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Built the Habanero



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 30th 07, 06:07 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
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Posts: 290
Default Built the Habanero

I don't have a whole lot of review to give yet since I've promised to
ride the bike gentle until the Head Mechanic gets back on Tuesday.

I trust the bike shop manager, second mechanic, and trainee not to be
blithering idiots. I've known the three of them for quite some time
and I also know enough about bikes to see that they didn't make any
glaring mistakes but a promise is a promise.

My first attempt at anodizing it failed because the 9-volt batteries
I'd bought were ****. The second attempt at anodizing it failed
because I wasn't willing to complete rewire my friend Jason's e-bike
battery pack to get the voltages I did want. The third attempt at
anodizing it was performed with an audience of literally dozens in a
motorcycle repair shop in a small town outside the Hainan Provincial
High Level Sports Training Academy. With clever use of coca cola,
tide washing powder, and sandpaper as well as two twelve volt
batteries, and some jumper cables, an irridescent purple mottled with
blue and bronze was achieved. Unfortunately, despite the cast of
many, I was the only person with a camera of any kind (my cameraphone)
and very few photos were taken.

I then got my old race bike (a second-hand mostly aluminum frame with
carbon seatstays and chainstays), slung the frame over my shoulder,
and biked to the bike shop.

Future plans to eventually get a shiny pretty Chris King headset in a
complimentary color and maybe hubs to make wheels to go with were
immediately thrown out when it was discovered that the somewhat
acceptable Cane Creek headset on the old frame was incompatible with
the new frame. Now that I have a very nice brand new FSA headset I'm
not especially likely to go around buying a new headset anytime soon.
And if I don't have a reason to have a King headset my blingbling
purty reason for getting matching King hubs goes away.

The mismatched components from being sold a race bike with a handful
of old training parts on it were mostly replaced. Per the
recommendations of rec.bicycles.tech I went with an Ultegra double.
Per the recommendations of the Merida China mechanic I spent a large
amount of the Tour of Qinghai Lake geeking with I chose 105 for the
brakes and front derailleur. The 105 rear derailleur and 105 ten-
speed cassette were chosen for the purely practical reasons of 'being
what was in the store at the time'. Although Ultegra brifters were on
sale the 105 brifters I already had were barely touched when I got the
bike and I decided to keep them...besides which when it comes to
brifters I like the handfeel of Dura-Ace better than Ultegra. I also
kept the original Shimano 550 wheels that came with the old bike.

I also got mixed carbon-aluminum handlebars that have the comfortable
flat top found on fancy carbon bars without the fancy price tag, and
an oversized carbon stem.

I still need a new saddle (on order), a carbon seat-post (on order), a
proper seatbolt (on order), and the frame decals.

I am not a proponent of custom geometry.

I think the whole idea of custom geometry is silly.

But Mark at Habanero Cycles was very insistent that I was not a
perfect fit for their smallest stock frame and equally insistent that
their very first customer in Mainland China ought to get something
perfect.

I thought this was entirely unneccesary overkill that meant the
purchase of The Bike took an extra six months. I wouldn't have done
it if he hadn't been so thoroughly insistent. I wouldn't have done it
if he hadn't given me such a deep special discount for being the first
customer in Mainland China.

I would not say that I have an especially short torso but at 5'6" I am
short enough to want 'small' in most bikes and because I'm female I'm
carrying weight on my chest that makes me want the bars up a little
higher.

I have, so far, ridden the bike somewhat less than 20km. Slowly.
Because I made a promise to the shop not to stress test it until after
the head mechanic got back.

But wow.

Even though this bike is supposed to be the race bike and even though
this bike is set-up so that it needs to have the funny shoes and
padded shorts ... I have a feeling this bike is going to get more use
than the other two bikes. A lot more use. Enough of a lot more use
that I may have to follow up on that guy in Shenzhen who does custom
steel bikes so that the very nice sport touring set up I have on the
other road bike can be used.

I won't go so far as to say it is the nicest bicycle I've ever
ridden. That remains the bicycle that a member of the Japanese
National Team let me try out at last year's Tour of Hainan.

