Poetry Pays Off!

I'm pretty excited today.

I'd actually forgotten about it, until I received an e-mail from Rivendell today. There has been an ongoing contest published in the Rivendell Reader, where readers are challenged to rewrite chosen verses of Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven. The catch is, you must rewrite the poem without using the letter 'e' anywhere in the text, except for the proper noun "Lenore".

The winner would receive a $100 credit toward merchandise purchased from Rivendell Bicycle Works. I believe there were three runner up spots as well, each receiving $20 or so each.

So I open my e-mail today, and I see the following...

From: Grant [mailto:grant@rivbike.com]Sent: Fri 12/26/2008 6:41 PM

To: Dau, Dwight

Subject: Rivendell Raven contest

Hi Dwight,Well done! You've won the Raven contest, and $100 of credit, as shown below. Your e-less verse will be printed in Reader #41. I really liked the line "dark maw scary" and the smooth use of the word "thusly."

Nice job,

Katie

Rivendell Bicycle Works

kpeters2@macalester.edu6

Yahoo! Not only is my poetry going to be published, but I get a nice prize as well. I'm going to purchase a Nigel Smythe seat bag. It will look great on my Rambouillet!

Here's the original Poe Raven verse:

Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,

And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, Lenore?,

This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word,"Lenore!"

Merely this, and nothing more.

Now, the improved e-less (excluding "Lenore", of course) Dau Raven version:

Far into that dark maw scary, long I stood fast, wanting, wary,
Doubting, drooling mortal drool upon my bathroom floor;
But thusly hush was nigh unstopping, and a dark night’s slow hint dropping,
And a singular word said “Shh! Lenore?”
This through my lips, a murmur backward, “Lenore!”
Just a word, without a roar.

It's not that I haven't ever been published. I had a couple of poems published on the Rivendell A. Homer Hilsen website http://homerhilsen.com/, or per Cyclofiend http://www.ahomerhilsen.com/. You can look but unfortunately that site seems to be under construction. I don't recall saving any of my Hilsen poems, so they may well be lost forever.

Thanks to GP and company for conducting the Raven contest, and giving us regular old manly men a chance to practice our poetic chops! And also, I thank RBW very much for the $100 prize.

-Dwight :>))

Getting up to speed, slowly

After returning from a well deserved holiday vacation, I figured it was time to resume my Soma build. I want to build my wheels up, the hubs and rims are in my basement...but the spokes and nipples are in some bicycle parts warehouse, somewhere.

Of course it's time to purchase a few more bike parts!

Might as well grab some drivetrain components while I'm at it. So, I picked up the following from JensonUSA:

SRAM POWERGLIDE PG-970 9SP CASSETTE 11-34T
SRAM X.7 TRIGGER SHIFTERS '07 Speed Silver
SRAM X.7 REAR DERAILLEUR Long Cage
SRAM X.7 DUALPULL FRONT DERAILLEUR 07 Black, High Clamp, 28.6/31.8/34.9
DT SWISS COMP. 2.0/1.8 SPOKES - BLACK 291mm, Box Of 72 (including spoke nipples)
WELLGO WPD-823 CLIPLESS MOUNTAIN PEDALS Silver, 9/16", Aluminium

This should be the last major component purchase. All I have left now are odds and ends, maybe a brake or shifter cable, etc, etc. Otherwise, this last shipment should spur a flurry of building. In the meantime, I might blog a bit about spoke length calculations...so stay tuned!

I picked up the Wellgo pedals because they were about 50% cheaper than Shimano SPD's, and they're supposed to be compatible. All my cycling shoes have SPD cleats. Seems like a good deal, but we'll see how well they work.

Ride report: None. The weather has been cold and extra crappy, and I really need to get out and ride. I think it's cabin fever, coupled with the fact that I've had a nasty cold that's been lingering the last couple of weeks. A good spin on the bike should burn that sucker right out of me. Right now, I've resigned myself to the home treadmill and work gym attempting to maintain a decent level of fitness through the holidays. Maybe I shouldn't have drank all that beer at my in-laws, but I certainly couldn't pass it up! Beer is a food!

I have some New Years resolutions and goals that I'll share with you as that milestone comes near. In the meantime, have a safe and happy holiday!

