Merrily we roll along

Had a great time at the Cyclofemme ride on Sunday, was great to see some familiar faces, and meet the organizers of the Boston Bicycle Belles.

Yakkay Helmet- and it matches her ensemble perfectly!

Gold and White 

A specially built pedal for riding while the owner's foot was in a cast 

Po Campo trunk bag

And Po-Campo panniers

And More Po Campo bags!

 Had to turn around in the Fenway rest stop and head home though because I was trying to replace my instant hot water heater that I rely on for coffee making every morning.

  When my new-ish hot water heater died after about a year's use, my Dad and I thought we'd pull a fast one by installing another one by the same manufacturer that my Dad happened to have lying around (long story).  However the installation is a tiny bit different, and I can't seem to get it installed without leaking.   GRRR.  I was so sore on Monday- my quads and hip flexors were complaining about all the contortion under the sink.

Because I "sunk" so much time into that, there wasn't much left for other things on my "To Do" list, although I did manage to get Gilbert's rear wheel reinstalled (FINALLY)  while watching Sherlock.
It's handy to have the bike repair stand set up in the TV room!   I've become crazy addicted to Sherlock, to the point where I'm considering buying the DVDs so that I can see the 8 minutes they cut for "messages from our sponsors."  If more TV was like this, I'd watch TV, so it's probably a good thing because I really don't have time to watch more TV.

I've still been riding Minerva this week though,  because I haven't had the time or energy to do a shakedown ride on Gilbert.  I'd rather find out that I didn't properly adjust the brakes while riding around the block than halfway to work.  We also have an "interloper" in the bike shed, and I'm not wanting to figure out how to fit a 6th bike in there.  

 The Scientist's citified mountain bike has been lurking at his office for months, the tires slowly deflating.   I wanted to fix it up so that he had an alternative to his road bike for riding around our neighborhood,  but how to get it home?   This bike is a 22" frame, which is actually a bit small for him (6'5").   I ended up at his office on Saturday morning, and needed to get home, so I pumped up the tires, which seem to hold air just fine (knock on wood)  and then I pushed the seat all the way down, did a quick ride around the loading dock to make sure I could dismount without hurting myself ( I can just barely straddle the top tube without damaging myself.   Of course, I was wearing a skirt, but by tipping the bike sideways, I could mount reasonably demurely, and managed to ride, slowly and cautiously the 2 miles or less home.

Simulated panda shot on giant bike- have to really stretch

Now that we have it, I'm soooo wanting to give it a makeover to make it look more like a proper city bike (I'm thinking hammered fenders and  flipped albatross bars.)  But I'm not sure it's really that kind of bike, and I don't want to spend too much time and money on it, seeing as he really needs a larger frame.  I keep trying to talk him into a Surly LHT now that they're making a 64" frame,  but he's not really interested in that either.

I did drop by the Broadway Bicycle School Pancake breakfast this morning, but took no pictures because I forgot both camera and phone!   I saw a couple of familiar faces, and got a chance to briefly talk to a couple of new people before I dashed, off to work.   They had a barista from dwell time making pour-over coffees, but I didn't have time to wait in line, unfortunately.  The pancakes were sure good though, and I'll try to get there earlier next year so I have more chance to chat with people.

Proof

Proof that I am not the only person to bike to Home Depot.

Gilbert almost always has the bike rack to himself at HD,  which I totally understand.  For a lot of people it's a place you go to get 4x8 sheets of plywood, or 40 pound bags of cement or mulch or whatever  It's also kind of in a suburban (for Boston) location with a lot of easy free parking,  and although it's close to the river bike path,  the two block stretch of road that connects them is kind of gnarly,  with one of those 5 way intersections that's hard to see what's coming at you.

But last weekend (when it was in the teens even)  I stopped by to pick up some wiremold that I'm using to locate an outlet at my desk in our guest bedroom.  And although the bike rack was empty,  someone had done a quick park and lock in the cart area:

Hope they were getting something small like lightbulbs, because that doesn't look like it has much in the way of carrying capacity!

Conspicuity

I spent some time this weekend doing some little projects that have been on the "to do" list for way too long,  most of which involved adding visibility to my daily riding gear.

Something that I liked about my Bern helmet was the rear  plastic clip (designed for goggle retention on the ski slopes).  Most days I slipped a Planet Bike Superflash into the clip (sideways) to add an extra 3' of height to my bike light assembly.