But it fits. It fits so well that I'm actually thinking of turning
the stem down. My resting position has my hands perfectly on the
brake-hoods. Down on the drops is a bit strange feeling because my
hands are naturally right there in that bumpy ergonomic hook space and
I can't push them forward because they are already where they are
supposed to be.

-M

Ads
  #2  
Old September 30th 07, 01:57 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 62
Default Built the Habanero

On Sep 30, 3:07 pm, "
wrote:
I don't have a whole lot of review to give yet since I've promised to
ride the bike gentle until the Head Mechanic gets back on Tuesday.

I trust the bike shop manager, second mechanic, and trainee not to be
blithering idiots. I've known the three of them for quite some time
and I also know enough about bikes to see that they didn't make any
glaring mistakes but a promise is a promise.

My first attempt at anodizing it failed because the 9-volt batteries
I'd bought were ****. The second attempt at anodizing it failed
because I wasn't willing to complete rewire my friend Jason's e-bike
battery pack to get the voltages I did want. The third attempt at
anodizing it was performed with an audience of literally dozens in a
motorcycle repair shop in a small town outside the Hainan Provincial
High Level Sports Training Academy. With clever use of coca cola,
tide washing powder, and sandpaper as well as two twelve volt
batteries, and some jumper cables, an irridescent purple mottled with
blue and bronze was achieved. Unfortunately, despite the cast of
many, I was the only person with a camera of any kind (my cameraphone)
and very few photos were taken.

I then got my old race bike (a second-hand mostly aluminum frame with
carbon seatstays and chainstays), slung the frame over my shoulder,
and biked to the bike shop.

Future plans to eventually get a shiny pretty Chris King headset in a
complimentary color and maybe hubs to make wheels to go with were
immediately thrown out when it was discovered that the somewhat
acceptable Cane Creek headset on the old frame was incompatible with
the new frame. Now that I have a very nice brand new FSA headset I'm
not especially likely to go around buying a new headset anytime soon.
And if I don't have a reason to have a King headset my blingbling
purty reason for getting matching King hubs goes away.

The mismatched components from being sold a race bike with a handful
of old training parts on it were mostly replaced. Per the
recommendations of rec.bicycles.tech I went with an Ultegra double.
Per the recommendations of the Merida China mechanic I spent a large
amount of the Tour of Qinghai Lake geeking with I chose 105 for the
brakes and front derailleur. The 105 rear derailleur and 105 ten-
speed cassette were chosen for the purely practical reasons of 'being
what was in the store at the time'. Although Ultegra brifters were on
sale the 105 brifters I already had were barely touched when I got the
bike and I decided to keep them...besides which when it comes to
brifters I like the handfeel of Dura-Ace better than Ultegra. I also
kept the original Shimano 550 wheels that came with the old bike.

I also got mixed carbon-aluminum handlebars that have the comfortable
flat top found on fancy carbon bars without the fancy price tag, and
an oversized carbon stem.

I still need a new saddle (on order), a carbon seat-post (on order), a
proper seatbolt (on order), and the frame decals.

I am not a proponent of custom geometry.

I think the whole idea of custom geometry is silly.

But Mark at Habanero Cycles was very insistent that I was not a
perfect fit for their smallest stock frame and equally insistent that
their very first customer in Mainland China ought to get something
perfect.

I thought this was entirely unneccesary overkill that meant the
purchase of The Bike took an extra six months. I wouldn't have done
it if he hadn't been so thoroughly insistent. I wouldn't have done it
if he hadn't given me such a deep special discount for being the first
customer in Mainland China.

I would not say that I have an especially short torso but at 5'6" I am
short enough to want 'small' in most bikes and because I'm female I'm
carrying weight on my chest that makes me want the bars up a little
higher.

I have, so far, ridden the bike somewhat less than 20km. Slowly.
Because I made a promise to the shop not to stress test it until after
the head mechanic got back.

But wow.

Even though this bike is supposed to be the race bike and even though
this bike is set-up so that it needs to have the funny shoes and
padded shorts ... I have a feeling this bike is going to get more use
than the other two bikes. A lot more use. Enough of a lot more use
that I may have to follow up on that guy in Shenzhen who does custom
steel bikes so that the very nice sport touring set up I have on the
other road bike can be used.

