Winter time projects/Tinkering

[Drew Fitchette]

Hey y’all,

Reading through Leah’s thread about winter being long and missing our bikes, I was curious to hear what y’all have in your queues for builds/projects/part swaps?

I think I’m going to try my hand at building some wheels for the first time. I ordered some Bitex Hubs and some Simworks standalone rims and have a friend at my local bike shop who’s agreed to help me with this foolish venture. 

Would love to hear what the rest of you are getting up to in your shops/basements/garages while we wait out the bad weather!

- Drew in Atlanta

[Kesler Roberts]

Go for it! Learning to build wheels is a great thing to do. You'll either love it and get hooked or (like me) realize that some jobs should be left to the pros.

My brother just built a wheelset with those simworks rims and they seem great.

My project for the day once I clear off the sidewalks is to re-wrap my bars.

[Dorothy C]

Bitex hubs are a bit easier to start with because they don’t have any labelling to line up with the valve hole, if you are particular about that. For my first wheel build I took them to the LBS to check over when I had finished them, and prior to riding   
My current task is to sew a top tube protector for my periwinkle Platy I built up last fall. All my other bikes have them already.  I also have a 36h Kasai and a 26” Atlas rim I am going to put together for my 46cm Appa. It will be about my fifteenth wheel build, all for myself or family members. I taught myself from the Jobst Brandt book during lockdown, and it has come in very useful 

[Kesler Roberts]

I plan to build a new rear wheel before long and would like to use a Bitex touring hub in silver but don't see them anywhere except one ebay seller in Israel.  Does anyone know of a US source?  Plan B is to wait until RBW has the 32hole Silver hub back in stock.  Actually that's plan C.  Plan A is to find the money for a White Ind. M15.

As my bike shows, I am not particular about silver vs. black vs. whatever but for whatever reason want my hubs to kinda match and i just got a new front wheel with a polished SON hub.  When I build wheels I also don't even try to line up the logo with the valve hole, but I think it's awesome when others do.

[Drew Fitchette]

Hey Kesler,

I ordered my set from the U.S. distributor directly: https://www.bikehubstore.com/

Looks like they sell them for the same MSRP as others do. Hope that's helpful for you/anyone wanting Bitex stuff! 

- Drew

[Isaak Oliansky]

Bike hub store is great. They had a 135mm end cap/axle conversion kit for the Bitex touring hub that no one else had, just needed to call them to get it. 

[Kesler Roberts]

Thank you -good to learn about bikehubstore!

[Eric Marth]

I really need to solder my SON coaxial adapter onto my Edelux so I can get the dynamo running on my Hillborne! I have a fresh Willybuilt (Will Keating) Atlas/SON wheel and a lamp leftover from my MB-2 build. I have everything I need on hand. 

[James McGregor]

February's project is switching my Motobecane road bike from downtube shifters to Campy Ergo shifters.  I'm keeping the 6-speed freewheel on there - the Ergos are 8-speed - hoping to make it all work through the magic of shimergo!  Here's the before photo (pardon the garbage and recycling cans):

[Jay]

That is a great looking bike.  Love it with the DT shifters but whatever floats your boat ;-)  Sounds like a fun project though.

[James McGregor]

Ha, well, I can't really leave well enough alone.  I don't ride the bike enough and maybe a little tweak will spark some excitement heading into spring.  I usually ride my Hunqapillar everywhere, but this bike is much, much lighter.

[Kesler Roberts]

My big project this week were wrapping my bars in colors that some may not love but I'm pretty pleased.  I also wasted about an hour picking out some reflective mudflaps on this site: https://rawmudflap.uk/. Next week I'll rebuild my rear wheel with the Bitex hub that I have coming from bikehubstore  - thank you for pointing me that direction.  In the end I went with the lighter weight road hub, which they were willing to spec with the 135mm end cap for me.

[Dave Johnston]

I'm still waiting on a couple parts and for the inches of ice outside to melt, but she's ridable as is!
Note: Saddle height is about 3cm higher than owner will ride it at.