Darth Gets Fan Speed Control and Touch-Up Paint

A few finishing touches for 2014.

Touch-up paint on the silver thingies out front, replacing stickers.

Fan speed control - not a huge range, but enough to keep it to a dull roar vs roar roar.

Next year - noise isolation and audio integration/distortion.

Airflow for Darth Vader Helmet - Happy Halloween!

The new re-breather was too loud for helmet use, but the 40mm fans arrived in time so I got to work.

Dremel and hot glue gun, soldier iron, added some padding from cycling, using up some new RC connectors, and the critical bit - an 8mm audio plug to Vlad's Danolight battery pack for 5.5V of power.

The result is a bit noisy, but it really works! One fan blows in (top) other blows out (front vent).

3X Chain Break at Tamarancho

While replacing the rear derailleur on the Scott 29er, I cracked the chain with the big Park chaintool to unstring the old and string the new back on. Not on the master link.

Anyway so I am riding up Alchemist Sunday AM with a "church pass" and at the top the chain gently breaks. I say gently as the only other time I broke a chain it snapped suddenly when standing on the pedals with me hitting the ground instantly. It broke, and the pin still in place I took the mobile tool out of the pack (yes, always bring one!) and put it back together.

3 miles later just past the rock garden, again the chain left me. This time I took out a link assuming it was bent/literally the weak link. Off I went, to and through Endor, and heading up hill past the bridge in the rocks and bam, broken once more, nicely bent.

Got to the end of the loop and after wasting so much time on the chain, I did not have enough time to do another loop. So down the hill and to Sunshine Bike Shop I went. Eric was ready for me and awesome, checked through the derailleur, looked for broken/twisted teeth, straighten the hanger, and sell me a couple of SRAM master links.

Took the bike home, looked for the bad link, added a few replacement links from a Wipperman 10 speed chain and installed one of the master links. I found the one-time-use link finally too. I need to take it out and test it, tough since I am rarely commuting to work by bike these days :/

I wonder if I should have had Eric @ Sunshine just install a new chain.

Hydraulic Brifter Options for Road Use

ST-RS685 levers and calipers, and 11 speed everything else

Rival and Force 22 HydraR, and 11 speed everything else

Di2 and 11 speed everything else

FM166 - First "Real" Ride

After finally cutting the hydraulic hose to size followed by a messy "brake bleed session" (will need
to repeat this), I installed the Dura-Ace bar-end shifters, ran the cables, added the Ultegra derailleurs, and wrapped up the mess with electrical tape and the old Pinarello bar tape sitting on the bench.

I then added waterbottle cages, lights and took the bike out for a spin in the dark. Bar-end shifters
worked okay, but all the hand-motion and levering/tuning really stink compared to the brifter solutions of the current day. Had some weird scraping sounds, not sure if it was discs or new drivetrain, but it worked well enough to do the morning ride (slow group) up Tunnel, down Redwood and back Pinehurst to tunnel.

The bike rode quite well, pictured above after the ride, though the shifting was a bit off by the end (stretching cable?) and the brake action was really nice and subtle when going downhill. The bar-ends do not encourage lots of shifting, so I felt really inefficient riding sometimes, finding myself standing a lot to avoid shifting. I'll be saving my pennies for a shimano mechanical + hydraulic brifter set, maybe Di2...

FM166 Project: How NOT to Remove a MEGA EXO Bottom Bracket

Turns out the threading is backwards for bottom bracket cups - rive side is clockwise, despite the BB axle spinning in that direction too. The instructions with my FSA BB tool were WRONG, showing non-drive side as counter-clockwise to loosen.

A breaker bar added to my FSA BB Tool, and a Rubber mallet.

 much damage was done to the notches on the BB shells,

so much the tool began to slip and shear metal - and this was even AFTER I figured out I was loosening the wrong way.

Enter the monkey wrench - the shell exterior was so chewed up, I decided I would be happy just to get the cups off. The tool worked far better than the intended tool, caused far less damage as well.

Note the direction my finger is showing how to LOOSEN the cup.

I ended up using the chewed up cups on the FM166 with the FSA cranks, knowing I could get them off with a monkey wrench next time.

FM166 Progress - Bones from the Giant

The grand parts shift has been ongoing this week, the big loser is the Giant aka Worlds Coolest Rainbike. The Campy bits went to the Big Red Pinarello, but the carbon chunks are now decorating the FM166.

I was very careful to make the sizing identical to the Focus, the one bike in the fleet untouched by the grand parts shift. ( that said, I replaced yet another spoke in the Focus Fulcrum 3's, thank goodness for the kit of spares!)

With the sizing correct, the flat carbon bars and familiar saddle/seatpost, the FM166 is really coming together. 

After pondering a hack to get the DT Swiss 370 hubs to 11 speed (a FILE/Dremel), I decided to just go 10 speed until we get new wheels. This means the Giant FSA Carbon Compact crank will be heading to FM166.

A secondary parts shift will occur with the long cage Ultegra on the Xtracycle (was original on Focus) will go to the FM166, the Scott 29er's banged up XT Rear Derailluer will go to the Xtracycle, AND a new XT Rear D will go to the 29er...Arg!

I ordered 10 speed Ultegra Cassette, Chain and Dura Ace Bar Ends from Chain Reaction Cycles in the UK - prices seemed too good, so I added DHL shipping. Lets see how that goes.

Oh, I should shut up and ride a bit now.

Big Red Pinarello Monviso - Rebuilt!

The late night wrenching this week concluded this afternoon with a shift cable and new tape for the Big Red Pinarello Monviso.

In this process, all the 10 speed Campy Record bits (mostly carbon and titanium) collected on the Giant were moved to replace the older 9 speed Campy parts on this frame. The new Fulcrum 7s were also put on to complete the all-Campy machine, replacing the buggy Neuvations. The relatively new chain and cassette complete the "rebuild".

I had a vision of taking this into Tim for a tune up, but it worked great on the test ride so far.