Champagne bar end single speed hack

I recovered some bars with some cloth tape and did not have any bar ends, I remember seeing on a forum somewhere someone using champagne corks. 

A couple of months ago I went to a party and picked up some corks (maybe not from champagne but from Asti) the problem with this is that people ask you questions about why you are doing this. I did try to explain what I needed them for, and their reply was why not buy some.

Here is the original cork, I then roughly cut some or the edge off to the size that I thought would fit in the hole. Probably best to measure but as I have 10 I thought i could at least get one right.

I then cut the excess of around the edges

Once this is done you can happily wedge it into the bar end, I had to give it a light persuasion with a hammer to get it in. 

Here it is finished 

I will definatly do this again. And I feel like I have upcycled 

Thanks for reading if you have any bar end bungs made from different objects please comment. 

Recovering seat/saddle cheaply single speed hack

I them I have a lot of saddles which have holes in the fabric so thought I would give covering ago.

I first took the old material and staples from the saddle, be careful as the staples are sharp.

I chose some fabric to do this, I this case I used an old polo t shirt, it was quite thick. And cut roughly around it.

I then used contact adhesive on the top of the saddle and the fabric, waited 10 mins and stick it down.

I then glues the sides and stuck this down

I cut the excess off after I applies some glue, be sure to stretch the fabric before sticking it down.

Repeat this for the front and back.

Once dry press firmly, now it should be perfectly covered

You can do this with any colour fabric.

Vintage bicycle signs and advertising

When on my travels I often fine signs relating to bicycles. I thought it might be an idea to show these in my blog.

These ones were found in The national museum of Scotland and looked reall cool.

I would love to have the Dunlop sign in my garage, for those that did not know Dunlop invented the first pneumatic tyre, in Scotland. I didn't realise how many things the scotish people have invented.

Single speed bike found on my travels

This week I have been in Edinburgh for the common Wealth games. Glasgow seems to have a lot of single speeders much more so then Essex.

This is a bike I found out side a restaurant, Unsure of make with dished wheels and looked to be well used which is always nice to see. I liked the sticker booming on the top tube and will think about doing this on on of my single speed. 

Today went for a little walk around Edinburgh and found this unsure what the frame is but a lovely track bike. Had halo wheels 105 shimano brake and sram omnium crank, on one bars and cinelli stem

You can always tell the good bikes from the cheap ones as 2 looks have been added to ensure no bugger can borrow it. 

I also found this nice 26" cruiser out side a cafe coaster brake and brooks saddle. Unsure of frame.

Went to Aberdeen today and found this in the maritime museum and found this

 A granby touring bicycle, has 3 speed sturmey. I have seen them before but the brake had one leaver which controlled both the front and the back. Lovely example and looked original. 

Very well equipped with and original adie bell.

Here is some information about it.

Brake block sanding filing single speed hack

Brake blocks are expensive and sometime perfectly good blocks Are discarded. If not fitted correctly can cause the blocks to be uneven

You can see these are quite uneven.

Using a file or a disc sander you can easily file them down to be good as new.

This is how they looked after a little sand.

Please try this as it really does help with braking.

Brake recessed m6 nut single speed hack

I have single speeded a lot of bicycle lately and have run out of front brakes, but have a few that require a special nut.

I did not have any of these nuts and looked on eBay and found that they cost £7 just for 1. This is very expensive as you could probably buy a whole brake for that. 

Instead I tried to make one using a bolt to drill and hole and to tape. But after a snapped drill bit and a realisation that bolts are hardened I looked for plan B 

I had installed a kitchen a few month back and realised I had bought some cabinet fasteners which included a recessed nut. 

I also has 2 different sizes either 15mm or 20mm 

And as it happens they are also m6 thread, And fit prefect lot. I have 50 of each and only cost £6 for a pack of 50.

The only problem I had was that I needed to drill the hole bigger to around 7.2mm for the bolt to fit in.

I did look on other forums to see the best size and if this was ok to do.

I took my time as I wanted to make sure it was straight. 

This is how it looks.

Here is another and is a perfect fit and works beautifully.