-Dwight

Happy Holidays!

Hi all!

Just wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays! I'm out and about, more specifically I'm on vacation in Oklahoma visiting my in-laws. All my bikes are sleeping peacefully in my Iowa basement, and I don't anticipate much bike riding, tinkering, or blogging until after New Years. I need to get some spokes ordered for my Soma 29'er build and I might get that done prior to heading back home. Otherwise, I will be extremely busy relaxing and enjoying myself.

To all my reader(s)... :>) .... have a safe and joyous Holiday season!

-Dwight

BETRAYED! The Sequel

I'll add these comments from ESPN's Mark Schlabach, nuff said!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=3769005

-Dwight

BETRAYED!

WARNING: NON-BIKE RELATED CONTENT

Someone is on my sh*t list. In fact, this guy has placed himself on a whole PILE of sh*t lists.

Normally, I wouldn't stray this far off topic. My blog is about bikes...riding bikes, building bikes, enjoying bikes, and so on. I'm pretty passionate about the bikes.

But I'm also passionate about my alma mater. Back in the stone ages, I attended Iowa State University and actually acquired a degree from that fine institution. I've always been a Cyclone fan and athletic supporter :>). If you watch ESPN at all, you'll know that Auburn has recently hired a new head football coach, Mr. Gene Chizik. Mr. Chizik was formerly the head football coach at ISU. Note that I'm not referring to Mr. Chizik as 'Coach'. You will understand why.

Mr. Chizik

A little background, if you're not an ISU fan. ISU has never been a football powerhouse, in fact, their history has been mostly dismal. About 12 years ago or so, Coach Dan McCarney was hired as ISU's head football coach. After a couple of years with a less than impressive record, Coach McCarney built the program up and actually took us to a few bowl games. In fact, ISU won their very first bowl game under McCarney's tenure. You'd think we won a national championship.

A few years ago, the school hired a new AD - Jamie Pollard. The program had a couple of hard years and Coach McCarney was asked to step down (he's an assistant head coach at Florida right now...and they are going to the national championship this year). At that time Mr. Chizik was the defensive coordinator for Texas and they'd just won a national championship. He was voted one of the most outstanding young football coaches and was considered a top head coaching prospect at the time.

Lucky for us (it seemed so at the time), ISU managed to snag the coveted Mr. Chizik. It was a great hire for our program and hopes were high. In his first year, Mr. Chizik's record was 3 - 9, 2 of those wins were in the Big 12. Not totally unexpected, being his first year without any of his own recruits. But ISU fans were hopeful.

This year, Mr. Chizik amassed a 2 - 10 record, 10 straight losses and zero wins in the conference. Disappointing, but Mr. Chizik explained to us that this was a 'journey', be patient, then publically professed his love of living in Ames, love for the fans, love for the University...basically informing all the fans, students, and alumni that he was in this for the long haul and would do what it took to make the program successful. He demoted the offensive and defensive coordinators, fired the quarterbacks coach, fired another coach.

And out of the blue this weekend, he quit. QUIT.

Yes, Mr. Chizik quit. Took his two 'proven' years of head coaching experience (5 - 19 record, 2 Big 12 wins), and accepted the open head coaching position at Auburn.

Our AD held a press conference, and based on what he said I can say that he was definitely not happy. I have been looking at the ISU message boards and I can tell you Cyclone fans are definitely not happy. I've also taken a peek at the ESPN and Auburn message boards and guess what? They definitely aren't happy. Why would they want this guy, with a 5 - 19 record? The general fan consensus was that it was a stupid hire, and their fans fear that Auburn is going to turn into the Iowa State of the SEC.

Ouch.

Well, there may be a silver lining to all this. Although this could be a big setback for the Cyclones' football program maybe we can snag an experienced head coach, get someone in here who knows how to rebuild a program, knows how to motivate players and coaches, knows how to treat athletic program supporters and will actually give a damn. Turner Gill might be looking for a job. :>)

Good riddance, Mr. Chizik. You were not our Coach. Coach is a title reserved for loyal individuals with integrity who have earned respect.

My condolences to Auburn students, alumni, boosters, and fans. You deserved better.

