Mobile Music

Pedal powered fairground ride !

Well I have been busy running around working so I have got behind with my blogging. Not too long ago we went down to the Saturday morning farmer's market and ran across the yearly bicycle awareness ride which I had forgotten about. A sort of townhall sponsored (this year !) "Critical Mass". Previously it was all unauthorized and critical of townhall's lack of intrest in everything bike related. What with the massive green vote recently things are changing. This year it was pretty organised and there were a loads of bike "events".

Leading the ride !

There was the local bike shop selling bikes on site, and the local bicycle association that had all sorts of odd bikes on show and a mechanic to give advice (who I asked about my previous blog post front wheel doubts and he said it would be ok as long as I didn't load too much).

Flower power

When they saw me they asked me to park up the Yuba Mundo on the show stand and I spent part of the morning answering questions and giving couples rides on the back around the square which was really fun. Then a jazz band turned up in all sorts of pedalcars, and a Bakfiet three wheeler bike that came in at around 60kg the guy said.

Here I am giving a musician a lift and answering questions about the Yuba Mundo

Then off we went around town playing jazz and spreading the good word about bikes. We didn't go un noticed or unheard ! I had one of my kids and a brass player without transport on the back of the Yuba.

Mobile music

Shade break

A great day out again and we got a load of smiles.

9mm QR or 10mm bolt through

This was fun. (Ok, I was bored in bed with a cold)

As it was raining and this is what I had been thinking about all morning, I went out to the garage, got my Vernier Callipers out and got measuring. Not something you think or talk about generally, but may be of interest to some people in my situation. Keep in mind that my Vernier Calliper is a cheap and nasty item so these measurements may be "slightly" off.

1. Rockshox Tora 289 disc fork had a perfect 9.00mm slot for axles on one side and 9.10 on the other. Oooh ! Probably paint and muck.

2. Steel MTB non-disc V brake fork had a 9.75mm slots for the 9mm QR axle supplied. Ahhhh ! (I must have done 1000 miles on this fork, often loaded like a donkey.) Looked OK.

3. Yuba Mundo V3 disc fork had a 10.10mm slot and a perfect 10mm on the other leg. Cooorr ! Probably paint again making for the difference.

4. My "standard" 9mm QR axle came in at 8,82mm in diameter... argh !

5. My original V2 Yuba Mundo front axle came in at 9.52mm diameter... ( I could see a slight gap between it and the drop out.) Looked OK.

My questions;

Is it Ok to run a standard 9mm QR in a 10.10ish slot with brake discs ? I get the feeling some people are going to do this without seeing an issue.

Or do I need a special 9,52mm axle disc hub up front ?

Looking at the numbers and fitted it looks really sloppy, it would probably work for a ride around the block, but discs do load axles, so I am faffing around on the internet trying to find somebody with THE knowledge. The Yuba is such a pick and mix of fun industry standards that it is quite unique and not always easy to follow on the best of days

My worry since I first popped a wheel in these forks is that the gap between the 9mm axle and the larger fork drop out slot edge would allow flex/axle movement/slip under load, over stress the skewer and/or make the brakes/forks judder. Or even lead to wheel loss.

I hope that this will be a simple general knowledge question, and that the cough medecine will wear off soon and my mind will clear.

I will probably learn that each manufacturer is slightly off the industry standard anyway depending on the day of the week or whats on the radio, that bike manufacturing is not aerospace manufacturing. But this is a bit off for me. I want to keep my teeth and avoid front wheel loss incidents...

Aren't home builds fun... there is always something that you don't know for sure... and this must be my 20th something bike build !

Opinions and knowledge welcome !

Slow progress

I have been pretty busy recently, but I managed to fit the headset and forks this afternoon as I was off ill. Yes I should have been in bed, I know, but prefered to sweat it out in the garage. I had not fitted a threaded fork in a long time I realised. Still have the special spanner though.


For some reason I thought I had the right quill stem. Here is proof that a 1 inch one will not fit the Yuba Mundo' headset, which is a 1 1/8th inch threaded one if I remember correctly. Also I had the wrong seat clamp, I think it needs to be the bigger 34.9mm one. I say "I think" because I can't see the info anywhere on the web. I had the 31.8mm version, which is also the seat post dia but not much help otherwise. A quick internet trawl sorted that problem with some secondhand items for not alot...

V2 (Green) and V3 (Orange) seat tube external diameter. Thicker paint on the V2 ? Or rather perhaps I need to get a new vernier calliper...

Found a nice new SRAM 9 speed gear shifter to go on the handlebars, some grips. A new SLX rear mech and two SRAM chains in my parts bin. ( A sports shop went bust last year here and I picked up some bargains).
We were planning to go for a ride tomorrow but every one says storms are on their way, so maby not...