In order to mount it on the Yakkay, I needed a loop of some sort.  I originally thought I'd put a shock cord sort of loop, and mount the light vertically instead of horizontally.  But A) I didn't have any shock cord,  B) I didn't want to make big holes in the cover for a shock cord,  and C)  the stripes on the cover are vertical, and I thought maybe the loop might look better vertical when the light isn't on.

I did have some reflective grosgrain ribbon,  and I used it to make a vertical loop that blends in nicely with the stripes on the helmet when the light is off, but holds the light clip reasonably securely (I might close the loop down a smidge if the light starts falling off.

It's surprisingly hard to take a picture of the back of one's head

I also ironed on some reflective tape on my "ugly but warm" gloves across the back of the hand.   The gloves aren't much to look at anyway, and I only wear them riding, so I didn't spend a lot of time following the contours of the seams- just put a big bar across the back.  Not subtle, but hopefully will help when signaling a turn. I will need to remember not just to put my hand out, but to turn it slightly so that the stripe is facing backward.

I have a lemon yellow "water resistant" trenchcoat, which has an inverted pleat all up the back, which I had been thinking would be a convenient place for a strip of silver that adds reflection without really changing the look of the coat.

I may do the same thing to my favorite red wool coat,  but I'm more hesitant to alter it permanently- may add a sew-on strip instead of an iron on one.

I also had some reflective adhesive strip (basically tape),  and I put a stripe of it up one panel of my leather bag.  I didn't get it in between the seams quite as neatly as it could have gone, and the effect of reflective tape on a leather bag is a bit unusual, but I think it will be relatively unobtrusive,  mostly because it's captured between two seams, so seems a bit more like it fits.

Put a tiny bit of extra tape on the Shogun,  hiding the orange VO sticker on the fenders.  I don't plan on riding the Shogun out after dark a lot (at least until I live the dream of touring)  but I think this adds a bit of reflectivity, without being noticeable.

Next, I put larger patches of 2" wide tape both front and back on the new Linus panniers.  There's a bike almost always parked along my route, with silver reflective patches on the panniers that are left on it 24/7,  and I can see them from a block away in my bike headlight.

 So I thought it would be a good addition that's not terribly incongruous with the look of the panniers.  I just cut  four 4" long pieces of tape, rounding the edges slightly to make them look a bit more finished,  and ironed them onto the heavy cotton canvas.

Finally I watched a movie and sewed a little strip of reflective grosgrain ribbon on my black softshell which is a good weight for biking, but which I don't wear much because a) it's all black and b) it's an odd length to wear with skirts.

A very busy weekend of conspicuity projects- I should be very visible these nights!  I had a recent brief conversation recently about the reflective "vests"  made by Vespertine in NYC.  Admittedly they look very fetching on models, when worn over a tank top (or less)  but I'm not sure how they'd look thrown over a coat.  For colder weather clothing, I think that adding reflective material, either sewn on, or iron on, in such a way that it follows the natural seams of the garment is more effective because it's not something extra I have to remember.  If done well it doesn't have to look like a bike specific costume, but instead can be an "inconspicuous" part of an everyday piece of clothing or luggage.

Gilbert rides again

As reader Old Knotty Buoy's sharp eyes noticed,  after a lengthy hiatus,  I'm riding Gilbert again! He had a collection of minor ailments, none of which were truly serious, but during the holidays, I just didn't have time to mess with them.   Over New Year's weekend, I hoisted him up on the stand, and set to work.

First:  new tires. The old tires, after 18 months and about 4,000 miles were showing some cracking in the sidewalls.  I don't really know if that's "good" or not,  and I could have continued to ride them, but they made me a bit nervous, so I decided to switch them out with identical Schwalbe Delta Cruisers in cream with reflective side bands.   Removing the rear wheel is always a bit of an ordeal on an IGH/ hub brake bike,  so I don't want to do it often,  but it went reasonably smoothly.   For some reason I find removing and re-seating tires on rims to be really hard-  does it really have to be that hard?  Isn't there a better solution?  Like expandable/ contractable rims? or shrink to fit beads,  or something?  Anything?  I would say that my hands just aren't big or strong enough, but I called in reinforcements, and the Scientist was struggling too.  And I'm not sure if Archimedes was right- I'm not sure that longer levers, or a better place "to stand"  would have solved the problem.

While I had the wheels off,  I did some messing with other things- cleaned and waxed the inside of the fenders,  and removed the rear tail light.

