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11/04/05
Cranks, Paint & Packaging
Filed under: general, bike tech
Posted by: The Cyclofiend @ 10:15 am

After a minimum of back-and-forth, the Cross Cranks came off the Poprad and are now headed back to Ritchey. Without extensive digression, the non-drive stripped out, was replaced under warranty and upon remounting, they either (a) slip slightly on the spindle or (b) don’t line up correctly. Ritchey Cross CranksEither way, the result is a set of cranks which are off by about 7 or 8 degrees. For some reason, the Poprad has had cursed cranks - two sets of Profile Carbon cranks cracking and now this. Nevertheless, confidence is high and the folks at Ritchey have seemed concerned. But, the naked bottom bracket spindle mocks me when I look at it. Now that my hip is feeling better, I’ve got no cross bike…

This week also marks the cessation of “quest for spray paint” on the Zeus 650B project. The frame & fork can be seen above. It seems that I’m now the proud owner of a vast palette of “not the right green” aerosol spray cans (also in the above photo), which aggravates me on two levels - first, having to buy them and second, not knowing what the heck to do with them now that I have them. After some talks with Ray at Hyper-Formance, he talked me out of buying “Campus Green” - a Schwinn Kandy color which looks remarkably like the Zeus green. It seems that if the guy trying to sell you something is doing his best to talk you out of it, it probably makes sense to listen. His short rap was that it would look crappy, no matter what. If I was going to pursue repainting, I was best off stripping the frame completely. So, I’m back to model store paint, and the resultant measles effect. In the movie “Day for Night”, there’s a telling quote where Francois Truffaut admits that there’s a point in every film where he just wants to finish it. That’s pretty much where I am now, and the paint was the hangup.

So, with the numerous cans of spray paint sitting on the shelf, I head down to the only bike shop that would be open at 8 pm (you figger it out…) to get a bottle of Pedro’s Bio Cleaner to get the gunk off of the Cross Cranks. Find myself shaking my head as the only way I can purchase it is either in an aerosol spray can or in a $20 blister packed “Cleaning Kit” which has a small bottle of Ice Wax (which I use) and big honking bottle of frame wax (which I don’t.) I’m half tempted to pop the blister pack, swap the spray can for the bottle and see if the UPC will scan up at the register. Does it make sense to have a “Bio” cleaner in an aerosol can? Why is it so tough to have a big bottle of the liquid? I don’t have anything back home that will work except maybe some Windex. Since I want to get the danged cranks shipped out ASAP, I give in, buy the danged spray cans and spend the rest of the evening outside muttering while cleaning.

Commute Head Tunes:
“My Generation” The Who
“Black Horse & the Cherry Tree”(?) K.T. Tunstall

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