I won't go so far as to say it is the nicest bicycle I've ever
ridden. That remains the bicycle that a member of the Japanese
National Team let me try out at last year's Tour of Hainan.

But it fits. It fits so well that I'm actually thinking of turning
the stem down. My resting position has my hands perfectly on the
brake-hoods. Down on the drops is a bit strange feeling because my
hands are naturally right there in that bumpy ergonomic hook space and
I can't push them forward because they are already where they are
supposed to be.

-M


Can you explain the anodizing? Sounds interesting!

  #4  
Old October 1st 07, 04:43 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 62
Default Built the Habanero

On Oct 1, 5:46 am, Zoot Katz wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:57:10 -0700,
wrote:



Can you explain the anodizing? Sounds interesting!


Basically you run a current through the piece submersed in a
non-conductive tank of electrolyte solution. Different voltages
produce the different colours.

http://mrtitanium.com/anodizing.html
--
zk


Mmmm, got any pics of the effects on a bike frame? Would this have any
detrimental effects on the frame?

Donga

  #5  
Old October 1st 07, 02:50 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 290
Default Built the Habanero

On Oct 1, 11:43 am, wrote:
On Oct 1, 5:46 am, Zoot Katz wrote:

On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:57:10 -0700,
wrote:


Can you explain the anodizing? Sounds interesting!


Basically you run a current through the piece submersed in a
non-conductive tank of electrolyte solution. Different voltages
produce the different colours.


http://mrtitanium.com/anodizing.html


You don't even need to have a tank. You can clip one electrode to one
end of the frame and wrap an electrolyte solution (in my case Coca
Cola mixed with Tide soap powder) soaked cloth around the other
electrode and 'paint' with it.

Mmmm, got any pics of the effects on a bike frame?


Only good pics I have (so far) of the effects on a bike frame are
professionally done by an artist who specializes in anodizing titanium
bike frames. My favorites are these two:

http://www.titaniumarts.com/media/bi...no/planets.jpg
http://www.titaniumarts.com/media/bi...o/splatter.jpg

Would this have any detrimental effects on the frame?


Only if you manage to monumentally screw up. But It would be
difficult to screw up sufficiently enough to actually damage the
frame.

I've got a small raised spot on the downtube near the water bottle
cage from the drop of molten titanium that came off of the top tube
when I didn't notice that the cloth wasn't completely wrapped around
the electrode and I managed to make a spark. This can be sanded off
and is no problem. It's covered by the water bottle cage and I don't
care. The corresponding mini-dimple on the top tube, however, is ...
annoying ... and I am currently in search of a solution for making it
invisible.

One thing about anodizing though is that it produces an oil on water
mottled look. The artist Leni Fried says that "[she] find[s] the
effect to be too subtle [and] usually recommend[s] doing a series of
fades, patterns, images and graphics so the frame has more contrast
and areas of interest." Personally I think her fades, patterns,
images and graphics are beautiful but too much. I'm a 'less is more'
kind of person and when I finally set brush to paper (or coca cola to
bike as it were) I didn't sufficiently trust my skills to try doing
patterns. As it is my bike is a irridescent 24 volt purple with a
bunch of places where I then scratched the frame up with sand paper
and re-anodized it an irridescent 12 volt gold.

Even if you were to dip-anodize a whole bike frame to get exactly the
same wavelength all over the bike you'd still end up with a subtle
mottled look because different parts of the frame are farther or
closer away and are reflecting different light.

So far I've only had two people say that they don't like the color of
my bike. One of them thinks it looks like the color of oil on water.
The other one says purple is an inherently ugly color.

-M

  #6  
Old October 2nd 07, 02:38 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Tom \Johnny Sunset\ Sherman[_1180_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default Built the Habanero

aka Marian Rosenberg wrote:
...
I have, so far, ridden the bike somewhat less than 20km. Slowly.
Because I made a promise to the shop not to stress test it until after
the head mechanic got back.

But wow.

