Tuesday, August 31, 2021

...8.31...Mountain Bike--Commuter Bike Conversion...Day 11...

...Before...


Previous Changes:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10

...so...one of the things that happened when I installed the new fenders is that my front reflector no longer fit...it attached to the front head tube and it hung just a little bit too low with the fenders attached...no worries I thought......I'd just bend it...well...not as bendable as I'd thought...haha...
...but I still have a spool of this bendable strapping leftover from the attic project in West Virginia...it's quite bendable...you've seen me use it to make a tesselating Goldfish cookie cutter...
...so...I just folded it double and tucked under the ends...crimped them with pliers...
...and because the holes lined up...I can actually move it up and down using the different holes...which may come in handy when I put the new basket on...

~Have a lovely day!

...8.31...Tuesdays with Julia...

...we made the VEGAN CRÈME AU BEURRE, AU SUCRE CUIT...it's a cooked sugar syrup frosting...and it was not what I was expecting...
...this was a light and creamy and fluffy frosting...and I was expecting the kind of glaçage that you pour over a cake...so it was a pleasant and delicious surprise...even with all of the steps I would recommend this recipe...and all of the particulars are over at The Vegan Version...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, August 30, 2021

...8.30...Mountain Bike--Commuter Bike Conversion...Day 10...

...Before...


Previous Changes:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9

...the new fender paint has arrived...Rustoleum Gloss Cherry Red...I'm not worried about it sticking to the plastic because that's already coated with the Ford paint...which I guess we'll call a primer now...haha...
...so I just poked some sticks in the ground again...and gave them a good coating of the new red paint...they are so pretty...
...so now...let's see if the homemade liquid mask worked...IT DID!!!...it flakes right off...it's perfect!
...I'm so happy that the rivets will still be shiny silver...the metal tabs were masked with tape and I wasn't worried about them...
...now...what about the liquid mask over the SKS-Germany sticker...not sure what it was made of but I was afraid that the liquid mask might stick to it too well...
...but it flaked right off of that as well...so YAY! for homemade liquid mask...
...so here they are...I think they look really professional...like they came that way...haha...
...so then it was just a matter of fitting them back on the bike...and adjusting everything...
...so I figure what should have taken about 2 hours...actually took about 12...still I'm really pleased with the result!

~Have a lovely day!

Saturday, August 28, 2021

...8.28...Mountain Bike--Commuter Bike Conversion...Day 9...

...Before...


Previous Changes:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8

...so...I need some sort of white plastic strips to weave the new basket onto the freshly painted frame...

...so I did some brainstorming...and some searching of the interwebs...without really finding a cost effective solution...
...so I decided to make my own...of course...

...so remember my foray into PLARN...how I made it here...and the super cute finished beach bag here...

...but that was not really the 'look' I wanted...I want it to look more like what I had...

...so I decided that instead of using the strips as they are...really thin and flimsy...I'd laminate them together to make much sturdier more opaque strips...so I gathered all of the white plastic bags in the house...and cut the logos off of them...the rest of the bag can still be recycled...and I'm left with a bunch of 11 x 20 - ish sheets...
...so I got some parchment paper and a big sheet of flannel...and cleared an area under the carport...I was a little bit afraid of 'fumes' from the melted plastic...but really didn't notice any...still better safe than sorry...you know...
...then I just set the iron on a fairly low setting...and laid two bags on top of each other...and ironed them...
...two sheets was a lot stronger...but still a little too thin for my purposes...
...so I laminated them again...and then one more time...
...four bags melted together this way makes a nice sturdy strip of weaveable plastic...so...I'll just continue making strips until I run out of bags...and then cut those to fit between the metal bars of the basket...

~Have a lovely day!

Friday, August 27, 2021

...8.27...Mountain Bike--Commuter Bike Conversion...Day 8...

...Before...


Previous Changes:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7

...since I can't work on the fenders any more until the new paint arrives...I thought I'd move on to the basket...
...this was about the best photo I could find of my old basket...it's just your typical 70s style girl's bicycle basket...and it's wider at the top and tapers to the bottom...and it has three cute little flowers on it...

...but it's just not very usuable...it will carry several envelopes from the mailbox...but that's about it...but not if they're big envelopes...or small boxes...and it's not useful at all for the main thing I need to do with the basket and that's ferry books and such back and forth to the Church...

...so...of course what I really want is just a bigger...wider version of that exact thing...haha...
...and this is it...the new larger basket that I got for my birthday...but...it's black...