Sincerely,
One pissed-off Cyclone

Hoops n' Hubs

A few more parts arrived, courtesy of Speedgoat.com:

Two WTB Laser Disc Trail 29'er rims, along with front and rear Shimano Deore XT disc hubs. I haven't yet purchased the spokes...once I get measurements for flange diameter and hub offsets I'll calculate the proper spoke length. Then I'll put in an order for them sometime in the next week or so, planning on doing some wheelbuilding sometime after Christmas.

Basically, all I have left are shifters, cassette, front and rear derailleur. I'm thinking SRAM x.7 or x.9 for the shifter and derailleur parts, SRAM cassette as well. I already have a chain, and I may have the various cables and housings lying around somewhere in my growing pile of bike tools/parts. Is there anything I've missed?

I want to riiiiiiide. I've been fighting a bad cold for the better part of the week, it put me down Monday and I had to call in sick for work. I'm now just beginning to get over it, and the weather today is over 50 degrees (albeit a bit windy). I'd like to try to get out for a little while today maybe for a quick spin. I don't think I'll have many opportunities to ride in the next week, since our forecast is in the teens, with snow. Then I'll be heading out of town Friday for the holidays.

Wish for warmer weather! :>)

-Dwight

All forked up - Part 2

Once I had the right tool, cutting the steerer tube to length was no problem!

Enter the Park Tool SG-7 Oversized Adjustable Saw Guide. I simply clamped the steerer tube in place, aligned my hacksaw blade to my scribe mark and hacked away. One note: if you already have the star-fangled nut installed in your steerer tube, make sure you have it inserted far enough so you don't accidentally saw through it!

Here's the saw guide and fork clamped securely in place on my portable work bench. I also use this work bench as a platform for my wheel truing stand. I believe I picked my work bench up for around $30 at Home Depot, relatively inexpensive and money well spent!

A close up end-view of the steerer tube clamped in the guide, after cutting

Next on my to-do list was crown race installation. I want to show you the special tools I used for that particular operation:

Yup, mallet and flat-bladed screwdriver. I've heard folks using pieces of iron pipe, PVC tubing, etc. but I saw a YouTube demonstration of a crown race installation using this method.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0FaQy07t80

I carefully tapped around the circumference of the crown race using the screwdriver as a punch, pushing down one side, then the other until the race was fully seated. No problems!

All that was left was reassembly. I used my digital calipers to measure the depth of my star-fangled nut installation (15mm), threaded the steerer tube bolt in and tapped it with my mallet until I reached the proper depth. Then install the lower bearing, fork, upper bearing assembly, headset spacers, stem, bolt and headset cap and tighten the headset bolt until the bearing are properly preloaded. Position the handlebars, tighten the stem bolts, and finished!

-Dwight

All forked up - Part 1

Headset cup press...piece of cake! Time for forking! :>)

I had a fluid leakage issue with my 'new' fork. I'm hoping I've resolved that particular problem and I'm going ahead with the installation. I'll just have to keep an eye on it.

First order of business: cut the steering tube to length. Luckily, the folks at Cane Creek provided some excellent instructions on how to measure the various components and calculate the proper steering tube length. The formula is:

Lower cup height + Upper cup height + stem height + head tube length + headset spacer height - 3mm = steerer tube length

The best way to measure these items? This tool has become one of the most indispensable items in my burgeoning pile of mostly working bike tools:

6" Mitutoyo Digital Calipers. Don't leave home without them.

Bearing cup height measures the flange containing the bearing only, not the part of the cup that presses into the head tube. My lower cup height is 10.9 mm, and the upper cup height is 16.5mm. I'm using 3 spacers to bring my bars up a bit, total height 25.3 mm. Add in my stem height (the height of the stem clamp, fits on the steering tube)...40.0mm, and a head tube length of 110.2mm and the total is 202.9mm. Let's round that up a tenth to make it an even 203. Subtract 3mm and the steerer tube length is a nice round figure of 200mm.

However, before I started chopping at my steerer tube willy nilly I wanted to make sure my arithmetic was correct. The tried-and-true maxim of "measure twice, cut once" certainly applies here! So, after I measured the steerer tube and scribed a line at exactly 200mm, I prefit all the parts as a precaution. The top of the steering tube should be 3mm below the top of the stem clamp, or the headset top cap.

