Henristig's picture journal

tuubz - thank you so much for your kind comments More to follow as time passes, that's a promise!

The SS project is moving along nicely although I don't want to be too quick with it, y'know. I want to savour having a project for once.

I took a good 50 mile ride on my Clockwork through Helsinki today to collect some parts and now I can cross the SS kit off the list and ditto for the chainring bolts. I've also bought a nice set of Curve cantis from matt2477 off this forum (bit of an impulse buy but I think they'll look neat on the clocky ) and an XT headset from hunspecialized. Lovely chaps to deal with, both of them.

Now I'm just waiting for the mailman to bring me some sweet sweet parts so I can get the build properly started...


From the FS thread, Curve cantis & levers to the right...



My XT cranks. I'll start with a regular middle ring and progress to those Surly steel SS chainrings if I get blown away by the SS way of life



And a quick snap from today's little trip to Helsinki.

Looks like it was a great day for riding there. Hopefully my project will arrive tomorrow so i can get started.

Indeed, -1 degree celcius - just enough to make the moist dirt solid - and sunshine all the way I'd love to see some pictures of your orange/white piece of work once you get it!! Bring it on!

Today I took out the chain whip and assembled the rear sprocket. I actually would've wanted to convert the silver Araya wheelset instead of the black Mavic set, but the cassette locking mechanism on the Araya wheel was a complete mystery to me + I only had a shimano lockring tool. Any advice on how/what to use to get the cassette off the Araya would be greatly appreciated! (pic below)

In other news, today I just found out that a nickel-plated NOS never ridden Sunn Vertik 2 from 1998 has been standing in the back of an ancient LBS here in Finland waiting for someone to love it all along and at this point I'm absolutely jonesing for it!! (you'll find a catalogue scan of it here http://www.le-jurassien.com/sunn/catalo ... mmes98.php) Always loved the understated look of a late 90's chrome Sunn. Bit like a Kona, except French. If nobody can convince me otherwise I WILL get it as a christmas present for myself or whatever.

Single cog mounted, here it starts.



Had to sacrifice my Mavic set for it



Here's the bloody cassette on the Araya. I can't for the life of me figure out how to open it because it doesn't seem to have any lockring there in the first place! (sorry for the grit)



Quick mock-up of the catalogue scans of the Vertik II.

henristig":3kx0q9w1 said:

Indeed, -1 degree celcius - just enough to make the moist dirt solid - and sunshine all the way I'd love to see some pictures of your orange/white piece of work once you get it!! Bring it on!

Today I took out the chain whip and assembled the rear sprocket. I actually would've wanted to convert the silver Araya wheelset instead of the black Mavic set, but the cassette locking mechanism on the Araya wheel was a complete mystery to me + I only had a shimano lockring tool. Any advice on how/what to use to get the cassette off the Araya would be greatly appreciated! (pic below)

In other news, today I just found out that a nickel-plated NOS never ridden Sunn Vertik 2 from 1998 has been standing in the back of an ancient LBS here in Finland waiting for someone to love it all along and at this point I'm absolutely jonesing for it!! (you'll find a catalogue scan of it here http://www.le-jurassien.com/sunn/catalo ... mmes98.php) Always loved the understated look of a late 90's chrome Sunn. Bit like a Kona, except French. If nobody can convince me otherwise I WILL get it as a christmas present for myself or whatever.

Single cog mounted, here it starts.

Here's the bloody cassette on the Araya. I can't for the life of me figure out how to open it because it doesn't seem to have any lockring there in the first place! (sorry for the grit)

Click to expand...

Wow, that's real gritty.
Good to see the SS project taking shape.
Like the Sunn V2!
Does this link help with removing the cassette? http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... el-removal

& http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... el-service


I'm off into the night now on an icy ride home across London...

So it's icy in London too, eh? Just makes the commute a bit more interesting

Recieved a couple of snaps of the Sunn today. Behind those nerdy wheel reflectors is a cracking bike!

It was a clear sky with an icy wind as I was going over one of the Thames' bridges last night, but it's certainly no winter wonderland. Just damp and drab today.

Get some tricked out bits on the Sunn and it will soon look fab.

I've been looking at a 50 tooth Surly ring on eBay for when I go SS next spring/summer. In the meantime, I might still have some old Buzz Saws somewhere in my boxes of old bits...

Wow, 50 teeth! What ratio will you be running?

Anyway, the new tyres arrived yesterday and today I got around to throw up a quick mock-up of how the SS clockwork will look like. I honestly thought the 2.25 racing ralphs would've been a tight fit, but there's actually even room to spare. Might even experiment with 2.30/2.35 in the future!





Here are a couple of grainy snaps of the future SS clockwork. Which stem do you think fits better?

T-Bone





Stalk

Hey, that SS Clockwork is starting to look hot. Have seen it on the ‘maximum tyre width’ thread too. Looks like there’s still a bit more clearance for some chunkier 2.35 treads.

I’m trying to decide on some fat winter tyres for commuting:

• Schwalbe Racing Ralphs Performance or Smart Sam Evos
• Hutchinson Toros or DZOs
• Kenda Honey Badgers or Karma Pros
• Continental X-Kings or Mountain Kings
• Onza Canis in Retro-esque skinwall

I can’t really justify the cost of some spikes for just a week or so of moderate/ice in London, although I do like the idea of bringing some old speedway bike style action to the streets.

On my 1x8 drivetrain, I’ve been running between a 48t & 50t ring with an 8speed 11-32t cassette. I do quite a long distance daily commute and have gradually got use to pushing higher gears. On the big ring, I find myself flying steadily past the roadies on their super slick state-of-the-art machines.

Looking forward to seeing your SS completed…

XT headset arrived today, yay!

Can't really comment on those tyres other than that the Racing Ralphs have been great so far! I stuck them on my orange/whitey to try them out and now I don't want to take them off anymore They've made a huge difference to my riding. A testimony to this is that now, during the last two days of riding, I've managed to cleanly ride up and down two spots that felt impossible with the old tyres. I feel like a pro now I've become so convinced that I even ordered a pair of Nobby Nics so I can run fat rubber on both my SS clockwork and my orange/white one. BTW Those skinwall Onzas look cool

I'm also going studless this winter. The days when you really need studs around here are few too, because on snow you can manage fine with mtb tyres. It's only when it's wet/icy that studs would come in handy. And even then you could make your own studded tyres

On another matter, I totally love the look of the orange/white clockwork with the Racing Ralphs. It's like a completely new bike. I think the RR's modernize the bike just enough to make it look purposeful again instead of just looking like a collectible. Plus now I can thrash it even harder. Always liked fat rubber on mtb's.

Love your thread and all the pictures

Wish I lived round your way! Black walls are my pet hate bit they look good on your Clocky!