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Post by desertbikes on Nov 3, 2018 8:09:07 GMT -7
Just looked back on the previous page. Those are some nice shifters.
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Post by lurker on Nov 5, 2018 8:12:38 GMT -7
and cheap, too!
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Post by lurker on Nov 19, 2018 20:45:24 GMT -7
finally got back to the bikes. first, the denali. hooked up the right 7-speed shifter and the brakes and took it for a spin. seems to work fine but didn't get to put it thru its paces because the front 3-speed shifter is inoperable (we'll talk about that later) so i only have the smaller chainwheel. low-geared 7 speed. maybe if we had steeper hills. definitely want to put safety/suicide levers on the brakes. adjusted the coda seat angle, decided it's too hard and small for my liking. i'll go see about that bell saddle at wallyworld.
why is the 3-speed shifter not working? because during the denali's adventure the nut that clamps it on the handlebar escaped, so i can't secure it to the bar. it's some sort of propietary specialized thing and i haven't found a replacement yet.
violet the peugeot is completely down at the moment. my old derailleur was open cage, so getting the chain off it was easy, the replacement derailleur is closed cage, so getting the chain back on is near-impossible. i say near, because i suspect if i can loosen the cage that holds the cogs i can rotate the frame clear and get the chain on, but that means i must find my 3mm allen wrench, which seems to have disappeared. somewhere in one of those boxes. thought i had a chain-breaker but can't find it, maybe in one of those boxes..
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Post by lurker on Nov 20, 2018 6:17:13 GMT -7
wow, just wow. "Users Online in the Last 24 Hours 0 Staff, 1 Member, 100 Guests."
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Post by desertbikes on Nov 21, 2018 5:40:48 GMT -7
yeah was 123 last night. People from 23 cities in US Plus Istanbul & Sydney. 23% were bots which is pretty low for a site like this (I suspect google analytics doesn't catch or properly identify all the bots). Over 40% are returning users but are not members. They read 1-3 threads per visit. Go figure.
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Post by lurker on Nov 21, 2018 6:18:42 GMT -7
yesterday i went to the local bike shop for two things, a fastener for the left denali shifter, and a chain breaker for violet. out of stock on the chain breaker, on order. so i show the man the part on the denali, and he says he can't get them, shimano doesn't sell them separately. let me tell you about this fastener. ordinarily, it's a captive part. if everything's assembled, it can't come off. but if the bike were, say, to be stolen while disassembled, yes it could come off and get lost. impossibly rare circumstance, even rarer than getting a stolen bike back nearly intact. small price to pay for a recovered bike, but still annoying. on to lowes!
so this part, it's a nut, shaped something like a top hat, a threaded sleeve with a collar on one end to keep it from pulling thru whatever you're fastening. a regular nut is too thick, interferes with the shift lever. shimano uses something like it on some of their fancier shifters, but doesn't list the part separately. i found something at lowes, apparently also at hobby lobby and tandy leather, easy to find once you know their name, called a "threaded post" or a "chicago nut" or "T nut", used for working leather and building scrapbooks. drawer G9 in the small parts bin in hardware. i'll get one in the next day or so and take a pic. still not right, i'll probably have to square off the nut end so it doesn't spin while tightening, and they's all sae, not metric so another unique non-matching part. but if it saves the shifter, so be it.
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Post by lurker on Nov 25, 2018 15:58:06 GMT -7
this is the fastener i've been looking for. costs $1 each, give or take a couple of cents. this one is aluminum. it's too long, i'll go back and try the 3/4".
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Post by desertbikes on Nov 25, 2018 16:54:15 GMT -7
Oh that! I couldn't figure out what the heck you were talking about. Was gonna ask for pic of where it goes. Figured with all my spare parts I'd have one. The leather application was a good call. I have those on rifle slings & Quaker-made belts. I think its the pivot point on a shimano shifter/brake lever combo I have too.
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Post by lurker on Nov 25, 2018 18:14:29 GMT -7
i too thought most of us have one in the spares box but how to describe it? and these aren't exactly right, but i expect i can make them work.
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Post by lurker on Nov 29, 2018 16:26:38 GMT -7
well the threaded posts from lowes don't work so well. being aluminum, i stripped the screw slot tightening them before they are securely attached to the handlebars. i'll see if i can hunt up something in steel*. i also got a 3mm hex ("allen") wrench and pulled the screw holding the lower pulley in the derailleur cage, and yes, the cage swings apart allowing chain installation without a chain breaker. having done this and seeing how the chain rides on the chainwheel up close convinces me that this chain is badly stretched and needs to be replaced. my local wally world seems not to have road bike chains, so i'll have to look elsewhere. meanwhile, there's some progress, but not as much as i'd like. the peugeot is rideable, and the denali nearly so.
* on reflection, maybe i'll just try another screw, use the post as is.
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Post by desertbikes on Dec 1, 2018 7:14:52 GMT -7
Is it on the bottom of the bar clamp ? For the chain, 7 or 8 speed will work. 9 won't. KMC & SRAM have the best reusable master link. No special tool required to install or remove the link.