As you can see in the picture below, the steering tube extends past the stem clamp before cutting. I don't see my scribe line at 200mm...this is a good thing. That means it lies somewhere below covered by the stem clamp.

I used a pencil to mark the steering tube circumference at the point where it meets the stem clamp, then I disassembled everything to check my work.

A bit fuzzy here, but you should be able to see my pencil line around the circumference of the steering tube, and the short scribe line directly below. Measuring the distance with my trusty digital calipers, I get an approximate distance of 4mm. I haven't yet installed the crown race on my fork (I probably should have done that first before I preassembled the parts), but I don't think that will add much more distance so I believe my measurements are accurate and correct.

Next: cutting the steerer tube to length.

-Dwight

A pressing issue

My saw guide arrived yesterday, along with some other parts I'd ordered from Speedgoat.

Fork issues notwithstanding, I was finally ready to install my headset. But I needed a tool to press in the bearing cups.

Gravelo to the rescue!

I call this tool my 'Gravelo Headset Press'. A couple of weeks ago, my fellow blogger posted his version of a homemade headset press. I decided to follow his lead and hit the hardware store, acquiring the necessary parts. This is my interpretation of his suggested design:

I purchased a length of 7/16" allthread and cut it in half..about 18" long. Add two 7/16" nuts, two washers, two large fender washers along with two bronze thrust washers and voila! One headset press.

But does it work?

Well, check this out! Headset bearing cups in place:

Press in place and ready to go

Cranking on the nuts :>)

Cups in place, no problem!

My sincere thanks to Gravelo!

-Dwight

I think I've been forked

My fork showed up yesterday, via UPS. I didn't actually find it until later in the evening, since the delivery man left it next to the front steps in the flower bed. Since I came home after dark, it was a bit hard to see in the shadows.

I was very happy to see it since it means when my saw guide shows up, I can cut the steerer tube cut down and install my headset. I'm ready to see the frame come to life!

I opened the box and inspected my prize. Everything seemed to look fine, until I looked at the rebound control lever at the bottom of the fork.

Fluid. I noticed fluid leaking around the rebound contol knob. I pulled out the knob and removed the bolt going into the shock tube. It appeared the fluid leaked from the inside of the shock tube where the rebound control shaft fits into a hex recess in the bottom of the bolt hole. The shock tube bolt is hollow since the rebound control shaft has to pass through it. The fluid traveled through the bolt into the rebound control knob, which is held in place by an O-ring. The fluid leaked past the O-ring onto the knob and the fork.

It's not a gusher, more of a seepage. However, it shouldn't leak at all and the seller didn't indicate there were any problems. When I wrote the seller about the issue, the seller suggested tightening the bolt. That's fine, but the bolt is hollow so tightening it really doesn't seem like it will fix the problem. Of course, the shock wasn't leaking when the seller shipped it.

So now what? The sellers eBay page indicates they won't take returns, and the item is used so no warranty work. The fork does seem to work OK, but I don't want all the fluid to leak out and totally ruin it. I guess I could complain to eBay, but it all seems like a huge hassle.

BTW, I did a Google search on 'leaking Rock Shox Dart 3 forks', and found several reviews written by folks who had the exact same problem...leaking around the rebound control knob. My suspicion is that this particular fork was prone to leaking (and several other problems) so folks just swapped them out for a higher end model, then pawned them off on unsuspecting suckers like myself looking for a smokin' deal on eBay. I've always had good experiences with eBay, but I'm sure the averages were bound to catch up with me. Live and learn, Caveat Emptor!

I had a brain fart, however. I could hit the hardware store to find a bolt the same size as the shock tube/rebound control bolt and similar in length. I could adjust the rebound control where I want, and replace the hollow bolt with the solid one, using some teflon tape on the threads. I'll lose the easy rebound adjustability, but it shouldn't continue leaking. Then I'll just ride it as long as possible to get my money's worth out of it. Maybe it'll work just fine, and I figure for the buck or so it'll cost me for the bolt it's worth a try.

It's better to be forked than screwed, I guess :>))

-Dwight