New House Blog: Episode III - Of Safety And Surprises

Welcome to Episode III of our New House Blog.  Today we will be talking about some safety upgrades we made to the house, as well as two surpises we discovered only yesterday.

Safety Upgrades

The two safety upgrades we have done so far are 1) replacing the old smoke detectors; 2) installing the first of two planned carbon monoxide (hereafter referred to as CO) dectectors.

Smoke Detectors

The old smoke detectors were of the ionization type.  It was recommended that we get replace these with the newer photoelectric type, which we were planning to do.  However, when we were shopping for smoke detectors we saw that there is a third type that includes ionization and photoelectric detection in one smoke detector.  This was too good to pass up, so that's what we went with.  In total we replaced two old smoke detectors with three new smoke detectors.  We could show you them all, but they pretty much all look alike and you would quickly lose interest and claim that they were just three copies of the same photograph.

An Old Smoke Detector

A New Smoke Detector

CO Detectors

There were no old CO detectors in the house.  We bought one new one and we plan to migrate the one we are currently using in our apartment.

A New CO Detector

Surprises

The first surprise was, well, see for yourself.

Yes, folks, that is a recycling bin full of bricks and concrete.  We don't think this is what the city had in mind when it instituted its recycling program.  We may have a use for at least some of the bricks, but the concrete will have to go.

Surprise number two is something we would have noticed a long time ago had we looked on every side of the house during our visits, but it turns out that somehow we did not ever (this includes me, Becky, and our real-estate agent) look one one particular side of the house, between the house and fence, and we never discovered what you see below.

Yes, folks, that is a pile of miscellaneous debris (including a vehicle muffler and exhaust pipe) that you just know is hiding all kinds of insects and creepy-crawly things beneath it.  We'll surely be armed with some RAID when we start clearing this out.  Fun fun fun. :)

That's it for now, but stay tuned for another exciting Episode.

Same bat time, same bat
 bIsh

New House Blog: Episode II

In Episode II we start showing you the actual work we have completed.  We are starting off with the small jobs that we want to complete before the house is tented for termites (they're very popular in the Silicon Valley).  Here we go.

Door Knob/Deadbolt Replacement

We decided that it would be a good idea to replace the door locks.  Two reasons for this are that some of the old locks are/were finicky and required a certain amount of key-jiggling; and we don't know how many spare keys are floating around out there.

Here are some pictures.

The old front door lock.

From the inside.

The new front door locks.  Sadly we can't show you an inside picture because said picture did not turn out very well.

 Putting in the new locks was slightly troublesome, because whoever put in the previous locks didn't drill the holes quite large enough, so we had to do a little carving out and applying force to make some of it go in.  In the end, however, it all did go in and all of the locks work as advertised.

Here are some more pictures.

The second door's old locks, from the inside.  As you can see, they're painted to the door for added security.

Same door locks, from the outside.

The new locks, from the outside.  As you can see, they're a different finish from the front door locks.  This is intentional.  We liked both, so we got one set of each finish.

From the inside.

Join us again for our next exciting, action-packed Episode, in which we will see some more inside pictures and maybe even some more outside pictures.

Good locks make good

bIsh

New House Blog: Episode I

As the title suggests, this series will be talking about our new house and our progress toward making it move-in-able.  Technically it is habitable now, but there are several items we want to correct and fix and spruce up before we move in.

First things first - we bought a new house.  By "we" I mean Becky and Me.  By "bought" I mean that we now have a mortgage (for those interested we got a 4% fixed).  By "new house" I mean that the house was built in 1971, but it is a house we have not ever owned before.

Here are some pictures to keep you interested.

This is the front.

This is the back.

This is part of the huge back yard.

The house is 1710 square feet, 2 stories, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 1 garage, 1 kitchen, 1 fireplace, no basement.

In the episodes that follow this one we will be chronicling our journey from purchase to move-in readiness; our repairs and spruce-ups.  Pictures will be provided.

Home sweet

bIsh

It Is Alive

As of Sunday, September 11, 2011, the bike is complete and on the road.  This was the final build session for this bike.  The previous post left off with only one item incomplete, at least as far as basic rideability is concerned - the derailur cables.  After I installed both derailur cables I added a few stickers, the rack, bottle cages, and a small seat bag.

I had a lot of fun with this build, and I learned some new things.  I've been riding it these past two weeks, and I really like it.  On the road it's nimble and lively.  The front end is very quick to maneuver.  All shifting is spot-on, and braking is excellent.  There's a slight squeal from the front brakes during hard stops, but I think it's just because the pads are not properly toed-in (should be a quick adjustment when I take the time to do it).  I also discovered that I have the rear brake and front derailur cables routed incorrectly - I accidentally ran them through each other's mounting points.  Everything works, but I will probably correct this some time soon.  On to the build and the finished product.

