Latest addition

[Harng Goh]

Here's my latest addition:
http://www.qweop.net/2007/03/08/postie-bike

I picked this up recently for the cost of a meal. Tyres and tubes had
perished so they were the first to be replaced with some cheapy spares
I had lying around.

The rear coaster brake hub was pretty ordinary so I took it apart,
cleaned it and repacked with grease. While I was at it I worked out
how to disable the coaster brake. Easiest way was to remove the brake
shoes before reassembling but this had a rather unwanted result though
- if you backpedal, it takes a few foward turns of the pedals before
the drive cone engages again. Looks pretty funny when you're flailing
on the pedals for a few seconds before it engages.

Using my google-fu I found out that you can convert a coaster brake
hub to a fixed gear hub by welding the drive cone to the hub shell.
Woohoo! My first fixie is going to be a postie bike. Anyone here have
a welder and a spare few minutes this long weekend to assist with
this? I'm in inner-east Melbourne. Otherwise I might have to find a
local welding shop or mechanic who will do this unusual request, or I
could even go have a look at one of those cheap-as-chips arc welders
in Bunnings and work out how to do it myself.

A new cheapy brake was fitted on the front to replace the dodgy rear
brake and disabled coaster brake. Just need to true up the front wheel
so that I can get brakes working a bit better.

My brother and I were goofing around on it outside my place last night
after fitting the front brake. I don't think any of the neighbours who
walked past found it as amusing as we did. They seem to be avoiding
eye contact with me.

 

[Terryc]

Harng Goh wrote:

> or I
> could even go have a look at one of those cheap-as-chips arc welders
> in Bunnings and work out how to do it myself.

1) whatever you buy, practise on similar size pieces of metal first
2) Only do short spot welds at 12, 3, 6, & 9 oclock.
3) Letting it cool down between welds will help
4) Make sure you wire brush very well all the places where you intend t
weld.
5) make sure the welder has a standard 10 amp plug.


>If you buy a mig gassless, you will need a good set of wire cutters.

< I seriously doubt if a cheap arc welder will be any use, For something
as small as the metal in the hb, a 1.6mm rod is still too big, so it
must be clean and a quick weld, otherwise everything is going to start
melting away very quick. I recently found out that my 20 years old, not
so cheap arc welder can not handle 1.6mm rods, Despite the control label
on the front indicating it can, it quickly immitates a dull light globe
on any stick up.

Good luck.

You would be better to oxy it, but that isn't cheap.

Hmm, if you weld it alltogether, can you still adjust the bearings on
that size?

 

[Harng Goh]

Terryc wrote:
> Harng Goh wrote:
>
> > or I
> > could even go have a look at one of those cheap-as-chips arc welders
> > in Bunnings and work out how to do it myself.
>
> 1) whatever you buy, practise on similar size pieces of metal first
> 2) Only do short spot welds at 12, 3, 6, & 9 oclock.
> 3) Letting it cool down between welds will help
> 4) Make sure you wire brush very well all the places where you intend t
> weld.
> 5) make sure the welder has a standard 10 amp plug.
>
>
> >If you buy a mig gassless, you will need a good set of wire cutters.
>
> < I seriously doubt if a cheap arc welder will be any use, For something
> as small as the metal in the hb, a 1.6mm rod is still too big, so it
> must be clean and a quick weld, otherwise everything is going to start
> melting away very quick. I recently found out that my 20 years old, not
> so cheap arc welder can not handle 1.6mm rods, Despite the control label
> on the front indicating it can, it quickly immitates a dull light globe
> on any stick up.
>
> Good luck.
>
> You would be better to oxy it, but that isn't cheap.
>
> Hmm, if you weld it alltogether, can you still adjust the bearings on
> that size?

Thanks for the pointers. Practise, practise, practise first. Even
though it's no great loss if I stuff up on this hub, I would still
prefer not to ruin it. As you've suggested, the idea was to do 4 small
spot welds to fix the drive cone to the hub shell.

As I see it and from my reading, the inner bearing on the drive side
won't be needed. There will still be two more bearings - the outer
bearing on the drive side, and the bearing on the non-drive side. Both
can still be accessed by removing the cones.

 

[hippy]

Here's my latest addition:
http://www.qweop.net/2007/03/08/postie-bike

Dude, that's so cool!
I would (almost) swap you my Raleigh track just to be able to ride an AusPost bike around London!

thehippy.net

 

[cfsmtb]

Here's my latest addition:
http://www.qweop.net/2007/03/08/postie-bike

I picked this up recently for the cost of a meal. Tyres and tubes had
perished so they were the first to be replaced with some cheapy spares
I had lying around.

You lucky lucky *******, I've been trying to track down a postie bike to use for stupormarket transport. Damn. poobumwee. I want one.

Failing that, the commuter tractor will be pressed into service for shopping and I'll have to finally get around to building up the Felt frame as a daily driver/commuter. Had this plan for about two years + now. Oh well, all good things take time & I'm also after a budget-priced donor bike with either Deore XT/XTR/LX. All reasonable offers considered. Hell this is sounding like a ad. Call us now.

 

[Harng Goh]

cfsmtb wrote:
> Harng Goh Wrote:
> You lucky lucky *******, I've been trying to track down a postie bike
> to use for stupormarket transport. Damn. poobumwee. I want one.
> <snipped>
> cfsmtb

If I ever get sick of it, you can have first dibs on it.

