Finally got my single speed bike back in service this morning, just in time to ride it to work in the rain. This is the time of year where you almost hope for showers to provide relief from the humidity. Indeed, the ran stopped about halfway through my ride, and I started sweating almost immediately. The bike rode pretty well. It’s got a new rear tire, and over the past couple of weeks I remounted the fenders, lubed everything up, and also adjusted the headset, which had somehow gotten too tight, to the point where it was binding.
We’ll see how these tires do. They are Bontrager “Hard Case” 700c x 28, and they replaced a previous model of the same tire, although the old tires were skinnier (700c x 23). The old tires were great, and lasted me over 2000 miles. They probably would have lasted longer, but the front had a large hole in it from a piece of glass I ran over (though I put a boot on the inside and it still held air), and the rear got trashed when I wrecked this past winter. These are wire bead tires, and the new ones were very hard to get on the rim. My “bead jack” tool got them on painlessly though, and I’m now carrying one around in my bag in case I get a flat on the road.
Still working on the best fender-mounting scheme for this bike. The frame and brakes leave plenty of clearance for fenders. The front is no problem, but the back lacks frame eyelets and a brake bridge. I used p-clamps, bolts, and nylon lock nuts to attach the struts. Lacking a brake bridge, I’ve tried a number of different strategies to attach the front of the fender. The current scheme features a short piece of 12 gauge solid copper electrical wire, wrapped tightly a couple of times around each chainstay. I then attached the fender with a zip tie, and it seems relatively secure. We’ll see how it stands up to riding. For the top of the fenders, on the front, I used a “Sheldon Fender Nut.” I couldn’t do the same thing on the back, because it put the mounting bracket too close to the tire. So instead, I just used zip ties to attach the bracket to the brake bridge. Zip ties do break periodically, but hopefully this setup will work OK otherwise. With any luck, I’ll be able to ride the bike regularly for awhile now, and will report back after I’ve put a few hundred miles on it.