Nice 40-mile ride

I had a plan for quite a ride today, starting at 7am. Recently I had my annual physical, and the doctor ordered some blood tests, for which I have to go to the clinic 5 miles away "npo," fasting. Also I wanted to deliver something to Campbell, 19 miles away. So the plan was to start at 7, give the blood, have breakfast, and ride on to Campbell.

Well, the temperature at 7am was 35f, which made me rethink. Come to find out Marian needed to have a blood sample taken also, so we drove together to the clinic, gave up our red cells, and drove home for breakfast. When a reasonable (55f) temperature arrived at 9am, I set out on the ride to Campbell.

I had charged up the BionX battery beforehand, and I am happy to say that a ride of 40 miles (well, alright, 39.6 miles) used up only 5 of the 8 bars in the battery-state indicator. That's using assist level 2 about half the time, and level 1 the other half. There's plenty of juice for the 20-mile round trip to the gym on Wednesday. I think. We'll see.

This was a ride along familiar roads: Foothill Expressway, Homestead, Stelling, Prospect, Campbell.The streets, even busy ones like Campbell Avenue, were very quiet. There were many colorful Maple and Pistache trees along the streets. The sky was brilliantly clear; it was one of those winter days when cold Pacific air blows in from the Gulf of Alaska and makes every detail of the Bay Area hills stand out in glittering detail. Here is a view from Cupertino, east toward the Mt. Hamilton Observatory which is over 30 miles (50k) away.

Here are the exact pixels from the middle of that picture.

If I had started riding toward those so-clear little domes, it would have taken four hours to reach them, or 90 minutes to drive it.

I had stopped to take pictures of the Mary Avenue Bike Bridge. This new bridge was built in 2009 to give easy foot and bike access over I-280. It's a very nice cable-stayed bridge. Today I noticed the sun eclipsed by the north pylon:

At the south end of the bridge is a charming bronze sculpture of california quails, overlooked by an ominous red-tailed hawk.

Longer Legs - maybe

It has been cold. Well, cold for California. Chilly, damp, gray mornings, or the last couple of days, clear frosty mornings. I don't like to ride in the cold. I have a pair of leggings that I bought 15 years ago. I wore them often when I was commuting by bike, but haven't had them on in two years at least. This week I've been jogging, either on the street or driving to the gym and jogging on the treadmill, which is terminally boring even with an iPod loaded with podcasts (Skeptic's Guide, Geologic, Security Now ... my jogging companions.)

But the bike—when I finally get back on it—should be better. Last week when the rain started, I did what I said I'd do the first rainy spell. I took the back wheel off the bike (no easy job) and took it up to the local bike shop service department along with the 11-32 freehub.

Wait. The back story is that when I was restoring the bike, I assumed that when I motorized it, it would still be using the same rear cluster, so I ordered the new front chain rings in about 10% smaller sizes than the old. But then it turned out that the BionX hub only supports a freewheel not a modern freehub, and further, that the freewheel BionX supplied was an 8-speed with a smallest gear of 14 teeth.

I described this back in June, noting that I had managed to obtain a freewheel with 11-32 gearing. But I hadn't installed it.

The reason I didn't install it is that I couldn't. I tried at one point to get the existing freewheel off, but they are notoriously difficult and I couldn't manage it. (The freewheel threads onto the hub, or in this case onto the motor casing, in such a direction that your pedaling torque tightens it.) Then I took the bike back to Joe Robinson for another reason and asked him to try to replace it. He returned it saying he had not been able to get the thing off either.

There matters rested for a couple of months, but the setup wasn't satisfactory; on a downhill I couldn't spin past 30mph, maybe 31. I used to be able to pedal past 40mph on a suitable slope.

So, OK, on this rainy day I removed the wheel and took it and the new freewheel up to the bike store and at the service counter I started saying, I want to replace this, the guy who sold it to me couldn't get it off. Before I'd finished that sentence, the mechanic, without a word, picked up the wheel and walked away to the back of the shop, where he slapped a tool into a vise, dropped the wheel on it, gave a mighty heave, and spun the freewheel off. He was back at the counter in less than a minute. He dabbed a little grease onto the threads, spun the new freewheel into place, and said, "OK?"

OK, indeed. I took it home and reinstalled the wheel, and the bike's been sitting in the garage since, waiting for better weather or more motivation.

New grip shifts

I had wanted to replace the old shifters during the restoration. I bought a left-right pair of eight-speed Grip Shifts from Easy Racers when I picked up the frame. I forget the reason just now, but due to some issue, I retained the old left-hand (front) shifter but installed the right-side one.

Not too long after I started riding the new setup, that right-hand shift knob started to slip. Under the pressure of my awesome right hand, its rubber grip began to slip. It would pull away from the mechanism and I'd push it back in place.

This became increasingly annoying so I decided to replace it yet again. I went to local bike stores and looked at the shifters being used on modern mountain bikes. Some wouldn't work for my bike, for example because the shifter was integrated with the brake lever, and I need to keep my separate brake levers. Others looked rather cheap. Actually the nicest-looking grip shift is the one made by Shimano as part of their Nexus system. Unfortunately, the Nexus is an internally-geared hub. If I were setting up a new, non-electric, recumbent, the Nexus hub and related parts would make a very nice installation. But the center of my rear wheel is taken up by the BionX motor, and it seemed very likely that the Nexus shifter would not be compatible with my external 8-speed derailleur.

What I settled on was the SRAM "centera" twist-grip. It has a longer grip that looks well-bonded to the mechanism. It also has a somewhat toy-like gear indicator but otherwise its quality seems good for a plastic part.

I ordered a pair of shifters from Amazon; they arrived yesterday and I installed them this morning. Here is the right one in place,

...and here is the left one.

Happily the installation lacked drama. Installing cables often results in operatic drama and high-pitched swearing fits, but not this time. The nearest it came to that was when I was trying to fit the old, longer cable to the rear. The one that came with the new shifter was juuuuuust a few inches too short.

This meant threading the old cable tip down through the core of the shifter. And of course, one wire didn't want to go, wanted to spiral back and jam. I fired up my old soldering iron and soldered the tip to hold the wires together. Then it went. And the adjustment wasn't hard either, and it shifts smoothly: tick-clunk, tick-clunk.

Of course the indicator reads "backward" with 8 being the lowest gear and 1, the highest. But that's always been true because the derailleur works backward, pulling toward the higher gears.

