'68 Sting Rat

[OddJob]

Purplenipplespurplenipplespurple
It IS fun. I think the rims look great together! Keep em!

Your vintage clean frame and modern parts upgrades are going to make this a cool build. Chad T to the rescue!

 

[SpikeFC]

Nothing better than the small detail, and when it comes to it - nipples in one of the matching colors to the bike is a great idea. I remember when I first thought on giving the wheels in my Build-Off bikes some details by the idea of other color than silver, and the effect is awesome.

 

[KJV]

oh, that's: purple nurple.
My bad.,

 

[Chad T]

Thank you fellas! Purple nipples it is.

Have you tried the Durano on the 40mm?

Have not tried that. Seems adequately stretched on the 32mm.

What oven cleaner are you using exactly?

Easy Off Heavy Duty in the yellow aerosol can. Leave it on 15-20 minutes. re-apply as needed to keep it wet. Scrub with scotch brite pad while the oven cleaner is still on it. Rinse and scrub again. Get around the bead as there will be rough spots where the oven cleaner etched the alum. Sand/shine/repeat...

 

[Indyjps]

Looks like its coming together. Purple anno is great. This will be a fun build to watch.

For stripping 20" rims, an oil drain pan from walmart with the top cut off is the perfect size to drop the hoop in. Drano crystals and water has more oomph than oven cleaner.

After doing a few sets of rims and polishing, it will have to be a pretty special project to do it again. Pain in the arse. I use a bench mount polishing wheel, still a lot of work. Last set I used dupont 7 compound wet on the wheel. Made a mess but it cut and polished better than the dry buffing stick compound.

 

[Chad T]

Looks like its coming together. Purple anno is great. This will be a fun build to watch.

Thank you!

For stripping 20" rims, an oil drain pan from walmart with the top cut off is the perfect size to drop the hoop in. Drano crystals and water has more oomph than oven cleaner.

Great idea! Never came across that method when searching how to de-anodize.

After doing a few sets of rims and polishing, it will have to be a pretty special project to do it again. Pain in the ..... I use a bench mount polishing wheel, still a lot of work. Last set I used dupont 7 compound wet on the wheel. Made a mess but it cut and polished better than the dry buffing stick compound.

Part that kills me is the sanding but that's the part that kind of makes or breaks it. Fastest way I've found to bring up a shine is with Mother's Mag Wheel polish and #0000 steel wool. Then some white stick on a wheel.

Purple nipples and spokes are "out for delivery"...

 

[Chad T]

Got the front wheel built. As I was lacing up the first side I started noticing how much I didn't care for the white graphics on the hub.

So I tried scraping the white with a pocket knife to see if I could just make it all black. Didn't think it was coming off but noticed that it was coming off easily but wasn't black underneath it was bare aluminum. Was able to lightly sand the rest of it off and polish the aluminum underneath.

Kind of a neat effect. I like it better than the white for this bike.

Got the purple nips installed. Tried to tension them mostly from the back to try and avoid scratching them. Nothing worse than scratchy purple nipples that have been twisted too hard...

Might try to get a pic of it with the brake rotor tomorrow. Probably won't get to the back wheel until next week.

Glad the wife has no clue how much I spend on bike parts. She freaked out when I told her the purple nipples were 25 cents a piece.

 

[SpikeFC]

Glad the wife has no clue how much I spend on bike parts. She freaked out when I told her the purple nipples were 25 cents a piece.

Two days ago, my boss calculated, how much I owe for all the parts use on both of the builds (since I already got most of the parts that I need ) and it came up to like 1/3rd of my monthly salary . And that's still without the costs of things that I bought for myself on the web, like the seat & sissy bar for Spare Parts, emblems for both, rear hub & gear shifter for the Lastochka, emblems for both & paint...

Overall I think I might end up with a sum of about 120-160$ per bike in this year's Build-Off.

Yeah all things considered it's good that our wives/girlfriends don't know how much we spend on bike parts...

