Mechanicals

[IMG_0001]

Intersting story, I'll check the link for sure. That Sheldon Brown site is a bible for cyclist isn't it. Personally I've been riding a fixed gearfor a few years as I mainly ride around the city and park in crowded bike racks where I've had my derailers bent a few time. Fixies are so much more reliable and give so much feedback when riden with cleats.

I've built a commuter bike based on a single speed mountainbike frame that addresses that by using an 8-speed internally geared hub. The first photo shows the hub when the bike was new (april 2004). At that time the bike looked like a proper mountainbike with nobby tires and without fenders. The photo was taken with my first digital camera - a Canon PowerShot A20.

The second photo shows the current state of affairs after 10 yrs, the bike has evolved into even more of a city bike with fenders, narrow slick tires and such. Still with the same hub though which now has more than 15000 km on the clock. This photo was taken with a Canon Powershot S90 that I now use for such 'practical' pictures.

I've spent several months in NL in 2011 and it is flat indeed, although the wind can be quite strong along the Ijsselmeer. Needless to say that my Canadian home town now feels so unfriendly to bikers since I've been in NL though.

Yes sometimes I say the wind is our hills. Sometimes the wind feels like a mountain too :-\ NL is a very bicycle minded country, but for mountain biking and the spectacular nature I think I'd prefer to be in Canada

That looks like a nice bike to ride around on. A friend of mine rides a 3-speeds Nexus hub and also has the front generator/brake hub on a vintage bike. He actually had his front fork breaking off at the shoulder as it was designed for a rim brake and the hub brake force had too much leverage. Luckily, it broke down when he was almost stopped so only minor bruises. I guess this front hub is better for replacing disks.

Here in Montreal, bike theft is such a plague that I'd rather have as inexpensive components as I can. Those Nexus are too expensive for my taste and I've been too frustrated having my stuff stolen. On the other hand, a fixie built on an old road bike fits the bill perfectly.

 

[IMG_0001]

Thanks for the inspiration all. I now need to go and find those Prost F1 gears and spark plug I have stored

I'll be very angry at you if you don't!

 

[mrsfotografie]

Intersting story, I'll check the link for sure. That Sheldon Brown site is a bible for cyclist isn't it. Personally I've been riding a fixed gearfor a few years as I mainly ride around the city and park in crowded bike racks where I've had my derailers bent a few time. Fixies are so much more reliable and give so much feedback when riden with cleats.

I've built a commuter bike based on a single speed mountainbike frame that addresses that by using an 8-speed internally geared hub. The first photo shows the hub when the bike was new (april 2004). At that time the bike looked like a proper mountainbike with nobby tires and without fenders. The photo was taken with my first digital camera - a Canon PowerShot A20.

The second photo shows the current state of affairs after 10 yrs, the bike has evolved into even more of a city bike with fenders, narrow slick tires and such. Still with the same hub though which now has more than 15000 km on the clock. This photo was taken with a Canon Powershot S90 that I now use for such 'practical' pictures.

I've spent several months in NL in 2011 and it is flat indeed, although the wind can be quite strong along the Ijsselmeer. Needless to say that my Canadian home town now feels so unfriendly to bikers since I've been in NL though.

Yes sometimes I say the wind is our hills. Sometimes the wind feels like a mountain too :-\ NL is a very bicycle minded country, but for mountain biking and the spectacular nature I think I'd prefer to be in Canada

That looks like a nice bike to ride around on. A friend of mine rides a 3-speeds Nexus hub and also has the front generator/brake hub on a vintage bike. He actually had his front fork breaking off at the shoulder as it was designed for a rim brake and the hub brake force had too much leverage. Luckily, it broke down when he was almost stopped so only minor bruises. I guess this front hub is better for replacing disks.

Here in Montreal, bike theft is such a plague that I'd rather have as inexpensive components as I can. Those Nexus are too expensive for my taste and I've been too frustrated having my stuff stolen. On the other hand, a fixie built on an old road bike fits the bill perfectly.

On theft, I think here in the Netherlands, bicycles are almost considered public property so I make sure to use a good lock. If I think it's iffy I'll use an old crappy bike.

 

[IMG_0001]

Intersting story, I'll check the link for sure. That Sheldon Brown site is a bible for cyclist isn't it. Personally I've been riding a fixed gearfor a few years as I mainly ride around the city and park in crowded bike racks where I've had my derailers bent a few time. Fixies are so much more reliable and give so much feedback when riden with cleats.

I've built a commuter bike based on a single speed mountainbike frame that addresses that by using an 8-speed internally geared hub. The first photo shows the hub when the bike was new (april 2004). At that time the bike looked like a proper mountainbike with nobby tires and without fenders. The photo was taken with my first digital camera - a Canon PowerShot A20.

The second photo shows the current state of affairs after 10 yrs, the bike has evolved into even more of a city bike with fenders, narrow slick tires and such. Still with the same hub though which now has more than 15000 km on the clock. This photo was taken with a Canon Powershot S90 that I now use for such 'practical' pictures.

