Tips n Trix

[GeePig]

Multi share

View attachment 212986
Too good, G!

I was cutting the slots thinking 'nah, this can never work, but whatever...'

 

[Uncle Ookie]

A thread for posting build tips and tricks of the masters.

Is it just me or are those keyed washers on the ol’ ashtabula 1-piece always busted?

Thought of opposing a couple of the fasteners.. left the denuded ring in place

 

[Ulu]

Is it just me or are those keyed washers on the ol’ ashtabula 1-piece always busted?…..

I haven’t owned one since 1972, so it’s hard for me to remember. Were those double-D shaped hole?

 

[SwissGuy]

While I'm on little details, here's a hack you may not have thought of. Do you ever have Schrader valve rims, but only Presta tubes? It just doesn't work!

View attachment 213828

But if you have some old caliper brake parts, you can make use of the curved piece off the pivot bolt, a deep curved one from a rear caliper worked nicely on my aero rims:
View attachment 213830
It holds the valve in place nicely and gives a more finished look. The more flatly curved pieces from a front caliper work nicely on a flatter rim.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

@MattiThundrrr this would be great for your tips n tricks thread

You know, I think moderators will be able to quote and post messages themselves after the upgrades.
Let's do this, Matti style

While I'm on little details, here's a hack you may not have thought of. Do you ever have Schrader valve rims, but only Presta tubes? It just doesn't work!

But if you have some old caliper brake parts, you can make use of the curved piece off the pivot bolt, a deep curved one from a rear caliper worked nicely on my aero rims:

It holds the valve in place nicely and gives a more finished look. The more flatly curved pieces from a front caliper work nicely on a flatter rim.

Thanks SD that's nice and tidy

 

[Captain Awesome]

You know, I think moderators will be able to quote and post messages themselves after the upgrades.
Let's do this, Matti style

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Sorry. Didn't want to step on your toes

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Sorry. Didn't want to step on your toes

I have survived a DRI mosh pit in cons. Stomp away!

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Used some steel wool and a hanger to clean out the seat tube and the fork.

Nice one, @kram ! Wish I had seen that yesterday, sure beats a sanding disk wrapped around a file...

 

[kram]

View attachment 217632View attachment 217633
Nice one, @kram ! Wish I had seen that yesterday, sure beats a sanding disk wrapped around a file...View attachment 217635

It works really well. It’s a trick I saw a long time ago on this site. The trick is to not go too fast.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

It works really well. It’s a trick I saw a long time ago on this site. The trick is to not go too fast.

I've also seen it done with a split dowel with a small flap of sandpaper in the slot.

 

[Ulu]

I have an official drillbit extension, and this old cylinder hone.

 

[curtisfox]

You can by a wire brush for cleaning copper tube water lines, the cut the handle off and stick it in a drill, they come clear up to 1 1/4, from 1/2"..........Curt.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

So I broke out the Hobart and fabbed up a tool. A set of cheap vice grips and some scrap metal:

Great stuff on how to make a tool for dimpling the stays to get clearance for wider tire! Thanx Pondo!

 

[us56456712]

View attachment 217632View attachment 217633
Nice one, @kram ! Wish I had seen that yesterday, sure beats a sanding disk wrapped around a file...View attachment 217635

One time I had a fork tube that has deformed from the pinch wedge having been too tight. I took a Schwinn 7/8 seat post, sprayed it with contact glue and the backside of 80 grit sand paper with glue and wrapped the paper around the seat tube. I put a threaded rod through the seat post and bolted it tight with a washer on the big end and just a nut on the small end. The part of the threaded rod that stuck out of the small end was put in the drill chuck. Lots of oil and spin grind away. I replaced the glued on sand paper many times but eventually it went through. I continued and when it got too loose I would put on a second layer of sandpaper. Eventually the gooseneck would slide past the deformity. For just cleaning up head and seat tubes I use an inexpensive brake cylinder hone and oil.

 

[us56456712]

Great stuff on how to make a tool for dimpling the stays to get clearance for wider tire! Thanx Pondo!View attachment 219859View attachment 219860View attachment 219861View attachment 219862

I made one of these about 4 years ago. I found it works on mild steel soft gas pipe American frames. On much harder chromoly steel frames like Tange or Columbus it does nothing. The steel is too hard. It flattens the drops with extreme pressure, really doesn’t expand the gap. I put an axle in the drops of a Tange frame, put a steel block between the chain stays and pounded it in with a sludge hammer. I tried it first with a cut down wood 2x4 but the wood dented, not the frame. This took awhile with many repeats and all I could do was expand from 30 mm to 44 mm. So 38 mm wide tires are tight.

 

[RustySprockets]

I'm wondering if a similarly modified C-clamp, rather than vice-grips, might deliver a stronger and more measured application of force. I don't have access to a welder, but if I did, that would be the path I'd follow.

 

[us56456712]

I'm wondering if a similarly modified C-clamp, rather than vice-grips, might deliver a stronger and more measured application of force. I don't have access to a welder, but if I did, that would be the path I'd follow.

You would need an extension for the screw as the butterfly grip would do nothing. I was using both hands and all my grip strength to shut the vice grips and it just flattened the outside of the Tange stays. I put a longer piece of pipe on the stays and I couldn’t get a dimple in the inside of the stays. I used a clamp to close the vice grips and any more flattening and the stays would have been ruined. This simply won’t work on quality chromoly tubing.

 

[Ulu]

Real Vice grips are 10 times as strong as a C clamp. Fake ones, not so much.

It has much to do with the depth of the throat. Vice grips don’t have a throat. Just jaws.

 

[SwissGuy]

I like his method of removing the rusted in seatpost:

 

[Ulu]

I cried a little bit when he used an angle grinder to remove the badge. ;(