Even though this bike is supposed to be the race bike and even though
this bike is set-up so that it needs to have the funny shoes and
padded shorts ... I have a feeling this bike is going to get more use
than the other two bikes. A lot more use. Enough of a lot more use
that I may have to follow up on that guy in Shenzhen who does custom
steel bikes so that the very nice sport touring set up I have on the
other road bike can be used.

I won't go so far as to say it is the nicest bicycle I've ever
ridden. That remains the bicycle that a member of the Japanese
National Team let me try out at last year's Tour of Hainan.

But it fits. It fits so well that I'm actually thinking of turning
the stem down. My resting position has my hands perfectly on the
brake-hoods. Down on the drops is a bit strange feeling because my
hands are naturally right there in that bumpy ergonomic hook space and
I can't push them forward because they are already where they are
supposed to be.


I would have expected the bicycle to pull strongly to the right.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
A Real Cyclist [TM] keeps at least one bicycle in the bedroom.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from
http://www.teranews.com

  #7  
Old October 2nd 07, 04:11 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 62
Default Built the Habanero

On Oct 1, 11:50 pm, "
wrote:
On Oct 1, 11:43 am, wrote:

On Oct 1, 5:46 am, Zoot Katz wrote:


On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:57:10 -0700,
wrote:


Can you explain the anodizing? Sounds interesting!


Basically you run a current through the piece submersed in a
non-conductive tank of electrolyte solution. Different voltages
produce the different colours.


http://mrtitanium.com/anodizing.html


You don't even need to have a tank. You can clip one electrode to one
end of the frame and wrap an electrolyte solution (in my case Coca
Cola mixed with Tide soap powder) soaked cloth around the other
electrode and 'paint' with it.

Mmmm, got any pics of the effects on a bike frame?


Only good pics I have (so far) of the effects on a bike frame are
professionally done by an artist who specializes in anodizing titanium
bike frames. My favorites are these two:

http://www.titaniumarts.com/media/bi...o/splatter.jpg

Would this have any detrimental effects on the frame?


Only if you manage to monumentally screw up. But It would be
difficult to screw up sufficiently enough to actually damage the
frame.

I've got a small raised spot on the downtube near the water bottle
cage from the drop of molten titanium that came off of the top tube
when I didn't notice that the cloth wasn't completely wrapped around
the electrode and I managed to make a spark. This can be sanded off
and is no problem. It's covered by the water bottle cage and I don't
care. The corresponding mini-dimple on the top tube, however, is ...
annoying ... and I am currently in search of a solution for making it
invisible.

One thing about anodizing though is that it produces an oil on water
mottled look. The artist Leni Fried says that "[she] find[s] the
effect to be too subtle [and] usually recommend[s] doing a series of
fades, patterns, images and graphics so the frame has more contrast
and areas of interest." Personally I think her fades, patterns,
images and graphics are beautiful but too much. I'm a 'less is more'
kind of person and when I finally set brush to paper (or coca cola to
bike as it were) I didn't sufficiently trust my skills to try doing
patterns. As it is my bike is a irridescent 24 volt purple with a
bunch of places where I then scratched the frame up with sand paper
and re-anodized it an irridescent 12 volt gold.

Even if you were to dip-anodize a whole bike frame to get exactly the
same wavelength all over the bike you'd still end up with a subtle
mottled look because different parts of the frame are farther or
closer away and are reflecting different light.

So far I've only had two people say that they don't like the color of
my bike. One of them thinks it looks like the color of oil on water.
The other one says purple is an inherently ugly color.

-M


Recently I built up an older Litespeed Classic into an SS/fixie and it
is so much fun, my road and MTB have been sitting in the garage. I had
been thinking to strip it soon for some new stickers and a new
headset. I wonder if I'm game to do some anodizing! It's already the
coolest commuter in town, but anodized (like the pics) it would rule.

Purple an ugly colour? Obviously this is a person with issues.

Donga

  #8  
Old October 2nd 07, 05:16 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 62
Default Built the Habanero

Here's a good link for small anodizing jobs with stencils:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/3...cbccdrcrd.html

  #9  
Old October 2nd 07, 09:31 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 290
Default Built the Habanero

On Oct 2, 11:11 am, wrote:
On Oct 1, 11:50 pm, "





wrote:
On Oct 1, 11:43 am, wrote:


On Oct 1, 5:46 am, Zoot Katz wrote:


On Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:57:10 -0700,
wrote:


Can you explain the anodizing? Sounds interesting!


