Category: Bicycling

The LeMond is getting closer to rideability.  I took the bike to Oswego Cyclery to have them check the rear derailleur hanger as it didn’t look straight.  Well, it wasn’t, but it is now.  That tool from Park Tool made quick work of straightening it.  Quick enough in fact, that I’m going to get one.  I’m thinking that with all the rear derailleurs on bikes at my house, sooner or later they will need to be straightened and I’ll be able to handle the job quickly and easily.

Once home, the rear derailleur is mounted pretty quickly and the front derailleur is aligned and spaced just above the 53-tooth chainwheel.  I mounted the Ritchey Classic handlebars in the 110mm stem and sat on the bike to get a rough idea about the stem length.  I’m thinking that 100mm / 10 degree dimensions will be pretty close.  But I haven’t ridden it anywhere, just sat on it in the basement so there’s no real-world riding to confirm or deny the guesstimate – at least not yet.

I ordered some black silicone self-fusing tape for the handlebars – both to hold the cables in place under the wrap and to secure the end of the wrap.  Supposedly this “tape” only adheres to itself and doesn’t have any adhesive to turn into a gummy mess when it’s warm outside.

When I get the tape I can run the shift and brake cables, and then it will be ready enough for a maiden voyage.  Oswego Cyclery offered their adjustable stem so that I can play with angle end length before ordering the “final” stem.  I plan to take them up on that offer.

Unless something comes up that I haven’t thought of, it should be rideable  within the week.

I do have some Mavic GP4 tubular rims on the way; if you remember I wanted to run tubulars on this bike from the beginning.  Well, once these wheels are built I can switch back and forth.

Well, the wheels are ready to roll. I cleaned the rims, put the rim tape on, and added tubes and tires. Wow, it was difficult to get the last bit of the bead over the rim – I guess that’s one of the downsides of box section rims. Installing the same tires on the Boyd Vitesse V-shaped aero rims was much easier.  But they’re on, and holding air, so I’m calling it good.

I was going to wait for the LeMond build to be finished before riding these wheels for the first time, but I decided to swap them for the Boyd wheels on my Cannondale and see how my work would hold up on the road.  You can guess that they worked just fine, since I’m typing this post sans road rash and contusions.  I didn’t hear any “tink” or “ping” noises (those are technical terms), so it seems I took care of the spoke wind-up OK and the stress-relieving worked.

I do like the glint of the sunlight off nice stainless spokes and the polished silver rims look really good.  I think they will fit perfectly on the LeMond with the polished alloy Campagnolo Daytona group.  With a little spare time, I should be able to have the LeMond build finished in the next week or so.

I’m looking forward to that first ride on the LeMond.

Oh, the tension of it all – it makes all the difference. They’re laced, tensioned, trued, and dished. I’m pretty happy with the way they turned out. The front rim was much easier than the rear. The front rim trued up quickly and was radially true from the beginning. The lateral true was fairly easy on this one and the dish was correct and never varied. The Park TM-1 says the front spokes are at 95 kgf average.

The rear wheel took longer – both to lace and to tension, true, and dish. I laced the NDS 3-cross and the DS 2-cross. The Campagnolo hub is slightly larger in diameter on the DS (2mm). I finally figured out how to get the DS laced after lacing the NDS completely (both sets of 8 spokes). The DS elbow-out spokes were simple, the head-out DS spokes were a nuisance but I got them in OK. Truing and tensioning was a little tricky. It seemed like every time I trued the wheel the dish shifted. Then I would correct the dish and the truing went out the window. I only had one spot to fix to get the radial true correct, so that wasn’t too bad. After a couple of iterations, the true was perfect and the dish was perfect too. The DS tension was 138 kgf and the NDS tension was 70 kgf.

I was hoping for less difference between NDS and DS with the larger DS flange diameter and the 3-cross / 2-cross lacing.

Oh, well, I’ll let them sit for a day or two and then stress-relieve them one more time, install the rim tape, tube and tire.

My first set of wheels built from scratch. A ground-breaking (but not pavement-meeting) occasion. One big step closer to finishing the LeMond restoration.

I got the remainder of the parts I needed to build the wheels on Friday.  These wheels are going on the LeMond frame, they have Campagnolo hubs (translated from Italian that means “smooth as glass”), H-Son TB-14 rims, and DT Swiss spokes.  Their only downfall is that I’m building the wheels.

It went well.  I checked the spoke lengths and they were spot on.  Got the Zinn book, and laced the front wheel.  It took about a half-hour to lace and then I checked it over carefully.  No lacing errors that I could find, so I tightened the spokes up and checked the dish.  Amazingly, the dish was basically perfect to start with,  so it was up to me to mess it up.

I increased the tension up to “almost where it should be” and checked everything again.  A few spokes were a little looser and a few were tighter, so I evened them out as best I could.  Checked the dish again, still perfect.  Set the tension to the final value and the dish is perfect, and the wheel is radially true.  A few spots where the lateral true needed some help, but not as many as I expected.  I would have no concerns putting rim tape on, a tube and tire, and riding this rim tomorrow.  But I’ll save the maiden voyage  for the LeMond once the build is finished.

