Older French and Italian bikes use a number of whacky and obsolete sizes, just to keep you on your toes. Which results in hard to find parts that you have to pay a lot of money for on eBay. Sheldon Brown has a pretty good write-up on the French dedication to the metric system.
For headsets, you can more or less just cram the ISO part on there, the interface is close enough for a press fit. Although you’re gonna want to check the threading, you might still need the top of the old headset. Weirdly some French bikes with all of the other measurements being French have still had their steerers tapped with 24TPI imperial threading.
Print this out, it’s super useful. If you line your thread up on the left hand size of the little lines, you can check between 24TPI on the left and 1mm pitch on the right, if you see it drift out of phase, you can be sure it’s the other one.
Look how they drift out of phase. The top is metric 1mm (French) and the bottom 24 TPI (ISO).
Velo Orange make a French thread bottom bracket with a standard JIS square taper. Which incidentally has this great feature where the silk screening on the bracket warns you of the right hand threading.
The most annoying part is probably the stem. The steerer tube is 0.2mm smaller (although check, sometimes just the headset locknut is 0.2mm smaller). Which is just enough that you absolutely cannot get an ISO stem in. If you get an old French stem you’re going to be subjected to French handlebar clamp diameters, which are smaller so you can’t shim. Or you just want to use the perfectly fine stem you have from that wreck you bits’ed a while back, which you can use with your Velo Orange porteur bars.
On the other hand, it’s only 0.2mm, and you have a file. So you can file it down. Be mindful that you’ll want to be fairly even, and even then it won’t look at good as the original, even with half an hour on the cutting wheel. You could lathe it off, but I don’t happen to have access to a metal lathe.
You’ll want to work around evenly, checking your work frequently as you go, both with calipers and then in the steerer (or with that locknut if you have it). Pick a mark to file to and then mask out beyond that with tape. This will set your max insertion depth, so as a starting point try the minimum insertion depth of the stem. If you do happen to slip you can probably clean it up. Also remember that your headset locknut will cover a millimetre or so (you could throw a few washers in there to increase that).
So keep an eye out for those whacky French metric sizes. Measure everything. Don’t just try and force ISO parts into them. It won’t work, or maybe you’ll be getting your bottom bracket retapped like I saw the other day.
Somewhat recently I was complaining to a friend about replacing Alfine shifter cables and getting the tuning right and they said something that I didn’t know, because apparently if you’d never read the technical manual (and only read the data sheets they send with the shifters) you’d miss that it’s documented. For most of the shifters its 101mm but for the new ones with the little boot it’s 127mm.
You can do the anchor bolt up with an 8mm and 10mm spanner. I find it’s easier if you place the 10mm nut into a ring spanner and hold that while you tighten the 8mm end.
Also the most useful tool for turning the gear ring is actually a 14 gauge spoke.
There had been quite a lot of interest amongst Wrenchworthy members for a ride to introduce people to bike touring and Brody had the great idea of riding the Lilydale to Warburton but to Camp Eureka. What a great introduction for people.
The challenge was that part of the rail line to Lilydale was shut for maintenance, and the bus replacement did not provide for bike portage. Thankfully we could solve this with a handy ute.
The hardest part of the Lilydale-Warburton trail is definitely the beginning. There’s a lovely steep climb around the school (not the original trail) followed by beginning the gentle ascent of Mt Evelyn. Thankfully everyone pushed through however they needed and as believed the promise it would get easier.
It takes half the afternoon at a gentle pace. With a stop for lunch we were in Yarra Junction by about 4pm. The final section was 2km along the highway to the camp.
We cooked a delicious communal meal in the kitchen, hung out in small groups and eventually people turned in for the night. Some to cabins, some to tents.
Communal breakfast with a bit less organised, but we left the camp just before midday. We stopped at the train in Seville for lunch (and then again at the bakery in Mt Evelyn) before getting to Lilydale and packing our bikes back on the ute for the trip home.
I think the event went really well and I hope we’ll get some more rides in over the year. Just need to think of some more locations. More photos on our Facebook.
At the end of last year some friends and I put together the first issue of a new zine about women, queers, bikes and feminism. This month we put out our second issue.