Basically you run a current through the piece submersed in a
non-conductive tank of electrolyte solution. Different voltages
produce the different colours.


http://mrtitanium.com/anodizing.html


You don't even need to have a tank. You can clip one electrode to one
end of the frame and wrap an electrolyte solution (in my case Coca
Cola mixed with Tide soap powder) soaked cloth around the other
electrode and 'paint' with it.


Mmmm, got any pics of the effects on a bike frame?


Only good pics I have (so far) of the effects on a bike frame are
professionally done by an artist who specializes in anodizing titanium
bike frames. My favorites are these two:


http://www.titaniumarts.com/media/bi...pghttp://www.t...


Would this have any detrimental effects on the frame?


Only if you manage to monumentally screw up. But It would be
difficult to screw up sufficiently enough to actually damage the
frame.


I've got a small raised spot on the downtube near the water bottle
cage from the drop of molten titanium that came off of the top tube
when I didn't notice that the cloth wasn't completely wrapped around
the electrode and I managed to make a spark. This can be sanded off
and is no problem. It's covered by the water bottle cage and I don't
care. The corresponding mini-dimple on the top tube, however, is ...
annoying ... and I am currently in search of a solution for making it
invisible.


One thing about anodizing though is that it produces an oil on water
mottled look. The artist Leni Fried says that "[she] find[s] the
effect to be too subtle [and] usually recommend[s] doing a series of
fades, patterns, images and graphics so the frame has more contrast
and areas of interest." Personally I think her fades, patterns,
images and graphics are beautiful but too much. I'm a 'less is more'
kind of person and when I finally set brush to paper (or coca cola to
bike as it were) I didn't sufficiently trust my skills to try doing
patterns. As it is my bike is a irridescent 24 volt purple with a
bunch of places where I then scratched the frame up with sand paper
and re-anodized it an irridescent 12 volt gold.


Even if you were to dip-anodize a whole bike frame to get exactly the
same wavelength all over the bike you'd still end up with a subtle
mottled look because different parts of the frame are farther or
closer away and are reflecting different light.


So far I've only had two people say that they don't like the color of
my bike. One of them thinks it looks like the color of oil on water.
The other one says purple is an inherently ugly color.


-M


Recently I built up an older Litespeed Classic into an SS/fixie and it
is so much fun, my road and MTB have been sitting in the garage. I had
been thinking to strip it soon for some new stickers and a new
headset. I wonder if I'm game to do some anodizing! It's already the
coolest commuter in town, but anodized (like the pics) it would rule.


Leni Fried style anodizing requires a LOT of work.

But coca cola and tide (borax would be preferrable but I couldn't find
it) is pretty alright.

Purple an ugly colour? Obviously this is a person with issues.


Yep.

One of my housemates[1] has also pointed out that the color is not
especially even, found every single place where I made a short circuit
and sparks (we're talking near invisible damage), and let me know that
my saddle isn't actually level[2]. He also critiqued the mechanic's
skill[3] with regards to how my cables are routed on the handlebars.

-M

[1] I don't usually have housemates that aren't four footed and furry
but, my Haikou job with the bike race has me sharing an apartment with
two others including one of the Chinese commissaires.
[2] He pointed this out to me on a different bike around this time
last year. I completely failed to see anything wrong at that time but
dutifully made the incremental change and the bike got lots more
comfortable. I can only seen the non-level-ness of this saddle when I
stare at it for a long time and even then it isn't easy (for me) to
notice.
[3] Said mechanic having been employed by Shimano for a whole six days
at this point I don't really expect perfection and, as previously
mentioned, am already treating the bike light until the head mechanic
gets home.

  #10  
Old October 2nd 07, 09:32 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 290
Default Built the Habanero

On Oct 2, 12:16 pm, wrote:
Here's a good link for small anodizing jobs with stencils:http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/3...cm1000004eecbc...


I know about the link. So far I'm not doing a very good job with
getting stencils I like.

-M

 




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