 

[Chad T]

Overall I think I might end up with a sum of about 120-160$ per bike in this year's Build-Off.

That's not bad. I've probably got close to that in this wheel....I try not to ad everything up.

Couple pics of the wheel with the disc on it.

Was surprised how much dish there was to this disc wheel. Made it a little tricky as the non-disc side spokes have a lot less tension. Usually do dished wheels half-radial but wasn't sure if that was kosher for disc brakes.

Should be sporty on a Sting Ray.

That's way too many pics of a wheel but what can I say? It's all I've got and wheels are fun...

Next week: Way too many pics of the rear wheel and maybe a group shot of them both...

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Those wheels look awesome! Can I hire you to polish some for me?

 

[SpikeFC]

Now that is one nice wheel. What kind of brakes you will use?

 

[Chad T]

Those wheels look awesome! Can I hire you to polish some for me?

Thank you Jim! I might consider it depending on what it is. Just throw that Scrambler you got in a box with whatever you want polished and send it all this way...

Now that is one nice wheel. What kind of brakes you will use?

Thanks Spike...I'm gonna use the purple kind of brakes..

Brand is Zoom. Got them from China. The whole kit front and rear cost less than one purple v-brake so decided to do hydro disc. One of the reasons I asked you about bleeding was that the hoses are reversed. This is the rear lever but it's attached to the caliper with a short hose for the front.

I had another question for you. Noticed you are using an adapter to mount your caliper on the front. Is this with a quick release axle? Did you put the adapter inside or outside of the fork?

 

[OddJob]

Nice work on that wheel, Chad.
When you say "non disc spokes have a lot less tension", it makes me wonder? The spokes should be pretty evenly tensioned all the way around.

You had to get spokes of different lengths for the two sides I imagine. Not much different, but a couple mm's for sure, right?

That 'hub scrub' came out really cool!

 

[KJV]

 

[SpikeFC]

Thanks Spike...I'm gonna use the purple kind of brakes..

View attachment 97002

Brand is Zoom. Got them from China. The whole kit front and rear cost less than one purple v-brake so decided to do hydro disc. One of the reasons I asked you about bleeding was that the hoses are reversed. This is the rear lever but it's attached to the caliper with a short hose for the front.

A very well known brand in Poland - mostly from cheap springer forks, stems, steering bars etc. Actually I've known a guy who had those hydraulic brakes, and they really work okay. They look like a combination of older Tektros and Formulas.

I had another question for you. Noticed you are using an adapter to mount your caliper on the front. Is this with a quick release axle? Did you put the adapter inside or outside of the fork?

Yes, I do use a quick realese axle since it's the original axle from the cheap Quando hub that I'm using. The adapter is mounted on the inside of the fork, so that the wheel tightens it in place. The only thing I did in terms of modifications was changing the screws on the bracket to shorter ones (since there is so little space in my build) & added a piece of rubber on the inside of the bracket, cause it was too loose. Got that adapter from Alliexpres for something like 2$ a piece. It works really fine, didn't have any problem with it, even after riding at least 40km on he bike.

You had to get spokes of different lengths for the two sides I imagine. Not much different, but a couple mm's for sure, right?

In most cases the differences are really small. In my front wheel I have 294mm on the right & 292mm on the left (disc side). And that was the case in most wheels that I built that had to be offset to one side. Still haven't touched the wheels in my daily cruiser (Shimano generator front hub with roller brake & 3spd Nexus with roller brake in the back) and those will be totally goofy since their both offset the opposite ways...

 

[Chad T]

When you say "non disc spokes have a lot less tension", it makes me wonder? The spokes should be pretty evenly tensioned all the way around.

You had to get spokes of different lengths for the two sides I imagine. Not much different, but a couple mm's for sure, right?

Tension is the same around the wheel but tension is different side to side on a dished wheel. The difference in tension is what moves the rim off center. Spoke difference is 2.5 mm side to side.

That 'hub scrub' came out really cool!