The tail light is held to the fender with a bolt whose square head is captured in a notch in the plastic housing.  Unfortunately the plastic cracked, and the head was rotating, loosening the tail light so it wobbled a bit,  and making it impossible to either tighten or remove.  I ended up taking it apart from the outside,  using my brand new from Christmas impact driver to coax out one semi- stripped screw.   I replaced it with a normal hex head bolt, ignoring the plastic slots.  To remove it, I'll have to take it apart from the outside again, but I'm OK with that,  and hope not to remove it for a good long time.

I  also did a bit of messing with his rear rack.  The rack is a NOS Steco, designed to be mounted to the seat stays with clamps instead of to the axle bolt.  I didn't like how that looked, so I replaced the legs with a pair of sawn off struts from a "sissy bar" seat.  I used the existing crimped places in the struts as locations for the holes,  and it never was quite level.  The rack was held "up" by a little metal strap, attached to the brake bridge.  Either the strap was too short or the struts are too long.  It will be a complicated project to shorten the struts, so I tried replacing the strap, with a slightly longer "mending plate".  It's better,  but it's still not dead flat level.

I also had more struggles with the pie plate.  Something- either the chaincase, or the pieplate, or both got tweaked, and although I could press fit the pieplate into the chaincase, using a bunch of clamps spaced around the edge, as soon as I removed a clamp, it would pop out again.  I spent a lot of time thinking about options for brackets, magnets, shims,  maybe even caulk,  and decided finally that I needed a removable adhesive- something that was flexible and sticky, but that wouldn't prevent me from taking the plate off, and wouldn't leave a residue on the bike.  I was very hopeful about "fugitive glue"  aka credit card glue, aka "gorilla snot"- the stuff that holds credit cards to mailers.  You can buy dots of this glue at art supply stores, and it held for about 24 hours, but on the first ride, it came off.  I have so far had more success with removable 3M adhesive foam squares.  You can sort of see them around the edge, so it's not super elegant, but it's working for now.

The final projects were pedal and kickstand.   I must be pedal-challenged, because on my first ride after the saga of the left pedal, I was about halfway home when I realized that my right pedal was loosey-goosey.  I must not have properly tightened it, and had in the process of riding to work and back, managed to strip the threads on the crank and the pedal- not completely, but enough that they didn't thread smoothly.

I do think that long term I will replace the BB on Gilbert with a Phil Wood, and convert him to cotterless cranks.  However, for now,  and since I'd just wrecked the thread on a brand new pedal, and a crank,  I decided to take the semi- drastic step of red- loctite-ing the pedal into the crank.  Basically, if the pedal lights fail,  that will be my cue to replace the whole shebang.  It just seemed wasteful to trash both the light and the crank.  I'll put in another plug for how much I like these pedalites, and how I think that the company is a really good one.  I know I've managed to wear out a couple of them,  but when I wrote them asking if they'd sell me just a couple of the gears that had stripped, instead, they sent me a free pair of pedals,  without asking.  I'll definitely put them to good use,  as I really think they're a great safety product- the strobes are super bright, and they don't have much impact on the overall appearance of the bike.

The kickstand was another issue.  When Harris replaced the left crank,  it was a milimeter closer to the BB.  And thus with every stroke I had a tic- tic- tic of the crank hitting the kickstand.  I could twist it out of the way,  but it would slowly twist back as I rode.   No matter how I'd tightened the bolt down I never really could get the body of the pletscher two legged stand to stay still where it was attached to the frame- I got really good at nudging it back with my heel,  but it was annoying.  So I decided to remove it but it was really dug in.  I put PB blaster on it and then tried again, this time with a cheater bar on my allen key..... and promptly rounded the allen key recess.  sigh.

I attempted to epoxy a hex bolt on the top of the "screw"  but  it just sheared right off.  So I drilled it out,  which was a real PITA- not a lot of space to get the drill in between the fender, the chainstays and the seat tube.   Finally got the kickstand off the bike, but the kickstand body still had 2" of jagged edged bolt sticking out of it.  It turns out the bolt is steel, and the body is aluminum, and dissimilar metals like that will sometimes chemically bond, or "gall," especially in wet and salty areas. It's a common problem in marine applications and car water pumps, Google tells me.   In future,  install dissimilar metals with anti-seize compound (from the auto-parts store).  Anyway,  I tried heating it with a torch,  more and more PB blaster,  and some serious attempts with a vise, and a pair of vise grips- no luck.  Finally I gave up and ordered a new kickstand.