On to the rear wheel, this one is a little more complicated.  I chose a 3-cross NDS pattern and a 2-cross DS pattern.  If my research is right, this will help to minimize the NDS/DS tension differences and help the rim to be stronger and to stay true longer.  Lacing the NDS 3-cross was fairly simple, I’d just finished the front wheel with that pattern.  Lacing the DS 2-cross took some thought and trial and error, but I got it.  The rim looks centered, but I haven’t checked the dish yet and the spokes have minimal tension right now.

Maybe after tomorrow’s ride I’ll try and finish it up.

I’m sure that to a lot of people, building wheels is not a big deal.  It is to me, because I’ve not finished a set before (and I guess technically this set isn’t finished yet), and there’s a sense of satisfaction in learning something that you didn’t know how to do, and then using what you learned to make something.

Building stuff is fun.

Sometimes it’s an accomplishment.  Today, I laced my first bicycle wheel.  Well, I actually re-laced a wheel that I took apart last week.  I used the directions in a bicycle maintenance book by Leonard Zinn to lace the 32 spokes in a 3 cross pattern.  It actually only took about a half hour to lace, and then I tightened the spokes in a couple of loops around the wheel.  It’s not trued or tightened enough to ride, and I will take the wheel apart anyway.  This was more of a trial run to see how the lacing process works.

It actually went surprisingly well.  I didn’t have to redo any of the spokes, and I checked them as I inserted them.  I did the lacing in four sets of eight spokes just as the directions said and it all works.

As someone that is trying to become more knowledgeable about building and maintaining bicycles, building wheels is a skill that I’ve wanted to learn for a while now.

I’m going to build the wheels for the LeMond bicycle I’m restoring, and I plan to ride that bicycle in a century later this year.  So, I’d better get it right if I expect to finish without walking.

I had originally planned to run tubulars on the LeMond. I still might, but it has been a major pain to remove the old glue from the tubular rims I purchased. I’ve used a bronze brush in an electric drill and MEK, and those two combined for marginal success. That glue is tough and doesn’t want to give up easily. Perhaps that is exactly the quality that a bicyclist would want when heading downhill at 50+ mph on a bicycle running tubulars – but since that’s not me (not yet, anyway) I’m undecided.

I can lace a set of clincher rims to the Campy hubs and have a significantly simpler set of wheels with very good reliability and without the work and mess of tubular glue. But, I would like to try a good set of tubulars if for no other reason than to say that I’ve tried them.

I’m still deciding, but until I decide I can always swap the Boyd wheelset from the Cannondale onto the LeMond frame.

the build is in a holding pattern. The rear brake mounted just fine, but the recessed nut that holds the front brake onto the fork is too long. The nut, not counting the head, is 24mm. I need one that is 12-14mm and if I cut down the one I have I’ll remove most of the threads. Oswego Cyclery might have one that will work, so I’ll stop by and see if they have one that will fit.

But, the front and rear derailleurs are on, the BB and crankset are on (but not torqued), and the fork is installed with the new headset.

Since I’m waiting on the front brake I’m working on the wheels and hubs.

There’s plenty to do, but it might just be ready for a test ride in a week or two.

UPDATE 6/11 – Oswego Cyclery had the recessed nut I needed for the front brake. Back on track now.

I picked up the frameset from Duane of Chester Cycles, and it looks great. Now that I have it back I’m ready to start the actual build. I think that I have all of the major parts that I’ll need, but sometimes the small parts you need are not all present and accounted for. Since I don’t really have a schedule, if I need a part during the build I’ll get it somehow and then pick up where I left off.

First, I decided to stay with the threadless stem, so I need a 1″ Campagnolo headset. That arrived while the frame was being painted, and so I called up Oswego Cyclery to see if they could pop the old headset cups out and press the new Campagnolo cups in. Also, I needed the old crown race removed and the Campy one put in it’s place. They guys at the shop have the right tools and it didn’t take them long.

When I got home I put the bearings in and put the headset together. I’m using a cable tie to keep the fork from slipping out while the frame is in the workstand.

Next will be the bottom bracket, brakes, crankset, and derailleurs. It will start looking like a bicycle soon.

I’m having the LeMond frame touched up and re-clearcoated so that I can save the decals. The work will be done by Duane at Chester Cycles and I am really excited to see it finished. I’ve got a complete Campagnolo Daytona group for it – the group is practically new and should look really nice.

I have a set of Mavic tubular rims with Campagnolo hubs for it. I know tubulars are not as convenient as clincher tires, but I want to try them and this bike just seems to be the right platform for tubs.

I’ve got a Brooks Imperial saddle for it, all I need to finish this build is a stem and handlebars. I”m not quite sure which way to go on that, but I’ll figure it out.

Photos to follow.