T50. "T" is for "tinker"
- Thread starter Doug Burton
- Start date
benphyr
Guru-me-not
Really liking the red accents. Did you do that? It looks really sharp (and matches the mini in the background). and the seat cushion turned out great. I would never have guessed that it came out of your own personal sweat-shop rather than one on the other side of the world that pays more.... 
I hope you gave her a raise.
I hope you gave her a raise.
Gromit
Guru
Last edited:
Doug Burton
Zen MBB Master
Thanks, fellas.
That seat cover is a prototype; we learned some things in the making of it, and will make changes for my other seat pad, which is 3" thick with a half-inch minicell backing. It's a good thing she likes to help me, I couldn't afford to pay her! (Seriously, her quilts cost $350 - 650 in materials, not counting labor! It's not unusual for her to cut out 1000 pieces and sew them all together to get the patterns she wants.) She is an amazing quilt artist.
The red accents are a brazen ripoff of a scheme I saw on a Niner Di2 gravel bike. The fork is painted, and the seat stays are wrapped in a self-adhesive vinyl I found at Michaels, because the paint didn't want to stick to the powder coating on the RANS stays I used. The vinyl is very workable and sticks well, it matches the paint and goes on very smoothly. It also holds the Cruzbike decals very well.
I actually used the original steering setup, slightly modified, for a reason. This bike uses a lot of what I learned building conversion bikes a long time ago. For steering, I seem to get much better fine control when:
1. The tiller is zero, or very close.
2. The grips are horizontal, allowing me to use my wrist muscles laterally to provide fine steering inputs.
The bars are intentionally short in width to keep my hands in the wind shadow of my shoulders.
I have a complete Emeljay setup that I can bolt in place if I decide to go that way, with a combination of 105 and Ultegra parts to get 3x10. The current setup is 1x11, 11-50t Sunrace cassette, Wolf Tooth Roadlink, and 42t Cruzbike e-ring.
I used "Superteam" China carbon fiber disc brake wheels and bought some Gatorskins locally. The calipers are BB7s and seam to works really well with the Tektro short-pull levers.
Haven't weighed it yet.
Hopefully the weather will hold and I can get some shakedown miles in next week.
That seat cover is a prototype; we learned some things in the making of it, and will make changes for my other seat pad, which is 3" thick with a half-inch minicell backing. It's a good thing she likes to help me, I couldn't afford to pay her! (Seriously, her quilts cost $350 - 650 in materials, not counting labor! It's not unusual for her to cut out 1000 pieces and sew them all together to get the patterns she wants.) She is an amazing quilt artist.
The red accents are a brazen ripoff of a scheme I saw on a Niner Di2 gravel bike. The fork is painted, and the seat stays are wrapped in a self-adhesive vinyl I found at Michaels, because the paint didn't want to stick to the powder coating on the RANS stays I used. The vinyl is very workable and sticks well, it matches the paint and goes on very smoothly. It also holds the Cruzbike decals very well.
I actually used the original steering setup, slightly modified, for a reason. This bike uses a lot of what I learned building conversion bikes a long time ago. For steering, I seem to get much better fine control when:
1. The tiller is zero, or very close.
2. The grips are horizontal, allowing me to use my wrist muscles laterally to provide fine steering inputs.
The bars are intentionally short in width to keep my hands in the wind shadow of my shoulders.
I have a complete Emeljay setup that I can bolt in place if I decide to go that way, with a combination of 105 and Ultegra parts to get 3x10. The current setup is 1x11, 11-50t Sunrace cassette, Wolf Tooth Roadlink, and 42t Cruzbike e-ring.
I used "Superteam" China carbon fiber disc brake wheels and bought some Gatorskins locally. The calipers are BB7s and seam to works really well with the Tektro short-pull levers.
Haven't weighed it yet.
Hopefully the weather will hold and I can get some shakedown miles in next week.
That is looking fantastic!
