Stuff I Like

BBB BHP-20 and 21 Steerer Tube Extender

BHP -21 for 1 1/8" steerer tube and 28.6mm stems

Made in Taiwan and marketed by those wonderful Netherlandish folks at BBB.
It's one way of lengthening a threadless steerer tube that's too short.
Here's another way, not by BBB in this case but they do make something similar.

Another sort of steerer extender.

This type of extender works fine but the clamp bolts are highly visible and very ugly. Clamping the separate stem as high as possible on the extension may be too high. Clamping lower leaves some of the extension showing above the stem, waiting to get you in the groin when you crash.
The BBB BHP-20/21 does not use an external clamp. It fits down inside the steerer tube and is fixed in place by a sliding wedge system just like an old fashioned quill stem. It's an especially good solution for a threadless steerer but it can also be used with a threaded steerer, 

When using this extender with a threadless steerer you will continue to set the preload on the Ahead type headset bearings by selecting a stack of headset spacers below the stem and adjusting the top cap. Using the standard preloading process is one of the  great conveniences of this product.
 
With a threaded steerer, the preload is set as usual by the headset's threaded top bearing cup and locknut. The extender acts only as a quill with a maximum height of 75mm. You have a choice of separate stems with various rise and reach but the quill height is fixed during the fitting process. There are quill type extenders from other makers which allow more height than 75mm and can be raised or lowered at any time. Many users of threaded forks will still prefer the classic look of a one piece quill stem.

How it is made.

 Here are its components. It's claimed to be all 6061 aluminium alloy except for the long stainless steel wedge clamp bolt and the shorter top cap screw. The main body of the quill has a 10mm wall thickness which makes it acceptably strong and rigid. The 75mm stack of shiny rings adapt the quill to the stem clamp diameter. They range in depth from 20mm to 5mm. You decide how much longer you want your steerer tube to be and slide off rings as necessary to suit. The less length you need, the more the quill sinks into your steerer tube. I guess that the minimum insertion depth is at the bottom of the 75mm ring stack. Fewer rings equals greater insertion which can only be good for strength and rigidity. The rings are split to accommodate compression by the stem clamp and keyed on the inside to match a groove in the back of the quill.

Arranging the split and keyed rings for a 45mm extension

You will need to remove the star nut in your steerer tube before fitting this extender. A sharp 9mm bit in a portable drill will destroy the swaged connection between the top star shaped spring and the threaded nut core. Both top and bottom spring will then usually tilt in the tube and be easily removed with pointy pliers. You can try driving the star nut all the way through with a long drift but that gets very hard if your steerer tube is thicker walled down at the fork crown. Star nuts are cheap and you really should have a spare on hand just in case you want to change things back in the future.

This extender must not be used with carbon fiber steerer tubes. If you have an alloy steerer tube, check first to be sure the quill will fit. Sometimes alloy steerers have thick walls and a small ID.
I'm sure I would not use this or any other steerer extension on any sort of bicycle used for hard off-road work. However, I think it would be fine for on-road use.
The BBB extenders definitely work with steel 1 1/8" steerers of 25.4mm ID and steel inch steerers of 22.2mm ID. But not with old French steerers of 22mm ID.

Tightening the wedge bolt. Original spacers still in place on the steerer. Cane Creek 40 headset and Problem Solvers locking headset spacer for convenience.

Use plenty of grease when assembling, particularly on the sliding wedge surfaces and the screw threads. A 6mm allen key tightens the wedge clamp bolt. The manufacturer quotes no torque figure for the clamp bolt. Use your imagination, bearing in mind that the sliding wedge is made of aluminium with aluminum threads. The threaded hole for the top cap screw is inside the bottom of the 6mm hex.

Looks neat. Nothing visible to suggest the presence of the extension.

 It remains only to add headset spacers until the top of the stem clamp is 3mm or so above the top of the new extension. Then tighten the top cap screw with a 5mm allen key as you'd usually do to preload the headset bearings. Torque the stem clamp screws to manufacturers specs.

