I did leave Sydney with the K-Mart bike to head north. The bike worked well. The front forks stayed rigid and showed no signs of movement. Gearing was higher than I'd like - so did a fair bit of walking. With all the walking, I started having foot problems. My feet were still not up to walking much. With most of the trip still to go, I decided to return to Sydney to recover.
The body healed with rest, but then there was a family incident, so I flew to Cairns with just a the essentials in a backpack - electronics, sleeping bag, clothes, cooking gear, tarp, bug net and miscellaneous items. I like to be independent. The original plan was to either fly back to Sydney or walk with the backpack. However, the walk from the airport had me thinking that some wheels might be better. So after much searching about, I found some.
Comments:
Date: 2016-08-10 15:00
Author: Cameron Robertson
It sounds really alluring to just drop everything and go explore the world for the rest of your life. However, now isn’t the right time for me but in the future the option might just re-open for me as the thought is still present. Sydney is indeed a nice place to hit with so many attractions and sceneries to enjoy and countless other cities within Australia as well.
After two council clean ups in the area - one awesome, and one disappointing. Or maybe the first one spoilt me. It was time to head north. Departure planned, bike loaded up, test ride down a hill. hmmm, front brakes shuddering. Better fix that.
More investigation found the shuddering was caused by the forks. They had a worrying amount of forward/backward movement. The brake grips the rim, the forks rock forward, the brake slips, the fork spring back. The brake grips again and on it goes. Not ideal.
The cause was the plastic bushes wearing and flattening out. I knew this was going to happen and had wrapped the forks in plastic to keep grit out. That probably didn't slow the wear rate much. The forks on the Kmart Bike are the worst thing about it. The fix: convert to rigid forks. Ideally, this would involve changing the forks. But the 'will this work' solution involved string, paper, hose clamps and epoxy resin. Ideally, I wanted to disassemble them and change the spring in the base to a piece of metal pipe. But that needs a really long extension tool that I don't have. So with the plastic bush out as per the above photo. I wrapped string around the stanchion, and pressed it down with the bush into the fork. Checking with a piece of wire, I plugged any large gaps with paper, then filled the tube up with 5 minute epoxy resin. Before it set, I pushed the bush into it, so that resin was pushed back up filling all the gaps and channels in the bush. Effectively the top 60mm of the fork is now (hopefully) resin. Hose clamps went on the top of that, so if the fork does want to compress, they will stop it moving, or at least limit its movement.
With the resin set, the forks are now rigid. Brake shuddering has gone. Time will tell how how travel affects the "fix". It might last months, or fail on the next ride.
The KMart Bike adds excitement to each trip:)
I did check the wheel bearings. Well, at least the front ones. Heaps of grease in there. All good. The rear, I realised I don't have the tool to get the cluster off, so they'll have to wait a bit longer. But grease is oozing out, so there is heaps in there. The headset bearings also were well greased.
Other work was adding water bottle holders. I made these out of some aluminium strips found in the council clean up. I can carry 10 litres in 1.25L PET bottles; two on each side of the forks, two in the triangle, and two behind the handlebars on the top tube. I still have the basket empty, so could put another couple of bottles in there. All the water up front will balance the gear on the rear rack. Gear weight is about 15kg and mostly (see below) fits in my two large homemade panniers. This is down from the 30kg I carried on the Surly. I'm still not on board with 'minimal' though, I'll be leaving with way too much food for my route. One day I'll get this right. So I'll work at reducing the food I've got and not stocking up so much each time.
I say "mostly", because I have two sleeping bags for now and while I can get both in my panniers, it is easier to keep one out on top of the rack in a dry bag. I use the sleeping bags as quilts. I'm using a $15 KMart summer weight sleeping bag. Synthetic, rated at 11C-15C, weighing 850 grams. I've used this one down to 7C wearing thermals and clothing to bed, but I'm expecting lower temperatures in Northern NSW. So I scavenged another bag from a bin. It is missing a zipper, is synthetic, and weighs the same, so probably the same rating. With both, I sleep toasty. When I'm in Queensland and no longer need it, I'll return it to a bin. I won't need two bags again until winter next year.
My previous down sleeping bag was rated to about 0C, and I'd used it below wearing thermals and clothes. It weighed about 1500 grams, washing and drying it was not easy and I constantly was worried about it getting wet or damp. It would get dirty and salted. I'd get it cleaned by an outdoor company in Sydney at a cost of $60 a time, usually every second year. After the last wash, the down was still clumping, so it needed replacing. I was initially thinking of a new down bag. But at hundreds of dollars, and then the special washing needs, it wasn't very appealing. Most of the time, the temperature isn't below 10C and is above 15C. The KMart bag at $15 is half the weight, easy to wash and dry. Can throw it in the washing machine and dryer. Though, depending on the laundromat costs, that could approach the cost of a new bag. Or I'll just replace it with another one. For the few months of winter when I need warmer, I'll add a second bag. The Kmart bag is much better value.
