The rare and elusive bars made it, along with the headset, stem, and a few other assorted parts. Of course, I had to install them ASAP just to check them out. The headset installation was a bit more difficult than I'd imagined. The crown race would not install onto the steerer tube, no matter how hard I pounded. Usually, all it takes is a screwdriver and a few taps. Not this time. I ended up using some PVC tubing I'd used for shooting 4th of July bottle rockets a few years ago attempting to drive it on. My lovely wife was freaked out by the pounding and cursing noises emanating from the basement. "What the hell are you doing down there?"
Sweating my ass off.
I took some drywall sandpaper and tried to sand the mounting ring down on the steerer tube. Sand, sand, sand, sand, blister. Pound, pound, pound, pound, curse. Sweat some more. Pound some more. Sand, sand, sand, sand, bleed. $#%%^&&@@!!
It just wouldn't slip down over that last half inch of steerer tube.
Finally, I got out the heavy artillery. Yes, I pulled out the Dremel tool and stuck on a sanding drum. After about a minute of sanding around the circumference of the tube I tried again.
Pound. Whack! Pound. Pound. Hey! It looks like it's slipping on. Pound. Ouch! Pound. Pound. Success!
After a quick shower, I assembled the fork and stem to the headset tube and slipped the bar in place. Boy, those bars look nice!
BTW, I just recently placed another order with Riv for a few other 'hardware' items, including brake hangers, cables, a Mark's Rack, and a SaddleSack XS Special. It'll be great!
One last thing...ya gotta look at Patrick's kick ass Bombadil, loaded for bear...
-D
2 comments:
The Bleriot is looking good. Glad to hear you snagged the Dirtdrops. Have you tested out the generator hub yet? I'm curious...as I'm getting tired of packing around the battery pack for my current light and worrying about it keeping charged. Especially on tour. With a positive review from you, I could be encouraged to change my hub....
No generator hub test yet. I did get the rear wheel built up this weekend (had a cold so I stayed inside yesterday). I can understand the logistical issues of keeping batteries charged while touring. Right now, I'm running a Nite Flux setup, 4w LED headlight and two separate rechargeable stick batteries. Paul makes a headlight mount which works perfectly for this and mounts on my front forks. For commutes, this setup works great..but keeping them charged up over a long tour could be challenging.
I'm really curious about the amount of light and light pattern the Lumotec headlight projects. I used to have a bottle generator and big square Cateye headlight on my old Schwinn many years ago. Whined like crazy, ate up my tire sidewalls, lots of resistance...but it seemed to generate a decent amount of light as long as you kept pedaling a decent pace.
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