bonnie & jason

Second braze attempt - Down tube to Head tube

I *think* my braze yesterday was good so I moved on to the second braze which connects the down tube to the head tube. I believe this one turned out better. To get some feedback, though, I took some video to show my fraternity brother, Marc, who has been my bike building mentor of late. I’m thinking most of you will simply use this as another way to make fun of me, but that’s never stopped me before, so here it is:

Braze attempt #2 - headtube to downtube from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

Happy Thanksgiving, 2008

No Wangsgiving this year, but I did make an apple pie (from scratch thank you) to bring over to the family get together later tonight.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d put a short list of things we’re thankful for this year.
1. First and foremost, we’re thankful that we’re healthy and that Alissa (and the twins) are developing just fine. Along those lines, our ultrasound appointment yesterday revealed that Bonnie’s bedrest is working very well so that makes us feel less nervous about pre-term labor.

2. Especially in these economic times, we’re thankful that I still have a good job that I like and is flexible enough to allow me to spend time with my (growing) family.

3. Finally, I’m thankful that we have such a strong support group of family and friends to share all of our experiences with.

I’ll close with a picture of Alissa from last year:

Next year, Thanksgiving will be very different with an almost three year old and two nine month olds at our feet. Ai-ya!

EDIT: More pictures from Thanksgiving day.

Alissa spent some time chasing and making bubbles:

At Bonnie’s cousins’ house, it seems the kids will soon outnumber the adults:

Grizzly tube notcher fix and first braze attempt

I managed an easy fix to the offset tube notcher problem. I’m not really happy that it needs a fix to begin with but maybe Grizzly will come through with a solution. In any case, the solution I found was to just use a file I had as a spacer to shift the tube up the millimeter or two necessary. Here’s a pic:

I also took my first attempt at brazing. I tried getting a couple scrap pieces together first.

I don’t think I did a good job… I was afraid of getting the tubes too hot. After a couple tries, I figured I might as well just go for it, so I put the seat tube and the bottom bracket together:

Before brazing (note the tube is inserted too far for illustration purposes):

And after brazing:

Again, I’m not sure I did a good job. It’s not very pretty, that’s for sure. But I tried pulling them apart as hard as I could and they didn’t budge. So there’s at least a little silver in there sticking them together. The other bonus is that I didn’t burn the house down. Next, I have to cut and miter the down tube and braze it to the head tube. Hopefully, the little experience I have now will mean a better braze there.

Bike build part deux - tube notcher

There are going to be lots of bike build posts in the future so for those of you looking for Alissa pictures, feel free to gloss over these. On to the topic of the day! I got the bench grinder bolted to the work bench and bought some c-clamps and other hardware to make the Grizzly tube notcher work. This tube notcher is a cheapo version of the “Ol’ Joint Jigger” and it shows in the quality. I had to clean up and grease the saw shaft because it was kinda rusty and did not twist freely in the bushings. Also, the degree scale is pretty much worthless because 1) there is no arrow pointing at the scale to begin with and 2) the hole saw shaft isn’t really square to the tube fixture. I made it work by making my own arrow and calibrating the shaft to the fixture. Finally, the adapter that connects the shaft to larger hole saws was drilled eccentrically so that the saw would wobble when rotated. To Grizzly’s credit, they’re sending me a new one gratis. In the meantime, I was able to use the adapter that came with my Rigid Hole Saw kit.

The other thing I wanted to be careful about was the tube fixture. It’s not defective, but given bicycle tubing is pretty thin, I didn’t want to dent it by tightening down on the clamp too hard. So I just cut a couple pieces of angle iron and used them in between the fixture and the tube to distribute the holding force across a larger area.

Anyway, after I got the notcher ready to rumble, I clamped it to the work bench, tightened up the 1/2″ drill to the shaft, and went to town on a test cut.

Here’s the result:

All in all, it did a pretty good job. It only took 30 seconds to do and this was slow since I was experimenting with how hard to push. I did notice that the tube seems to be sitting a bit low compared to the saw so the cut is offset a couple millimeters. That might be because of the angle iron I used to support the tube. I need to dig into this a little more before I make the actual “money” cut. Otherwise, the cut is pretty clean. If it wasn’t for the offset issue, a few minutes with a hand file and this tube would be ready for brazing. All in all, I’m pretty happy with the purchase. Without this, I’d probably have to spend quite a few hours calculating, rough cutting, filing, and cursing all the miters I’d need for the bike. Now, those hours will likely be turned into minutes. Yay tools!

Next on the list of things to do is to fix the offset problem, make the “money” cut, and try my first braze of the seat tube to the bottom bracket. (As soon as my silver, flux, and welding goggles arrive.)

Another day at the park

Not that I need to post any more Alissa at the park pictures, but she has developed some new behaviors.