These could all be the same bike (as I only saw in passing) but I've
seen other postie bikes on Nicholson Street (Abbotsford), Gertrude
Street, and one locked up on Swanston Street.

 

[PiledHigher]

On Mar 14, 12:04 pm, cfsmtb <cfsmtb.2ne...@no-
mx.forums.cyclingforums.com> wrote:
> Harng Goh Wrote:
>
> > Here's my latest addition:
> >http://www.qweop.net/2007/03/08/postie-bike
>
> > I picked this up recently for the cost of a meal. Tyres and tubes had
> > perished so they were the first to be replaced with some cheapy spares
> > I had lying around.
>
> You lucky lucky *******, I've been trying to track down a postie bike
> to use for stupormarket transport. Damn. poobumwee. I want one.
>
> Failing that, the commuter tractor will be pressed into service for
> shopping and I'll have to finally get around to building up the Felt
> frame as a daily driver/commuter. Had this plan for about two years +
> now. Oh well, all good things take time & I'm also after a
> budget-priced donor bike with either Deore XT/XTR/LX. All reasonable
> offers considered. Hell this is sounding like a ad. Call us now.
>
> --
> cfsmtb

There is one out the front of Open Road Cycles at the moment I
believe, will be more for being from a shop...

 

[Snuffy]

If I ever get sick of it, you can have first dibs on it.

Oi! You're forgetting the guy who
1) pointed you to the ebay ad
2) got his hands dirty on the bike
3) tested the strength of your JB Weld with a few trackstands...

There is one out the front of Open Road Cycles at the moment I believe, will be more for being from a shop...

I saw that red thing too, as I whizzed past down Blackburn Road... it even has the front basket still attached.... From the half a second that I looked at it, it said Malvern Star on the down tube and didn't have an Aus Post sticker....

 

[Joel Mayes]

On 2007-03-14, cfsmtb <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Harng Goh Wrote:
>> Here's my latest addition:
>> http://www.qweop.net/2007/03/08/postie-bike
>>
>> I picked this up recently for the cost of a meal. Tyres and tubes had
>> perished so they were the first to be replaced with some cheapy spares
>> I had lying around.
>
> You lucky lucky *******, I've been trying to track down a postie bike
> to use for stupormarket transport. Damn. poobumwee. I want one.

The Bike shed at CERES has almost a dozen of them at the moments,
without the front baskets, but with the frame attachments and a couple
of shelving brackets you could know something up bigger and lighter in a
couple of minutes.

We're looking at aprox $100 each

Cheers

Joel

 

[cfsmtb]

The Bike shed at CERES has almost a dozen of them at the moments,
without the front baskets, but with the frame attachments and a couple
of shelving brackets you could know something up bigger and lighter in a
couple of minutes.

We're looking at aprox $100 each

Decisions, decisions, just got a excellent offer for much required computer hardware for $100 ... now there's this postie bike frame for $100 ... but the computer hardware will enable me to earn more $, therefore will be able to buy more bike stuff... Ah hell, can you hold onto a frame for about a fortnight or do you require a deposit? Are they flying out like hotcakes or not?

BTW - heard about CERES scoring an amazing benefactor in Saturday Age? Wow!

 

[Joel Mayes]

On 2007-03-14, cfsmtb <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Joel Mayes Wrote:
>>
>> The Bike shed at CERES has almost a dozen of them at the moments,
>> without the front baskets, but with the frame attachments and a couple
>> of shelving brackets you could know something up bigger and lighter in
>> a
>> couple of minutes.
>>
>> We're looking at aprox $100 each
>
> Decisions, decisions, just got a excellent offer for much required
> computer hardware for $100 ... now there's this postie bike frame for
> $100 ... but the computer hardware will enable me to earn more $,
> therefore will be able to buy more bike stuff... Ah hell, can you hold
> onto a frame for about a fortnight or do you require a deposit? Are
> they flying out like hotcakes or not?
>
> BTW - heard about CERES scoring an amazing benefactor in Saturday Age?
> Wow!

Well they've been hanging around for a month now, I doubt they'll all
sell over night (and if they do I've got a second frame postie bike
in the shed which I could maybe be talked around to getting rid of
(I've been trying to talk my partner into riding it when we go shopping,
which hasn't worked, mainly I think 'cause I made the mistake of
rebuilding her touring bike recently and she's not into riding anything
else ATM))

Cheers

Joel

 

[hippy]

Decisions, decisions, just got a excellent offer for much required computer hardware for $100 ... now there's this postie bike frame for $100 ...

What hardware are you after?

hippy

 

[Harng Goh]

Snuffy wrote:
> Harng Goh Wrote:
> > If I ever get sick of it, you can have first dibs on it.
>
> Oi! You're forgetting the guy who
> 1) pointed you to the ebay ad
> 2) got his hands dirty on the bike
> 3) tested the strength of your JB Weld with a few trackstands...

Didn't think you wanted it. OK, you can have first dibs on it then.

Does anyone have any ideas for a basket for the front? It has brackets
attached to the head tube for the basket. I was thinking I could just
bolt on any strong wire basket (like the ones that supermarkets used
to have before most changed to plastic) but I can't for the life of me
think of where to find one of those (except at the supermarket).

 

[cfsmtb]

What hardware are you after?

The new display monitor, just got a excellent offer I can't refuse. Saves my eyes too.