I've spent several months in NL in 2011 and it is flat indeed, although the wind can be quite strong along the Ijsselmeer. Needless to say that my Canadian home town now feels so unfriendly to bikers since I've been in NL though.

Yes sometimes I say the wind is our hills. Sometimes the wind feels like a mountain too :-\ NL is a very bicycle minded country, but for mountain biking and the spectacular nature I think I'd prefer to be in Canada

That looks like a nice bike to ride around on. A friend of mine rides a 3-speeds Nexus hub and also has the front generator/brake hub on a vintage bike. He actually had his front fork breaking off at the shoulder as it was designed for a rim brake and the hub brake force had too much leverage. Luckily, it broke down when he was almost stopped so only minor bruises. I guess this front hub is better for replacing disks.

Here in Montreal, bike theft is such a plague that I'd rather have as inexpensive components as I can. Those Nexus are too expensive for my taste and I've been too frustrated having my stuff stolen. On the other hand, a fixie built on an old road bike fits the bill perfectly.

On theft, I think here in the Netherlands, bicycles are almost considered public property so I make sure to use a good lock. If I think it's iffy I'll use an old crappy bike.

My two locks are the most expensive parts on my bike apart from the wheels. The thing is that you can't really lock your hubs and you can just unbolt them and rip the spokes off. Thief will go there here. It is amazing because Montreal is such a safe place otherwise.

 

[mrsfotografie]

My two locks are the most expensive parts on my bike apart from the wheels. The thing is that you can't really lock your hubs and you can just unbolt them and rip the spokes off. Thief will go there here. It is amazing because Montreal is such a safe place otherwise.

That's really extreme! Not much that can be done about such persistence. :-\ Fortunately over here most people tend to see a bike more as one piece of kit. It always amazes me that people say their bike is 'broken' and mean the whole thing. Why they don't think of it as made of individual parts is beyond me...

 

[Logan]

in amsterdam i saw a bike locked to a bridge by the frame, and EVERYTHING was stripped from it, right down to the headset and bottom bracket. stuff you need specialized tools to remove. i guess it wasn't so much a bike locked to the bridge anymore as a frame.

here's a shot i thought was kind of neat, some skidplates for my toyota, and a cool view of all the suspension bits.

snip

My two locks are the most expensive parts on my bike apart from the wheels. The thing is that you can't really lock your hubs and you can just unbolt them and rip the spokes off. Thief will go there here. It is amazing because Montreal is such a safe place otherwise.

If you have 20mm front hubs guys used to make custom axles with a unique head, and a matching tool, that a normal wrench wont work on. rounded triangle like a fire hydrant works well. i think someone started selling them but that was 10+ years ago and i dont know if they ever took off.

 

[Roo]

Thanks for the inspiration all. I now need to go and find those Prost F1 gears and spark plug I have stored

I'll be very angry at you if you don't!

It took awhile (I couldn't find them until I moved house) but here they are as promised. Just a quick shot for now but at some point I'll give them a clean up and do a proper setup.

 

[danski0224]

Macro of a carbide cutting tooth on a masonry holesaw.

 

[Don Haines]

NL is a very bicycle minded country, but for mountain biking and the spectacular nature I think I'd prefer to be in Canada

I biked the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton (carrying camping gear)..... I MELTED a set of brake pads on one of the downhills......

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Folks.
Though they are not true macro shots, I have some mechanical detail shots that seem to fit here better than anywhere else These are some jobs I'm working on (or have worked on) for proof of condition or just the customers scrap book, these are all from classic Triumph cars so the owners want their photos for the history file.
I generally have my camera and flashes on wall brackets with a timer remote so it is almost a timelapse situation and I pick the more interesting shots just in case you thought I was spending all my time taking pictures. ;D Some jobs do require hand held shots, there are fewer of those.

General layout of the gearbox.
IMG_1421_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

Looking end on to the 1st gear laygear teeth to show they are not worn to points. I think the coloured Splodge is a nitryl glove finger print in oil.
IMG_1419_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

Looking end on to the input shaft teeth to show they are not worn to points. I like this one for the Bokeh on the shaft that is sticking up. this is the item top left of the general layout shot.
IMG_1445_DxO_2 by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

Measuring the endfloat of the gear on its bush using a surface table and DTI.
IMG_2956_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

A seriously worn timing chain with the adjuster about 1/8th inch from popping out.
IMG_2181_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

Top the new chain, bottom the old chain, the degree of sag is a good indicator of condition.
IMG_2187_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

Top the new chain, bottom the old one, if the sag didn't show the wear, the stretched length does!
IMG_2189_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

The new timing chain installed and adjusted so that there is just a small gap on the tentioner just in case there is some excentricity on any of the new sprockets it will not go over tight.
IMG_2196_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

Laygear pin showing the surface spalling to explain why the gearbox makes a noise.
IMG_2226_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr
These are all taken using a 20D with 17-85mm kit zoom using either 2 Triopo flashes set obliquely over the bench or one on camera for the engine shots.

Thanks for looking, I hope they are of some interst, I welcome criticism with the caveat that I'm fixing cars not running a photography studio! ;D

Cheers, Graham.