Homebrew camera mount

Why GoPro when you can GoKodak? This guy mounted his point and shoot camera to his handlebars using a reflector mount and what I think is a 1/4-20 screw. It held for a whole cyclocross race and got some decent if slightly shakey footage of the start until the camera gave up at 3 1/2 minutes.

Fork Chatter Solution Proven

nippleworks reader Matt from Vermont implemented one of our suggestions to minimize cross fork chatter and had good results. Read Matt's report here. Read our suggestions here.

Cross on.

Lugged Cyclocross Frame Creation

It's nice to see a craftsman at work, even if just via digital photos:

http://www.kirkframeworks.com/jk_cross.htm

Disposable Crankset

A coworker of mine recently purchased a Giant townie bike for getting a little fitness riding in. He decided that he needed longer cranks. Taking into account his bottom bracket type and current chainring configuration, I recommended these from the QBP catalog:

They arrived over the weekend and we installed them today.

Totally offensive. The chainrings are riveted onto the crank arm. For that matter, so were the nameless ones that came with the bike. That means, if any one chain ring becomes bent or worn, the whole right crank assembly must be replaced. How much more effort would it be to throw fasteners instead of rivets in there?

Wheel Overhauling

About a month ago, I posted about overhauling the front hub on my touring/commuter bike. The bearing cone was deeply pitted and in really bad shape. Last weekend, after ordering the right bearings (but the wrong cones since there's almost no good way to buy stuff like that if you're not a shop), I took the axle out of my rear hub for bearing replacement and repacking with grease. Bad news- the cones were wrong so I couldn't complete the job. Good news- I didn't have to. Cones were in pristine condition (as you can see in the picture above). Why? Both wheels had seen the same mileage, through the same weather and road conditions. And, the rear wheel sees much more load due to my center of gravity location and panniers always on the bike.

Differences that might explain why the rear wheel bearing races are lasting so much longer:

-Larger bearings (1/4" vs 3/16" for a larger contact patch, less stress on the cone)

-More braking load on the front wheel

-Occasional front fork chatter which may stress the hubs

Anyway, I packed everything with grease, buttoned it back up and lubed the drivetrain. Now she purrs like a kitten.

Some first time frame building tips

More ideas from my conversation with Joanna, someone I know who is contemplating recycling the components from her old road frame onto a cross/commuter frame:

The Competitive Cyclist fit calculator is a good place to start when trying to find the right size frame.

Measuring your existing bikes also helps. As a woman, you're going to want a shorter than average top tube. This is always a challenge for women looking for a cross bike since there aren't women specific cross bikes yet and a female specific frame tends to be built for shorter torsos.

Another tip - a pair of touring tires is probably good for a cross/commuter. Cyclocross tires are expensive and wear out quickly on pavement. Touring tires have a bit of tread and wear like iron.

Budget some money for frame building tools and expenses:

-cable cutter
-bottom bracket tool
-headset installation (that's usually a job for a pro mechanic)
-a new set of cables and housing
-a new chain as your chainstay length may increase
-a new cassette to go with your new chain, budget cassettes are heavy but durable
-odds and ends like handlebar tape and cable donuts
-a set of good ball-end hex wrenches, don't rely on a multi-tool. Bondhus offers a lifetime warranty, I've used it, it's worth it.
-a cheap, maybe 2nd hand work stand. It will save your back! (this is something you can usually borrow)

Also, most assembly steps require grease. A tube of plain old grease from the auto parts store will be good enough. Get some latex or nitrile gloves, maybe some industrial q-tips.

Also, put the cell phone number of your favorite bike mechanic buddy on speed dial, to call when the going gets confusing.

Campy vs. Shimano brake cables

The ends of these two cables look the same at a cursory glance, but when you get them up close to eachother, you realize that the ends of a Campagnolo brake cable and a Shimano road brake cable are not the same. The Campy cable end on the left is smaller in diameter, and also shorter in length. I didn't realize this until I tried to install the Shimano cable on my Campy bike. Catalog ads tend not to say "Shimano compatible only", and the cables install pretty much the same way, so who would have thought them to be different?

To resolve my problem, I ground down the Shimano cable and stuffed it into my brake lever. Will it hold? I'll let you guys know. Until then, I have at least one lever with a regolamentare cable in it so that'll stop me.

What's 100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

A good start.

Lawyer Tab Removal... A Pictorial

The fork

The tabs

The tools

The procedure

The end result

I took someone's front wheel off their bike the other day, beginning to spin the quick release, and was told - "Hey - you don't have to do that on my bike!". What a revelation. This bike was built pre lawyer tabs and removing the front wheel was as easy as flicking the brake release and opening the quick release lever. I was so used to unscrewing a quick release by now, I thought that's what they were for. No, they were meant to be quick releases. Read slowly, quick... release... If we wanted to spin things to remove them, we'd buy bottles of Michelob. Instead, we have invented bottle openers and speedy bra removal.

I think Ray Jardine wrote in one of his books (and I'm paraphrasing here) - don't be afraid to modify your stuff, void your warranties and remove labels. You're not as dumb as the lawyers who are involved in retail products think you are. That being said, Nippleworks claims no responsibility for someone who removes the tabs from their forks, then forgets to secure their quick release and actually loses it. Nor, are we advocating the removal of said tabs from a mountain bike, specifically one with a front disc brake. Read this article for an explanation of why that may be a bad idea. We're also not going to buy someone a new fork if they end up taking off their entire dropout, or a new eyeball if they put it out with a tool.

But, if you're mechanically inclined, and steady with a file or power tool (which for us comes from years of working on surgical instrument prototypes), give your bike all the functionality of a 1930 Campagnolo.