Summary:
BHP-20 is labelled 22.2/25.4. It fits inside an inch steerer tube of 22.2mm ID and needs a stem with a 25.4mm steerer clamp (or a stem with a 28.6mm clamp and a 25.4mm shim adapter)

BHP-21 suits most modern bicycles and is labelled  25.4/28.6.  It fits inside a standard
1 1/8" steerer tube of 25.4mm ID and takes a stem with 28.6mm (or 1 1/8") clamp.

Weighs 250g.

Available at time of writing from Wiggle UK at the following prices.
USD 13.85 GBP 9.18 AUD 18.08

Bike Light Battery

Today I added a long page about making a Li-ion battery pack for bicycle lights.
See it here

My Stem Measuring Jig

I have quite a few bicycles for various purposes. Some were built up on new frames, others were resurrected from sad garbage tip relics which had frames attractive to me for one reason or another. All required me to choose a stem that would suit my preferred riding position. This usually means getting the handlebar a little higher and a little closer and maybe choosing a handlebar with a bit of rise built into it.
I have a collection of stems I can try of various lengths and angles. Some are even adjustable, and though they are unattractive mechanical monstrosities they can be useful for settling on a reach and an angle of rise which can possibly be duplicated in a new fixed stem.

Box of assorted stems

The problem is finding a stem in my junk box which might suit me and the frame. Just holding one up and eyeballing it beside an already fitted stem can be very misleading.
Finally I got around to making something I've been meaning to make for a long time. A measuring appliance I could use to catalogue every stem I have by reach and rise.

Base, backboard, steerer tube (left), pointer (right)

Here it is. A base and a backboard made from two pieces of wood glued together. A short piece of scrap 28.6mm steerer tube accurately glued vertically into the base. A piece of inch diameter steel with a pointer for fitting into the handlebar clamp. If steel is unavailable, a piece of broomstick the right diameter would do just as well. And finally, a piece of graph paper glued to the backboard and hand lettered. It has 1mm squares with 1cm squares in bold and it was printed out from a "print your own graph paper" website. I used glossy photo paper just to make it look pretty and easy to glue.

Measuring a stem

Measuring quite an extreme riser stem. I read the rise and the reach from where the pointer lands on the calibrated graph paper and add it to the shop notebook with a description of the stem.
I can remove and measure the stem that comes with any bike and look at the book to see what alternatives I have on hand.

Is this overkill? Not for me when it took less than an hour to make altogether.
Is it useful? Yes. No more guessing.
Will you like the look of my bike with a riser stem and funny handlebar? Maybe not, but you don't have to ride it.

Flexy hose for frame pump

Recent frame pump discussions on a bicycle newsgroup made me reflect once again on how much I dislike my several frame pumps where you push the built in chuck onto the valve stem, flip the lever and pump. Your left hand has to support the pump head to prevent breakage of a fragile Presta valve stem or pulling the chuck off the valve completely. That's why I like floor pumps with hoses, especially the Lezyne with screw-on chuck.
How much simpler life was in my dear, departed youth when juvenile bikes came with Woods valves and pump pegs on the frame to hold a chromed tin bike pump with a hose that stored inside the handle.
Well, those cheap pumps still exist, albeit in plastic with hoses to fit Schrader valves. I decided to get one of those hoses and figure out how to adapt it to a Topeak or HP frame pump.

 Here's what I found for $2 in the BSO department at the local X-mart, complete with ball inflation needles.

 Adapting it to the modern frame pump was easier than I thought. Here's the Schrader end with a supplied screw-in Presta (or Woods) adapter.

 

 Here's the Presta adapter moved onto the end of the hose that normally screws into the cheap  tin (or plastic) pump. The threads matched. A drop of blue Loctite ensures that it stays there and seals the threads. Two minutes work.