The derailur cables:

 As with the brake cables, I decided to use Jagwire Hyper cables and housing.  These are, like the brake cables, coated cables with lined housing and nifty gold-colored cable end-caps.

This photo shows the rear derailur all cabled-up.

In this photo you can see the two deraulur and one brake cables.  As mentioned above, the rear brake and the front derailur cables are in the wrong mounting brackets.

Here you can see the cable routing at the front.  The Jagwire cables came with little rubber boots to stop the housing from rubbing on the frame and marring the paint.

The built bike:

Here it is, folks - the built bike.  The frame was advertised as an 18" frame, which I understood to mean 18" from the center of the bottom bracket to the center of the top tube.  When I measured it, however, it turned out to be only 15" from bottom bracket to top tube.  The advertised 18" measurement is from the bottom of the bottom bracket to the top of the seat collar.  It's okay, though.  I like its compactness.

The same bike with a few stickers.  The Ascent stickers came with the frame, and I assume that is the brand.  The Jagwire stickers came with the cables. (I use the plural "stickers" because there are two of each - one on either side of the frame.)

From the front, looking toward the back.

The final finished product:

The bottle cages are Blackburn Mountain Cages.  These are the strongest, beefiest cages I have ever encountered, and they're light. These two particular cages have been with me for at least 17 years, and they're still in great shape.  I don't remember exactly why I chose that color when I bought them.  Since these cages are still available new I may get a couple in a more subdued color - probably black.

The rack is a Blackburn Mountain Rack.  It has been with me for at least 20 years, and it is showing signs of its age.  Some paint has worn off, and it's not quite as straight as it once was.  It's a basic rack, and it has served me well.

The bungee cord was found on the side of the road.  I used to find all kinds of bungees in various colors and sizes on the side of the road.

The seat bag is by Speicalized.  It's just large enough for some tire patches, a wallet, a spare bungee, and maybe a phone.

The donor frame:

This is what's left of the poor donor bike.  Anyone need a frame for a project?

And that's the end of the build.  Or is it?  (Did someone say, "upgrades"?)

Happy Riding to you.

bIsh

It Goes And It Stops

Saturday, September 10, 2011, is the date of the second-to-last build session for my new old bike.  This session was concerned with braking.  I installed new brake pad inserts, adjusted the shoes for proper rim alignment, and installed both brake cables.  The front derailur cable that you might see in the pictures below (and in the previous post) is only temporarily connected, so I do not count it as being installed yet.

There seems to be no industry standard for brake post placement.  Every time I have had to replace a fork I have had to readjust the brake shoes for proper rim alignment.  The same is true when moving brakes from one frame to another, and when replacing wheels with new wheels of a different make.  I suppose, on the one hand, that it is not that big a deal these days, what with the proliferation of disk brakes, but there are still people out there using rim brakes, and at least one of us wants some kind of standard.  Enough said.  On to the building.

The brake shoes and cables:

 The brake shoes are Avid Rim Wrangler shoe inserts.  One thing I really like about V-type brakes is the option for shoes with replaceable pads.  Adjusting brakes shoes is not my favorite thing to do, and this design feature allows me to replace pads without having to adjust anything.

The cables are Jagwire Hyper brake cables.  These are coated cables with lined housing and nifty gold-colored cable end-caps. I was planning to transfer the cabling from my donor bike to the new bike, but there was trouble with housing lengths, cable lengths, and a severe shortage of cable/housing cutters.  Along with new brake cables I bought a new Park cable/housing cutter.




That's it for this build session.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with
bIsh

It Keeps Going

Labor day, Monday, September 5, 2011, was when build session #4 took place. As you can see, my updates are a few days behind the actual build sessions.

When we left off last time the bike was technically rideable - I rode a lap around the parking lot - and mostly adjusted to fit me.  It had the majority of its drivetrain, but no brakes.  During this build session I added the brakes, some cabling, and all of the handelbar accouterments.

While building, I was focused on installing parts and not on taking pictures, so all of the pictures you see were taken after I was done building for the day. Because of this the photos will not necessarily show chronological progression.

On to the build.

The brakes:

The brakes are Shimano XT V-Brakes.  I would have preferred to use Avid brakes, but these are the brakes that came off of my donor bike.  They are good brakes that have never given me any problems.  If I recall correctly, I got these brakes several years ago for free from one of my brothers.

The brake levers:

The brake levers are TekTro Quartz levers.  I don't know what that means, but they, like the brakes, were given to me free of charge by one of my brothers. They're nothing special, but they do their jobs and I can upgrade them later if I'm so inclined.

The shifters:

Yes, I know this isn't a good photo.  The shifters are Grip Shift 8-speed shifters. As mentioned in my previous post, I have been a big fan of Grip Shift since its first appearance on the scene, many years ago.

