Sunday, August 9, 2009

Progress Report

Since I'm calling the blog "My Bleriot Build", I suppose I should write a bit about that particular subject.

As I've mentioned, this one is going to progress slowly. There are just too many nice bike riding days and too much going on during the weekends, to find much time to spend on bike tinkering. I'm afraid if I get started, I'll get focused on bike building and miss out on some good riding and other fun stuff.

I finally received the Shimano Nexus hub from Bikeman. I had to wait a while for that one, because they were out of stock and I had to order a substitute. I ended up with the higher quality 'Redband' hub, though it cost me about $30 more. Since the Bleriot has vertical dropouts I got the special vertical anti-rotation washers, and I'll also have to order a chain tensioner. I'm considering the Surly Singleator.

I've had the generator hub for some time. I ordered that from Harris Cyclery, along with the headlight and a few other related bits. A couple of weeks ago, I pulled out my trusty calipers and made the measurements necessary to make the calculations for spoke length. I calculated the spoke lengths for the Nexus hub some time ago, since Sheldon's website contained a complete dimensional layout. The order went in to Lickbike, and I received the spokes just two days ago. Does this mean I can actually start building my wheels? Yes!

-D

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