me a nominal fee, now he just lets me have them gratis. The original spindle had threaded studs at the ends and was asymmetrical. I found a replacement spindle and the short side fit pretty close, but I was hoping for perfection.

The Maxy crank has a pressed on 52 tooth chain ring and is therefore flat on the mounting side. To get a perfect chain line, I needed a spindle a few millimeters smaller. I poked around in the LBS and after trying about 8 spindles, I finally found one that gave me a 1mm gap. The Bottom Bracket itself was Tange, but there was something I didn’t like how the bearings (or the bearing cage) fit into the cups. I had some Sakae cups that seemed to like the bearing cages much better so I used them.

The chain was just an NOS Parts bin 3/32 KMC. The handle bar was a chromed Champion drop bar (this bike originally had a much narrower aluminum bar; but I happened upon this bar as a replacement) that is OEM on Nishiki(s) along with the Dia Compe center pull (770) brake caliper and the classic Dia Compe lever with the "safety" bar. The 770 brakes are still available and a good compromise for those who want cantilevers but don't have the bosses. The OEM seat was shot and I temporarily replaced it from the old parts bin seat.

I really like the look of the Dia Compe brake hanger and release. Rust really hurt the aesthetics of these parts, but I managed to find similar replacements on Ebay. OEM Replacements. The difference may not seem like much, but in real life it was worth the $20 extra dollars. The original budget was estimated @ $100. The was pretty much dashed when it turned out both hubs need to be replaced; fortunately a friend supplied me with a front hub gratis. Also the original paint job was supposed to be rattle can. When that didn't work out the budget was blown out of the water when I deceided to powder coat the frame.

Rear hub- $ 40
spokes/nipples $ 20
cog and lockring $ 50
Powder coat $100
Brake hanger $20
Pedals $25

So we're looking @ $235.

Still not done. Nope. Since these photos were taken I have already added a grip to the handle bars and will soon add the new pedals. Also the old tires are trash. Fortunately 27" tires are dirt cheap. Finally I took the bike by an LBS that has helped me with some parts. After much appreciated praise, he had a question of criticism; where's the leather saddle? And of course he's right. A true hipster bike needs a leather (aka brooks/ ) saddle. For a while I have had my eye on a brooks B-17 Special; green w/copper rivets in mind. While you may see them for $80, they are back ordered. A search found the best one in stock for about $100. So;

Brooks seat- $100.00
Tires-$16

All the above items are on order. So I am probably looking at about $370 after tax and license. I will add more photos when it's together.


And here they are! As finished as it's likely to get.





My first ride on these tires show this bike to be a pig. That's right, at only 63 gear inches (52/22) it's like riding through the mud on smooth pavement. Of course, that doesn't really matter, it's all about the joy of riding it. OTOH the Brooks saddle is surprizingly comfortable. I didn't really expect much, so I am quite pleased.

It was a bike to die for

On 01.09.08 a young man by the name of Lucian Gregg crashed his fixie bike and died. The location of the crash was E.Cliff and Jessie, which is only about 80 yards from where I crashed my bike a year ago. The local rag ran a few articles about fixies. This was a response I considered. Prior to submitting a response, some fool sent a letter to the editor claiming the crash was the fault of the trucker, who probably passed the biker and turned right in front of him. All the evidence points to the probability that the truck driver was well ahead of the biker prior to the crash. A witness saw the truck's brake lights come on along with it's turn signal, giving the bicyclist more than enough time to stop. Unfortunately the biker seemed to not notice the actions of the truck until it was too late. Hear is my reply:

After reading your article on the “fixie fad”, I thought I might clarify a few points over looked by I.A.Stewart. I am a League of American Cyclist certified instructor. I'm an avid cyclist and bike mechanic for over 30 years; for last 7 years I have been riding a fixed gear bike. I also have commuted to work for the last 5 years on the same stretch of road where this accident happened and a year ago (before it was re-surfaced), I crashed breaking 5 ribs. Having a brake made no difference (I hit a newly formed pot hole); wearing a helmet probably saved my life.

