Thursday, October 31, 2024

They Come In Threes: An Update

About a week or so ago now I wrote about three problems I had that came up all about the same time. Now all three problems have been addressed with at least temporary solutions. I thought I would share this update with you all to bring you up to speed here at Guitar Ted Headquarters.

First up is the State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork v2. If you read the latest review update on this you already know that I was able to determine that a flipped brake mount solved the issue. So, that's been ridden and a review update/final word will be forthcoming. 

Just a quick note in case you missed it: I am still having an issue with the I-9 hub coming out of this fork, but a HED wheel goes in and out like a champ. I'll test more wheels I have here to see if anything else hangs up like the I-9 hub does.

The Shogun's bell is back on. I managed to get it on the stem and keep the bell working. It took a bit of a shim to keep the edge of the brass bell off the lock nut for the head set. A short piece of rubber strip did the trick and I was able to get the bell's edge to clear by a few millimeters or so. 

Speaking of shims - I had to shim the brake lever as well. Turns out that is how Velo Orange wants you to do things. There were aluminum shims of two different thicknesses in the box. Thankfully I had not thrown away the box!


 Now the Tamland Two got a different fix than I was thinking it would. The DT Swiss hub/Roval rim rear wheel had been coming apart. So, I had intended on going back to the Irwin Cycles Carbon Aon 35 wheels but somewhere along the line I had misplaced one of the quick release end caps. So, after trying to contact Irwin and getting no reply, I decided to try another avenue. 

I had a wheel set I had built quite some time ago now that I had never used. Actually, it was a different wheel set before I rebuilt it. Here's the long story...

I had gotten payment for an advertisement on my old 29"er site, I think it was, in the form of a wheelset for a tubular tire set up. The thought being that there might be a tubular gravel tire coming out. The tire never materialized, so instead of having a brand new wheel set I'd never use, I blew it apart and rebuilt the wheels using a set of Bontrager RXL Scandium aluminum rims. While the rims were lightweight, and tubeless ready, they were rim brake rims. But at least now I had a wheel set I could use for......something

Well, that something is the Tamland. I only have the rear set up now, but at least the bike is rideable. 

More soon.....Oh! And have a safe Halloween, if you observe that tonight.

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