I’m pretty excited about getting a second issue out. This one is even bigger than the first coming in at 24 pages with heaps of contributors.
You can buy the zine from Wrenchworthy either at the workshop or online and it’ll be in Sticky once I get around to dropping it in.
In Perth visiting the fam and had to do a repair on my nephews’s bike. Retainer missing from the reaction arm of his coaster brake, so this is a bit of fence strapping and a random imperial bolt I found.
Last week seven of us did a six day, 325km tour over the Grampians to try and see some meteorites from the geminid meteor shower.
Day 1: Warnambool to Hawksdale
The first day began early with a 7:20AM train from Southern Cross to Warnambool. Only half the crew was on the train, the rest having gone day the night before. The seven riders met up at a cafe to receive our official ride spoke card and have an early lunch before we set off. It was only after setting off two people realised they’d never paid.
We bought supplies for day 2 breakfast, lunch, dinner and day 3 breakfast at the Supa IGA near the train station.
A photo posted by Randall Stephens (@randall_stephens) on
The first day was a short one. This is mostly uninteresting cattle country. It was warm enough to end up with lots of flies, of which I swallowed 3. Just over 40km to the historic Hawkesdale pub. Which is where we ate and stayed the night. Accomodation was $30/head in shared rooms. There was a pool across to road but I couldn’t be bothered getting my only crop wet.
Day 2: Hawkesdale to Mt Eccles National Park
Woke up pretty early to have breakfast of cereal on the patio of the rear bedrooms. This was another short day of riding, around 50km, and one with a tail wind most of the day. It was wet and we had to keep our rain jackets on more or less all day.
We stopped for lunch in a grassy field alongside a farm accessway, which I thought was pretty neat. Lunch was flatbread, tomato, avocado and hommus.
A photo posted by Randall Stephens (@randall_stephens) on
Mt Eccles National Park is a small piece of land around an extinct volcano under indigenous co-management. It’s a sacred site where Budj Bim is said to be resting (the summit is his head). There are a number of lava caves, a crater lake and a collapsed lava tunnel you can see in a couple of hours hike.
The campsite features hot showers, although the we learned this means you’re meant to book and its $50/site. We totally could have fit in one site, just because we were spread across 4. There’s untreated tank water and mobile reception (which is good as we had to book).
Dinner was trangia korma with chopped veggies dry fried in premade korma paste, lentils and rice.
Day 3: Mt Eccles National Park to Cavendish via Hamilton
Day 3 was a longer day: around 70km all up. Our lunch destination was Hamilton. The only town of note in the morning was Byaduk, which was mostly a cricket oval and a antiques store (the lady there is lovely). After Byaduk there’s a pretty substantial climb over the end of Mt Napier state park.
In Hamilton we went to a cafe to eat and steal some electricity to charge our phones. Hamilton is also a reasonable sized town, which gave us opportunity to restock on supplies. Visited Coles to buy supplies for dinner, all three meals on day 4 and breakfast on day 5.
It started to get quite hot in the afternoon and so the Cavendish pub was welcome relief. We discovered that the general store, where you used to pay to use the campground was no more, but instead the campground relied on the honest box system. Camping was $5/head unpowered, but there was lots of power around, as well as mobile reception and scheme water.
Dinner was quite excellent, with spicy bbqed tofu cutlets and kale and almond salad plus quinoa.
Day 4: Cavendish to Grampians National Park via Mirranatwa
Day 4 was the hardest day of riding. Around 80km, hot, mostly into the wind with about 30km of gravel. I was also starting to get tired and it became obvious it was important to pace myself. 30km into the ride you climb Victoria Point, which is the tail of the Grampian ranges, it’s a great place to stop for a cup of tea. About another 20km gets you to Mirranatwa.
Mirranatwa is really just a church and tennis courts. It had been hot and we were exhausted. We ate lunch on the back patio of the church and refilled our water from their tanks (which was so deliciously cold). Had a little bit of a sleep before the push into the national park.