An interrupted ride

Yesterday, Monday, it was chilly and damp when I went out to pick up the paper. There was a little rain Sunday and although the forecast was for dry, I decided I didn't want to ride in this weather. So I drove to the gym and jogged 40 minutes on a treadmill. Ironically, by the time I left the gym it was a bright, sunny day and I felt bad about not riding. So today, Tuesday, which would by plan be a jogging day, I went for a ride instead. Toward the end of the ride, something rather odd happened.

Rancho San Antonio Park

I opted to ride a moderate route, south on Foothill boulevard to Rancho San Antonio County Park. The attraction there for me is that on a hill at the entry, model airplane hobbyists are usually to be found flying their creations. Indeed today there were several men flying not regular planes but model autogyros.

I watched for a bit and wasted a lot of pixels trying to catch the little machines in the air.

Strange Incident

A couple of miles from home, crossing through an intersection, I became aware of something wrong with the vision in my right eye. I pulled over as soon as I could. My first thought was a visual migraine, something I get once a year or so, but this was not at all the same. A visual migraine is a scintillating transparent arc that starts in the center of the visual field and gradually expands outward, lasting typically 30 minutes until it works its way out of my peripheral vision.

What I saw now was quite different. First, it was only in my right eye, not both. And second, it was an irregular, opaque, pink arc that had appeared in the upper left of the field.

Later I worked out the perfect description: put your right hand against your brow as if you were saluting. Now, curl your forefinger down to make a half circle obstructing the inner part of your right eye. That's what it was like, except the pink blotch had no texture or shape. It could have been painted on the inside of my glasses. The bright autumn sky and trees and road were all clear except where the pink blob was.

Second thought: retinal detachment. Agh! I called home but Marian was out. So I cranked up the assist level to 3 and pedalled home, looking up as much as possible out of some notion that gravity might settle a retinal tear.

In fact, the pink blob thinned and disappeared in about ten minutes and was gone when I reached the house. Nevertheless, I hurriedly changed to street clothes and drove to the Palo Alto Clinic where, eventually, my eyes were dilated and examined. All OK; no signs of tears or separations, no swellings or other indications of a constricted blood supply. (And I had not had the common symptoms of retinal damage: lots of floaters and odd flashes.)

So, no problems found—and no diagnosis. Might have been an anomolous migraine. Anyway, an early end to the ride.

Aaaaaand - we're back.

Returned home from a six-week tour of Germany late on Monday the 12th. On Wednesday, Joe Robinson stopped by the house (and isn't that some kind of service?) with the new battery and my old console.

Just to recap, I pretty much ruined my BionX battery pack, but they accepted it as a warranty fix. Also I'd turned in the little console computer because a light touch on the throttle lever, or just road vibration, would make its screen blank out.

Joe said that BionX had sent back the same console, saying they didn't find anything wrong with it. Well, that was a communication failure on one of our parts, but it doesn't matter because as Joe was installing it on the handlebar... it blanked out on him.

I couldn't have been more pleased. He got a good demo of how just a gentle wiggle of the throttle lever would make the screen go blank. So he took it back to the shop with him.

Friday he stopped by again with a new console. He'd been able to duplicate the problem on another bike, so it definitely wasn't the wiring on my bike (I never thought it was; I was and am sure it's either a cracked circuit board or a bad solder joint) and now the bike was complete again.

Saturday morning I spent some time cleaning and remounting the fairing, which had been gathering dust in the garage all these weeks, then went for a 12-mile, flat ride.

Exactly as I expected and has happened after prior vacations, I've got no lungs and precious little leg. But also, the BionX motor does just what I hoped it'd do: assist level 2 makes it possible to ride at what feels like good speed, even if I'm out of shape. So I will be riding.

I have a plan for a new exercise regime, one to please my cardiologist: MWF do the 40-minute ride to the gym for a short workout; and tuesday and thursday mornings do a 5K jog. That will get me the 5x40-minutes of aerobics per week she wants me to have. (And when I see her and can report doing this program, I will be able to needle her for being a couch spud herself, which she looks like.)

I like the jogging because I can listen to podcasts on the ipod, usually the Skeptic's Guide or the Geologic podcast. One drawback with real cycling (as opposed to jogging or sitting on a stationary bike at the gym) is that it really isn't safe to have the ipod in my ears while doing it.

In aid of this plan I went to the Nike store and bought myself a pair of the almost-barefoot running shoes: a segmented rubber sole with light canvas uppers, they weigh almost nothing and feel good. On Monday and again today (Wednesday the 20th) I stuffed them into a pannier and rode the bike to the gym, as planned. They fit the pannier a lot better than the old running shoes, which by comparison look a lot like feet for the Sta-Puft marshmallow man.

Tuesday I did the jogging as planned. So the quest to recover fitness begins anew.

No bike, no rides, no news

The disaster

About two weeks ago, pursuing another minor rattle, I once more split the case on the BionX battery. At this point, let me tell you something important:

Don't do that!

It is not easy to reassemble the battery case. There is a circuit board that is connected by some quite stiff wires to the actual battery pack and other points. It is supported by two rather flimsy plastic posts. Getting everything lined up while sliding the two halves of the case together is tricky.

While I was struggling with that, somehow I let the bottom of the circuit board make contact with a piece of metal lying on the workbench. There was a FZPTT!! noise and a smell just like the smell that my old Lionel electric train used to make, such is the nostalgic power of odors. Examining the damage I noted that the circuit board had many surface-mount resistors on the back, one of which was now at the center of a half-inch brown stain.

And of course, when I did get it together and back on the bike, the system wouldn't boot up, but just showed an error code on the console.

OK, so Joe at Velolectric was nice as could be about all this, and said he'd do his best to get BionX to treat it at least partially as a warranty issue, although I really don't care, I figure I zorched it and if I get out of this paying no more than the dealer cost of a new battery pack, I'm good.

Bicycle Season Passes

So time has passed while emails, and the battery pack itself, have been tracking back and forth to Toronto, and now, for me, cycling season has expired. This is kind of a bummer because the last two weeks in the Bay Area have been about as ideal for cycling as you could imagine: daytime highs of 75, clear sky, light breeze. Perfect.

Nevertheless, this weekend we leave for three weeks with relatives on the great Puget Sound. When we get back around the 24th I should be able to retrieve the repaired bike and pay my penalty. But then it is time to pack and whoops, off to tour Germany for 6 weeks. (If you like the style, you can follow us through Germany at our travel blog.)

So this blog will be pretty quiet until mid-October. I'll be back to riding then and will be able to report once again (sigh) about regaining fitness after a long layoff.