First, she’s gotten used to her new backpack which we have on loan from Jeff and Xiao-Yi. (She also likes to point out the dogs and birds that we see on the way to the park and add her own sound effects.)

She says “Weee!!!” and “Woohoo!” when she’s on the swing.

She says “Drive!” when she turns the steering wheel. (And, incidentally, she now knows how to say, “Honda.”)

She likes to swing from the bar above the slide:

She likes to move sand from one part of the park to the other one leaky handful at a time.

And while walking home from the park, she gets tired and takes a nap on the sidewalk.

Bike geometry spreadsheet

In preparation for the bike build, I’ve been doing some research on bike sizing and how geometry influences handling. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything that really told you how long to make certain parts of the bike, particularly the chain stays and seat stays. So I put together my own spreadsheet based on basic 10th grade geometry.

Here’s the graphic:

And the calculations:

Here’s a link to the file itself for those of you who might want to use it for your own bike build.

Clearly, I’m a geek, but hey… the world needs geeks!

EDIT: A had a problem with one of my calculations that determine the downtube length. I still haven’t figured it out yet, but fellow Dork (yes, that’s Dork with a capital “D”), and Cornell Mech E, Pete, laid it out for me in Inventor and did away with all that silly trigonometry to provide the right answer:

I owe Pete a beer next time I see him. Plus, at his suggestion, I’m downloading Inventor LT so I can replace all that spreadsheet dorkiness with some modern CAD dorkiness.

New project - the beginning of Jason Wang Bicycles

With the bike done, I find myself craving another project. Not that I don’t have enough to do around here as it is with Alissa, Bonnie on bedrest, and some photography stuff here and there. I guess maybe I just need a diversion from all the adult responsibilities that come with a growing family. And since I can’t afford a Lotus, I figure I’ll expand on the bike theme. But instead of just building up a bike frame, this time, I’m going to build a bike from scratch. Crazy you say? Crazy like a fox! =)

It’s actually not that big a deal although I admit that the scope has grown. How? Here’s the evolution:

1. The last bike project aggravated the lumbar radiculopathy that hasn’t bothered me for the last two years so I need a proper work bench.
2. Work benches are expensive though, so I’m going to build my own.
3. To build a proper work bench, I need a compound miter saw. (Ok, I don’t absolutely need one, but any self-respecting DIY homeowner should have one.)
4. While I’m at Home Depot, I might as well get the closet rod that Bonnie wants me to add.
5. Yet to be identified projects that will be born from here.

And of course, to build the bike itself, I need some other tools that I don’t already have (bench grinder, hole saws, hand files, vice, gas torch, etc.)

So anyway, no post is really complete without pictures, so here are a few quick ones.

Here’s the bench holding up the mitre saw I used to build it:

It has wheels so I can put it in the middle of the garage when I’m using it and then roll it against the wall when I’m done.
I got the miter saw for $60 off at Sears.

Here are the bike pieces:

I got them from Nova Cycle Supply. Many of the parts are from their November special.

Here’s about how they’ll go together:

Of course, I still need the chain, wheels, saddle, seat post, handlebars, stem, pedals, and brake lever. I already got a crankset, freewheel, and brake caliper.

So, hopefully, before too long, all these parts will turn into a ridable, safe, and cool bike that fits me perfectly.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Alissa helped Grandpa celebrate his birthday yesterday.

She also picked up this new karate pose from Benita.

It’s actually better than that with her arm held out in a punch but we didn’t get it captured quickly enough.

Public service announcement

Here’s a funny video that I thought was worth sharing since I’m riding my bike quite a bit these days.

Finished the bike

These were the final hurdles I had to overcome to finish the bike:

1. I got an old seat post to work by using cut up pieces of a tennis ball canister for shims. (free!)
2. I abandoned the modern brake that I had bought and used an old style side pull brake instead. As a result, I had to move the brake to the right side so the cable routing was cleaner. ($8)
3. I had to readjust the headset and bottom bracket after a short test ride.
4. I had to get another rear wheel since I couldn’t get the free one with the bent axle to work ($20). I re-spaced that wheel so the chainline was straighter (more a nice to do than a must do.) That wheel also had a couple spokes break so I had to replace those as well. ($1)
5. I got some short stack bolts so I could just use the small chain ring. ($5)
6. A quick wipe down and wax and she’s good as new!

All told, I spent about $100 in parts but $40 of that was the brake that I didn’t end up using. I’ll probably keep it around for another project. I also spent $20 for the bike stand and maybe another $20 in special bike tools but I won’t count those against this project.

It was pretty fun to do actually. I’m going to start looking for another project bike to rehab. This time, I’ll get something that already has parts that might just require a little maintenance and minor upgrading.

Here are the pictures from start to finish.