• About Me

Cycle Seattle

~ Posts on bikes

Cycle Seattle

Tag Archives: sykes

Like new shoes…

21 Monday May 2012

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

fenders, Hunqapillar, new bike, rain, riding in rain, rivendell, scuffed shoes, sykes


I remember when I was a kid growing up in the Midwest, when someone got new sneakers, everyone would try to scuff them up.  They would reach out a foot and try to scrape it against your new white shoes.  At first you would resist, but I do recall feeling self-conscious about having bright, shiny shoes.  They always looked better after a few weeks of running around.

Today was one of those scuffing days for the new bike.  It was the first rainy commute ride for the Hunqapillar.  It rained pretty hard all the way into work, but it was nice and warm, so I really enjoyed the pleasant washing.  Everything gets mighty green when it rains, and the colors are much more vivid.

I got there and wiped off the grime, a bit, but definitely got to test out the fenders.  These Sykes fenders are flat and don’t have any “wrap” around the tire.  As such, they still do a good job of keeping the bike clean and most of the water off me.  There is a bit more splash, but it wasn’t bad – I arrived with just “damp” shoes.  Here are some pics I took on the way home.  The ground was still wet, but it only misted a bit, so I stopped on the Ravenna ravine bridge and snapped a few pics of the fully baked final build.

On the Bridge

Fenders are lookin’ red

This is a big!! bag

Home and Vivid!

Rearview

Proper Useful Bicycle

All demons sorted on this one.  Now it’s time to ride it ’til it looks used!

Harlequin Bar Tape

20 Sunday May 2012

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

a. homer hilsen, bar, cotton, fenders, harlequin, Hunqapillar, rivendell, shellac, sykes, tape, twine, wrap


I’m starting to get the hang of doing the diamond pattern bar wrap.  I think the key is just doing about 10 bars to practice.  The last two went so well, I didn’t even have to look up the instructions (http://www.wastedlife.org/bike/harlequin/index.html).  First time for everything.  So…  There were two bars to get done.

I recently replaced the B115s on my Hilsen with some 41cm Noodles.   I wanted to give ’em a second chance, as I found I like a narrower road (drop) bar.  I chose my standard green and yellow tape as it gives good contrast.  Here’s a pic post wrap:

Clean cotton bar tape

I like the Nitto bar end accents!  I rode the bar this way with no comfort issues for a 20 mile commute.  Now onto the shellacking!  Here’s the bar after three coats of amber.  It should dull up a bit after being used/doused.

Post Shellac

OK – one down.  Now on to the Hunqapillar.  I did a bit of adjustment to the brakes to lower them a bit.  It’s always a good idea to ride the bike for a few miles before you tape it.  Especially when you do the coatings that will pretty much make your setup permanent for a while.  I had adjusted the bar angle on a couple of my commutes last week to get it just right, and had to bring the brake levers down a bit to compensate.  I wanted a similar them with the diamond pattern on the main flats, so I went with the red and yellow, and planned to use amber to darken up the red to get a similar color to the kidney bean red of the Hunqa.

Pattern Close-Up

You can just see the mahogany sykes fenders I put on this weekend.  Like!  I will do a write up on these in a future post after I ride them through a rain storm.  Here are some more views of the moustache bars, also with three coats of the amber on ’em.

Showing the Whole Bar

I used red twine to wrap the tape ends on the inside of the bar.  It was a good match for the tape, and is almost invisible.  The harlequin pattern is started with a rolled edge that makes twine (or electrical tape) unnecessary on the bar end by the shifters.  It’s very clean.

More Diamonds

Nice to have this wrapped up – now I can get on to riding the heck out of this beast.  The big bag/basket, fenders, and double kickstand added a few pounds to this bike, but it’s ready for some serious off-road camping, and heavy commuting now.  Can’t wait for the first S24O!!

Top Posts & Pages

  • Commuting Balance
    Commuting Balance
  • New fenders, old bike
    New fenders, old bike
  • Gorge(ous) Rides
    Gorge(ous) Rides
  • The Little Things...
    The Little Things...
  • Backup Bike
    Backup Bike
  • Trillium Forest
    Trillium Forest
  • Winter Hills
    Winter Hills
  • Slickrock
    Slickrock

Flickr Photos

BH-19.jpgBH-18.jpgBH-17.jpgBH-16.jpgBH-15.jpgBH-14.jpgBH-13.jpgBH-12.jpgBH-11.jpgBH-10.jpg
More Photos

Archive

  • August 2020 (1)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (1)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (1)
  • November 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • March 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (6)
  • December 2015 (2)
  • November 2015 (1)
  • June 2015 (5)
  • May 2015 (1)
  • April 2015 (1)
  • March 2015 (2)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • November 2014 (2)
  • October 2014 (2)
  • September 2014 (2)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • July 2014 (1)
  • June 2014 (1)
  • May 2014 (2)
  • April 2014 (5)
  • March 2014 (4)
  • February 2014 (4)
  • January 2014 (6)
  • December 2013 (1)
  • November 2013 (2)
  • October 2013 (2)
  • September 2013 (1)
  • August 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (2)
  • May 2013 (6)
  • April 2013 (1)
  • March 2013 (6)
  • February 2013 (2)
  • January 2013 (7)
  • December 2012 (5)
  • November 2012 (2)
  • October 2012 (2)
  • September 2012 (3)
  • August 2012 (3)
  • July 2012 (1)
  • June 2012 (4)
  • May 2012 (7)
  • April 2012 (1)
  • March 2012 (1)
  • February 2012 (4)
  • January 2012 (5)
  • December 2011 (6)
  • November 2011 (4)
  • June 2011 (2)
  • May 2011 (4)
  • March 2011 (2)
  • February 2011 (4)

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 127 other followers

Follow Cycle Seattle on WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.