Never go First

Welcome back dear reader it's hard to believe it's been 6 months since I started off as a fresh faced innocent young buck with a dime in my pocket and a gleam in my eye. I've transformed along this journey emerging like a butterfly from my blue onesy cocoon into a wise man with life experiences and knowledge (still in a blue onesy). We have 4 classes remaining after this week so lets make them count!

First things first is the unusual bike for the evening. A Tricycle that Brett is in the progress of making. I've been threatening Brett that I'll come back next year to make this baby, how hard could it be....

Notice the fully sick wickedawesometothemax wheelie bars. I'm pretty sure they are for when you are putting serious power through the wheel and do a wheelie. Tricycles were generally used by the upper class especially women and where first mass produced from about 1876 I believe.

Back to the class. This weeks blog we discuss the class motto 'never go first'. In almost all instances the first person or two stuffs something up, meaning a redo and much mirth (for those not going first). This knowledge has become wide spread and often results in a stalemate that can last weeks while we wait for another person to go first.

Like all life's important lessons they can be traced back to 80's TV shows in this case the Facts of Life 'You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life'. Tonight I forgot this leason even as a wise man I was to learn the facts of life by being the first to put the steel through the rear tyre to mount it to the wheel.

Now this is a process most people wouldn't be aware of. To compare putting a tyre on a p-far vs a safety bicycle is like comparing a Nashi Pear to a carpenter ant (just quietly how awesome are Nashi Pears!). They are a little bit different.

First you take the rubber. 

Then measure it around the wheel allowing a bit extra about 1 inch for ever 10 inches for the big wheel and approximately 5 inches for the rear wheel.

Then take the wire.

And thread it through the hole in the middle.

Then swear a lot because it's hard.

Then you get the machine out. Essentially it tensions the wire. You can see that Janine is looking pretty pleased at our progress.

You can see how before it was about 5 inches longer than the outside but the wire has tightened and the rubber has compressed like a frightened turtle. 

Then cut. 

Whip out the fires of mordor, braze and join the two ends of the metal together. 

Then you find out that the rubber isn't fitting as the wire didn't tension properly and you have to hacksaw through the cut and start again. Learning the 'facts of life' that lubricant is a vital ingredient when working with rubber (essentially the wire sticks inside the rubber making tension extremely fraught with problems, the metal needs to be able to slide easily inside the rubber) . Then as the French would say 'there you have it' if they were speaking English.

A number of us have been having problems with lacing our wheels a 5 cross pattern is quite complex and easy to make a mistake, unfortunately once you start making a mistake it continues through the whole wheel and is very frustrating. So a minutes silence for all our fallen comrades who've had to rebuild their wheels. I was lucky when building mine I only made a few mistakes, mostly because I constantly annoyed Brett asking him if this was right. I have broken a couple of spokes in the truing so I've handed it over to Brett to check the tension and do some more truing of the wheel. Here is a quick photo montage because I *heart* them as the youth of today would say.

In a piece of p-far related news a place in Leicester is planning on making reproduction p-fars.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14999044 Check out the video it's worth a look for those interested in p-fars.


Penny farthing 'back on the production line'

21 September 2011 Last updated at 08:30 GMT 

The penny farthing, a popular mode of transport in the 19th Century could be about to make a comeback. More than a century ago, the early cycles were one of the quickest ways of getting around was on two wheels. Anthony Bartram is at a factory in Leicester where they could soon be rolling off the production line once again.

How dare they! P-fars 'could be about to make a comeback'! Haven't they been reading my blog p-fars never really left so I don't see how they can make a comeback?! Or are they going to argue with GNMWC (giant naked man with club) I know I wouldn't. 

Ps. Of course there was no innuendo during tonights class about how long your rubber is, the use of lubrication and rubber nor comparing the size of our wheels. None what so ever.