The grips:

The grips are ODI Lock-On grips - 90mm length - with a Yeti grip pattern.  The shorter length works really well with my Grip Shift shifters.  These grips go on easily, lock into place (via allen screw), and are a breeze to remove.  I like the Yeti grip pattern because it has that big fat Yeti pad right where my palms rest. It also has smaller Yetis around it that are good for gripping with my fingers.   At some point I will probably replace the red color with blue - to match the other blue accents on the bike.

The bar ends:

The bar ends are old-school Onza bar ends.  I know that bar ends are less common today, and some people say that running bar ends on a riser bar is out of fashion, but I love my full-size L-bend bar ends.  They give me multiple hand positions that come in handy at times.  I also know that it's uncommon to see taped bar ends, but I like to tape mine.  I like the padding and extra grip. Yes, the tape is kind of grungy - it's been on there for a while.

 Here you see the bar with all of the aforementioned accouterments.

This is the progress thus far.

Closer and closer to the final
bIsh

It Continues Some More

Build session #3 took place on Sunday, September 4, 2011.  I feel like I got a lot accomplished during this build session, and the bike really started to take shape.  I installed the following parts: fork, stem, handlebar, seatpost and saddle, both derailurs, wheels, crankset, pedals, and chain.

We left off last time with test fitting, marking, and cutting the steerer tube. This build session began with cutting the handlebar.

A few months back, as part of my previously-mentioned (in the previous post, that is) desire to introduce a more upright riding position, I purchased a riser handlebar to replace my flat bar.  I didn't pay enough attention when ordering and ended up with a bar that was 685mm wide.  This translates to about 27 inches (26.9688, to be a bit more precise), which is significantly wider than my flat bar.  I lived with it for a while, but didn't really like it, so I decided that this would be a good time to cut it down a bit on each end.  Conveniently for me, the bar was already factory-marked for cutting. I chose the furthest-in cutting marks and cut away.

Cutting metal pipes (steerer tube and handlebar in this case) is step one of a two part process.  Step two is filing and/or sanding down the cut end of the pipe to get rid of burs and any sharp edges.  The end result should be a smooth surface that is safe for handling.

On to the photos and comments.

The fork:

The fork, as mentioned in a previous post, is a Surly 1 1/8" unicrown fork with threadless steerer.  This is what it looked like after cutting and sanding.  I have included the small piece of pipe that was cut from it.

The Stem:

The stem is an Easton EA50 with 9 degrees of rise and a 31.5mm clamp.

The handlebar:

The handlebar is an Easton EA50 Monkeybar, with a 31.5mm clamp size.  This is what it looked like after cutting and sanding.  I have included the end pieces that were lopped off.

Here you see the handlebar installed.

The seatpost and saddle:

The seapost is a generic post, 32mm in diameter.  The saddle is a Specialized Body Geometry.  Nothing special, but they do their jobs.

The wheels:

The front wheel is a Mavic Crossride, with 24 flat spokes.  It is a standard 26" wheel, and it is still true after nearly 4 years of riding.

The rear wheel is a Mavic Crossland, also with 24 flat spokes.  Like the front wheel, it is still true after nearly four years of riding. Unlike the front wheel, however, it is not just a standard 26" wheel.  See this older post to for more details, and to read about my rear wheel/tire saga.

The bike is finally on its own two feet.

The crankset and pedals: 

The crankset is an FSA with 22, 32, and 44 tooth rings.  Crank arms are 175mm in length.  This crankset and the bottom bracket were sold as a packaged deal, which turned out to be quite convenient for me as it meant that I could be fairly certain that they would work well together.

The pedals are Performance brand metal platform pedals with toe clips.  I normally run feet belts, too.  Yes I am aware of modern clipless pedals, and I have tried some, but I have never felt the need or desire to buy them. 

The front and rear derailurs:

 The front derailur is a top-pull X-9 from SRAM (I'm still not sure how SRAM is pronounced).

The rear derailur is an X-7, also by SRAM.  The cassette in the picture is an 11-32 8-speed, branded by SRAM.  Do you see a pattern here? I have been a big fan of SRAM products ever since the very first generation of Grip Shift shifters.



The chain:

The chain is by SRAM.  I don't recall the model or number.  It is silverish.  I do not use the Power Link that comes standard with SRAM chains - I still break and unbreak chains with my trusty Park chain tool.

Progress thus far.

For this build session I brought Daisy out to the garage instead of Satchmo. She is generally calmer and less skittish (and quiter) than Satchmo, so I thought she might enjoy the experience more than he did.  She stayed in her carrier for a bit, then came out and explored a bit.  She spent most of her time either behind bike wheels in a corner or behind a stack of boxes.

Remember that it's right to tighten and left to

bIsh