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

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Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

I personally like the 3rd one down, but the last one I find so .... interesting :mrgreen: I wish I knew how to lace wheels :cry: Very coool build!!!
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

vibr8shun said:
I personally like the 3rd one down, but the last one I find so dang interesting :mrgreen: I wish I knew how to lace wheels :cry: Very coool build!!!
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Thanks for the compliment! I like all those wheels, but I have to choose one, so I'm gonna go with the first one as it matches the front better.

And building wheels isn't rocket science! It's not as hard as you think. You still have to read up and know what you're doing, but I built that front wheel with an old fork as a truing stand, and I used my thumb as a runout gauge. Read Sheldon Brown's article on wheelbuilding and you can pretty much start from there. If you like the bottom one, you can un-lace an old 36 spoke wheel and re-lace it, it uses the same length spokes.
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

do the last one! its the coolest! :mrgreen:
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

FunkyStickman said:
Thanks for the compliment! I like all those wheels, but I have to choose one, so I'm gonna go with the first one as it matches the front better.
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Nice job on the wheels (and the entire bike!) Stickman. So, to lace like the first wheel, does that mean that you will need to cut and rethread only twelve spokes?
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

Fireproof said:
Nice job on the wheels (and the entire bike!) Stickman. So, to lace like the first wheel, does that mean that you will need to cut and rethread only twelve spokes?
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Thanks! No, since I'm going to a much larger hub (a Sturmey 8-speed drum) I will have to cut all of the spokes, even if I do a standard pattern. Though I will admit I'm torn between the Crow's Foot and the 3-trail-3-lead... they're both very cool looking!
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

Ive got to be honest.I didnt think much of those bikes ever!But man I think you changed my mind on these.You are building one ....... rat!!! Cant wait for more pics.
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

Thank you, bikejunky, and everyone else who has made positive comments, which has been everyone! This is my first bike build in probably 15 years (and I'm 35). I know it's cliche' rat rod, with flat black paint, red wheels and whitewalls... but I just love the look so much!

Just got a call from my house, the rear hub has arrived!!! And I'm stuck here at work!!! :cry:

Only need to put it together and cover the seat, and it's mechanically done!
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

man, you are changing a lot of minds on the OCC bikes...

I have built a crow's foot wheel, but I only rode it once before it was stolen. You'll find that the up/down trueness and/or the tension is a bit harder to dial in, being that you have 2 different kinds of spokes. you can't just crank them all the same like a normal wheel, but as long as you've built a few wheels before, you'll tough through it.

They do make for a very stylish wheel though.

I really like the painted alloys on high flange hubs! Here's a similar one of mine in 20":
IMG_5834.jpg
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

onelesspedestrian said:
man, you are changing a lot of minds on the OCC bikes...

I really like the painted alloys on high flange hubs! Here's a similar one of mine in 20":
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Again, thanks! I really did not expect it, but I'm glad it's turning out well. And your bike looks great, it's like a mini version of mine! :)

Wow! Got home, spent the evening replacing an alternator in our church's van, so I didn't get to start on the rear wheel. But the Sturmey 8-speed hub is HUGE!!! It weighs a good 4 pounds... that poor MTB hub looks puny in comparison, though it's a regular full-sized hub. Did I mention the Sturmey hub is BIG??

Bigger than a 16 oz. coffee mug...
stingray-039.jpg


Bigger than a 7-speed rear hub...
stingray-040.jpg
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

: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 :oops: Really excited about seeing the finnished cycle now!

What about those wheels where they twist the spokes around each other? Thoughts on those?
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

Boris said:
: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 :oops: Really excited about seeing the finnished cycle now!

What about those wheels where they twist the spokes around each other? Thoughts on those?
Click to expand...

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! :wink: 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.
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

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. :oops:

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. :|
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

killer! cant wait to see it in its new home.
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

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!
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

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. :mrgreen: Gonna be done in time. :lol:
 
Re: OCC renamed: "Orange County Rat Chop-Suey!"

FunkyStickman said:
Teaser for the night: Brakes are hooked up, just need to do the shifter cable and seat, and clean it up a bit.
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shame on you for teasing :p ...but I must say that I am jealous of you rear hub.
 

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