My Little Frankenstien

My friend John at the MoBo bicycle co-op helped me tons and tons today building my first bicycle wheel ever. It took solidly 3 hours, but was only moderately frustrating thanks to John. In case you were wondering it is the original steel rim with a fix/fix TH32 36 hole black hub and spokes in a 3-cross pattern. The tire is one that I got used from MoBo and is a 27" 1 3/8ths, which is kind of wide, but it was cheap. Now all I have to do is find another one... and a sprocket for the back. I'm thinking a fixed 15t will go quite nicely with the 42t on my crankset, but I am still debating the merits of a freewheel. One more wheel to go and she'll be up and moving, my little frankenstein.

Rusty Sprockets!

Ok, you're going to look at this picture and think I'm crazy, but remember my new old bicycle? Then you remember how rusty parts of it were. I'm not a big fan of using chemicals on... well, anything. So I googled rust removal, and came up with this crazy combination of things that works really well. Lime juice and aluminum foil. No joke. Buy some limes, make sure to cut them with a sharp knife, it gives you more juice that way, and rub the lime all over whatever it is that you're trying to de-rust. Then wad up some aluminum foil and rub it on the limey rust. The lime juice will turn sort of grayish, and the rust will come off. If you're trying to remove a lot of rust, you're going to have to recycle your aluminum foil and get new several times. Remember to keep rubbing it with the lime, the juicier it is the better it will work. When you're all done, wash the metal that you've cleaned, or else it will be sticky from the limes. This process takes a while, but it's pretty satisfying when you're done.