Welcome ERRC readers!

Wo says the midsummer edition of ERRC Magazine is going out the door tonight, including my article that points to this blog. So: Hi, readers!

For the whole story of the restoration, start with this post. Then keep clicking the "Newer Post" link at the bottom of each item. Or just poke around in the Archive section on the right.

You'll find lots more pictures here than were in the article. Most of the pictures that you see inline, link to larger versions. So click any pic for more detail.

By all means, leave comments! If there are questions, put them in comments. I'll answer any I can in further posts.

Using RSS

I don't post every day, and there will be a long hiatus through August and September. It's a pain to keep checking a blog for new posts and not finding any. If you're internet-savvy you probably know about RSS or Atom feeds, but if you don't, look up "RSS" in the help page for your browser. Basically you put this special link in a bookmark, and your browser will check for updates automatically. When I get around to posting something, you'll know right away.

An Electro-Etiquette Question

Today I did "the loop" again, the Arastradero - Portola - Sand Hill roads triangle. (I know this means nothing to riders not from around here; sorry! Oh, wait, I can do pictures.) So, as you leave Portola Valley and head toward Menlo Park, you're climbing a bit of a hill.

View Larger Map

Going up I caught up with three women riding together. One of them broke away from the other two and I followed her up this rise. She was strong; I was using assist #2 and could barely keep up. However, I knew there was this nice downgrade waiting.

View Larger Map

So as we crested, I pulled out and passed, and spun out my top gear, which is not as high as it ought be, so only about 35mph. Pulled in my elbows and knees, hunkered down with my nose on the handlebar behind the fairing, zoomed down the hill. Since the other rider was on an upright, this ought to have demonstrated how effective the aerodynamics of a faired recumbent are, by leaving her far behind.

Not! As I started up the longer hill at the other side of the valley, sitting up, gearing down, there she was, right beside me. Standing up and sprinting away from me up the rise.

View Larger Map

Well, I thought, you go, girl! I settled back and punched up assist level 3, which I would normally have used, allowing me to spin up this grade, breathing hard and sweating, but going 12 or 13mph. And found I was catching up to Ms. Rider, who was still standing up and driving hard on her upright.

OK, here was a big question of manners. Is it ethically, or socially, valid to show up another rider by use of electric assist? This woman was clearly working at her limit to pass me and stay ahead on the hill. I thought it would be rather crass to out-do her efforts with mechanical aid.

So I dropped to assist 2 and went down a couple of gears. She gradually pulled farther away as we ground up the hill. If I'd had no assist, she'd have been a speck dwindling in the distance. I don't have any problem with that; for a start, her lungs had about a 30-year advantage over mine.

Questions of rider etiquette aside, this was a very successful ride. My legs felt stronger than on previous circuits of the same route. So despite the assist, I am getting conditioned. That's always satisfying to experience.

Recumbents rule in Los Altos

Today I took a ride south through Rancho San Antonio county park. (Woo-hoo, two rides in two days!) It's a familiar 20-mile route without any serious hills (although my altimeter did show more than 350 feet higher at the turnaround than at home). It takes me past a place where model airplane enthusiasts are usually to be found flying their creations.

Sometime in the past five years at most, I think only a couple of years, the wasp-like snarl of the model airplane motor has completely disappeared. All flying models are now electric, powered by batteries. Which makes the hobby much more ear-friendly. But it's fascinatin' how quickly the new tech swept out the old.

Anyway, coming home, waiting for the light at Foothill Expressway and Magdelana/Springer, I saw another Easy Racers recumbent crossing in front of me. I wish I'd had the camera ready because it was a sight, with full body stocking in red and bright yellow. I could see below the fairing, the mechanism of what I think was the Ecospeed mid-drive electric motor. The batteries were in little pannier cases mounted under the seat.

Less than a mile later I found myself slowly overtaking yet another long-wheelbase recumbent. From the back it looked like another Easy Racer. From the back is all I saw because when the rider became aware of me growing in his mirror, he applied a little more steam and kept the distance between us open. However, when I turned off at Arastradero road, I got an angle from which I could see the frame: not an Easy Racers model but a Rans Stratus.

Anyway, three LWB recumbents, two with electric drive, in a mile radius of Los Altos. Who'd'a thunk it?

More rattle management

Rattles from the rear continued to irk me on the monday ride to the gym, so today I had another look around the back.

With the battery out, I shook and banged everything. Some sound was coming from the luggage rack. The BionX rear rack includes a "rat-trap" spring-loaded clip, of the sort found on rather lame balloon-tired errand bikes. It was definitely producing some noise, so I removed it. Should I ever need to attach something to the rack, I'll use the bungee that I routinely carry in the bottom of a pannier.

Then I once again checked every threaded fastener in the rear rack, and found one screw that wasn't fully tight, allowing a little motion in a brace rod. In the process I adjusted the rack to make the battery exactly horizontal. It had been pitched a little forward.

With the battery out, I rode around the block and everything sounded quiet. I put the battery back and did another circuit. Oops, some clcks on bumps.

I shook and pounded things and determined that the only possible play was a little up-and-down motion at the tail of the battery. This is held in place by a clip, and in order to get at the clip I had to split the battery case. Which turned out to be easy to do: loosen two bolts.

With the clip out I could see how it is supposed to work. It should grab the back of its track in a friction fit.

This was where there was a millimeter of play, so I carefully crushed that clip in my bench vice juuuusssst a little bit so it gripped well.

Reassemble the battery box, reinstall, take another test ride. There are still a few clunks to be heard on the very sharpest bumps, but all told the ride is much quieter now.

Mo' Maintenance

I also installed the Terracycle chain idler which arrived last saturday. Using puh-lenty of blue thread-lock, I might add.

Still pending: find a replacement for the cadence magnet. I had a couple of spare magnets but none that will attach nicely with a zip-tie. Need to actually buy a Cat-Eye cadence kit, I suppose.

One rattle down, one to go

It's amazing what a small thing can cause a rattle, and how hard it can be to find. After I shimmed the rack piece as described in the prior post, the rattles were reduced. However there was still a bright little chnk! from the back on every pavement irregularity. And we have plenty of irregular pavement.

After wednesday's ride to the gym I spent some time pounding the rear rack with my fist again. There is a tiny bit of movement in the battery on its track, but that didn't seem to be the source of the higher-frequency noise. Eventually I found my way to the lock.

