"Orange County Rat Chop-Suey" Update 9-12

[FunkyStickman]

:D Awsome Hub! This thread is great, I'm going to have to have a go at lacing a wheel up you've made it sound so interesting and easy Really excited about seeing the finnished cycle now!

What about those wheels where they twist the spokes around each other? Thoughts on those?

Thanks! That hub is a monster... it kicks sand in the face of other hubs, and takes their lunch money. I'm going to enjoy building a wheel with it.

And I think that pattern is known as a "snowflake" wheel. I'm not sure I could bring myself to twist up brand new spokes into pretzel shapes, but if I run across another used wheel with stainless spokes, I might give it a shot! I think a well-built crows foot wheel would be stronger, or even a mixed rear wheel with crows foot on one side, and 3X or 2X on the other side. But a Snowflake would definitely be unique. I probably wouldn't use one on a bike that was going to be ridden hard every day.

[FunkyStickman]

Well, I fought the wheel for hours last night... spent 2 hours cutting and threading spokes. I started lacing up the hub, and everything was going well, until I got to the last 12 spokes... well, turns out I either measured a few spokes wrong, or I cut them wrong... not by much, either! They were only 3-4mm short, but it was enough to keep the nipples from engaging. So, off to the shed to find another wheel with stainless (or decently clean steel) spokes.

I found one this morning, and started unlacing and re-cutting spokes. I'll only need about 5, maybe 6 spokes re-cut. All the radials are fine, most of the cross spokes are plenty long enough. Just a few that were short, maybe because it was 11:30 last night when I was cutting them.

Lesson? If you're making your own spokes, make sure to CUT THEM LONG! You can always chase a few more threads on it and shorten them, but unless you have a magical spoke stretcher, you'll have to start over if they're even a few mm short.

This has set me back a few hours, so I'm going to try to finish the wheel tonight/tomorrow morning. Them I'll put the bike back together Friday, which will give me all of Saturday and Sunday to finish detailing it.

Man. I'm tired.

[FunkyStickman]

Finally got it laced! Didn't have time to true it on my lunch break, though...

[stretch]

killer! cant wait to see it in its new home.

[FunkyStickman]

Quick update: I'm a glutton for punishment. I had so much trouble getting the wheel to lace up and true, I decided to just re-cut all the cross spokes. I cut, threaded, and cleaned all 24 of them, and re-laced the wheel from scratch. To my relief, it went together easy, and was even mostly true right off the bat. I didn't want to spend an extra 2 hours doing it, but now the wheel is 100% and I won't have to fight it to make it true, and won't be worrying about spokes stripping. So even though I lost time, I am much happier with the result.

Tonight, the bike goes back together, and the seat gets recovered. I need to pick up a brake cable and a rim strip from the LBS. Gonna try to finish it tonight, and take it on it's maiden voyage (with brakes and gears) tomorrow morning!

[FunkyStickman]

As of 9:30, the bike is a roller again... got the wheels and drive train on, still need to route the cables, fab up a quick brake arm hanger, and recover the seat. Since it's getting late, I'll probably cover the seat tomorrow. Everything else will be done shortly, I'll put up some pics either tonight or first thing in the morning.

Man, I'm tired... starting to feel it. Gonna be done in time.

[FunkyStickman]

Teaser for the night: Brakes are hooked up, just need to do the shifter cable and seat, and clean it up a bit.

[vibr8shun]

Teaser for the night: Brakes are hooked up, just need to do the shifter cable and seat, and clean it up a bit.

shame on you for teasing ...but I must say that I am jealous of you rear hub.

[FunkyStickman]

99% complete! Everything works, going to finish "prettying" it up today.

Cheers!

[herr_rudolf]

nice pics. nice bike. The bike turned out beautiful, so... what's left to 'pretty'?

[FunkyStickman]

nice pics. nice bike. The bike turned out beautiful, so... what's left to 'pretty'?

Thanks! I'm talking about little things, like valve caps. Stuff for a touch of "character." The bike is 100% functional at this point.

[vibr8shun]

Thats the sweetest OCC...not to mention the kick-azze rear hub!!! got to love the ammo can bike stand

[FunkyStickman]

Made some valve caps today, took some old D&D dice I had and drilled them out 3/8". Then I used a bench vise to press the original valve caps into them. It's a very tight fit, I don't think it will even need glue. Forgive me for the poor pictures, but my good camera is DOA for now...

[Skipton]

The rear wheel looks great
nice job on the bike!

[FunkyStickman]

Thanks, guys! UPDATE!! I fixed my good 8MP camera!!! So I'm gonna get some quality shots today and tomorrow. Maybe some video too!!