Thanks! Was a nice surprise. Got rid of the white and more interesting than all black.

 

[Chad T]

A very well known brand in Poland - mostly from cheap springer forks, stems, steering bars etc. Actually I've known a guy who had those hydraulic brakes, and they really work okay. They look like a combination of older Tektros and Formulas.

Thought they looked decent. Good to hear they work OK. Figured they were a copy of something. They feel a little heavy but not sure how much hydraulic disc brakes weigh.

Yes, I do use a quick realese axle since it's the original axle from the cheap Quando hub that I'm using. The adapter is mounted on the inside of the fork, so that the wheel tightens it in place. The only thing I did in terms of modifications was changing the screws on the bracket to shorter ones (since there is so little space in my build) & added a piece of rubber on the inside of the bracket, cause it was too loose. Got that adapter from Alliexpres for something like 2$ a piece. It works really fine, didn't have any problem with it, even after riding at least 40km on he bike.

Good to know. I'll get a couple of those to work with. Was going to make something to hold them but these will be much easier. May have to mod that clamp as it's way bigger than the tubes on this frame.

Thank you so much for your help with these disc brakes. @OddJob is usually my go to guy for modern MTB/Road bike stuff but these hydro discs are "new-fangled" for him too...

 

[toro1978]

Zoom also make cheap "Downhill" forks and while you should only use them on trails if you have a death wish, they are perfectly good for normal riding.
They look good, I've seen some european custom cruiser builds with them. They even have an upside down version that can be set lower or higher on the go. Really a great option for rat rods with 1 1/8" head tube.

 

[SpikeFC]

In general Zoom is just the same as Alhonga - a cheap Chinese brand, but still a brand, and definitely better than things with no brand, Cheng/Xing/Ching/Shong and other weirdly branded names. Also Alhonga makes a lot of cheap replacement parts for older bicycles, like cranksets, brakes etc.

@Chad T remember to also check what kind of brake pads you are using (metallic or resin) and what kind of pads are usable with your disc. I have that problem on Lastochka, since I'm using a very old & used disc dedicated for metallic pads, and my hydro brake runs resin pads. They don't stop that good, tear trough pads like crazy, and makes a horrible sound at small speeds.

 

[Chad T]

@KJV I love that pic! Perfect topper for page 3.

@Chad T remember to also check what kind of brake pads you are using (metallic or resin) and what kind of pads are usable with your disc.

Still have to figure that out. Thank you for all the info on the disc system.

Got the rear wheel built. Did the same hub treatment as the front. (Sanded the white off and polished.)

Had a few brain farts on this one but it turned out nice.

Purple nipples!!!

So I had ordered a new tube for this that was listed as being for 2.1-2.4 inch tires. Forgot the tube I had in there was one I took out of an old schwinn S7. Pumped a little air in the new tube to get it stretched. Was starting to feel pretty solid and was barely bigger than a hot dog. The old tube (1973?) in the pic is almost completely deflated and it's way thicker.

Ended up putting the vintage tube back in. New tube actually appears to be smaller than the 1.5 tube I got for the front which was hard to stuff into the tire.

Here's the back wheel.

It's a nice pair with purple nipples.

Wanted to put the cassette on there for the pics but it doesn't fit..didn't notice the hub listing had 8/9/10 speed and 11 speed freehub options. Thought it was the 8-11 speed that's listed for most of the other ones. They sell just the freehub for about 30 bucks but it's chinese sellers only. Searched Koozer 11-speed and found a 32h rear hub with the 11-speed freehub for $48 was only $61 with the front hub so got the pair and I can use this other freehub and do a 9 or 10 speed. I already have the 11 speed shifter and cassette for this one so kind of stuck. Live and you learn I guess.

Was going to ask if anybody knows how to disassemble this hub and get the freehub off but figured it out. It's super easy. I just tapped on the end cap from inside the hub with the skewer and it popped right off. The freehub just pulls out. Really simple.

Bike is on the way and should be here next week.