The battery has this lock whose only purpose is to secure the battery in its rack. You can't pull it out without unlocking it. (It isn't an "ignition" lock to enable the system; the system is enabled anytime the battery is mounted.)

So it turned out that the cylinder in the center of the lock has a fraction of a millimeter of play and it makes a noise when it vibrates. I proved that by shimming it with a bit of post-it note:

That shut up the high-pitched rattle, making today's ride quite a bit less noisy. There is still a lower-pitched clunk on the heavier bumps, which I need to investigate further. I suspect it may be coming from where the rack is braced to the Cobra seat braces. (I am coming to realize that the BionX rack-mount battery, although a tidy and esthetically pleasing design, has one problem: it places the heavy battery directly over the rear axle, where it gets the hardest ride and most vibration.)

Anyway the remaining noise is not as annoying. I don't know quite what to do to permanently stifle the lock, either. That purple post-it can't be a permanent fix.

Oh, another mechanical issue. Wednesday while I was drinking coffee at a coffee shop on the way home from the gym, and out of sight of the bike, somebody or something caused it to fall over. I found it on its side when I came out.

No obvious damage was done, but when I righted it and sat down, I found that the chain had hopped off the chain ring and jammed itself inside the small ring. (Might not have happened if I wasn't riding without a chain idler. The new idler came today.)

I yanked the chain out and got it back on the middle ring and rode home, thinking nothing of it. But today I noticed there was no cadence read-out on the computer. And a quick check revealed that the cadence magnet that I had so cleverly installed on the inside of the small chain ring was absent. It probably got forced off when the chain was jammed. So now I have to replace that.

Squeak and Rattles

Wednesday I rode the bike the usual 15-mile route to the gym, which took the battery down to its last, or last-but-one, segment. (The last segment of the eight is a little wedge, not a full bar. It and the next segment were on.) During the afternoon and evening, every 2 or 3 hours, the bike would emit a funny noise: a quiet little electronic squeak or chirp. It took a while to find the source of the noise, since it happened so seldom, but it was pretty certainly the bike. There was nothing else in that room that could have chirped, or squeaked.

There's nothing in the BionX manual about an audible alarm when the battery is low, but I charged it up and the noise did not recur.

The distance for that charge was 62.4 miles.

Friday I took the bike around the Arastradero loop, like before but this time I took the somewhat more demanding route past Arastradero Preserve which has a steep hill. I was panting and working hard even with assist level 3. Coming down the back side it was steep enough that I could set generate (negative assist) level 1 and the bike held its speed.

During this ride, as in the prior two, I was annoyed by a sharp rattle from the back, around the battery. On rough pavement it is quite loud. Also new to this ride was a higher-frequency, chattery rattle from somewhere up front. So today (Saturday) I put the bike up on the stand and went after these two rattles. The new rattle took a while to find. Banged on the frame with my fist and listened for several minutes before I noticed—Doh!—that the TerraCycle chain idler had disappeared! The rattle was from the remaining bracket which was slightly loose. The noise was hard to find because the fairing acts like a sound mirror and makes any noise from the center forward seem to come from the front.

Now, I first learned about vibration on bicycles when I was like, 12 years old, and I always assemble threaded parts with blue threadlock. Just the same, the bearing bolt for the idler had apparently unthreaded itself and fallen off. And the bracket bolt, which is fixed with a self-locking nut, had backed off a couple of turns. This latter makes me suspect that I might not have finished installing it in the first place. A self-locking nut just doesn't loosen itself.

I've ordered another idler ($60, ouch). In the meantime as long as I don't go down to the smallest chainring the chain should be alright.

As for the other rattle, the one in the back, I already knew what it was. The BionX battery case has a couple of metal brackets that mate with a track in the rack.

The rearmost of these had gotten loose; it has barely a millimeter of play vertically and horizontally but that is enough to let the tail of the battery box rattle. I'd already verified that if I stuffed some paper under it, it would shut up. So now I made a more permanent shim for it.

Longest ride since 2007

Today I took the GRR across the Dumbarton bridge to Fremont, for a loop up the Alameda Creek trail and back to the bridge on Thornton avenue through Newark.

Raft of pelicans feeding on alameda creek

The total distance was 38.2 miles. This was the longest ride I've taken since... flip flip flip through log-book... summer 2007! Then I went 38 miles; between then and now, only a few rides over 20 miles.

The weather today was classic Bay Area summer: a chilly, boisterous sea wind out of the northwest poured fog over the coast range, looking like whipped cream slopping out of a bowl. This was a quartering tail-wind going out, and a quartering head-wind coming back. I used assist level 3 for a couple of miles where the road is at water level and completely exposed to the wind, and for climbing the Dumbarton bridge. Other than that I used level 1 going out and level 2 coming home.

The BionX battery started with a full charge (Joe had charged it up while it was at Velolectric for repair) and ended indicating half-charged. The charge indicator has eight segments. So far, one segment seems to equate to about 9 miles. That's for not-very-hilly rides, mostly flattish with occasional climbs.

If that relationship holds down through the bottom segments of the display—it might not be linear, auto fuel gauges often are not—but if it holds, a full charge should be good for a 70-mile ride. Comfortably over a metric century as I guessed early on.

Regardless, the motor assist is doing exactly what I hoped it would do: make me feel like a strong, confident rider, capable of longer rides again.

Bike fixed - something learned

I found that by folding the rear seats and pushing the passenger seat all the way forward, I could just squeeze the GRR into our Prius. Monday morning I did that and ferried the bike up to Joe at Velolectric. Within a couple of minutes he had diagnosed the problem.

It seems that the motor axle has to be in a particular orientation relative to the frame. The orientation is shown by a small notch at the left end of the axle. This notch has to be vertically down. (click pics to biggenate)

Somehow, the axle had rotated a quarter-turn from this orientation, producing the failure I had. Joe expressed some puzzlement, saying that he was pretty sure he had torqued the axle properly. "The factory says 30 foot-pounds, and I have a torque wrench just for that."

I didn't say then, but I did 'fess up when I returned Wednesday to pick up the bike, that it was I who had loosened the rear axle. It was my fault it failed!

What had happened was that I received an 11-32 freewheel and wanted to install it. I removed the rear wheel, which was no more awkward than before (it is never very easy to get the rear wheel out of a Tour Easy frame) except that it weighs a bit more now.