...of course we already know that the Man thinks black will look just fine on my bike...haha...
...I...however...do NOT...so I set about changing it to what I do want...
...we already had this clean metal primer in the basement...so I decided to use that on this clean metal basket...
...a couple of coats...
...and now I have a nice white base for my big 'woven' basket...more on that in a bit...
...and I'm keeping the adorable little flowers...and I also decided to paint them...to match the bike...but in hindsight...I kinda wish I hadn't...because they've lost their sweet transparency...
...I used some Fusion for plastic from the stash...for a white background...
...and a few squirts that I managed to coax from the used up can of the red Ford touch up paint...I may give them another spritz with the new red paint when it arrives as well...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, August 26, 2021

...8.26...Mountain Bike -- Commuter Bike Conversion...Day 7...

...Before...


Previous Changes:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6

...although I rarely ride my bike in the rain (only if I get caught out in a shower...which has happened)...

...but I often (in the southern summertime anyway) DO ride on wet (sometimes very wet) pavement...
...and the Man snapped this photo of me after one such ride...pre-fender...proving that I really do need fenders...haha...
...so...when the fenders arrived from Germany a few days after my birthday (Thanks Mom!)...I unboxed them and read the instructions...and then searched the interwebs for users who had actually installed them...most said that it took about 2 hours to complete...

...but you may also have noticed that they are black...and although the Man thinks that black will look 'just fine' on my bright red bike...I do not...

...so I brought my bike into the foyer...(I just didn't want to work outside for 2 hours in 95° F heat - 35° C) and did a dry fit with the black fenders...and it took about an hour and a half...then I marked them and made a couple of cuts...where they don't fit between my front and rear fork crowns specifically...these fenders are designed for a cruiser style bicycle...not a mountain bike...so I'm not surprised that they don't 'fit'...it's not a problem though...other than the extra time...I just cut notches out of the plasticized aluminum fenders...happy that I'd gone with the Man's advice and gotten the nice aluminum ones...
...then because it's plastic coated...I gave both fenders a really light sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper...you can see the notches cut out there too...

...and then I carefully (really this time...haha) taped up all the silver bits...and made a liquid mask of Elmer's Glue and dish soap to cover the other bits that I wanted left silver and the little SKS tag too...we'll see if that works...
...then I made a little holder prop for them just using some sticks stuck into the ground...and commenced painting with the same leftover Ford touch up paint that I'd used on the bike...I'd checked that it will actually adhere to plastic...and the can says that it does...not all spray paint does though...
...and then because it was a new can when I'd used it for a tiny spot on the frame...and because I thought that these two fenders were small targets...I was totally astounded when I ran out of paint...without even a good coating on the two fenders...arghhhh...

...so...apparently...Ford really only expects you to do a tiny bit of touching up with this can of paint...haha...but it's only a couple of days wait for Amazon to bring a regular sized can of bright red spray paint...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

...8.25...Mountain Bike--Commuter Bike Conversion...Day 6...

...Before...


Previous Changes:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
...just a little touch up painting today...these rubbings were made when me moved from North Dakota to West Virginia...the movers strapped the bike to the side of the trailer wall...and I guess all of the vibration just wore the paint off this bar...
...so I carefully...haha...taped over the letters...and then...not so carefully...just draped some newspaper of the rest of the bike...
...and used some red touch-up paint that belonged to the Man's old red Ford truck...it's actually a pretty good match for the red on the bike...
...a finished close up...not perfect...but 'good enough'...and definitely better than it was before...

...I used to store the bike in the basement (as pictured above in the 'before' photo) between rides...but I got tired of pushing it up and down the ramp every day...so now I store it in the carport between the truck and the car...and so I chain it to the post there...and it's a lot 'handier' for daily rides...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

...8.24...Mountain Bike--Commuter Bike Conversion...Day 5...

...this is about the best 'before' photo I've got...and it's not very good...

Previous Changes:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

...so...now the hard part...removing the wheels...really only the back one...the front one is pretty easy to remove...
...a bike without wheels doesn't even look like a bike...poor little nekkid bike...
...the old tires and wheels...
...not too shabby for their age...they are probably 12-15 years old...from North Dakota...
...I put the wheels in the tub for a scrub...doesn't everybody wash their wheels in the bathtub...haha...
...I want them to look shiny and new with their fancy new white-wall tires...
...all done and back on the bike...
...and now that she has nice new tires and shiny clean wheels...she needs a whole bath...

~Have a lovely day!