Sporadically I wander the neighborhood for discarded bicycles before they get scooped up by the metal scavengers or waste disposal engineers. I came across a 3-speed CCM made in late 1977 – or at least the Shimano components date to that time.
Rust has built up on various portions of the bicycle, leaving it’s restoration dubious besides it being too small a frame for me. The reason I had for picking it up in the first place was the three speed Shimano hub on the back wheel. It’s internally geared, sealed and still ratchets fine.
The only problem (or is it…) – the rim is steel and slightly too large to fit a bike designed for 26″ mountain bike wheels. The brilliant plan I have is to learn how to build a bicycle wheel!
Indeed this is what I did this weekend, with eventual success. Following instructions from the late Mr. Sheldon Brown’s website, referencing existing wheels and finally following truing instructions on the late Mr. Ken Kifer’s website. As an aside – it’s very sad that some of the best sites regarding cycling where created by people who are now deceased.
Sadly, while test fitting the wheel to a bicycle I discovered the sprocket teeth are slightly differently spaced than modern multi-speed bike chains. I suspect it has more in common with a track bike.
That basically puts this project on hold. I now need to source appropriate sized chain and cranks to match this cog before proceeding.
The ultimate goal was to convert a mountain bike into an all weather grocery hauler. With the sealed gearing I could eliminate some of the mechanical wear caused by the elements and still have a small range of gears.
Despite the stall to this project, I’m pleased to have learned all about wheel building and truing – this was a gap in my mechanical abilities that should prove valuable in the years to come.
I ran out of time and energy for a while to keep some updates to the site.
Sadly, I slipped up and started smoking again so it looks like I’m going to have to start that process all over again.
Also of note, I’ve started a new job working the help desk at a local software company this week. For those of you that are googling me from there – /wave
I have had some random hardware issues here and there with this PC that I suspect are related to over heating. I might post some pictures of my modifications at some point. I moved it to a more ventilated case and reconfigured the fan locations to pull more heat away from the components that get the hottest.
My hard drive crashed over the summer. Prior to getting the above mentioned configuration working well, my drive started to make the dreaded “click-click-whirr” sound and the BIOS couldn’t see it. I did manage to get it to boot a few times afterward, but it inevitably would lock up at some point so I stopped.
My girlfriend, the sweetie she is, gave me 250gb drive to replace it with and I successfully transferred all of my data. I still have the odd problem with the computer, but that’s mostly related to the wireless device and network.
Gas prices are rising fairly steadily, as anyone with a vehicle knows only too well. The largest consumers of petroleum are largely dependent on it to maintain their lifestyles, and the other two-thirds of the world rapidly gaining Industrialization are wanting to join the party. This is of course the perfect time for the gas exporters to raise their prices. The West has become dependent on oil, removing their railway lines in favor of transport trailers, sprawling car-centric suburbs, and driving wasteful hulking SUVs.
A paradigm shift isn’t happening overnight, either – but it’s slowly entering Western conciousness. SUVs are being dumped for a fraction of their purchase price by status climbers who realized they can’t afford to fill up the tank daily on these monstrosities any more. Some people are still driving them around, so these prices haven’t hit the pocket books of those with abundant finances yet.
A few more bicycles are on the road now. I’ve not taken the public transportation recently, but I’ll bet the busses are starting to gain new riders as well. This happened last price jump, and it wasn’t this high. It was the test run I think. Push the market value up, get people used to the idea, lower it a bit to regain consumer confidence, then slowly raise it again. It’s like sitting in a pot of water and slowly raising the temperature – eventually the water’s boiling fatally but it was done gradually enough that nobody noticed.
The solution however, is right in front of our noses – and people are starting to consider it. Walk, or ride a bicycle! It works in Europe. Too many people will hop in their cars to drive < 5km to the store for a loaf of bread. That’s easily walkable in 15 minutes, or five on a bicycle – and you’d get some exercise at the same time. I’ve done it in the rain, I’ve done it in a blizzard – I don’t own a car and never have.
However, most of us car-free bicycle riders are still being looked at as the crazy ones. That’s OK. We know you’ll come around eventually if the pricing trends continue. Think of it this way – prices for produce and consumer items will rise due to increased transportation costs – so high gas prices affect drivers twice as much as cyclists. Just some food for thought.
Comments (1) 
Themocracy