The result is a hose with one male and one female Schrader end seen here attached to a Topeak Master Blaster. A brass Presta-to-Schrader adapter (seen in jars on the counter of the LBS) makes it fit Presta equipped wheels too. If the Chinese manufacturers hadn't thoughtfully included the little adapter I'd have arranged a male Schrader end on the hose with a salvaged Schrader valve stem and a little epoxy glue.
A bit of test pumping reveals no noticeable added resistance from the small bore hose.
The hose will be carried in an under-saddle tool bag.

Stuff I Like

Cateye TL-LD1100
One of the better red blinky lights on the market. It has two rows of  LEDs. Each row has three in the middle and one at each end for a total of ten LEDs. There are two push buttons in one end, one button per row and each row can be independently set for flash, solid, "knightrider" sequential flash and random flash. It is one of a very few rear lights that run on two AA cells which have more mAH per dollar than AAA cells and are therefore cheaper in the long run. It's not perfect. You must click through each mode to get to the one you want or to get back to "off" again and it does not remember the last mode you were using at the next switch on. And the battery compartment cap on the opposite end to the buttons is held on by a short twist bayonet arrangement  which can allow the cap to jump off and be lost, rendering the lamp useless.

A genuine Cateye TL-LD1100

 Alas, Cateye no longer list the LD1100 though at the time of writing Chain Reaction Cycles and a few others still have stock at around AUD49.00 a go.
However, since my one and only LD1100 was lost some months ago, I have been using a lookalike I espied at the local store of Jaycar Electronics, an Australian firm whose international web portal can be found at www.jaycar.com
The Jaycar product code is ST3083.
The price is AUD 9.95, UKP 3.50, USD 6.25

An identical unbranded replica.

It does not have the belt clip that came with the Cateye, only the seatpost mount with a couple of rubbers to accommodate different diameters. Apart from that, I can't tell the difference between this lamp and the Cateye branded one. Is it possible that the Chinese firm who manufactured the LD1100 continued to make the lamp after Cateye head office in Osaka dropped it from the range? I always did feel that Cateye products had a price premium added for JHAM (japanese heritage and mystique).
I have no complaints about the quality. It's made of thick, and heavy plastic moldings, the o-ring battery cap seal keeps the rain out and my first one still works after five months.

Trickery with wire and Krazy Glue

 I have several of these lamps now and I recently decided to do something about the battery cap issue other than wrapping it with zip ties or a strip of duct tape. First of all, I used long-nose pliers, bench-vise and small hammer to bend up some little hooks out of 2mm galvanized wire. With the battery cap off, I could see exactly where a 2mm drill bit would go when I made some holes in top and bottom of the lamp housing. The idea is to stay away from the edge of the PCB. After scuffing up the plastic to make a key for a later blob of JB Weld, the hooks were easily pushed into the holes with a drop of cyanoacrylate glue.

 The completed job

The hooks were very firm on their own but as planned, I added a tiny blob of JB Weld to buttress  each one. When it was set, the grey epoxy and scuffed plastic were painted with a little matt black model enamel to make it look less like a kludge. A rubber o-ring crossed over the end cap between the hooks completed the job.

Another dump bike.

60cm Giant "Melbourne" Nexus 8

This is the Dutch City Bike style Giant that I obtained from the local garbage tip shop in February 2013. It dates from around 2003 or 2004 judging by the Shimano date codes and was complete though a bit scruffy. The Nexus gear hub changed gear but sounded dry and noisy. The Shimano front hub dynamo made the halogen Busch+Muller headlamp light up. Unfortunately, the frame was about three sizes too large for me. However, I wasn't going to let it go because I figured that the nice rack and the hub dynamo wheel alone were worth $40 to me even if the rear gear hub was beyond redemption. It was my intention to transfer as much as possible to a 56cm Surly Crosscheck frame that I happen to have.