I knew I wanted a two footed one- it's just much more stable for the kind of loads I put on my bikes.  After my frustrations with adjusting the Pletschner, I decided to try the U-shaped type instead of the scissor type.  Hebie makes one called the bipod, which the internets say great things about.  But they don't have a US distributor,  and the only one I could find in the US was a "resin" model,  which I was a bit skeptical of.  Sunlight (the cheapo bike products company) makes one , but I didn't trust it at all.  I was contemplating ordering one from Europe, when I found what's listed as the "civia "  stand.  Civia doesn't list the stand at all on their website,  but a couple of people were selling it on Amazon,  for $40 cheaper than buying and importing a Hebie would be, so I took the chance.   It arrived today, and I installed it with rudimentary tools at my desk after work.  So far so good- although I need to give it a final adjustment and tighten it down more firmly. It appears solidly constructed,  doesn't seem too heavy,  and operates smoothly.

In the "down" position

in the "up" position

Seems like the perfect length- holds the front wheel 2-3"  off the ground

The final product of all this tinkering:

Shown with a temporary "greenfield" kickstand I had lying about

 As you can see in the "final" photos, I have a couple of other additions/ Christmas presents- a coffee mug holder and a new pair of saddlebag panniers- the roll up shoppers from Linus.  Reviews coming soon!

Sorry for the super lengthy post- you can understand why Gilbert was out of commission for over two months while I got everything sorted out!

Oilcloth

Ok, so I should probably wait to post on this until I actually get it and make something of it, but I was so excited about the rain skirt, that I just couldn't help myself, especially when I found a pattern with bikes subtly embedded in it.

Can you see the little skeleton on a bike at the bottom?  

I actually ordered it in yellow, but shots of that colorway didn't show the bike

I also ordered some more straight ahead lace pattern if this ends up being too much.

I can always make panniers of the leftovers, right?

Impromptu Rain Cover

I got a chance to ride Minerva for the first time in the rain post Kool-Stops/ drum brake conversion, and it was great!  I was very conservative down the big hill on Cambridge street, but everything went well-  1,000% better than the first time I rode her in damp conditions.

It wasn't really raining hard, and I needed my bike for an early morning meeting, so I decided to ride despite the drizzle.  I don't mind carrying my leather bag in a light rain, but I was worried it would get a lot of splash up from the road.  Also not the end of the world, but I happened to have a plastic bag from a batch of paper towels that we'd just unwrapped at the office.  I was taking it home for recycling, and then I looked at it and thought- that's just about the same size as my bag....

So it's not pretty, but it kept the bag completely dry!

I hooked the top of the bag into the clips on my pannier hardware, and locked them down.

A slit in the back is how I slid the whole thing on.  Again, not terribly chic, but effective!

On an unrelated note, you know you live in a fairly well developed bike culture when on a rainy night with temps in the 40's, all the bike parking is full.  Had to stop at a pharmacy in Harvard Sq, and there was absolutely nowhere to park.

Awesome DIY gloves

This morning was the first really chilly ride of the fall- complete with thin crusts of ice on a couple of puddles, and a tiny bit of snow on a couple of cars.   I've been wearing gloves all week, but my leather and thinsulate gloves aren't going to cut it much longer- my fingers were pretty chilly today.

Looking for "urban cycling gloves"  I found these amazing gloves which light up in a chevron when you close your hand into a loose fist. Check out the video of her making a right turn!

I think I'm going to go order some LEDs and some conductive thread right now!

Perplexing Pedal Problems

I’m having no end of frustrations with Gilbert's left pedal.

While I love the additional visibility of the flashing Pedalite pedals with the internal generator, I’ve had three pedals fail on the left side.  Inconveniently the pedals are sold only in pairs, and I'm starting to accumulate a large collection of right threaded pedals!

Ever since Gilbert's initial build, it felt like there was a noticeable “wobble” in the left pedal- which was especially noticeable when I’d been riding another bike, and got back on Gilbert.   I looked for a long time for a replacement vintage crank, and then after deciding the ones on ebay were awfully pricy for something that also might be broken (buying other people's problems!), I bought a left reproduction crank.  Unfortunately when it arrived it was poorly made and the cotter pin hole was out of round and too small.  Unfortunately I only realized this after I’d removed the old crank!