It might seem that I'm still doing nothing, but I have been out of Sydney for a camp. The main purpose was to test all my new gear out. It went reasonably well. As expected, there were some issues, and the trip was ultimately cut short due to dental problems. But it was enough time to be comfortable with some of my changes, and convince me that other things needed to change.
Principally I carried too much gear with me again. Part of this was as I was testing various items. Part of it was my old problem; just carrying way too much that is really not needed. Still working on this. More in a later post on my new gear set.
After the trip, the Kmart Bike needed some work. Logged about 600km on it so far. Rear tire was bald by this time. I could probably get a few hundred kilometres more out of it, but the puncture rate would increase. No way would I get to Cairns on it. I doubt that it would make it to Tamworth. So far it hadn't punctured, but it was only a matter of time. The front tire holed as the rim tape had moved, or was never over the spoke nipples to start with. When I removed the rear wheel, the rim tape was twisted and not covering the spoke nipples that well either. So was only going to be a matter of time before that tube punctured.
Changes: Replaced the 9kg weight limited rack with a 25kg one found in a council clean up. A lucky find. Still in its packet, but missing the small mounting hardware. This rack is lighter and stronger than the ebay rack I purchased. Changed the rim tape on both tires to Zefal cloth tape, changed both tires to Schwalbe Marathon Tour Plus. Tires are consumables. But it still amuses me that each tire is almost the cost of the bike. Added a Mirrcyle MTB Mirror as the previous one was just too dark to see well out of, and vibrated too much to be useful. Bar ends found in a garage sale for $2 completed the changes.
Maintenance: The bottom bracket was a bit loose, so I pulled it out for a clean and grease at the same time. Was a surprising amount of metal shavings in there - probably from the frame. The bearing surfaces and bearings were still in good shape. Contrary to previous reports on the web, there was a fair bit of grease on the bearings. Still, I cleaned it all off and replaced it. There are no dust seals on the crank, and through the gap in the cups, you can see the bearings rolling around. I added my own dust seal on both sides.
I wrapped a bit more cotton string around at this point. The cotton string was thinner and tightened up more. This should slow dirt, dust and water entry into the bearings. The thick thread above is large enough to not travel into the gap between the spindle and cup, and so not get caught up in the bearing. Smaller thread just holds this tight on the spindle. I've not pulled apart the wheel bearings yet, but maybe I should. They have grease visible outside the bearings, so I'm hopeful that there is grease inside.
Still about in Sydney. Not been doing an awful lot. A lot of reading. Some walking. Sprained my ankle yesterday rock hopping, so definitely a lot more reading for the next few days.
Pedals: The wooden pedals from last update didn't last long at all. Not only did they destroy the plastic pedals underneath, they kept getting in the way when pushing the bike. I like the idea, but it needs some more work. Currently have a salvaged set of VP-559 flat pedals that work really well with my minimal footwear. They'll probably not last long as the bearings are on the way out. But until then...
Seat: Luckily I've gotten used to the saddle now. It can stay.
Rack: The ebay seller, gave me a 50% refund. Was okay with that. But notice, they (and other sellers) still have the rack advertised with 25kg (or more!) weight limit. Guess not many buyers complain.
Brakes: Scavenged some better brake arms. And all is silent now. So happy with that. The original brake arms were just pressed steel plate - 2D. The new ones are cast - 3D. They also fit better on the brake posts - a lot less movement.
Now I'm up against the next limit on better braking; the plastic brake body on the handlebars. Its problem is that it bends. The lever is aluminium, but the body that it attaches to is plastic. Pull the lever, the brakes press on the rim, pull harder, and the body bends towards the handlebars. So there is a limit to how much pressure you can apply. But it will be okay. Just need to keep the brakes well adjusted.
Tires: Decided to get Schwalbe Marathon Tour Plus again. The rear tire is smooth already, after about 500km. I've had one puncture, and that is just going to get worse as time goes on. Decided I don't like mending punctures at all, so, going back to tires that I know and love.
Recently had a hmmm moment. I'd swallowed the 'clipless pedals are more efficient' line years ago, and not thought about it at all since then. With all the changes lately, I've been looking into the claim. And it doesn't hold up so well. A lot of websites
parrot the line
, but hard science for the claim is not so easy to find. I found
other riders
also having trouble finding any evidence. The studies I have come across like this:
Effects of Pedal Type and Pull-Up Action during Cycling
(
full paper
), concluded it didn't matter what pedals you have. Also interesting was that another claim of clipless pedals - that you can pull upwards and get more power; well, it reduced efficiency. The study looked at submaximal cycling - so not flat out as hard as you could go, which I think is valid, as apart from track or sprinting, that is how we mostly get around. There could be advantages in those situations, but that wasn't examined.