The Nexus hub came apart and proved to be full of dried up grease and pitted bearing balls. A good scrub and a turn in an ultrasonic cleaner made the hub core spotless once more. The roller brakes, front and rear received the same cleaning treatment and were re-lubricated with Shimano roller brake grease.  The dud hub bearing balls were popped out of the original pressed steel retainers and new balls painstakingly inserted. You wouldn't do this for a headset or wheel bearing but some of the ball and retainer assemblies were several inches in diameter and obviously made just for this hub. A complete new wheel with Nexus for under $200 would be a lot less trouble than tracking down spare bearings. Some research on the internet produced a consensus among experienced hub strippers that you can dip the hub core in synthetic ATF instead of the specified Shimano $100 per litre dipping oil. And so the core was dipped and reassembled back into the shell.

Would it work? Yes it did. Much quieter, and it did change gear except that on the down-change it went from fifth gear to third, missing fourth on the way. However, this proved to be a faulty twist grip changer and a new one cured the fault. Time will tell how much life is left in this Nexus but it's looking good so far.

56cm Surly Crosscheck with Nexus 8

 The Surly Nexus turned out quite well. Even the original Nexus crank set looks good without the ugly plastic chain case. Unnecessary in a mild climate. It now has B+M dynamo LED lights front and rear. The original halogen front lamp was much too dim by modern standards. The nicely shaped AXA battery rear light still had the original Dutch AA cells in it and time and corrosion had ruined the stand-light and sensor electronics. Such a pity. One day I will make some new insides for it. I really don't think much of the brightness of the B+M IQ Fly headlamp or the annoying artifacts in what beam throw it has. All it has going for it is a good cut off at the top edge of the beam which is a product of the reflector design. But it is adequate for suburban use where some street lighting exists. Anywhere else needs the amazingly cheap Chinese Magicshine LED light with Li-Ion battery. However, the dynamo lights are always ready to go when the bike is and are suitable for a grocery getter.

B+M Toplight Plus dynamo lamp and original Dutch bike shop sticker.

The Shimano roller brakes work okay. They don't seem very powerful at first but the harder you squeeze the more effective they become. Their strengths, I think, are a compact profile and low maintenance.

Anyway,  I got my $40 worth of parts out of the Giant and had more than $40 worth of fun in building up a new bike.

Stuff I Like

Pedro's Vise Whip

Ever had your eyes bulge and the veins stand out on your forehead while you struggle with a recalcitrant cassette lock-ring? Me too! Ever gone looking for a plaster for your lacerated knuckles after the damn chain whip tilts and slips off the cassette? That happened to me once too often. I went shopping on the Interweb for Pedro's Vise Whip that was first introduced only about a year ago.

A picture saves a million words so here it is in my workshop.

http://www.pedros.com/visewhip.html
Leonard Zinn of technical writing and bike manual fame designed it and Pedro's made it. It works exactly like a good quality Vise Grip tool with double layer jaws that fit over the cog and engage the teeth with riveted pins.

















Pedro's say it is good for cogs 11-23t. In practice, I adjusted it for a 13 or 14t cog, tightened the knurled locknut and it is always ready to go. The jaws are too narrow for 1/8'' track cogs but as I don't have any I could care less. If you need a little more leverage a 25mm i.d. cheater pipe slips over the rounded handle with the adjuster knob. I use an old seat post.
It's a little pricey at the $53USD I paid for it at
 http://www.universalcycles.com/
but having used it I wouldn't be without it now.
And on a different note, here is Trichosurus vulpecula, the Common Australian Brushtail Possum. His name comes from Greek and Latin and means "furry tailed" and "little fox". When I was walking back to the house at night after photographing the Vise Whip, I spied this fellow from a distance preceding me through the open back door. When surprised he decided that the DVD shelf looked like the way out.

These omnivorous little marsupials are one of several Australian species named for a resemblance to their North American Opossum cousins. The Common Brushtail adapts well to life in suburbia. They are inquisitive and fearless and will colonise house ceiling spaces or outbuildings for daytime sleeping quarters. The territorial call of the male possum sounds like the death-rattle of a flesh-eating zombie and can be disconcerting for anyone unfamiliar with it.