In IA Stewart's article he says “Fixies originally developed for racing indoor velodromes". The truth is closer to Josh Long’s comment that fied gear bikes are, “what people have been riding for 150 years". The first bicycles did not have freewheels (the part of the hub that lets you coast), which have only been around for about 100 years. Riding a fixed gear gives one the same pleasure as driving a Model A down the street. It is the riding without brakes that came from the velodromes, and that’s truly where it belongs. To rely on skidding the rear tire for emergency stopping is the realm of the young and stupid (stupid meaning without life experience). A brake on the front wheel, allow the front tire to do about 80% of the stopping. Stopping with just a rear “brake” reduces your stopping ability by the same amount. When I was a kid, most bikes ridden by children my age, had coaster brakes. These brakes are most like stopping a brakeless fixie, as it relies on the chain, pedals and rear tire to stop, but has the added advantage of letting you coast. But as anyone who ever tried to stop a pedal brake knows, they also were very inefficient, as you could skid the rear tire with no effort at all; and when the tire is skidding it is not stopping. What happens in a skid is the tire material is ground off the tire and becomes little balls between the road and the tire. Add to that that a fixie road tire has half the tire patch (the part of the tire that is in contact with the road) and twice the rolling energy (caused by a larger wheel diameter) as your average Stin ray or BMX tire, and you are not going to stop very efficiently.

The bike had *Velocity rims, *Formula hubs and *Sugino cranks (* high end parts popular with fixie riders) but no brakes; it was a bike to die for. Today the bike community mourns the loss of another one of it’s own; his youth makes the loss even more painful. Make no mistake, that the lack of a brake caused this accident and most likely Lucian’s death. Much had already been said within the biking community about the foolishness of riding without brakes on a fixed gear bike, hopefully this will start a meaningful dialog that will prevent another loss of life.*


Brad

The NJS Plan Changes

I'm still waiting for the fork to come back from the painters; turns out the powder coater does not have a pearl white, so they will paint it a standard white and send it to a "wet" painter to for a coat of pearl clear. Then there is the topic of the crank. As I explained in an earlier post, I bought a beautiful NOS Suntour Superbe Pro. Unfortunately it was only the right side and in 165mm. 165mm is certainly the perfect size for a track crank, but it's also close to track specific. Now the Suntour cranks is also NJS, which means it connects to an ISO bottom Bracket Spindle. For those of you that don't know, the Industry standard for most square taper spindles in the US is JIS (the use of the JIS standard for spindles was driven by Shimano, which is confusing since they used the ISO standard for everything else). ISO is used by Campagnolo and some older European component makers; it is also the standard used for most track gruppos. The two standards are not in-compatible; ISO is a little smaller than JIS, meaning if you slide a JIS crank arm on a ISO spindle, the crank arm will stop about 4-5 mm farther then where an ISO crank arm would stop. If you have a worn crank, then you may run out of spindle. This is where the 165mm length comes into play. I figured I just pick-up a left Campy crank arm until I could find another Superbe. The problem is (as I said) 165mm is usually made for track, so the only left crank arms out there are 170's. I ended up with a Shimano 165mm crank arm. It was a beautiful Dura Ace, but it is JIS. The crank arm was new, so difference on the spindle was an acceptable 3-4 mm. I rode it this way for a few rides, but the fact that my bike had mis-matched standards weighed heavily on my mind.

Most of the parts I have accumulated for this project has been from Internet stores. One I pointed out earlier, was Rider Paradise. Unfortunately this site has dwindled to offering no parts at all. To take it's place I have been checking out njs-keirin.blogspot and njsframes.blogspot. Finally I found a Dura Ace crank on njs-keirin. $207 (+$25 shipping) for the crank, pedals and NJS straps. This was a great deal. The Dura Ace track cranks are NJS and really, really nice; certainly as nice as the Suntour cranks and I have both arms! The pedals are MKS Custom Nuevo(s).

