The Flying Pigeon Project

Pimpin' Pigeon

I want to apologize for the look of the blog ahead of time. China now blocks all Typepad blogs, so while I can enter a post, I cannot see what it looks like. So I am typing blind.

With that out of the way, as regular readers know, one of my favorite pursuits is changing and accessorizing my Flying Pigeon. This weekend saw some major upgrading.

First off, I had the black sidewall tires, replaced with Cheng Shin gumwalls. Sure they say GIANT on the side, but of course both Cheng Shin and Giant are Chinese brands so it fits with the overall nature of keeping the bike Chinese. Plus the gumwall nicely compliments the yellow hand pinstriping on the fenders.

Next the pedals were replaced with a new set of  "Diamond Cut" pedals. These are actually about the cheapest pedals you can buy at a whopping 12 kuai. Despite being cheap, they do look great.

But in order to protect them, and to keep the diamond cut bars from rotating too much, I bought a set of pedal protectors at Panjiayuan. Many of the "old hands" use them.

At Panjiayuan, I also acquired the largest brass bell I have ever seen. Ring it and it will resonate for a full 12 seconds afterwards. It's the perfect combination with my exisiting Miller style brass bell like those used by Beijing cycle rickshaws. Two rich brass bells with two different tones.

Of course because brass looks so good with black paint, I installed brass washers and stainless acorn nuts all the way around the bike. This simultaneously takes off the the sharp edges and adds a bit of color.  I had to go all the way to the US to get these fasteners, and would have preferred that they be all brass. However, metric brass seems to be incredibly rare. If anyone knows of a source please contact me.

But I think one of the coolest scores of this week's haul was an authentic Beijing license from the early 2000's. Stainless steel with the number etched in, it attaches to the headstock. Beijing doesn't issue licenses for bicycles anymore, so these are increasingly rare.

The Bike Doctor is In

With so many bicycles on the road in China, you will have breakdowns, and somebody is going to have to fix them. In Beijing and most other Chinese cities you'll find regular bike shops that do repairs, but there are just not enough of these t handle the volume. Bike doctor to the rescue! On street corners and side streets you'll find these men and women with their carts or parts, read to fix a tire or replace a pedal.

If it is early, and the Doctor is NOT in yet, you can sometimes tell where they will be by some carefully placed tires.

But when the doctor is in, He'll be more than happy to help. Tube replacement costs about 35 RMB, or $5. Air is 1 RMB and to have a new cotter pin driven in is 2 RMB.

Of course, the bike doctor has other skills besides fixing bikes. Sometimes they watch a bicycle parking lot making sure nobody makes of with your ride. This will set you back 1/2 RMB. Seemingly, they often make keys and of course sell bike accessories. They will also fix electric bicycles and scooters. Check out the signage below.

Often they combine their trade with other street vendors, such as cobblers and food vendors to make an ersatz street corner Mini mall. In the picture below, you can see a street cobbler at work. Fix your shoes while you fix your tires! Now you're ready to go anywhere!!!

Doing Battle with Rust

Two facts:

1. My wife may not know it, but her Battle brand bicycle is also a brake rod roadster. Sure, with it's welded frame maybe it's not a traditional roadster, but it is a roadster nonetheless. It's got the same old reliable brake rods.

2. When acid rain falls on 30% of the country, you will experience rust and pitted chrome parts, no matter how well you care for your bike.

But how to counter that rust? It is simple: Use steel wool, WD-40, and a cloth. Really you should use copper or bronze wool if you've got it, but I don't, so I am using stainless steel wool. Also, you can use any kind of oil. I am also trying cooking spray.

So how do you use these tools to counter rust. I will use my wife's bike as an example.

Step 1. Spray oil on rust.

Step 2. Rub it down with the steel wool.

Step 3. Wipe the rust off with the cloth.

Step 4. Repeat if necessary. Works like a charm and leaves you with a very nice finish which while not exactly new chrome new, is shiny, clean and shows a nice patina.

As a final note, the cooking spray worked well, but is tougher to wipe off than the WD-40. It tends to smear a bit.

Also, leaving a little WD40 on the chrome surfaces will help repel water, and therefore rust, in the future.

Interlude with Gear Hub

For the record, a gear hub is a little device which replaces your rear wheel hub and gives you 3 gears instead of just 1. British roadsters often had them. The firm of Sturmey-Archer made most of them and you occasionally see them on Chinese bikes too. See the Panjiayuan post for how I acquired it.

First off, there is NO logo whatsoever on the Mystery Hub. Hence, the Mystery. The hub is very thickly chromed with a very, very heavy under layer of copper. It might even be solid copper. It doesn't work, but I think I can fix it with Sturmey Archer parts.

But can I really? I disassembled it to to take a look, but not before spending the better half of an afternoon pouring over Sturmey-Archer literature on Tony Hadland's excellent site.(Included in the link section)

Then, I operate and...

Wierdness sets in.

The hub has no clutch, no clutch spring, and a one part driver and planetary gear cage. The axle isn’t hollow and the sun gear and right side cone are one piece. All different than a Sturmey gear hub.

Say what?

What language is that?

For those of you who dont know what I am talking about, which is probably everyone including myself, let me put it this way: There are mechanical parts, however, there doesn’t seem to be anyway this thing could actually work.

It’s incomplete at best and a bodge job for sure…but maybe, just maybe I can still swap the WHOLE gearbox side for Sturmey Archer innards.

So… I managed to find a Sturmey Archer AW hub locally and disassembled it to compare: NOTHING WILL INTERCHANGE in the gear hub side except maybe the pawl springs. The Mystery Hub innards are diminutive in comparison to the AW and the AW pasrts won't fit inside the Mystery shell.

So I think my idea of repairing the hub with Sturmey parts is forlorn. Mystery not solved...but over anyway, I think. Unless I can find another!! Uh oh. Sounds like another quest.

Pics of the gear hub are located on the left side.