💾 Archived View for zaibatsu.circumlunar.space › ~solderpunk › bikes › franken-peugeot › log › agy_2… captured on 2020-09-24 at 02:12:54.
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August 2nd, 2018 ---------------- Unfortunately I had some other obligations this Thursday evening, so I could only put in a quick ~45 minute stint at the co-op. Given where I left off the week before, I really had exactly one goal - get those front axle bearings back in order so I could take my first proper test ride! Adjusting axle bearings is pretty straightforward in principle. Start with the cones too loose. Tighten them a little bit. Check for play in the wheel or for roughness in rotation. If there's play, tighten the cones a little and repeat. If the wheel doesn't roll smoothly, loosen them a little and repeat. Make smaller and smaller adjustments until you home in on the sweet spot where you have as little play as possible with things still feeling smooth when you spin the wheel. It's conceptually very easy but it takes patience and a delicate hand because the final adjustments are very fine indeed and it's easy to get trapped in a loop bouncing back and forth between too tight and too loose. I haven't done an awful lot of this and historically I'm pretty bad at it, but I was very happy that I got what I felt was a good enough job done pretty quickly today, and I resisted the temptation to rush it just so I could finish in time. I got the front wheel back in the fork and took off for a careful brake-free test ride along the gravel path near the co-op. It felt fantastic to be able to actually ride a bike that I had put together almost from scratch! After being surprised at how far leaned forward I was on last week's tiny, naughty test ride, I cranked the stem up quite a bit and this time felt a lot more comfortable. It was only a short, slow ride along level ground, but everything felt very nice, it was easy to balance, easy to steer, the drivetrain felt nice and firm, there were no weird noises or wobbles or anything, so I have high hopes that once I spend some time dialing in the saddle and handlebar positions it will be a really nice bike to ride. With my last little bit of time I started hunting for parts so I could start work on the brakes next week. Levers were the first port of call, and to my delight I found a pair of Mafac levers, very probably salvaged off whatever bike also provided the Mafac Racer calipers I have. They are "drillium" levers, with a very nice vintage racer vibe about them. I wasn't able to find any cable hangers, which is a bit of a concern, but maybe I just didn't know where to look. Before I install the front brake calipers, I'm going to have to finally decide if I want to keep the current fork or swap it out for another one. The current one is obviously not original, it's a different colour and is welded rather than lugged (it's a pretty ugly weld job, too). These things don't bother me as much as the fact that it has no eyelets for fenders or a front rack, though, and it would be nice to have those. I'll have to unscrew the top of the headset to put the brake cable hangers in anyway, so I don't think it would be much extra work to put a new fork in if I can find one I like. The reason I'm not sure if I want to bother is that I don't know if the current headset is original to the bike or not, and therefore I don't know if uses the weird slightly non-standard old French dimensions or not. If the previous owner went through the trouble of finding a rare for that fits, maybe I should just use P-clamps for any accessories and leave it as is.