Unfortunately I made a small mistake. I noticed the spindle of the right pedal was hanging up a little. Most likely it's a slight manufacturing defect. I took the pedal apart and took a Dremal bit to the exterior plastic seal; I could see a small polished portion on the spindle where the two were rubbing. The Dremal seemed to do the trick. I then noticed the same problem on the left side. This time I had a problem with the bolt that attached the spindle to the pedal. The pedals have two cartridge bearings pressed into the body and the spindle slides into the bearings. The spindle is held in place with a allen screw. With the right pedal, I needed to put the allen wrench in a vise and turn the spindle with a pedal wrench to loosen it. With the left pedal it seemed to be taking more torque than the left; then SNAP! Oh no. It turns out the screw was left hand threaded. The following day was a waste of about 8 hours trying to locate a replacement screw. I ended up with three options. 1) Throw the pedals away and buy some Soma Hellyer (RX-1 copies) for $70 (my original plan before I bought the used Custom Nuevo(s). 2) njs-keirin.blogspot has a set of beat up RX-1(s) for $35 (plus $25 shipping). The administrator of njs-keirin.blogspot has offered to sell me the pedals at a discount. 3) I found a Web store that will sell me a new set of axles (w/ right and left hand threaded allen screws) for $45. While the third is not the cheapest alternative, it should solve the original problem of the bent axles, plus replace the broken left handed screw.

The choice was determined by njs-keirin.blogspot as they offred to sell me the pedals for $5 plus the $25 shipping. . At this point I must admit that these pedals are not for the Keirin bike. As mentioned earlier, I have already bought a new pair of MKS Custom Royal Nuevo pedals for the NJS bike. The Royal Nuevo(s) are different as they have loose ball bearings; very cool. The used pedal will be for the green machine (my first fixed gear bike). The only real issue will be if the axles are compatible. Custom Nuevo(s) and RX-1 both have cartridge bearings and I'm guessing the spindles (bolts) and bearings are the same. The RX-1(s) have a more abbreviated cage than either the Custom Nuevo(s) and the pedals have different thread pattern for the cages. Best case scenario is the spindles will not only be compatible but in better shape. Regardless all I really expect is a left handed bolt that will work. I'll advise.

Well it worked. I got the pedals in short order and the left pedal had the left handed threaded screw I needed. The Custom Nuevo(s) are now functioning and I have installed them on the green machine. The RX-1 left pedal is a different story. It looks like it was in an accident and then used as a fishing weight for a while; and were talking ocean fishing here. The right pedal on the other hand was in good shape. The two obviously have different histories. While were on the subject of pedals, I bought a set of Christopher toeclips and straps (white) and I plan on using these on the track bike. The NJS bike has has become more of a concept bike. At first the idea of building a bike that could certified and ridden on a Keirin track sounded cool. However, as I have putting the bike together, I realized it would lose all personality and end up being one of the hundreds that are lined up in the basement of a Keirin track waiting to be ridden. I think I can understand why the Keirin racers treat their bikes with so much disdain. So here is the current line-up.

Frame: Soma Rush 55cm
Fork: Threaded Tange steel
Headset: Tange Levin engraved
Bottom bracket: Shimano Dura Ace (NJS) cups/bearings; Campagnolo spindle
Crank: Shimano Track (NJS)
Pedals: MKS (NJS)
Toeclips/straps: Lapize
Handlebars: Nitto (NJS)
Stem: Nitto (NJS)
Rims: Tubular Araya (NJS)
Spokes/Nipples: DT 15g
Hubs: Suzue Pro Max (NJS)
Tires: Vittoria CX
Wheels: 3 cross front/ 4 cross rear
Cogs:18T (Soma), 16T (Shimano)(NJS)
Seat post: Soma
Seat: Soma
Brake caliper: Tektro
Brake lever: Soma

Still waiting for the fork, then ...

The Nishiki Conversion

It’s a common idea, convert an old Nishki to a fixie. My 9 YO found this old bike on the side of the road with a sign that said, “Take me, I just need a little TLC”. Well the bike obviously needed much more than that. Still, it had a steel frame and I’m always up for a new project; especially if it’s has something to do with my son. But this bike was on the edge. The rule of thumb is the worse the bike, the more money to bring it back; this bike just about killed me. The wheels were shot; first I figured I could just R and R with new spokes. A good plan because even though I have been wrenching for about 20 years I have not built a wheel; the curse of having a really good wheel man. I figured I’d end up with a classic suicide fixie hub.

Unfortunately both hubs had cracks around the spoke holes. I ordered a fixed/fixed Formula hub for about $40 and a friend turned me on to a similar front wheel with the same Shimano 333 hub. The rims were the old aluminum Araya type. New they have a mirror polish, but even aluminum polish couldn't bring these back; so I opted for a stain finish via a wire wheel. I already had the spokes for one wheel and by the time I ordered spokes for the other and figured out the spokes for both wheels were a couple millimeters too short, I ended up buying some 16mm nipples, but still rebuilt both wheels 3-4 times. . I can now claim the ability to build an acceptable wheel.

