"Before" and "After"

Before and after.

Attention, it is not a Plastic Surgery CM.

IT IS A BIKE PLASTIC SURGERY CM. haha, Enjoy, man, and i am enjoying.

velosteel

Warning, this text is for single gear bicycle Mania, maybe it is boring for others.

Not a fixed gear, not a hand break, only rear brake, it is a coaster brake.

If you do a search about coaster brake on youtube, you may find out this rap song MV, it is funny and i like it, though i need a front hand brake for life saving.

Let's talk about coaster brake, recently i only ride on a bike which equipped a shimano coaster brake hub. i would say, coaster brake rocks! and a shimano CB110 is a simple beast, easy to service , but not good looking... not handsome...em, not classic feel. also may drag if you do not adjust it well.

Ok, a handsome, classic feel coaster brake hub and with less drag, em, em, not so easy to find out. You can buy an old Fitchel & Sachs or Sturmey Archer, or, there has another choice-Buying a New One, A VeloSteel coaster brake hub, yes, a VeloSteel. wanna know more about it?! yes, The Velosteel is made in the Czech Republic, and people said it is a knock-off of the old Fitchel & Sachs Torpedo coaster brake hub of the 20th century. Velosteel is a roler clutch design CB Hub, and the roller clutch design was patented in 1904 by Sachs and has a long history of reliability. An individual hub, with reasonable maintenace was expected to last hundreds of thousands of kilometers! and give you less drag when pedaling and coasting compare with a cone clutch design CB hub(Shimano or other modern CB Hub).

So, yesterday i got two Velo hubs from Italy, hehe, right, not from Czech but Italy, anyway, first impression is...Heavy, good build quality, using a lot of stainless. but, needs lube... Factory only put a few grease and the quality is not good. so, this morning i just cleaned and repacked one velo Hub, well, with Dura-Ace Grease it moves much smoother and quieter than before.

After cleaning and repacking, now i need, mmm, a rim ^_^, i will build a wheel using this hub, so i need a rim, spokes, nipples and a wheel building stand and a spoke wrench, say, how about a velocity Deep V rim with Velosteel?! yes, it is getting more and more interesting, isn't it V^_^

(pic-Velosteel Coaster brake Hub)

Face Off...or Frame OFF

2009.11.18. Rain. from 2:00PM to 10:00 PM

It is cold inside house, so i decide to go out , mmm, to take a look of my lovely bikes.

Riesama never used speed shifting function on red bike, and i am a single speed fan, so, let's take those speed shifting system out of that red bike. it is a easy work, just cut the chain, remove front and rear derailers, remove shifters and cables, reset chain, put it on chainring and freewheel, bike gets light and smoother when coasting. if i stop my conversion work that time, i would be happy but not soooo happy. so i made a big decision - i will change all parts from red bike to blue bike(only keep frame, stem and BB)! wow, this is a hard work... two bikes have 120mm frame end, so let's get start.

Use crank tool to take out crank on Blue bike, crank set on red bike is much more user friendly, an allen wrenches will do it ok.

take out all wheels.

cut the chain, remove them from bikes

remove handlebar.

remove front and rear brake on red bike, front brake on blue.

remove saddle.

clean all parts

and grease metal parts

then,

first for Red bike, i just love its frame, it is so classic and sexy, ok, 1 2 3

install crank set, 165mm, my favor.

cut the chain, new chain length.

install rear whell, set up coaster brake, and put chain on it, chain line looks ok, lucky. get the chain tight enough.

install front wheel. and....wait, it is 10pm already...

so that night in garage - red bike without handle bar and brake stand alone, and blue bike...only parts...

2009.11.19 Rain 8 AM to 5 PM

After breakfast, open the garage.

Reset the chain line on red bike, and tight the chain, reset coaster brake, make it smoother and smoother. i love this.

put handle bar on red bike, install the front brake.

Install the saddle, adjust the height, and...problem! one blot broke...god! it took me 15 mins to found another one, yes, i found one, lucky enough.

so, red bike( now it is my bike^_^) looks ok, next- blue bike

blue bike this time will become a single speed with freewheel, and all wheels have quick release, that is time saving!

so first, install the crank, no special tool, easy and happy.

install rear wheel, got some problems with washers, but it is ok, smooth.

chain, new chain length, it took me a lot of time and power to do it, my chain tool is a cheap cheap one, really bad for work...

put the chain on chain ring, check chain line, get chain tighten.

install front wheel.

install handle bar, install brake lever.

install BRAKE...at least two hours, i worked on them. front brake is ok, but rear one...the brake pad position is too high, almost kick the tire, it is no good. So i took red bike's front brake out again, and made a change.

Adjust all brakes, made them central

Saddle install.

5pm, work finished, really tired...but very happy with the results! next will put pics.

so, red bike i will ride on from now, and set blue bike in very good and friendly condition, especially i am happy with all brake on blue bikes, much more effective than before, it is good for Riesama.

ok, boring report is finished.

have a nice evening.

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike.

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

From " Queen"

First time i heard this song when i was about 18, melody is great, but, that time i was thinking about a car everyday, just got my driver license. But now, this song just suits me well.

After moving to Japan, bicycle became one of important parts of my daily life. Where i live people call it -INAKA, i love this place and life style, but, no subway, only a few bus and taxi(taxi is too expensive, so forget about taxi), and i don't have JP driver license... in fact i don't want to have one. i just get tired with car driving. so, a bicycle will make me free here, yes, a bicycle, a slim road bike frame bicycle.

When i got to Toyama, i bought a cross bike immediately from a home center, a Miyata, i was told it is a famous JP bicycle brand, but soon i got problem with stem and handle bar problem on this bike, so, i returned it. Bought a red good looking, old road bike, a real classic beauty, now Riesama is riding on it.

For myself, i decide to try a single speed, but i don't like free wheel's sound when coasting. also a good fixed gear will cost me a lot, so, coaster brake, yes, a single speed coaster brake, i add one front hand brake on it, coaster brake is not expensive, and looks strong enough, i was a little bit worry about Shimano coaster brake's drag before i got this bike, but, after an O.H. everything looks fine, i put Dura Ace grease into that hub ^_^, i don't feel any notice drag when i ride on it. it is even smoother than Riesama's red beauty when coasting. a simple blue bicycle, will take me to where i like.

(That frame pad was made by myself, took me two hours, em, but now i decided to leave it and make my bike more simple look like first pic. Handle bar is from "luno", pedal is from MKS, hehe, i bought them from internet, old parts, and i really love them, gotta say thanks to Riesama)