Trek 520 Build - Part Five - Bad News Good News

This is Part Five of an ongoing series of posts documenting my painfully slow progress in building a light loaded touring bike. If you care to read the whole thing so far, use the "Post Series" link near the top of the sidebar.

I've only really "built" two bikes before this one, having only gotten back into bikes in the last ten years or so. As such, I lack the experience of some other crazy life-long bike wrenching fools. Unfortunately, it sometimes shows. In this case, it shows in that one of the wheels I found for this build was bad, in more ways than one. You may recall that the freewheel on my used wheels was a 12-19, which wasn't a good match for the triple crankset I chose or touring in general. In my post about the wheels, I described that freewheel as being in excellent condition. I am stupid. I recently picked up a 14-34 freewheel, and wanted to put it on. Here is what I discovered when I tried to remove the existing one:

Not good, but no biggie, right? Sheldon Brown had some instructions for removing such a freewheel. The method was destructive, but I was OK with that. Sadly, I was incapable of getting the damn thing off anyway. My guess is that the thing was seized badly and somebody else destroyed the tabs trying to get it off. I headed over to South London Cycle, more of a repair shop than anything else. The guy who runs it figured he could get the freewheel off somehow, but in spinning the wheel noticed a flat spot. I had noticed it too and thought it was correctable or at least not too bad. I was wrong. He suggested that it would be a waste of my money to have him remove the freewheel, because this was a flat spot I would feel for sure.

I was pretty angry with myself. Live and learn, I guess. The first thing I did was inspect the one remaining rim from the original bike. It was a front, but re-lacing it to be a rear was an option. It had a big flat spot too. I went online and started the search for a new rear wheel. Unlike the last time, there was NOTHING in the local (or even nearby) classifieds like craigslist or kijiji. Ebay and other online stores offered nothing used, and I was feeling reluctant to buy used stuff again anyway. The only reasonably available and good quality 27" wheel in production seemed to be a Sun CR18. The best deal I could find was $70 plus $30 shipping plus whatever they dinged me for at customs. I was sad.

It was a Sunday, and I couldn't reach any bike shops. Many smaller shops are also closed on Monday. I was pretty distressed and wanted to just run away. So I did. I caught the red-eye to London and hung out with Ham. I had to work, however, so I jetted back to London Ontario after chilling out and having a beer.

Tuesday was a good day, because I struck paydirt on my first try. First Cycleworks came through with an in-stock 27" CR18 wheel, aluminum hub, stainless spokes, etc. $62 after tax. Although I didn't make any more calls, I'm pretty confident nobody else would have had one and would have charged me more than that to get one.

So the bad news is that I am naive and too stupid to spot a bad wheel. The good news is that I was able to recover using my wallet and a LBS. I may well try to get a CR18 for the front as well... I'm into symmetry. The used front wheel I bought, however, really is perfect (I have checked and re-checked) so all is well for now.

Build $ Tally:

Used Frame + some parts I will re-use: $80
Used Wheelset front wheel: $100 (arg!)
Blasting of frame: $50
Powder Coating of frame: $50 (super deal)
Components from Part Four: $246
Taxes and Duties on shipment: $40
14-34 Freewheel: $22
New Rear Wheel: $62

TOTAL to date: $650

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

Lazily Industrious

I am nothing if not a lazy man. I hate the hassles of storing my bike in a secure location, kind of like how some people hate making their beds (I among them). I mean, why bring your bike all the way inside or into a shed only to take it out again the next morning? Sadly, I don't have a garage I could just roll into and close the door on. That would be awesome.

The good news is that I am fortunate enough to live in a house with a nice front porch. Being lazy, I would often leave my bike on the porch unlocked and sometimes lay it down so thieves wouldn't spot it in the wee hours. I must admit that I sometimes enjoyed imagining the drunken joy rider variety of thief unknowingly hopping on a fixed gear with only one brake lever for the front that is mounted on the "wrong" side. Despite that fact, this approach was causing me stress since I really do love my bike and somebody with an eye for better bike components might "case" it sooner or later. It was time for a porch lockup.

My LHS (local hardware store) is called Tuckey's Home Hardware, located in Wortley village. I like going there as do many people in Old South, because it is a good old all-purpose decidedly non-big box kind of operation. The good people there provided me with a good beefy chain and a very sturdy padlock. The best hitching ring they had was somewhat less beefy, but I figured it would do...

See how the bracket isn't exactly level? That's because while I was drilling the pilot holes in the brick my head was cocked sideways like a perplexed dog...

You see, for the lazy man, such industrious activities are a bit of a head scratcher. I find it somewhat ironic that one of the few times I got around to doing something around the house, it was because I wanted to be more lazy. In any case, the job got done, and here's my bike in porch lockup:

See those tools and bits of chain? Those are there because I work on my bike on the porch too. I do that because my perfectly good basement tool room / workbench is a terrible mess, so terrible that I can't work comfortably in it. Rather than clean it up, I work on the porch. I am a lazy man.

I know this kind of lockup wouldn't do the trick in some places, but it is plenty where I live, I think. As it happened I had just finished using Boeshield to treat my Trek 520 frame at the time, so I hosed down the chain and ring with it. The waxy feel of dry Boeshield on the chain makes me happy, because I know it probably won't rust for some time.

I know this is a boring post, but that brings to mind another paradox or irony or whatever. When I look at my web statistics (which I have a bespectacled forensic webologist study quarterly in the hopes of boosting my web traffic) it would seem that my visitors prefer my "boring" posts over my "funny" ones... I'm afraid that might mean that what I consider funny is boring and vice versa. To be honest, I don't really care why people come visit me here... I'm just glad you bother at all. Thanks!

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

Transcendent Roadside Splendour

A recent post from Steve A at dfw point-to-point was about stopping and checking out some of the things we cruise past all the time. That post reminded me that I've been sitting on some photos of a roadside wonder here in London Ontario. In his case it was something of historical interest, with a sign and everything. My pictures are of something that is privately owned, but is no doubt cherished by the whole neighbourhood where it is found.

I've never been a big fan of garden gnomes and that kind of thing. I mean, huh?

To each his own I guess. I also don't really dig those leaning cowboy silhouette things, either:And although they don't bother me at all, why am I seeing these stars on so many houses?

Are they the new house butterfly? If so, that's too bad, because I like house butterflies. Mrs. Rantwick thinks my tastes in this regard are somewhat misguided. Ah well. They bring me peace.

original image source

Anyway, where was I? I got all blissed out there for a second. Ah yes... outdoor decorations. Well, there are house butterflies (sigh) and all these other things, but what I'm talking about here is something beyond all of that. I'm talking about a front lawn vision. I'm talking about Mother Nature herself. The proud owners of Mother Nature have, naturally, surrounded her with sweet little creatures...

She is deserving of her many followers. Here she is in context:

And here she is on her own (excluding her escort bunny, a turtle, a panting little dog and a tiny toe-sniffing donkey):

I love her. I love knowing that her owners obviously cherish her. I love that people can express themselves any way they want, on their front lawns or otherwise. I'm glad I don't live straight across from her, because, frankly, I would find myself in a constant state of arousal unbecoming a devout worshiper of Mrs. Rantwick. I think I had better stop there.

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K