Next came the drive train. Like all old Sakae cranks, the big chain ring is pressed on and the inside is bolted to the big ring. If one is to have a clean looking drive train you’re stuck with a 52T chainring. The bottom bracket (Sugino) was not in too bad a shape. The spindle was shoot, but fortunately the old spindles are pretty easy to come by. I replaced a few ball bearings on the drive side and it was ready to go. While I was dealing with bearings I also rebuilt the headset. Both the bearing cages were pretty much dissolved. Even though Sheldon Brown says they are not necessary, a quick trip to a small time LBS fixed me up with some replacements.
Now the frame. I gave my son the choice of color; almost. He gets up to three picks and can veto 2. His first choice was green, but I have a green bike already so we ended up with copper. I worked for 15 years in a paint shop so I have my standards. Still I figured I could do a rattle can job that would look nice. I bought some Rustoleum paint and soon found out the limitations. Turns out Rustoleum paint is not compatible with any paint containing acetone; and of course I used a primer with acetone. The paint wrinkled up in a number of spots, but they sanded out okay and I put on a couple coats of clear. Unfortunately I missed one spot with the copper behind the seat tube and when I tried painting over the clear, it was a disaster.

The handlebars have one of the strangest bends I have ever seen. Still, I'm sure a flop and chop will work just fine. The brake levers look pretty beat up, but they are aluminum and should still clean up pretty good. At first I considered the pedals are shot so bad that they would never look right again short of painting them. However after more work with a wire brush and cleaning/ repacking the bearings I have decided they are good enough to use.

Of course there was a lot of Dremal work with a wire wheel on other parts as well. Most the of the chrome was shot but the aluminum shined up pretty good.

Talking about bad chrome, Dia Compe has a very cool old school brake hangers and releases on this bike. Unfortunately, much of it is chromed, which leaves many of these remaining hangers badly rusted. I cleaned them the best as I could and this was the result. The front hanger and rear release tab needed to be painted silver. They may not look too bad to you but they end up being the focal point of the bike because they look so bad; then I found these on ebay. Granted they are a slightly different design, but the chrome is still intact and they still have a the old style release. At this point there are some decisions to be made and possibly a few more upgrades. The high point here are the wheels; I laced and trued the wheels myself. First time. Cool.

For Part 2 go to  The Nishiki Conversion; it Lives!

The NJS Part 3; Threadless Steerers suck..

I have decided to go with a Soma Rush frame. The price is right ($375) and I can pick one up in San Francisco (road trip) and they come in Pearl. At first I thought of going with a Soma fork but two things turned me off. #1, they don't come in Pearl; Red, Black or Chrome. Okay maybe the Chrome would work, but I wanted Pearl. #2 they only come threadless. No matter what you choose, aesthetically a threadless fork on a road bike, especially a track bike looks like a compromise. A quill stem simply belongs on a track bike. The only reason for unthreaded forks on metal road bikes is money. Threaded steerers have to come in different sizes to match the head tube, threadless is one size fits all. But that does leave me in need of a threaded fork. Once again Paul @ Rocklobster is going to bail me out. Apparently, back some years, Kestral went from steel to carbon fiber forks. Paul bought up all there stock of Tange steel threaded forks. He going to give a great deal on one and after a trip to the powder coater, I figure it will cost me about 1/2 the cost Soma fork. As a matter of fact, for a few dollars more, Paul would have made me a fork, which I figured was overkill for the frame.

I also ordered a Soma seatpost and white seat. The result was an email saying they were out of the Ensho seat I ordered in white. They have a stripped down version called a Kamisori. I'm actually quite fond of stripped down saddles so I just changed my order. The stem is nothing to rave about but it looks nice, it has the Soma logo and if there is one NJS part that seems like overkill it's $160 for a stem.

Also I have received the first Vittoria CX tire. I also bought 2 on an ebay auction for $140 and bought a 3rd with a free tube of glue for 83$ from aspirevelotech.com. By the time you add in free shipping they aren't a bad deal. As I said before the CX's are very nice, compared to the CR's @ half the price, the CX's are 3 times better. You do get what you pay for.

More to come