Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Snow'd In..

Well, not really. In fact, I should really be riding in this weather.
Except my new bike isn't ready.
I keep getting side tracked.

One moment I'm turning a 15mm wrench. The Spicer's last nut is torqued to BMX tight. Then I see my rim cracking. Don't want to be a Mander. Next I'm in Ty's shop looking at rims, Then I've got his last Ambrosio Excellence but my spokes are too short, then they're too long, then they're just right. ..and I build the wheel for the second time.
I'm out on the Cunny, in the West end, thinking about drift physics while my front fork packs with snow.
This is starting to sound like a dream.
Then I'm in Dream. Darren actually hooks me up with a cog.
Then I'm in Dream. Darren actually hooks me up with rim tape.
Now I'm back at the wheel. These bearings are shit.
8000km on a set of Nachis. I'm going to try running a little less chain tension to see if i can't get more life out of a set of rears.
I can't even pound them out they're so corroded. Eventually I coax the shaft and bearings out with some concrete blocks and wood. (wrenchin dirty)

Did I talk about the axle before?
I'm pretty sure I did.
Well. If I didn't go into enough detail then. I will now.

Between the bearing surface and shoulder, there is a little trough. This allows any debris/grease during bearing installation to have a place to go. Its also a really pretty way of distributing stress. I also really enjoy the nice slope from the shoulder to the unused centre section of the axle. The real point is, having it out prompted me to measure and model it.



The helical swept cut of the 10x1mm threads was problematic, and I now understand why there is a 'Cosmetic Thread' feature. The rebuild time is getting out of hand. I won't even get into how the COSMOSXpress analysis handles all those faces. In fact, I just tried to simulate a 200lb loading of the axle, and its still busy computing.

Ah well.. I guess this gives me time to put my hub back together and tension up a wheel. Maybe I'll even be able to ride the Spicer before the snow melts.