kirkcudbright

So, what else have I been doing?

I completed my first bike chop ever, christened it, and flew it on its inaugural mission, albeit not without a bit of damage to both ship and pilot.

Meet LDS Moroni. Eventually, it will be covered in reflective runes.

[9/11/08] It started life as a 24" girl's mountain bike. Lightly used, heavily abused, eventually discarded, finally trash-picked by moi. Lots of good tread on the tires, but rotted out sidewalls, rust on everything, seized cables. Clearly stored outside for years, this bike has never known a day of love in its life. Let's see if we can fix that.

I got carried away, and took it apart before I remembered the documentary part of the process, but I sure wasn't going to put it back together just for a picture.

The design is based on this chop. The idea is to cut off the front triangle, flip it over, and re-attach it. The top tube (now the down tube) is shorter than the down tube (now the top tube), so this raises the bottom bracket, so we can run a smaller front wheel. Also, it gives the head tube a more relaxed choppery angle. And all without extending the fork.

Here it is post-cutting, up on blocks to validate the concept (and to play with other possible geometries).

[10/12/08] Thanks to

frobzwiththingz for the weld-fu. This is my first MIG weld ever, and it's totally craptastic. Fortunately, I have an angle grinder, and I'm not afraid to use it.

[5/2/09] SCUL season already underway, it's time to actually reassemble the thing. To the extent possible, I reused original equipment - drive train (including de-rusting the chain), brake, shifter. The front wheel is from a Barbie bike, and the handlebars are a mangled triangular aero bar, of a style that was briefly fashionable in the 90's. Only the cables are new.

It rides like crap. The handlebars feel too flexy when riding, but are too stiff to bend into a more friendly shape. Also, despite the seat being jacked way up, it feels small and cramped.

[6/20/09] Finally dragged it to MRC. Replaced the handlebars, the seat, and the rear tire. Trued the rear wheel so I could dial in the brake a little. Retard gave me the seat, and it's a thing of beauty and wonder - it's deeply (almost disturbingly) gel padded, and it has built-in LED tail lights - butt lights! Now I'm styling. (See first picture.)

Sadly, I got a little cocky towards the end of the mission; as Retard says, "chopper ballet can be dangerous". Road rash on both hands and both knees, and a bent derailleur. Fortunately, we ride with tools, and with pilots who like to bend things. However, de-mangling, debriding, and decompression all meant I wasn't home until 6am. And had to be on a plane to a business trip later that day. Oof.