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Post by lurker on Dec 1, 2018 10:18:12 GMT -7
yesterday i violated a primary tenet of my life, which is to never spend money at a bike shop if you have a choice. after a frustrating trip to wallyworld wherein they had neither chain nor chainbreaker nor $12.98 seat nor the old fogey cell phone i want, i went to the local carbon frame bike pimp. by coincidence he had the chainbreaker tools out on the counter, so i told him i was looking for a chain and a cheap seat. "what's cheap?" he asked and i said "20 bucks" so he showed me a bunch of seats, some free (takeoffs) and some marked down to $20, and i came away with a park tools ct-5 chainbreaker, $16.95, a kmc Z7 chain, $18.99, a serfas MH RX seat, $20.00, and a pair of smoove onyx/ultr-violet sunglasses for the LOTH (early xmas), $25. i'm seeing the seat for around $72 and the sunglasses for $38.00, so they cut me considerable slack even though (maybe because) i whined about the price, or maybe the seat and sunglasses were not selling and he wanted to be rid of them.
so i'll do reviews of each of these in their turn, but i read up on the seat, and according to some the serfas MH RX seat is among the most comfortable of seats, and good-looking to boot. and next time i'm at lowes i'll look for a steel screw that fits the threaded post. today the weather is wet and chilly, so i won't be working much on bicycles.
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Post by lurker on Dec 2, 2018 10:49:28 GMT -7
sized and replaced violet's chain and put the serfas rx seat on her, put the vitesse seat back on the denali, from whence it came. so the coda expert seat goes back to the co-op from whence it came. rode violet a bit in the yard, maybe 50 yards. everything seems ok. yes, i watched the park tool videos on chain sizing and replacement, which made things easier.
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Post by desertbikes on Dec 2, 2018 12:55:41 GMT -7
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Post by lurker on Dec 2, 2018 14:30:15 GMT -7
those radial engines are gorgeous.
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Post by desertbikes on Dec 2, 2018 22:03:23 GMT -7
Unbelievable whats available these days. The planes that use those, equally so, Think I'll do a post on the Modeling board about the ARF (almost ready to fly). craze, While it has rejuvenated the hobby its also deteriorated the real art of building.
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Post by lurker on Dec 4, 2018 14:22:29 GMT -7
yes! hobby lobby has threaded posts in steel, in the scrapbooking section. also, slotted for phillips driver.
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Post by lurker on Jan 2, 2019 11:42:17 GMT -7
since temperatures have been in the low-mid sixties the last couple of days, i finally got around to using the steel threaded posts to fasten the left shifter to the handlebars, and then went ahead and connected up the cable to the front derailleur. seems to work fine. it's good to get some of this stuff done.
i'm thinking of using the denali as a grocery-getter. there's already the big clunky seatpost-mounted schwinn rack, maybe i'll hang some panniers on it. i can literally walk across the street to the grocery store, but it's annoying to carry the shopping bags back from the store, i'd like to find a way to hang them on the bicycle.
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Post by desertbikes on Jan 10, 2019 19:27:27 GMT -7
Our walmart had some for $20-$35 last summer. Haven't noticed them lately but bet they still sell them online.
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Post by lurker on Jan 10, 2019 19:49:44 GMT -7
i hate online shopping. not the shopping, actually, but the paying. it just gives me the willies to put my credit card # on the net, hell, it makes me nervous just to have the card out on the desk when the computer is on. but tonite i'm breaking down and doing it. already ordered a lee loader for 45/70, and a battery charger for my camera, and hooks, tassels and rosettes for the portrait rails. next up, frame pumps for both bikes. seems like there was something else, but i forget. it's taken me over a week to work up the nerve. did i say how much i hate this?
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Post by desertbikes on Jan 10, 2019 20:45:37 GMT -7
3 safest ways & never use your actual card # online- 1. Prepaid Visa - You can even use these without giving any real info. I use this when traveling. 2. PayPal - although not available everywhere, particularly gun oriented sites.
Oh, and never give card info to a human over the phone. Another problem still prevalent in the backward world of small gun & ammo shops. "We got people that call us with their card all the time!" Yeah, and they are all dumbasses...
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Post by lurker on Jan 12, 2019 18:43:05 GMT -7
well i decided that i needed a period-correct frame pump for violet. i found a chromed sunlite $5.99 pump on the web which got my hackles up because they don't appear to have a physical presence. i hope they have more than a windowless closet where some poor wage slave writes their web ads. so i kept looking until i found the same sunlite pump at bikewagon for $8.99 and a cannondale (on closeout) for $7.99. what to do? easy, i ordered both. yes, i'll pay extra if you actually have a showroom/office/warehouse. i'll put the other on the denali. and of course there will be a review. 2 day shipping via priority mail was cheaper than US Ground, so should be here shortly after the weekend.
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Post by desertbikes on Jan 13, 2019 15:45:32 GMT -7
I looked about 3 years ago when I was considering refurbing the Univega. Couldn't find one. Did you just search for "frame pump" ? - I assume you mean the long narrow chromed pumps. About 16" long?
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Post by lurker on Jan 13, 2019 17:10:51 GMT -7
yes. that's right, "frame pump". chrome, plastic, whatever. kinda surprised these aren't aluminum. i think they went out of fashion at the end of the 10-speed boom, replaced in the marketplace by little 6 and 8 inch pumps, and co2 chargers. some vendors advertise them as "retro", i.e. overrpriced. i once had one of the short pumps and it took foooooreeeeverrrrrrr. and the co2... no, just no. and the sunlite is on page 2
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Post by desertbikes on Jan 13, 2019 20:56:09 GMT -7
Thank! I'm getting 2 just because they make more sense than those mini pumps, especially on a fat tire.
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