A site that was interesting had
The Flat Pedal Revolution Manifesto
. It also covered another couple of points that I'm still researching: the pedal under the ball of the foot pedal position and rigid cycling shoes. Still researching this, but it is looking like that a better position is midfoot or at least behind the ball of the foot, and that the shoes are only rigid because if you use a cleat for the clipless pedal, you need something for that to clip to. The small size hurts your foot, so the rigid sole was solution. Which these days gets spread as "you need stiff soles to ride a bike".
So, with all of this going on and riding the Kmart Bike, I've been finding the pedals uncomfortable on my thin soled shoes. Been experimenting a bit.
Had rubber matting wrapped around the pedals for a day, then foam pads, but found both of them uncomfortable from the spikes on the edge of the pedal. I ground the spikes off, but the hard edges of the pedal were still uncomfortable. A bit of flooring, and I've a nice big comfortable platform now. It might be a tad too long, but it is comfortable to stand on. I'll try it a longer before shortening it.
Other activity on the Huffymobile:
Rack: My original plan was to make a rack myself out of wood. But the attachment near the axle wasn't going to work on the derailleur side, so I was thinking of another option. Hunting ideas, an ebay rack seemed a quick solution - an acceptable weight limit, cost and delivery time.
It is now an unhappy $33 ebay purchase. False advertising. It was advertised as having a 25kg max load weight, but arrived with a sticker warning of a 9kg max weight limit. To rub salt into that wound, the sticker is visible in the photos, but not readable. Still in dispute with the seller over this. While very quick to respond to the sale, they are now glacial at answering any messages. I'd have to pay the return cost, and they won't refund until they receive it back. So I'm thinking the most likely outcome is that I'll keep it, look at ways to strengthen it, and give them a bad review.
Mudguards: A quick build as it was raining. Used corflute. Very wide at the moment, but I'll wait till the rack is sorted out before trimming them down. Also would like to find some stainless steel for the struts, as the wire coat hangers will rust.
Bike lock: I wanted a cable. All the research on this come to the same conclusion. Cable locks are no better than string.
Too easy to cut
with easy to carry pocket tools. A D-Lock provides
better security
. Problem for me is that a D-Lock is often not big enough to go around a post. So I bought a OnGuard D-Lock with a cable. If I can lock the back wheel and frame to a post - great, I then use the cable around the front wheel for something to do with it. If I can't, I still lock the back wheel and the frame together, and use the cable around the post. The front wheel is not quick release, so it stays without a lock. I very much doubt a thief is going to go to the effort to cut the cable, carry off a Kmart bike and then still have to cut the D-Lock off to ride the bike. Lock so far is the single most expensive item after the bike.
Front forks: The rubber boot with cable ties didn't work. The fork actually does slide sometimes, and the boot would stick at its top point, or the cable tie would slip off. So I've wrapped the whole area from the top of the fork to below the rubber boot with plastic. Held on with cable ties and duct tape. This will do better at keeping the dust out. Might accelerate rusting though. Time will tell.
I thought to remove the spring and replace it with a piece of pipe to make the forks rigid, but don't have an extension tool long enough to reach the bolt to disassemble the forks. So that will have to wait. Another option is to put hose clamps on around the sliders. But will wait on this for when the bushes start showing play.
Other: Gear changing is crunchy and uncertain at times. Some of this is expected new cable stretching, part of it is me, not used to derailers after years of hub gears. I do miss the fast, easy, change gears when stopped. This catches me out and especially on hills. Need to keep up enough speed to change.
Brakes: The front brakes squeal. The brake arms are thin pressed steel plate and the attachment to the fork has some play. The fork even with the fork brace, flexes easily. Cleaning the rim, the pads, adjusting toe in, helps. I have silence for a day, but then slowly the squeal returns. One side pad and rim is wearing as I'd expect. The other side, the pad and rim are not. The pad seems to melt, and polish the rim, leaving a gummy residue. Clean ups and sandpapering the pad and the rim so far have been temporary solutions. I'll keep persisting with it, for now.
Seat: The saddle is 165mm wide. I prefer narrower. On shorter time in the saddle, it hasn't been a problem. With longer time, the seat started to be uncomfortable. For the time being I'll adjust the front/back position, but longer term - it might need to change.
I've known people that have lost their seat. Why some would take a seat I don't know. Vandalism?
Seat theft happens
. No matter how expensive the bike, a seat loss would be hassle. The Kmart bike for some crazy reason, had one quick release clamp: the seatpost clamp. I like slow release; so used a bolt and nut to replace it. The rack also clamps to the seatpost, but is bolted on the frame - so more of a deterrent.