I'm surprised no one has done this before. If you would like to buy these bolts try screwfix for "m6 joint connector nuts"

Spraying aluminium or steel wheels single speed hack

I have a few wheels which needed painting as they did not fit with the colour of a bicycle I have. Also the chrome or aluminium never cleans as well as it should. So I decided to paint then.

First of all I cleaned the wheels with a little soap and water to get the grease off. I then wiped the down with a little degreaser or white spirit.

I then sanded then with p240.

I didn't worry about sanding them to much as the paint goes on quite thick.

I then hung the wheel in the shed on a nice sunny day. I started from one side and sprayed all the spokes and the hub. Then did the other side.

The paint I used was plastikote lacquer paint. This stuff is amazing and spats quite thick. With little effort the results are nice and smooth and consistent much better the cheaper paints. This paint cost around £12 which is twice as expensive as other sprays but is much better and can spray around 4 wheels.

This is the final result.

On this bicycle I sprayed the stem, seat post and the crank and still have enought left for the chain and another wheel.

 Have you had experience with good sprays. 

Cut handle bars bar wrap hack single speed hack

I have been looking in the internet at possible ways to wrap bars and there seems to be 2 schools of thought. 

First wrap bottom up, I believe the parks website shows this method but this means the top needs taping. 

Second top down but this means the tape is facing the wrong way.

I like to do it top down as it makes for cleaner bars as you do not need the tape at the top.

With cut bars it is quite difficult to install the brake but I have a solution that seems to fit quite well.

First I cut the bars and install the brake, I make sure the lever is in a comfortable position to pull the lever. 

I then install the cable as you would normally do. Ensuring all the blocks are in the right places and that it works as it should.

I always leave plenty of cable as I like to run this under the tape. With a little cable sticking out ensuring that it works.

I then start the wrap the bars after the first twist I then lay the cable behind the the tape.

Once it is installed you might have to loosen the cable slightly as when it is bent it takes up a little of the tension. 

Cutting drop bars down single speed hack

I like the look of cut bars and have tried to do this a number of times, this is how I did it. It is very simple and very quick. Once it is done there is no turning back so make sure that you have a spare set just invade it goes wrong. 

First remove all bar tape so that you can see the bars.

First make sure that the levers are both inline with each other so that when you cut you cut in the right place. 

Make sure you use a shape new hacksaw blade as it will take seconds and make a clean cut.

I then line the cut part off with the other side and cut.

Your bars should look like this and should be nice and equal. Use a file just to smooth the edges. 

I now turn them the other way round and fit a lever.

You can leave them the other way round but I only do this if I put the lever in the centre of the bars or on a fixie.

Non single speed bicycles I have fixed

I do like to single speed most of the bikes but sometimes I think it is right to leave the bicycle as it was. 

Especially if the bike is original and complete.

Here are some of the bikes I have left in original state.

Raleigh élan 591 tubing with biopace 390ex group set. As it was complete I didn't have the heart to single speed it. 

This was a univega alpina 5.3 aluminium frame. I quite like riding this and had never heard of the brand before. I added the panniers as I was using it for work. 

One of my favourites, Kent mini bike. Ideal for riding indoors if you have the space.

Peugeot sitting bull, with rare stag group set. What was nice was that it was all original including the saddle and the specialized tyres, 

Old Handle bar tape fix single speed hack

Handle bar tape can be very expensive, and in some town hard to find. There is not a bike shop near where I live so I thought I might try to repair what I had. Please do not think I did this, I bought the frame and bars like it. 

This is the sorry state to tape looked in when I started.

First I unwrapped the tape very carefully. Make sure you do not pull at it as it will rip easily.

Once it was removed I checked all the cables to ensure all work working as the should

I then started to wrap the longer pieces around the top of the bars thinking this is were I mostly hold it.

When I had finished the section and needed to join another piece I used double sides tape to hold it down. I used quite a lot to ensure it stuck.

I then carefully wrapped another piece around the tape overlapping slightly to ensure the end did not come free.

Here is the other side this was in very poor condition, with lots of insulation tape to hold it together.

And finished looks much better. 

This is the finished bars both sides used were around 3 pieces and it is very hard to see we're they joined.

This job took around 15mins. And is worth having ago.