ConTENtious

[CRASH]

Do you by chance have any throw-away headset parts laying around?

These are my adjustable races. But they are all knurled edges, so will probably slip with channel locks.

These are my lock nuts with the wrench flats. Maybe I should cut away the top stop to let it thread all the way down. But I’d need to pick a stout one that can (hopefully) cut threads.

 

[CRASH]

Modified a top nut by grinding off the top. Took it all the way down. It got a little tight around the damage, but I worked it around to where I could move it easily with fingers.

So put the race on, and same problem. Stopped at the damage. So… next step is to see if another race will work.

 

[RustySprockets]

That's just bizarre. I would have chosen the worst of the races, then ground flats on opposite sides to accept the wrench--your approach achieves the same end. Just keep the modified locknut as your future at-home thread chaser.

I wonder if the internal threads of the race are messed up. If that were the case, I'd expect trouble along the entire length of the steerer tube, not just one spot.

 

[CRASH]

Same. It’s fine all the way to the messed up threads than just stops. I’ve got lots, so I’ll try a few that fit the cups. It has to seat right, which is why I chose the race I chose.

 

[Cyclist]

Click on the 3 dots on the far right. More options show. Look for [ ]

Click on that and it turned all that bar back on.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Modified a top nut by grinding off the top. Took it all the way down. It got a little tight around the damage,

I wonder if the internal threads of the race are messed up. If that were the case, I'd expect trouble along the entire length of the steerer tube, not just one spot.

Sounds like a combination of slightly misaligned threads on both parts that show up when put together. If you can't find another race like the one you need, I would take the first race, lock it in a vice with wood or something to protect the knurling, and then turn the fork until you get them to work together just like you did with the chaser that you made.

 

[barbedwire]

I was lucky enough to find one of the best 333 hubs I’ve ever seen. So, I cleaned and polished it, because that’s what I do.
View attachment 250436

Then I laced it up with new spokes after I polished the Murray M.O.M. rim I bought for it.
View attachment 250437

WARNING: the following is long and boring. Move on to the next post if you don’t care about wheel truing. Summary: I trued the rear wheel.

I didn’t get a laced picture because I got right to work. I have 14 wheels in total I have to lace and true, so no time to fart around. @Pondo visited a while back, and @barbedwire has been asking questions, so I thought I’d take the time to give a poor explanation of how I tension and true rims.
Tools: Truing Stand, spoke wrench (I use a 14mm because I exclusively use 14g straight gauge stainless spokes and 14mm brass nipples because they most resemble original), dishing tool.
Oh… and I made a special spoke bit for my drill to speed up tensioning. @Pondo can tell you how slow it goes by hand because his nipples were too small. Yes, Pondo has small nipples)
First, rack it up and tighten the two nipples on either side of the valve hole. You want to tighten them until the spoke meets the bottom of the slot (roughly). My tool has a center “finger” that holds the tool in the nipple, then tells me when the spoke is there by pushing the tool out.
View attachment 250438

Then tighten the two that are 180 out from the first two. Then go 90 degrees and tighten those two, then 180 and tighten those two. You’ve just set 4 quadrants. It doesn’t matter the order, but pick a quadrant and tighten them up, then go to the opposite quadrant. It more evenly distributes the tension on the rim.

Then I take my spine wrench and go around and feel the tension evenness by giving each nipple a 1/4 turn, and adjusting for what I feel. After that, I lube the nipples! (I can’t get in trouble for this because the are called nipples. I didn’t name them nipples, but someone did. So… nipples)
Anyway…. LUBING THE NIPPLES!! It’s very important.
View attachment 250439
I put a drop on the top, then at the base for each. Then I go to the outside of the rim and put a drop on the head at the rim. This is important because you don’t want them to bind while you’re truing. If you bind up, the tension from the binding will get released and you’ll lose the work you did. You’ll still have the small pop or two, but nowhere as bad if you try this dry.
This is after the initial tension. Not a bad start.
View attachment 250441

Next up is the dish. Whether front wheel or back, multi-speed or single, “dish” is centering the rim to the outside nuts of the hub so it sits evenly in the frame or fork. You use a Dishing Tool for this.
View attachment 250440
Basically the tool is a gauge. You put the foot on one side, flip the wheel over and make sure it hits exactly like the other side. You tighten one side of nipples all the way around or loosen the opposite side to pull the rim (or push the hub. Whichever way you want to call it.)
Man… it’s so much easier to show this in action. I warned you this was going to be a poor explanation! Hard to see in the pic, but the drive side is “flatter” than the non-drive side to accommodate the freewheel.
View attachment 250442

