"Hoops, there it is!"

Hoping to give myself some direction for the build I have landed on a fixed gear/single gear setup. Thus, I made a trip to the co-op for some subsidized purchases.
I really wanted to set my aluminum frame up this way instead of my new Pake, steel frame but the aluminum has vertical drop outs (don't really like the look of a tensioner). I bought two Alex hoops, and a rear hub to suit and will spend the day tomorrow once again building a rear wheel.

 It's a deep-V hub so that's a first.  I heard they're a bit more frustrating.  Guess we'll see.

I built my first wheel!

I am pretty excited, let me tell you.
Last night I got the spokes and nipples for the wheel build and I figured it would make a fun weekend project.  Well, I pretty much couldn't help myself so I laced the wheel last night, and then trued it up the rest of the way today.

Here's the wheel...

Other than that the Sturmey-Archer three-speed hub is quite heavy and made things awkward, the whole build was actually not that difficult.  I expected to get a lot more frustrated.

At first I kind of messed up the lacing.  So I sat and stared at the pattern for about 20 minutes until the answer just came to me.  Like the guy in "A Beautiful Mind" it was like I suddenly saw the pattern.  I had the series slightly out of order.  Thankfully the fix was easy and didn't require me to disassemble the whole thing.

I originally wanted to use brass nipples but the LBS doesn't have any to spare right now, so I used stainless.  For my daughter's purposes I am pretty confident this will do just fine.  Perhaps one day she will rebuild her rebuild and switch them out.

The lads at my bike co-op loaned me a Park wheel true stand.  They're always a big help.  Cheers to them.

I must say that this is quite addictive.  I am certain that I will need to engage a new build as soon as this one is done.  Maybe I'll just volunteer more hours at the co-op.

Anyhow, won't be long now before I have the finished product.

Stopping in for a quick fix

One of the neat things I have along my commute is a bicycle co-op.  It's the New Hope Bike Co-Op.  Right now its only $5 to join for a lifetime!  However, I challenged them on that yesterday.  In order to be sustainable and to not be taken advantage of I recommended that they come up with a better fee structure.  I told them that I would be very willing to pay a higher, annual rate in order to use their facility.  In fact, they are looking into other models.

The model I don't like are the ones that are "too" expensive!  They just sort of drive you back to your LBS anyhow.  So there must be a balance.  In the interim I think we are all benefitting from the $5 fee.  Whoot!

The shop was nice and empty when I came in! 

They have beautiful Park repair stands.