Looking at the crank it didn’t seem bent in any way,  and I wondered if having installed it with poor quality cotter pins could have caused the wobble.  I also needed to ride to work the next day, so I reinstalled the crank  with the fancy pantsy cotter, and went ahead and threaded in the brand new pedalite pedal to see how it worked.  I followed the same procedure that I've always done, greasing the threads with Phil's waterproof grease, hand threading it and then hand tightening it with a box wrench.

Unfortunately I had put the crank too close to the bottom bracket, and the crank was hitting the kickstand a tiny bit- just enough to make a tic-tic tic noise.  I tried to remove the kickstand to reposition it, but I couldn't loosen the bolt  and it was getting late, so I hit it with some PB blaster and decided to try it again in the morning.

I couldn’t get it in the morning either, so I decided that I could live with the annoyance, and headed to work.  On the ride home, I noticed the pedal was quite wobbly, so I tried to pedal mostly with the right leg (!)  and limped home.   I tried to remove the crank, only to find that the pedal threads AND the crank threads were completely fubared.    And NO, since you asked I did not force a right pedal on a left crank- I know because I tried that for about 10 seconds, realized my error and got the left pedal.  I used the left pedal,  I didn't use any unnecessary force, and although I understand that crossthreading with steel pedal threads and aluminum cranks is a common cause of damage, this is a steel crank,  and although I can underestimate my strength, I have a hard time believing that I torqued it enough to force it on and do that kind of damage.   I am NOT certain that the crank wasn't previously damaged, but I didn't notice anything unusual when I hand threaded the new pedal on.

I was lucky to find a replacement left crank in the parts bin at Broadway bikes.  I checked it out against a Raleigh sports that was in the shop for service, and measured it and it seemed the same as the ones I have.  It was stamped L,  and didn’t have the little Sir William etching that mine had, but otherwise seemed identical to the old one.

So I replaced the crank, mangling an artisanal cotter pin in the process, making certain to put the crank outboard the same distance as the drive side pedal to duck the kickstand issue (for now).   Since the brand new pedal’s thread was destroyed, I thought I’d put an old rubber block pedal I had on for the moment.

Strangely, these pedals didn’t want to thread onto the crank (yes, I know that seems like a warning sign)  but I did have one of the old pedalite pedals on which the electronics had failed, but the threading seemed fine.  And it screwed  in easily to the crank….

Again, rode off to work, and on the way there, noticed that the pedal was unthreading itself from the crank !!!!  I’ve never had this happen,  and I had tightened it reasonably but not excessively.  I pulled over, and it seemed not only unthreaded but loose, and it looks like the threads are destroyed in the same way the new pedals were!!   

Can't tell for certain, but the threads on the crank look undamaged, or at least less damaged.

At this point I’m not sure what to do.   I understand that it's fairly standard to have the crank tapped out and use a threaded bushing for a new pedal,  but then I’d have to buy yet another set of new pedals.  Also Harris has the bushings and the tap, but are hesitant to do it to a chromed steel crank.  additionally, I don’t know if it’s possible to cut new smaller threads on the brand new pedal that’s ruined to make it fit somehow with one of those 1/2 to 9/16" adapters?

This is going to sound extreme, but if this new crank has damaged threads, and the new pedal has damaged threads, I’m seriously considering epoxying the pedal into the crank,  and using it until it fails from weather or old age, and then tossing both crank and pedal,  and solving the problem then.  My only concern would be damaging the BB.  And that that point I'd just scrap the damn cottered cranks,  buy a threadless BB bearing and new crankset!

Before I do that I’m going to take Gilbert to Harris and see what they have to say.

Until then any suggestions from the blogosphere?

Ironic packaging and artisanal cotter pins

I bought a package of brake pads for Gilbert two weeks ago (haven't managed to put them on yet) and they were sitting at the table as we ate dinner.  The Scientist was remarking that he needed pads for his roadbike, and I was looking at the packaging, and remarking that it must be Amsterdam in the photo- Women in ordinary clothes on city bikes,  tons of bikes parked in the background,  no helmets.  Looking further I noticed something that I found fairly humorous, given that they're selling brake pads.  Can you spot what it is? *  Hint at bottom of post

I also received in the mail "Artisanal" cotter pins.   Gilbert's left (non drive side) crank seems to be bent just slightly.  It's enough that when I ride another bike I notice that the left pedal feels "weird" and when I switch back, Gilbert feels "weird" and it's murder on the light up pedals that I like so much.  It eats them up- I've replaced the left one three times now!  Anyone need a right side pedal that flashes? - I've got an extra!  I suppose I could make it a prize for whoever first guesses the irony in the photo.

