I built a bike (build log)
I built a bike! This is going to be a short build log on how I did it. Big shoutout to my buddy Jelle an the store guy who were both instrumental in completing this project.
The biggest lesson I learned from this project is that you don’t need to know everything. Sometimes you just have to wing it and live with the consequences.
Before (it stood neglected outside for 6 months in Amsterdam weather):
After:
Shopping list
The very first thing I did was to take stock of what needed to be done. I made a shopping list.
- New chain
- New fancy light + washer
- New pedals
- Cleaning stuff
Then I went to the shop and bought everything! The guy at the store (store guy) was super nice and when I told him I was going to pimp my own bike he was super helpful and gave me a lot of random stuff for free, very kind.
I didn’t understand how to mount the new headlight, so he showed me.
Sadly, I didn’t fit when I tried to mount, but we’ll get back to that.
The guy also gave me a new sleeve for my chain for free! What nice guy.
Cleaning
First, cleaning! I took apart all the nuts and bolts and put them in a bowl of coke for a couple of hours. And cleaned the rest of the bike.
Always make tons of pictures while working. You never know when you gonna need the bolt order.
Look at how much rust is on this bolt!
More rust. More cleaning.
Cleaning, however, is very satisfying.
Very, very shiny.
Satisfaction!
New pedals
After cleaning the bike me and my buddy (not the shop guy) tried to get the pedal off.
We really tried. Like, really really tried.
We used a lot of force but it just wouldn’t budge. After pulling and pushing for half an hour I decided to ask the store guy for help once again.
With some serious power and serious leverage we finally managed to get the damn pedal off.
He literally bore a hole through the bolt and then used the largest wrench, roughly a meter in length, to generate enough force.
One new pedal mounted.
New chain
More cleaning. I used a dremel tool to get off some of the rust.
I messed up the order of putting the front back together lol and that bit me in the ass. This is why you make pictures!
This was the moment we put on a new chain.
Headlights
Remember the headlight I didn’t know how to mount? Well it didn’t work. Thankfully my buddy has a 3D printer and knows how to use it. He whipped this up out of thin air.
It fit!
Boom lights!
Another angle!
The End
Finished shot
Although it doesn’t look like we changed much, it’s a very smooth ride.
I could have pimped the bike even further and cleaned off all the rust all the rust spots but I deliberately kept it this way. In Amsterdam you don’t want your bike looking too good you know what I’m saying?
That’s it! This post is not very technical but I just wanted to show you another (physical) project that I completed.
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