Then I found out I couldn't get the freewheel off. This is a notorious problem with traditional freewheels, as documented by Sheldon Brown. You need to clamp the tool into the wheel with the axle nuts, then clamp the tool into a vise and turn the wheel... I couldn't get the freewheel to budge, so I put the wheel back in the bike. I didn't notice the notch or realize its significance, but it must have been in the right orientation because the bike worked fine afterward. Joe explained later that the axle is held into the hub by friction of a cone washer, and doesn't move easily even when the nuts are off.

However, I certainly didn't tighten the axle nuts to 30 ft/lb. I probably tightened it using the Easy Racers triangle-shaped socket wrench, with about 4 inches of leverage. I have strong wrists so probably put, oh... 15 ft/lb? or so ... on the nuts.

Forty miles later, about, coming downhill on regen braking on a bumpy road, the axle rotated a little bit and there we are.

OK, all fixed. But this opens a up a whole new question: suppose I have to change a flat rear tire? The only tool I carry on the road is a little multitool that incorporates a crescent wrench.

Thirty ft/lb torque off that? I don't think so. Flat tires are very rare with modern bike tires but they do happen. Well, if one does, I can perhaps lie on my back on the road and give the wrench a shove with my foot.

Longer ride - and a failure!

Today I took the longest ride I've done in quite a while. Not so very long, just 32 miles, from Palo Alto out through Woodside to the Pulgas Water Temple and back.

Returning via Mountain Home Road (a pretty, woodsy road that passes some veddy veddy exclusive estates), I engaged the regen brake to slow from 20mph for a stop sign. Just before the bike stopped there was a second of a heavy vibration out of the rear wheel, a jackhammer-y kind of buzz, as if something was clutching and un-clutching rapidly.

And when I started pedalling again—there was no assist. This was more than a bit disappointing as I still had one long and three short hills to climb.

Experimenting I found that if I selected level 4, I could get a bit of assist, but it surged, coming on and off at about 2-second intervals. Better than nothing, but not right. At level 3 there might be a trace of assist; nothing detectable at 1 or 2.

I stopped and checked that all the wires were OK and wiggled all the connectors. Nothing helped. All other functions worked, including the manual throttle (which I employed to get a quick boost over a couple of steep spots). If I had to guess I'd say something in the motor no longer senses rider torque output properly.

Once home I called Velolectric and arranged to bring the bike up to them on Monday. So we'll see.

More early experience

As of today I've ridden with "Bram" the 15-mile loop to the gym four times, and done the 20-mile "Loop" ride twice.

The Loop is a popular ride around here. It has several variations, but basically it is the big sloppy triangle formed by Alpine Road, Portola Road, and Sand Hill Road. I have to ride a few miles to reach a corner of the triangle. And I come home via Stanford Shopping Center to have coffee & a roll at a pleasant cafe whose name I forgetLa Baguette.

Friday's loop ride felt really good. As before, I used assist level 1 most of the time, going to level 3 to climb the three significant hills on this route. Assist or not, I'm already getting stronger as a result of the riding. (Of course, all that will go away again when we spend 2 months in Germany next fall...)

At the start of the ride, the BionX console reported 3/8 charge in the battery. When I left the shopping center for the four-mile ride home, it still had 2/8 showing. I used juice as profligately as I could, level 3 all the way (out-dragging cars at intersections) and even using the manual throttle to golf-cart along the last half-mile, and I still couldn't get it down to the last segment.

But I put it on the charger and topped it up anyway. So today, Monday, starts a new battery-load of juice. About 5 miles into the 15-mile ride to the gym and back, the indicator had dropped to 7/8. But after shutting down at the gym and starting up again to come home, it was back to 8/8, and remained there all the way home. So I don't know.

Early days with Bram the Stoker

I've ridden about 60 miles with my new, electric stoker on behind. Since it's a bit inhuman, and brought to life by electricity, it seems appropriate to name it Bram Stoker.

So, how is Bram as a riding partner?

Weight

Well, for a start, Bram's heavy. The restored bike, before installation, felt "light and tight" to ride. The BionX battery pack weighs about 8.4 pounds (about 3.8Kg); the rear wheel with its hub motor, heavier spokes, and assorted wires adds perhaps another 5 pounds (2Kg). Not a huge amount of weight, but it is enough to make the bike feel hefty and a bit top-heavy when I wheel it out of the house.

Assist Levels

With no assist on, the bike accelerates slowly and would be hard to take up a hill. Or so I assume, since I've not tried climbing any hills with zero assist.

With assist level 1 on, the bike accelerates and climbs approximately like it did before the conversion.

According to the BionX manual, level 1 adds 35% to the rider's own torque output. While I have not yet begun to test this in any rigorous way, I would say it just about compensates for the weight of the motor. Certainly this level does not do anything to keep you from getting a good workout. The thing is, Bram doesn't voluntarily move the bike (unless you operate the manual throttle, described later). You have to apply torque to the pedals before the motor will begin to add its 35% to that torque. In order to feel it, or to get any visible indication on the console ammeter, you have to apply enough torque that would accelerate the bike in any case. Which means, you end up sweating.

There's a tiny bit of lag, maybe a quarter-second, in the motor's response, both starting and stopping. In other words, you apply pressure to the pedals and the motor kicks in a perceptible instant later. Then, when you back off, there's a tiny moment when the motor's pushing and you aren't. It isn't a problem; just noticeable.

Level 2 (the manual says) adds 75% to your efforts. I find myself dialing in level 2 when climbing a steeper hill when I'm fresh, or the other day, coming home from the gym because I felt tired, dammit, and wanted to. Again, you have to put some torque on the pedals, and then Bram adds a very noticeable boost.

I have only commanded level 3 a few times. Last friday I took a route that climbs a couple of significant hills (Sand Hill road east from Portola valley). This, I discovered, is where the 150% boost of level 3 really comes in useful, if you're not in the greatest of cycling shape. I started up the grade and punched for assist 3, and shortly I was yelling "Woot! Wow! This is the way to climb a hill!" I was still working hard, mind you, but the bike just buzzed up the hill. Climbing hills is fun?!? Good work, Bram!

Level 4 is supposed to add 300% to your own efforts. I haven't tried it except once, briefly. I have a hard time imagining when it would be useful.

Throttle Control

The manual throttle is a thumb-lever sticking out of the bottom of the BionX console. Press it when the bike is rolling, and Bram starts pedalling on his own. I've only done it a couple of times. It feels very sinful. I'm strongly opposed to the idea of the bike as an electric motorcycle. This isn't why I'm on the bike.

