Resurrection Of Shattentnzerin

[Gnufrau]

Shattentänzerin (Shadow Dancer) is my Hybrid. I have been building and riding hybrids exclusively for 20 years now, due to a belief that you had to be at a certain level to make good use of a road bike (or a proper mountain bike for that matter). I still feel that they are great all around bikes, but after building and riding Mondtänzerin (Moon Dancer), I have come to the belief that you do not have to be a class 1 racer to justify having one. I had justified building her as a midlife crisis thing, but the joy of dancing on the bike has wiped away other need to justify this type of bike.

But that is Mondtänzerin. Meanwhile, Shattentänzerin hangs from a hook, virtually ignored. There is no justice in this, as my shadow dancer has served me well. But she feels like a tank beside her sister. What kind of build can I use her frame for that would be fitting for her, and still be one I would use? Well, one thing was certain: the fork had to go. I had fitted Shattentänzerin with a suspension fork to soak up the bumps on the road to help with handling. It made her sluggish. Also, I felt the need to go back to a drop bar on her, as I'm just more comfortable on one. OK, that clears it up. Shattentänzerinwill be reborn as a full on touring rig! So when? How? I'm on Disability, I do not have cash laying around...

I built Mondtänzerin for $150 here, and $75 there. . . I can do that again for Shattentänzerin! Then I found a set of Campag Athena triple shifters in eBay for $140. They retail for over $200! OK, that turns out to be quite a solid beginning. So I'll just set up my work-stand over in this corner, out of the way.

 

[Gnufrau]

browser tripped. Let's use this one

 

[Gnufrau]

browser tripped. Let's use this one.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

What was the question...?

What was the question...?

 

[Gnufrau]

Not a question. A seed post. (and no, that was not supposed to be seat-post)

So far, I have decided on Athena 11speed triple shifters, that I got off of eBay, Problem Solvers "Travel Agent" V-brake adapters, and TKO bar and stem.

I will be setting up a gallery on Picassa to host the pics, with commentary here

 

[Gnufrau]

OK, my new shifters should get here by the end of next week, and I picked up the bars today. I have a guy in my local IBD looking for a fork for me, as well as Travel Agents for the brakes. I can get by without the travel agents for now if need be. brakes will not be optimal, but will work. That being the case, I will likely grab some cheap brake cables to hold me until I get the travel agents, then I will install the Campagnolo brake cables. There is a hidden compatibility (as in not designed into the systems) that allows my Athena 11 speed shifters to index directly with the Shimano 9 speed cassette and rear mech. If I re-routed the cable a bit I could use Shimano 10 speed cassettes. Since this bike was built around a Deore LX 9 speed drivetrain, I'll probably use that until I can build new wheels with a Campag 11 speed freehub. Then I will look to score an Athena medium cage rear mech and perhaps build a custom cassette. That is a fair bit into the future, though, which is why I'm looking at this build with intermediate stages. I'll take some pics of what I'm starting with tomorrow if it is dry enough.

 

[Gnufrau]

I've been remiss in updating this thread. I have replaced the suspension fork with a solid aluminum one, and installed a new stem, handlebar, and shifters. I also picked up an Athena Triple crankset that had been damaged. The damage was listed as two teeth on the outer ring "chipped". When the crankset arrived, the "chipped" teeth looked to be simply scratched. I paid $170 for the crankest and it is brand new except for those two teeth. You can imagine I'm very happy with the deal. All I need is a Power Torque bottom bracket and I can install the crankset. When I get the Travel Agent adapters for the brakes, and Shattentänzerin will be rideable. I can build the wheels over the winter, and obtain the front and rear mechs when I find good prices for them. In the meantime, I can ride on my current wheels (Shimano 9 speed). It turns out that Campagnolo 11 speed shifters will index with Shimano 9 speed systems. Also, the front shifter handles the front mech quite well, and shifts nicely also.

 

[Gnufrau]

I just ordered this month's batch of parts: Front Mech, braze on adapter, and the bottom bracket. I expect to have the Shimergo systen I'm using now completely converted to Campagnolo in a few months. I plan for next month to be for building the wheels and getting a cassette for them. Sourcing the rear mech and a chain will bring me to the full drivetrain. I am none too pleased with the front fork I have now, and may be replacing it in the near future. She is ridable now, but not for significant distances at this time. Compared to Mondtänzerin (Moon Dancer, my Road Bike) she is heavy and sluggish, but that is really to be expected. I may move to a slightly thinner tire, but if I do that, I'll want to use Avocet Cross tires in a 32C.

 

[Gnufrau]

I got a package today, from England. Inside the packabe was the bottom bracket and front mech that I had ordered from Ribble. Of course, within half an hour they were both installed along with the triple Athena crankset. I have also received the hubs that I will be using to build wheels for this bike. Rims should arrive by the end of the month. I will be lacing them as 32 hole, 3 cross in the front and 4 cross in the back. The spokes will be DT Swiss. Not sure if I will be going for straight or double butted yet.