Anyway, after looking locally for a replacement vintage crank, I bought a repro left hand crank online,  although it doesn't look like it's fantastic quality.   I've heard that the absolute best cotter pins to be had are from Bikesmith in MN.   He makes a famously helpful tool for removing stuck Raleigh bottom brackets as well as a nicely made hand cotter press for home mechanics.  So on a bit of a whim, I ordered what should be a lifetime supply (6) of grade A cotters.

These "artisanal" cotter pins are turned on a lathe instead of stamped,  and then he goes through and custom files the bevel to match the raleigh slope, "even the nuts are turned on a lathe"

Honestly I'm not sure I'll notice the difference, and I feel a bit sheepish in a boho bourgeois way for ordering bits of metal to pin the cranks to my bike that have a longer and more lovingly  described provenance than an item on a trendy restaurant menu.  On the other hand,  it's making a guy a living doing manufacturing in the USA,  and it will hopefully help everything go together smoothly and not wobble and destroy cranks or pedals.  Some people spend a lot of money on designer clothes or fancy cars,  I just spent twenty five bucks for cotter pins.  Silly I know, but less than a tank of gas.

*And now for the promised hint- look at the handlebars on the bike on the left.

Fixing it so it brakes, part 2

Back in May, I posted about replacing Minerva's  brake shoes with the fabulous new Koolstop rod brake pads.  I thought I would have a quick follow up about the final tweaks to the conversion of the front brake to a hub brake system.

Alas,  technical difficulties and life got in the way.  The technical difficulty was that I took the wheel off to take it to be trued, and somehow lost one of the axle nuts in the process.  No big deal except this hub seems to have really weird and atypical threading.  Harris ordered me a new one,  but then that one didn't quite work either.

Backing up a step (or three):   I had the front wheel built, and the drum brake temporarily installed with a cable between the old rod brake stirrup and the drum brake arm.

This was OK,  except it was really hard to adjust- you had to tension the cable just to the point of activating the brake, and then screw it down, and you really needed three hands to do it right.  I was contemplating a turnbuckle,  when a reader offered me a N.O.S.  Rod- drum conversion kit that he had ordered for a project that ultimately he didn't complete.   I didn't realize at the time how rare these are, so I feel very fortunate to have "happened" on one.

It looks basically like this:

A replacement "stirrup"  which attaches onto the drive side fork with a pivot, and has a rod that heads down to the hub,  with a threaded end and a dongle which engages in the rod brake arm.
The only problem was that the angle of the fork made it such that when the reaction arm was clamped to the fork (using the part that was designed for that), the angle of the activation arm caused the rod to hit the axle.

Rotating the reaction arm clockwise allowed the rod to travel in a straight line without hitting the axle, but make attachment to the fork troublesome.

And in any case the fork blade was so close to the axle body, that it seemed that the rod was binding and not moving smoothly.   I added some washers between the axle and the fork, which solved that problem,  but the replacement nut wouldn't tighten down enough to hold the wheel in place.

Finally, I bit the bullet and drilled a hole though the reaction arm of the hub such that I could attach it to the fork at an angle that would allow the rod to just miss the axle.  This allowed me to use the piece that came with the hub for this purpose, although not exactly as it was designed.  The arm was supposed to fit in a little notch on the clamp,  but instead I used it as a glorified P clamp.  

All this was enough to get the brake working, and well enough (and easily adjusted enough) that after a quick spin around the block, I felt up to riding 14 miles (RT) to Harris Cyclery and back to pick up some brake pads.  I could have probably found them closer, but wanted to also stop by Russo's market.  The trip was uneventful (although I packed a lot of tools just in case),  but super sticky. 

I stopped briefly on a bridge over the Charles to enjoy the view.  It was so humid that you could see the air!   After a long hot day of errands and bike messing, I was glad to take a cool shower and relax in the AC.

I still haven't resolved the axle issues.  The good news is that I found the original axle nut  a couple of weeks ago between the seats of the Scientist's car,  the bad news is that I don't remember where I put it when I found it.   The wheel is being held in mostly by gravity,  which is not a good long term plan.  My hope is that I can find the correct nut,  screw everything down properly and have a roadster bike with its lovely slack geometry but with all weather reliability and lighting.  It's been a long slow road, but I think the end is in sight!