Felt Heavy Duty

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Glad you stripped the bars. There is a great bare aluminum techno vibe building on this bike. I love all of the various atypical mountings you have come up with. It all flows together well man!
 
I think I will also add a chain guard:
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I need to come up with a way to attach it to the front mounting point but I think I got just the right piece. I will line up the chain guard with the bigger ring chain position.
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While looking for the chain guard I found these Felt pieces and attached them to the rack after some brainstorming:
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I stripped the chain guard on the outside:
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I decided that stripping the inside is way too much work so I put some armor tape on it:
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Then I made a quick mock up to determine where to put the hole:
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Then I cut the 90 degrees bracket to size, punched a hole in the guard and voila:
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More than enough pedal clearance:
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Thanks, I spent days searching for a silver chain guard I have and could not find it. Then I saw it in a photo and realized it is better to use this green one and strip the paint since the shape is more suitable.
I attached the tail light. I am not sure if it stays there.
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I have enough space under the seat and a way to mount it there. I am reluctant because from a logical point of view any cargo on the rack would block it.
On the other hand I doubt that rack will see much cargo, not mention that I rarely ride at night. Oh yes, and the headlight will remain not functional anyway so....
 
I spent the afternoon dealing with different problems.
I started working on the gears. I successfully connected the hub, but the front derailer was not cooperating.
First of all the frame mounted cable stop looks like it is for a thinner cable. Then the rerouting pulley failed. They are both thin metal and the cable stop is slipping down the seat tube. Some leather underneath might help, but the pull felt very heavy, probably because of the 180 degree turn at the end.
Then I tried to run the cable from the top tube, which was absolutely hideous to the point that I didn't even care if it worked.
Eventually I found out that one of the other derailers has a routing channel so it allows me to run the cable under the BB along with the other cables.
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That derailer is visually not such a good fit but whatever.
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I was able to bolt this cable stop...
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To a derailer that I cut the cage off:
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Which I intend to use as a clamp. There is a small clearance issue but I will remove some more material and it should fit just underneath the actual detailer.
I hope it works this time.
 
It took me forever to realize that setting up the derailer would be easier if I removed the chain guard first...
I made it work, it switches between second and third gear on the shifter. The derailer is limited to move only between 2/3.
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I have another problem. When I turn the shifter the whole unit moves. I can't tighten the bolt enough to hold, it has a Philips head.
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It is quite long and I don't have a long enough bolt with an allen head that I could tight well enough. I will see how to solve this. I could super glue the shifter to the bar maybe...
I removed the rear fender thing. I don't want to bolt stuff just so there is bolted stuff. It also turned out that the taillight is in the way of the stand when it is folded. Still debating on the front fender piece. Should it stay or should it go... If it goes there will be trouble, if it stays it will be double...
 
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I'm sure that you will figure out the little mechanical and placement issues. I like the industrial edgy look of this build alot. Guard came out nice. Keep moving forward. You're getting more done that I am right now.
 
I have this led kitchen light. I made a shim from a piece of bars:
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I installed it, then unscrewed the cap and removed the internals:
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The cap has a magnet so I hope it won't disappear before I need to close the light... As usually happens with the parts.
I need to make the plastic red, first I will try red scotch tape. Maybe a stripe of Coca-Cola label, I will see what works.
It runs on three AAA batteries.
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So, when out for groceries I also got some cristal clear scotch tape. I taped Coca-Cola label stripes over the led elements...
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Made sure to cut them long and wide enough to cover the housing openings, but narrow enough to attach them neatly.
And voila:
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I say it is done. Shifting works as it should. I was surprised how quickly I got used to suicide shifting - I never had to remove a hand from the bars in order to shift before.
I rode around with the seat raised 2+ inches, I admit it honestly, low for show high for go.
The dual chainring is quite useful. It made for a low gearing on the inclines and for low cadence speed on the flat.
For my personal taste the bars are too low. I would like them higher. The ones I wanted to use originally would be more comfortable, but beauty requires sacrifice :D
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