Louisiana Cycling

Fenders

2010-01-07T14:50:00.000-08:00

It just didn't look complete until I put the fenders on. It's a go anywhere bike now.

Homebuilt Upgrades

2010-01-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

After riding my homebuilt a bit, I decided that it was worth upgrading. That gave me the opportunity to upgrade my Bacchetta Strada and use the original components from it. It is no lightweight, but it rides great. With the 1.5 tires it is very smooth and surprisingly fast. I'm looking forward to touring on it this spring.

Here is a list of what's on it now:
FSA Omega crank 53-39-30
Sram S.7 twist shifters
Sram Microshift FD
Sram S.7 9-speed RD
Shimano 12-25 HG cassette
KMC Z9000 chain
Avid Single Digit cantilever brakes and levers
Shimano MH-M535 559 wheels with Schwalbe Marathon Racer 1.5 tires

Finished Pics!

2009-11-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

Really, I'm done. Well except for new Avid Vbrakes that are on the way. Eventually it will get a new crankset with bigger rings, and I'll be putting my Speedplay Frog pedals on soon.

I got a pair of Swalbe Marathon Racer 26x1.5 tires for a really good deal from http://www.davesbicyclerepair.com/ for a great price, $30 each. Those tires cost more than the rest of the bike! It rides great with those tires.

I wanted a rack on the back, but it would have to be an expensive adjustable rack to fit. Those cost about $60. I got a piece of 1/4" aluminum bar stock and some 1/16" thick aluminum angles at Home Depot for $7. I had a couple of pieces of 1/8" angle in my scrap bin. That and some stainless screws and flat black paint was all it took.

Almost Finished Pics

2009-11-24T13:01:00.000-08:00

It's 95% finished. All that is left is to finish dialing in the seat angle and drill and pin the seat supports. I believe I will need to add a few links to the chain as well. A set of smooth tread 26x1.5 tires will be going on soon.

I bent (mangled) the front fork to give it more rake to eliminate the wheel flop. Works pretty good now. The canti mounts had to be moved about an inch after the bending and since the originals were tig welded, I just used the horseshoe support that I took off a donor MTB. I spent more time grinding and sanding the welds than I did welding! I used bronze colored Krylon Hammered rattle can paint. It covers well and is easliy touched up later.

Homebuilt Long Wheelbase Recumbent

2009-11-15T07:21:00.000-08:00

I knew I was in trouble when I started reading the homebuilders forum at http://www.bentrideronline.com/. I am an incurable do-it-yourselfer. I love buying tools. Homebuilding a bike gave me an excuse to get a MIG welder and a MAP torch.

I've been very interested in the new Rans Xstream and I wanted to try my hand at building a bike from recycled parts. Here we have a Yahoo group called Freecycle. You can only post things that you are giving away, or you can ask for stuff. I posted an ad saying I wanted any old bikes. One person gave me three bikes, one of them a very nice Ross MTB bike that a neighbor had left with him when they moved, and two of his daughters old bikes. I picked up an old ten speed in my neighborhood that someone had set out for trash. The Ross was rideable and the one thing I really liked was the center pull cantilever brakes. It had 6 speed SIS components as well. Not high end, but they work.

I copied my Strada's Euromesh seat using 1/2" EMT. The top tube is oval, from one of the WalMart girls bikes. The bottom tube fit in the top tube which makes it very strong when welded. The bottom tubes are from the Ross, again the smaller tube is in the larger, and I used one short piece of tubing from the ten speed. The rear triangle is Ross on top and WM on the bottom so that I could use the rear brake from the Ross. The BB is from the Ross, so I used the WM bike for the bottom of the rear triangle.

The riser is 3/4" EMT. I brazed on part of the Ross's headset to hold the bars. I bent the handlebars from an aluminum tent pole that I had. I really like the feel of tweeners on my Bacchetta, and just copied the setup.

I just rode it around the neighborhood. The wheel flop at real slow speeds goes away as soon as you get going. I like it! I'm going to strip it down and grind the welds and paint it with Krylon Hammered spray paint. These are the before pics:

Longleaf Trace Birthday Challenge

2009-11-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

Went to Prentiss for the Birthday Challenge Saturday. The challenge was to ride your age in kilometers. I wanted to at least double mine, so I rode the whole Trace - 41 miles. We took it pretty easy for the first 30 miles and stopped a lot to socialize. A lot of the folks I was riding with turned back. I decided to push on to Hattiesburg. It was pretty much all downhill into Hburg, which meant it was all uphill on the way back. I wanted to make the 3pm drawing for the free bike, so I pushed pretty hard on the way back. I was suffering for the last 25 miles.
Total mileage 82. Time on the bike was 5:12, total time 6:04. I did make it back for the drawing, but didn't win. The birthday cake was good!

My Bikes

2009-10-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome to team Laz-E-Boy!

I had cervical fusion surgery in 1994. I thought I would never ride again after trying to ride a standard bike about a year later and couldn't due to neck pain. Not to speak of CTS and saddle sores. I saw an Actionbent on ebay and went to their website and ordered my Road Runner (sold):

I've been riding on and off since I got the AB about five years ago. This summer I decided to get a new bike and start riding more. I ordered a new Bacchetta Strada. I really like it a lot. I'm currently stumbling down the upgrade path. I put Sram Trigger shifters in place of the twist shifters and I have a set of Rotor Q-rings on the way. I'm riding over a hundred miles a week and feeling better and weighing less all the time!

This blog

2009-10-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

I started this blog to keep up with cycling information and will be adding to it from time to time.