• Wheel Building

    Building a Wheel

    I built my first wheel, and it rolls. The rear wheel on the single speed was getting a little bent, and I wanted to give the fixed gear a try. I wanted a cheap durable wheel, so here is what I built: A Suzue flip-flop 36 hole hub, Shimano Dura-Ace 16t track sprocket and lock ring, ACS 16t freewheel, Sun CR18 rim, DT swiss spokes and Spline Drive red alloy nipples. The spoke pattern on this wheel is 180° of black spokes with the other 180° silver. I used The Bicycle Wheel by Jobst Brandt and the help of Karl at Klunk.

    The process was easier than I anticipated. The only tough part was the final truing. Starting with a cheap rim probably made this step a little more difficult than it should have been. Whatever the case, I think I may need my own truing stand so I can fix/build my own wheels in the future.

    I’ll post updates on the fixed gear learning curve. Prior to building the wheel I had ridden a fixed gear, but only briefly. I’ve took the singlespeed around the block with no problems, though my skip stops need a lot of work…

  • An Observation…

    Media Remotes

    Here we have two “media” remotes. The one on the left is the standard remote you get with any Intel based Mac. On the right we find a remote from a new HP laptop. Both remotes are intended to control multimedia applications. The Apple uses Front Row, and the HP uses Microsoft Media Center.

    The Apple remote has six buttons. The HP remote has twenty three buttons. Both remotes offer similar functions. Why all the extra buttons on the HP remote? The HP remote has no less than ten directional buttons while the Apple has four. Other buttons are similarly redundant. Furthermore, the HP remote is shaped like a small grand piano that is neither visually attractive or ergonomically sound (Don’t believe me? Try using it with your left hand). The Apple remote is, well shaped like a remote. It is both aesthetically pleasing, functional, and easy to use. I think this small example of the PC world vs. the Mac world clearly demonstrates what is wrong with PCs.

    Can the HP remote be fixed? Of course. Here is a crude Photoshop hack of what the HP remote should have been. I even included some extra buttons whose function is a little unclear. What exactly is the circular arrow button? What is a box with two vertical lines on each side?

    Fixed

  • The Snow is Still Here

    Snowy SID

    I had not ridden since November due to snow. Today I rode. The snow is still here. I only managed 3.23 miles in 21 minutes with one crash and many, many near crashes. Although I wasn’t on the bike long, the new SID seems to work well, but isn’t new and clean anymore. Oh well. I’ll wait a few more days and try again.