Range

I'd like to post here how many miles the system will go on a charge. I can't yet. I charged the battery once, when I brought it home. Now, after 60 miles, the battery gauge on the console is still reporting 3/8 charge. Tomorrow I hope to take it down close to the bottom.

Too Low the Gearz!

As I noted earlier, when I replaced the old 52-42-26 chainrings I ordered smaller ones: 48-38-24. That was when I supposed the new rear wheel would use my existing 11-30 cassette.

Well, come to find out, the BionX hub only supports the old-fashioned thread-on freewheel, and not the modern (since, like, 1980) freehub and cassette. This is a major shortcoming in an otherwise well-engineered system. I cannot fathom why they would not have designed the motor/hub as a freehub accepting a cassette.

There is a very limited choice of 8-speed freewheels; in fact, the authoritative Sheldon Brown site advises against even using them. Certainly there are none that have an 11-tooth high gear.

In fact, Joe stocked only a 14-32 freewheel, and that's what was installed. This reduced the top gear an additional 20% for a total reduction of something like a third in the available top speed.

The result is that now I'm spending all my time in the big ring, and I cannot pedal faster than about 27mph—on a downhill where before I could pedal to 35.

The 24-tooth inner ring is just useless, I haven't even tried it. The middle ring is good from about 8 to 20mph, and with the electric assist, I can't imagine a hill that would need the granny.

So far as I can see the only cure is to buy three new chainrings, at least the old 52-42-26 sizes, and perhaps larger. Which will be a bit of an expense. Sigh.

Update: A correspondent at the Easy Racers forum pointed me to comcycleusa.com where they do stock 8-speed freewheels with 11-32 gearing. I ordered one instantly and will post when it arrives.

First impressions

Speed Cut-off

One of the first things I noticed on the ride home was that the motor cut off the assist at 15mph. Below 15mph, when I pedalled, the motor would help. The help was noticeable to my legs, and visible as a current drain on the console. But at 15mph, it cut off.

Reading the manual, it turns out this is a feature; but the speed limit for models sold in the US and Canada should be 19mph. The European models are supposed to cut off at 15 (goodness knows why). I've emailed Joe, and he has replied that this could be changed easily on the bike, and I will make the change as soon as he tells me how.

Assist Levels

When any assist level is selected, the motor cuts in and starts helping as soon as the wheel begins turning. Assist level 1 is just perceptible. Level 2 is quite definitely noticeable, and makes my takeoff from a red light competitive with the average car. Provided I can click-in the SPD cleat on the free foot on the first pedal revolution, I can really zip across an intersection at level 2.

Level 3 gets spooky, and level 4 is just ridiculous—I'm past the 15mph cutoff before I can really appreciate it.

When climbing a hill, each level is worth about one gear. That is, I can climb the hill in the next higher gear, with the same perceived effort, if I engage the next higher assist. Well, I haven't tried climbing a hill with level 4 yet. Maybe it's worth two gears (for a total of 5).

I've only ridden this system on some pretty short and gentle hills: the climb on Foothill expressway from Page Mill up to El Monte, and a couple of freeway overpasses. Tomorrow I think I'll take it up something more demanding.

Generate Levels

I was initially skeptical of the BionX feature of regenerating on braking, but in fact it works quite well. There is a magnet on the rear-brake lever, and a sensor wire from the console sticky-taped near it. When you operate the brake, the console senses it instantly, and does two things: stops assisting (if it was assisting), and starts regenerating at the maximum level. This retards the bike quite noticeably, about like a light brake application, but without the pads hitting the rim.

You can also select regenerative levels 1 (slight) to 4 with the console. You would only do this if you were looking at a long downhill run, or if you wanted resistance training. What a concept: you can make pedalling harder, electronically. Biking not enough of a workout? Turn on a virtual head-wind!

Regeneration is allowed at any speed, it isn't subject to the cutoff speed that applies to assist. Some postings on V Is For Voltage (an active electric-vehicle forum site) suggest that the system will force regeneration above some maximum speed. I haven't had it over 24mph yet, so don't know if that's true.

Range

I can't say much about range yet. One 8-mile level ride with assist-1 on made no dent in the battery-level indicator. A 15-mile ride with a few easy hills and assist-1 or -2 on, dropped the indicator one segment of 8. So it looks good so far; a metric century with assist on should be feasible.

BionX arrives

Tuesday Marian drove me to the Velolectric shop to pick up the completed conversion. Joe Robinson showed me the details.

Then I took a ride around the parking lot.

Everything seemed to work so I rode the bike the 8 miles home, down Middlefield road.

At home I had  closer look. As I expected, the rear rack mount makes a very tidy installation.

The lock visible at the leading edge of the battery holds it in. When the lock is operated by the key, it pops out and then the battery can be slid out of the frame.

You can take it inside for charging, or for security. Or I suppose, you could swap it out for another, charged battery, if you were on an endurance run of some kind.

The back of the battery has a large reflector and one tiny red LED taillight.

This is pretty useless. It doesn't have a blink mode, for instance. BionX could easily have incorporated a 3-LED or 5-LED blinking light in this case at nominal cost. As it is, I am going to have to find a way to reinstall the nice blinker that I bought, below or beside the battery.

The BionX console is readable and informative. (click this or any other picture to enlarge) The arc-shaped pattern in the center is basically an ammeter: lines appear from the right to show current going into the motor when it is assisting, and lines appear from the left to show current being generated by the motor when it is braking.

The big digit 0 on the right is the assist or generate level. Pressing "+A" raises the assist level from 1 to 4; "+G" lowers it. Lowering past zero commands generate levels 1 to 4. I'll talk more about these levels in the next post.

On the left is a speed readout; the motor knows just what speed it's going. The smaller readout below can be set to max speed, time of day, average speed.

Next entry: first impressions of the ride.

Restoration costs

The restoration's done. I'd saved all the receipts, so here's the cost breakdown. Costs shown are inclusive of shipping and tax, rounded to the dollar.

Item	Price
Strip and polish	300
Chain rings and rear cluster	255
ZZipper fairing	235
SPD pedals	54
Kickstand	47
Grip shifts	45
Chain	45
Tektro brakes	32
Frame bag	24
Blinky light	17
Total	$1054

There were a few other items, tools and lubes and polishes; and the new shoes ($85 on sale); but the above are the items that actually went onto the bike.

The upcoming electrification will add another $2000.

Final touches

Here we are: finished. Click to biggify the better to appreciate.