The road through the national park was gravel and at times highly corrugated. At other times quite slushy and resulted in a couple of epic power sliders. We stopped at the Murra Murra reservoir with ideas of a swim, but it was more or less a dried up marsh. We kept going to Paddy’s Castle.
A photo posted by Randall Stephens (@randall_stephens) on
Such a relief to get to the campsite until we discovered the water tank was dry. Thankfully there was enough spare water to go around thanks to one rider’s partner joining that night by car and bringing a spare 15L. Dinner was reheated Indian curry MREs bulked up with steamed vegetables, quinoa and rice. The campsite again requiring booking at $36/site. We totally reckon we could have fit into 1 site. No mobile reception.
Managed to see a couple of meteorites.
Day 5: Grampians National Park to Halls Gap via the Balconies
Day 5 was a short day where we went up Mt Victory to the Balconies and then back down into Halls Gap. The up side started with 10km on gravel, which I quickly established I didn’t have enough gears for and ended up walking a significant amount of the way (I was also hung over). We reached the road and hid our panniers in the bushes to finish the climb. The rest of the climb was quite doable until one little switchback of 7%. That was a killer.
On the other hand the descent into Halls Gap was lovely. Must have hit around 60kph, stopping just once to recollect our gear. Made it into Halls Gap for lunch. The caravan park was luscious. I don’t understand how something can be so green, needing so much water given how dry the reservoir was. At the same time I was so happy for the swim we got to have. 2 unpowered sites (they were much stricter on site usage) cost us $90. Mobile reception, scheme water and lots of power points around.
Day 6: Halls Gap to Ararat
I really could have done with an easier day to finish. Although only 50km with the first 35km being fairly easy it was hot and I was extremely worn out and saddle sore. We stopped at Moysten for a coffee before tackling the last 15km which was some fairly steep climbs up the side of Mt Ararat.
Tiredness and temperature meant I stopped at practically every tree because I thought I would collapse. There was so much heat coming off the road. We ultimately split into two groups, with one group aiming for the earlier train and the other just seeing what they could do. We finally made it over the climbs and got a short descent into Ararat. Asked a car stopped at the lights for directions and realised we hadn’t missed the train. Rode onto the platform at Ararat station with 4 minutes to spare. Bought tickets on he train. Well I had one bought for me, as all my money was now embedded in molten chocolate.
Ate my weight in salt and fat at Lord of the Fries before getting the Metro home. Showered and crashed. Total distance around 320km with 2400m of climb. Saw some absolutely fabulous sites. Need more gears.
Shimano Nexus 3 hubs shift via a push rod that goes through the axle of the hub that is actuated via a bell crank. Newer Nexus 3 hubs have a tapered end on which to install the bell crank.
Older Nexus 3 hubs do not have this tapered end, and instead are a conventional M10 thread. This means the current bell crank part will not fit. However, the cable pull and push rod actuator travel of the Nexus hub haven’t changed. Assuming you don’t want to replace the hub, the part can be modified to fit.
The modern bell crank has a metal ring that goes over the axle so that it can be affixed with a grub screw. The ring is around 8.5mm in inner diameter and 11mm in outer diameter. Using a 10mm drill bit and careful application with a drill press it’s possible to increase the inner diameter to fit over an M10 axle without damaging the grub screw thread. It will then fit over the axle and operate the shifting as expected.
I didn’t drill the whole way, to leave a bit of structure in the metal. As a result the part didn’t sit quite as flush as it could and I had to compensate for that when tuning the gears.
A couple of months ago, while reading the first issue of the new Journal of Bicycle Feminism and thinking about how us Melburnians, the cycling utopia of Australia, really needed its own feminist bike zine. Also I love zines.
We made it to a whopping 16 pages with articles and art by Brianna Laugher, Cat Calypso, Cindy Hauser, Fei Mok, Kirsten Hughes, Lian, Sid Dorkwood, Stephanie Lai, Stephanie Preston and myself.
You can buy a copy at Wrenchworthy, from Sticky (as of tomorrow) or online. We’ll probably be doing another one around Feb/March, depending on how people are going.