 

[Gnufrau]

OK, I ordered the brake adapters today. That leaves only the rear mech, cassette, spokes, and whatever racks/luggage I get for the front. I got a package today also: a Minoura CS-500 headlight mount. It replaces one 10mm spacer in the headset stack and allows the headlight to be installed with a fair offset from the handlebars. This allows me to place the headlight under the handlebar bag where the beam will actually hit the pavement. With this, I now have lights, crankset, front mech, handlebars and shifters, and bottom bracket. I have hubs waiting, and rims on the way, so wheels are out of the way. The brake adapters are on the way, so that is taken care of. Chain, rear mech, and cassette complete the picture for the basic build. Then we get into optional stuff like a generator to go on the front hub, a pickup for cadence and speed, front rack and bags, perhaps even a small pair of speakers (preferably wired, to reduce the need to batteries)

 

[Gnufrau]

I ordered a solution for my brakes on this build today. OK, Honestly, I ordered two solutions. One is Problem Solvers Travel Agents, which is like a pulley ststem to increase the cable travel at the brake. The other is V brakes with shorter arms (80mm instead of 100mm) which gives you greater brake effect for the same cable travel. It does mean you have to pull the lever harder, but the brake action is really too light as is. Stiffening up the brakes will just make me more comfortable. I was also aboe to calculate the spoke length for the wheels I want to build. Ordering those will likely happen in the near future.

 

[Gnufrau]

In the imortal words of Charlie Brown: AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGHHHHH!!!!!

I was on the way back on one of my regular rides (to and from the Livermore VA Clinic) when my chain snapped. Halfway up a hill, of course. Then I had to walk 10 miles back to BART, so I could get home... As a result, Shattentänzerin is on a hook for a while, and I'll be riding Mondtänzerin for the next few weeks, until I can source a new chain.

 

[Gnufrau]

I was able to source a "master link" for the chain, so Shattentänzerin should be back on the road soon. As a bonus, my mini V brakes arrived in the mail, so I will be installing those as well.

 

[Gnufrau]

Never mind the "master link", I grabbed a Sram 11 speed chain for $27 on sale at my LBS. As I had a Campagnolo 11 speed medium cage rear mech waiting on my shelf, I went ahead and fitted the rear wheel for my road bike (which also uses a Campagnolo 11 speed drivetrain) and I'm using that until I get around to lacing up the new wheels for this new build. From this point forward Shattentänzerin is rocking 33 speeds! I also have the brakes set up the way I want them. I replaced the standard (100mm arms) V brakes with some Tektro Mini V brakes (80mm arms). Still did not have the kind of action I wanted though (too light at the levers) and it was taking too much travel at the levers for the action I was getting. I had gotten some "Travel Agents" from Problem Solvers to use with my standard V brakes, so I went ahead and fitted these to see if that would bridge the gap between the action I wanted, and what I was getting. They did the trick and I am now quite happy with how they turned out.

 

[Gnufrau]

I would like to share with you all the story of Shattentänzerin and the 33 gears. . .
I took an 80km shakedown ride yesterday in order to shake out some cobwebs that had been gathering all winter. As with any shakedown, there were a few things that needed fine tuning so the actual time on the road was a bit longer than the 4.5 hours timed. This ride is in two listings on Endomondo because my phone's data connection went west sometime during the first leg and I had to reset the phone. The ride data is here and here. I was using Mondtänzerin's wheels as te rims I ordered off of eBay were damaged in shipping. I do mean damaged like I have never seen before, either! I noticed a dent in the side as I was lacing it up, and that was bad enough. No, the dent was much worse! These medium profile rims have a triangular cross section, which is really a very strong shape for a rim to have. The amount of force that these poor defenceless rims were subjected to in order to crush one rim badly and the one behind it slightly is just staggering! As a result, I did not have the wheels I wanted to have on this trip, but I did not have any problems in that department. I did have a problem with shifting onto the smallest chainring (corrected by angling the front mech slightly), the cleats on my shoes loosening up (what is with these cleats anyway?), with the front brake not being centered (an adjustment), and with the bars slipping downward ( I put them back in place and tightened the bolts a bit tighter than before). I also stopped by a small grocery to get some fruit to carry for a snack later. then I got to my secondary bail-point and forced a data connection with a seeming crowbar. I was able to save the data from the first leg of the ride, so I was happy enough to reset the phone in order to gain a network connection. The final leg of the data was all trails and a simple 30km on a mostly flat trail. I called an end t the ride at the third bail-point as it was already after 19:00 and I was (ahem) "concerned" with some of the areas I would have had to ride through to complete the loop. All in all data to date suggests that Shattentänzerin will be quite the success when the wheels get built.