Rear Rack

Yesterday, before riding to the gym, I realized that I couldn't go into the gym with cleated shoes. Which meant, I had to carry my regular gym shoes. Which meant, I had to have a pannier. Which meant, I had to mount the rear rack. I've not wanted to do that, because the rear rack lacks the shininess of the other parts. It has some kind of anodized or powder-coated gray finish and so many fiddly bits it would be impractical to try to strip and polish. But, I can't find anything nicer online. So I put it on. It provided a place to hang the panniers and mount a blinky light.

One option for the BionX motor is to mount the battery within a modified rear rack, so that rack might replace this one. We'll see.

Cleaning out the shop

This morning I spent a couple of hours cleaning out the shop area where I'd worked on the bike. The "shop" is an enclosed piece of the garage with a deeply cracked cement floor, usually a sort of ground-level attic. Before starting this project I cleaned and organized it and set it up as a bike garage. Now the job's done, I cleaned it out yet again.

Fairing

As mentioned below, the fairing I ordered from Zzip Designs was too large. This afternoon I drove over the hill to Bonny Doon, up a rutted quarter-mile driveway through a forest, to where Carl has run a one-man business making bicycle fairings and windscreens for 25 years or so. He told me a lot about how you go about bending and stretching Lexan to make an optically-clear elegant bubble windshield. He has to cook the plastic for a day in a heat cabinet to drive the moisture out of it to get it to stretch without voids.

He had what he referred as a Sport fairing, one of a run he had made for Connie McAyeal and her friends up in Portland, a group of female recumbenteers who called themselves the Golden Girls. It's the Sport fairing because, Fast Freddy Markham told him, "nobody would buy something called the Golden Girls fairing."

That's the end of Phase One of this project. Phase Two, installation of an electric stoker, will begin next week when I take the bike up to Joe at Velolectric to arrange for that installation. I'll post one more update then to say what details we settle on.

Almost immediately after we head out for a 3-week holiday in the RV (one of those condition-killing off-bike vacations). When we get back, we start Phase Three ("in which Doris gets her oats," John Lennon). No, in which we try out the 'letric stoker at different assist levels and on different kinds of terrain and stuff.

First real ride

Over the past four months, Monday meant going out for a 5K run. Over that time these mon/wed/fri morning runs (either on a treadmill at the gym or on the street) began as alternating 50% walk, 50% jog for less than two miles, to steady jogging for the full 5K with only a couple of brief pauses for rest. It was yet another experience of the body's amazing ability to adapt and condition itself.

Anyway, today the bike is roadworthy again, so Monday meant doing what I used to do most mon/wed/fri mornings: ride a 15-mile route to Gold's Gym on Shoreline in Mountain View. The outbound leg is almost exactly 11 miles (ok, 10.97 according to the Cateye) with a few small hills.

I mean to use that 11-mile leg as a benchmark for the difference between muscle-only and the different levels of electric assist.

In 2008, per my log book, I was riding this leg at an average speed of about 14.75 mph. Here are some typical numbers from May of 2008: 14.4, 14.5, 14.7, 14.9, 15.2, 14.7, 14.9, 15.6, 14.2.

Today? 12.3. That may not be as much slower as it looks, because today, unlike other times, I was taking pains to keep my heart rate between 130 and 140 bpm. By regulating the effort level in this way I hope to get some consistent comparison numbers.

If the same level of effort (gauged by heart rate) produces higher speed over the same route, the difference is either due to better conditioning (greater cardiovascular and muscular efficiency) or to the electric assist. Alternating between assist and no-assist days should allow me to subtract out the effect of conditioning.

But that will be later, when the BionX system has been installed. This week I just want to set a baseline and get my legs used to pedalling again.

First test ride

While Marian stitched up the rip in the seat cover, I worked on finishing details: computer, bottle cages, getting the brakes and shifters into the right position, and the fairing. Here's progress.

Here's the cockpit. In a change from my previous practice I put the computer at the bottom of the handlebar instead of the upper crossbar.

The left dial is the computer, the right is a watch that reads out heart rate and altitude. I wasn't sure if it would pick up the heart belt from this distance, but it did. The cadence sensor wire for the Cateye computer is too short to reach down to the pedals, but I used the same trick that I published in the ERRC magazine last year: putting the cadence magnet on the small chainring.

That lets me put the cadence sensor on the main downtube, just a short distance from the computer.

One big disappointment: the new fairing from ZZipper is the wrong size, at least 6 inches too long. It would fit more like a spinnaker than a mainsail.

Marian handed over the repaired seat cover, I put it on, adjusted the cleats on the new shoes, and was ready for a test ride.

Not a very challenging ride, but then I'm in pathetic condition. Three miles, up to Fry's and back. Everything worked pretty well. The seat back slipped a little and needs to be straightened and the stays cinched down hard. The SPD pedals are too tight, they need to be loosened a bunch to make entry and exit smooth. But that's all. In general, the bike feels light'n'tight.

Mentioned below, the chain rings are all three about 10% smaller than before, and this change is very noticeable. I'll be spending a lot more time in the big ring than before.

Oh! and the double kickstand that Easy Racers sells: great! I wish I'd gotten one years ago. It is so nice to have the bike sit solidly upright, with the rear wheel (or the front if you want) clear of the ground. You can sit on it, or work on it, or walk away from it without worrying whether a gust of wind will knock it over. If you have a recumbent with a single kickstand, get the double. Note that as sold, the legs are too long. But they have centimeter marks molded in. I cut off four centimeters with an old hacksaw, and the back wheel still sits a couple inches clear of the ground.

Assembling

I spent most of Saturday afternoon assembling the cranks, front and rear derailleurs, chain and idler. Everything fell into place pretty well.

One disappointment was one of the new grip-shifts. The front one was extremely stiff, so stiff I wrenched off the rubber grip trying to turn it, yet it could not pull the derailleur against its spring. I transferred the cable from it to the old one, which works well enough, although it is worn-looking.

The cobra seat cover has, I discovered, a three-inch tear. The fabric was abraded when I crashed the bike last summer, and now has opened up. My wife thinks she can repair it.

Besides the seat, there's a list of fiddly little things to do: bottle cages, computer, fairing. The rear rack, although I'm not sure I will put it on, at least just yet.

Woot! Shiiiiiiny!

I got the call from Easy Racers that the frame was ready about 11am. By 1pm I was in Watsonville to get it. Easy Racers' owner Denton Coetzee proudly got the frame down from the rack. Sorry I didn't get a better picture of him.