Some time ago I bought a second-hand Columbus SLX steel track frame from a guy in the carpark of the NGV-I. When I moved house I used my returned bond to buy the parts to build up the wheels, choosing Miche primato hubs laced to H+ Son SL42 deep dish rims. More recently I finally spent the money to finish her off with Nitto bars, stem and seat post, Miche cranks and a Dia Compe clamp on front brake.
Clearance for the crankset is a bit tight. I had to use both spacers on the drive side of the bottom bracket, and even then take a file to the back of the spider.
I’ve decided her name is Lauren.
I’ve pretty much forgotten how to ride fixed and I was so glad of the front brake when riding in traffic the other day. I also managed to stack just test riding her because of the toe overlap and turning the corner. The plan is to learn to ride track.
A little while ago a friend’s Dad went into full time care, and so there was a cleaning out of his shed. I was lucky enough to get his old bench grinder. I wasn’t so interested in bench grinding, but I do frequently need to clean up old bike parts.
Bench grinders have 3 important parameters: the wheel size, the spindle thread diameter (where the wheel attaches) and the RPM. The one I was given was an old 5″ grinder. Not common any more, people instead carry 4″ and 6″ (100mm and 150mm respectively). However the guards are typically removable so it’s not a big deal so long as you have clearance.
The spindle can either be metric or imperial. Typically, as far as I can tell, M12, M14 or 1/2″. Wheels tend to come with interchangeable bushings for whatever spindle diameter, but polish wheel adapters attach to the end of the spindle so diameter matters.
I purchased my wheels and spindle adapters from the Internet, but you can also buy it in the hardware store.
Cutting and polishing and buffing etc. are all sides of the same coin. You have a cutting/polishing compound and a tough fibrous brush (wheel). The cutting compound is an abrasive (typically Aluminium oxide, the same abrasive black crap that gets on your chain) suspended in wax. You apply the abrasive to the wheel and then apply the wheel to your surface. You start with a large grit and hard wheel to remove big scratches and then use a fine grit with a softer wheel to polish.
Compounds are colour coded by what they do. Some colours are for certain metals, but typically lighter colours are finer grit. I am using a grey “fastcut” with a sisal wheel and a white “multishine” with a cotton wheel.
This seat post has several deep scratches from being inserted and removed, including the classic zigzag scratch from being twisted out, which will be visible above our insertion point. We can remove these very quickly by cutting.
It’s important to wear PPE when doing this. Safety glasses are a must. An apron is a good idea. Gloves are also a good idea because you can lose skin. I also wrap a bandana around my mouth and nose because the abrasive can be a bit spitty.
You apply compound to the spinning wheel for about 2s and then push your work against the wheel medium-hard. And you do this over and over until you’ve worked the scratches away. Focus on the scratched bits. Change direction and angles a lot. A fast cutter should remove the shallow scratches very quickly. Clean away any greasy residue with a rag.
Once you’re done with the cutting it’s time to polish.
Polishing always seems to take longer, because you’re focused on getting a consistent, mirror-like finish. Work the same way feeding a little bit of compound onto the wheel and moving the work constantly, changing directions if possible. Use a cloth to clean up any greasy residue and it should begin to have a mirror-like reflection. Keep going on any remaining dull bits until it’s consistent.
In general all metals can be polished, but some metals hold their lustre better (aluminium requires a protective polish else it will start to oxidise first time it’s wet). Read the directions on the cutting/polishing compound to find what it’s good for.
On the other hand, it’s only 0.2mm, and you have a file. So you can file it down. Be mindful that you’ll want to be fairly even, and even then it won’t look at good as the original, even with half an hour on the cutting wheel. You could lathe it off, but I don’t happen to have access to a metal lathe.
At the 
Shimano Nexus 3 hubs shift via a push rod that goes through the axle of the hub that is actuated via a bell crank. Newer Nexus 3 hubs have a tapered end on which to install the bell crank.
Older Nexus 3 hubs do not have this tapered end, and instead are a conventional M10 thread. This means the current bell crank part will not fit. However, the cable pull and push rod actuator travel of the Nexus hub haven’t changed. Assuming you don’t want to replace the hub, the part can be modified to fit.
Girl Parts 