Next I get the side to sides evened in a little so it’s easier to judge the roundness of the wheel. That’s my next goal, to make the rim evenly round around the hub. This is tough to explain, but you have to think of spokes as a community, and they share tension. So if one side has too much, and is pulling the rim towards the hub, the opposite side has too little is is letting the rim slide too far away. So you have to exchange, not just change, tension. When you get it right, it looks like this.
View attachment 250443

Lastly is the side-to-side adjustments, but you have to keep in mind the dish, and the round. Any big changes can throw those off. But by now, you should be down to small adjustments. You will start with your guides wider, and work your adjustments smaller and smaller until none. You can tighten one side to pull the rim toward it, or loosen the opposite side to let the rim get pulled, or usually it’s a combo of tightening one/loosening its neighbor.
Steel is a lot hard to true than allow. And old, used rims like I work with a lot could have battle scars. So they may not come out perfect. But this came out pretty good.

View attachment 250444

Thanks for all that work explaining this! Like you said it's def an art from the looks of it!

 

[CRASH]

Got the hole for the brake twist tab drilled and tapped, and cleanly welded in place.

I cleaned up a bolt, and Bob’s your uncle, we’re in business! Not perfect, but looks clean. Maybe I might switch the bolt to a button head. We’ll see.

 

[CRASH]

For the steer tube thread problem, I found 5 races that fit the cup size. Of the 5, 2 went beyond where the first race did, and only one did it cleanly. Here’s the first race stuck, and the line below in black is where the other race made it.

So I cleaned it up, and of course is had corrosion damage.

But it threads down.

So I smoothed it out with some sanding. It’s going to get plated, so don’t want that damage to show.
I put it all together. The race sits below the safety tab insert on the steer tube but those are a little pointless. So I ground away the tab on the washer and used my new long lock nut to put it all together. As you can see, there is almost no clearance at the top of that nut!

Headset mission accomplished! Looks factory! So I threw the stem on, and wanted to see how those custom goat horn bars looked. They’re tall! But man that’s going to look cool! I am going to set up the sissy and seat to see how the proportions look, but it’s on course for sure.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Looking GOOD!

 

[Captain Awesome]

That looks awesome with them bars

 

[Pondo]

@Pondo can tell you how slow it goes by hand because his nipples were too small. Yes, Pondo has small nipples)

It makes them more sensitive to fine tuning.

 

[CRASH]

Terrific score today! Two original Eliminator shift indicator bands, 1 glass piece, and 3 mounting screws!

I need to cut a hole into one of them because the end snapped off. Then I need to paint them both. But it saves me from trying to shave down the tape measures I got. I’m stoked!

 

[CRASH]

Adding the hole was tricky. That is some thing metal! I clamped it between two pieces of scrap polycarb and drilled through it to create the hole. First two attempts drifted too far to the edge. Third attempt I figured was close enough. So this one is slightly shorter, but you’ll never know. I’ll paint it to adjust for the length difference and everything will be great!

 

[CRASH]

Need opinions on spoke protectors.

Option 1: Shimano 333 double-bar. Used on Murray and a number of other brands.

Option 2: Shimano 333 “Rounds”. I’ve usually seen these on AMF, and I know I’ve seen them on others. This sort of matches the round holes in the front derailleur. And maybe if I use it I should use a really nice Shimano Eagle that I have with the round holes to make the ensemble complete?

 

[Captain Awesome]

Need opinions on spoke protectors.

Option 1: Shimano 333 double-bar. Used on Murray and a number of other brands.
View attachment 250695


Option 2: Shimano 333 “Rounds”. I’ve usually seen these on AMF, and I know I’ve seen them on others. This sort of matches the round holes in the front derailleur. And maybe if I use it I should use a really nice Shimano Eagle that I have with the round holes to make the ensemble complete?
View attachment 250696

#2 with the eagle

 

[The Renaissance Man]

#1 because it matches the outer chainring.

 

[CRASH]

#1 because it matches the outer chainring.

True. And I could still switch to the Eagle to balance with the front derailleur

 

[GeePig]

What would you think about having a short rear fender mounting that attached somehow to the inside of the frame uprights instead of going down to the wheel plate thingy? Maybe by mounting it further forward on the fender so that the arms are vertical - maybe by using a strip inside the mudguard that uses the original rivet location rather than drilling a fresh hole?

It could make the rear of the bike seem cleaner, with more free air space at the back of the fender.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

What Renaissance Man said, #1 is too good with the chainring