I was amazed at how mirror-bright the finish was. Denton said that aluminum tubing can sometimes be porous and would not come up this shiny. However, he said, Easy Racers has always paid a premium for Alcoa tubing, avoiding porosity problems.

Two mechanics quickly installed the head-tube bearing cups. This is a simple job provided you have the proper press tool. I don't, so I was glad to have them do the 2-minute job. They also installed the bottom bracket.

Then I happily headed home and as soon as I got there, put the frame down on the lawn for a quick picture.

Be sure to click through and see this at larger size. The old frame had only a small decal on the head tube. Denton and crew had installed the current bronze badge!

First thing I did was put the frame on the stand and apply a coat of wax. This let me get close to admire details such as the welds.

After that, I installed the front and rear brakes. The shiny Tektro brakes do indeed look very appropriate on the shiny frame.

When I had installed the front brakes and front fender, and the rear brake, I put the new two-legged kickstand on and set the bike outside for another picture.

I think I may make this picture of the rear triangle my new face on facebook....

Tomorrow, the drive train.

Drumming fingers impatiently...

Buck @ easyracers writes, in response to my query,

We are currently polishing your frame. It should be completed within a day or two. We'll be in touch soon.

Found myself obsessing about the frame in the middle of the night. I don't have the requisite press tool to install the headset bearing cups; I have to take them along and get Easy Racers to press them in. So in the night I'm imagining that I'd gone down to fetch it and forgotten to take the headset bearing cups. Should I turn around and go back to fetch them? Or let it go and then take the frame and the cups up to Mike's Bikes and say, "please would you install these?" like a doofus.

OK, first thing today, after a morning run, I got the cups and the bottom bracket, put them in a baggie and put them in the car. Now I can't forget them.

I am pathetic.

New Shoes

Saturday morning, bopped on over to Mike's Bikes where they were having a 20%-off sale, yay!

On the sale table was this tiny tire pump.

I carried a frame pump about twice this size on the bike for years, and used it maybe once. I carried the frame pump on the left-side rear wheel stay, strapped on with velcro straps.

This little guy came with a plastic bracket that would bolt on under a water bottle bracket, but I think I will carry it in the frame bag. Or I might velcro it to one of the seat stays, or underneath the rack. We'll see.

Now, if the frame was here, I could put it all together!

Salsa Skewers shiny 'nuff

The pair of Salsa skewers arrived. Here they are compared to the old Shimano Ultegra ones.

The new ones are a bit heavier, but the end-nut is shiny metal, not chewed-up plastic.

To my relief, they fit just fine. Here's the front skewer installed on the front fork.

I can't try the rear skewer the same way because the rear fork is still at the factory being polished. Nothing more to do now, until that is done.

Pedals: Shiiiiny.

The new pedals arrived. These I ordered from Amazon.

They are a few grams lighter than the old ones shown below. That is hardly an important consideration when I intend to add about 8 kilograms of electric propulsion later.

However, they are shiiiiiny and that's what counts.

Looking at the new pedals made me realize that my cycling shoes have actually more miles than the 17,300 on this bike. They date to the bike-before-last, the Rock Lobster upright. I think I will need to get new shoes as well.

Wheels & Tires

The existing tires had only a few hundred miles on them, but I ordered replacements anyway. The new small front tire resisted going on the rim and to my chagrin, I pinched the tube and made it leak. Arghhhh! how clutzy.

I had a spare tube, but when I looked at it I saw it had a big patch on it. OK for a spare, but I'd rather have an unpatched tube for regular service.

Parenthetically: it has been years and thousands of miles since I had a flat. Bike tires have gotten steadily better the past decade. These new ones have a "Raceguard puncture protection belt" under the tread and I expect they will be at least as puncture-free as the previous ones.

So I went to three, count em, three local bike shops looking for new 20x1-1⁄8 tubes. Nnunh-unh, of course. So I had to order them also from BikeTiresDirect, excellent purveyors of recumbent tires and tubes, and wait for shipment but finally they came.

Meanwhile I polished the front wheel and the spokes of both wheels just for shiiiiny. The rear wheel has a gray anodized finish that doesn't polish, although cleaned up nicely.

The new front tubes (I ordered three, just to have a lifetime supply) came with cute li'l yellow valve stem caps. I put those on both wheels for a tiny little color accent.

Skewered by ignorance

I would like to replace the front and rear skewers. They have gray nylon(?)-covered nuts that are irremediably dirty and scarred. None of the local bike shops have the pretty Salsa skewers. OK, I'll order them online... But it turns out that skewers come in different lengths. Which length to order?

Clearly these are 130mm and 160mm long, right? But nobody seemed to have skewers in those lengths. Much more common are 100mm, 110mm, and 145mm. Some tandems have 160mm skewers, apparently, but nobody stocks them.

Well, it turns out I was ignorant about yet another subtlety of bicycle tech. Skewers are measured, not by the length of the skewer but by the O.L.D. or over-locknut-dimension. In other words, the width of the hub axle.

Pushing the skewers into the wheel and checking, the hub axles are exactly the lengths of the un-threaded parts of the skewers in the above picture. Or, 145mm and 110mm.

Doh!

OK, now I can order pretty skewers.

Parts start arriving

I've been ordering parts from a variety of retailers and they've been trickling in.

Chainrings

A box arrived from Peter White Cycles containing the new chainrings and rear cluster.

The chainrings are by Specialites T.A., a French company. They are of high quality, but sadly the company's prettiest products are not imported. I would have loved to order their red-anodized rings!

I've opted for a slightly easier set of gears. The old front rings were 52-42-26. This set is 48-38-24, roughly a 10% reduction in top speed, which is to say, in effort to maintain a given speed.

Rear Cluster

Here's the rear cluster, a standard Shimano 8-speed. It has cogs from 11 to 30, just as before.

The rear wheel will be completely rebuilt to install the electric motor. The motor replaces the hub; it's about 8-inches in diameter so the spokes become half the current length. However, I've verified that this cluster will fit on the new hub.

Brakes

After some debate with myself, I decided to replace the brakes. Even though they are perfectly functional (as I mentioned earlier), they just aren't shiiiny enough to match the polished frame. It took a while but I found that I could get compatible replacements made by Tektro. No standard online retailers carried the long-reach model that I needed, but I found them with an eBay retailer. Shiny they definitely are:

This model has a unique quick-release that is supposed to open wider than normal. That should solve a problem I've always had with this bike: that the rear brake, when the cable is properly adjusted, just won't open wide enough to let the tire out, without yanking to remove or shoving it hard to force it in.