Nothing is ever certain when working with factories 8,000 miles away. Our last shipment is a good example. Two of the items I was most looking forward to didn't make the shipment. The new two-legged kickstands and the Dia Compe guidonnet levers were delayed. We buy from many factories that ship our products to our agent's warehouse, rather that directly to us, where it is consolidated into a single air or sea shipment. But production delays mean that some items don't make it by the ship date. Since both the kickstand and the levers are brand new, it's not surprising that there were delays in the very first production run.
Our new anti-theft hub skewers did arrive. Unfortunately we incorrectly speced the length of the rear skewer (they only fit frames with 135mm rear spacing); just a simple mistake. But now we have to wait for replacement parts to make them fit other spacing. These use a special Allen wrench (it has a hole in the tip) that should deter most wheel thieves.
Our new saddles with the copper rivets are also delayed a few weeks. The factory missed a detail in our specs, the anti-stretch laminate on the underside. Again, just a simple mistake of the sort we all make.
On the other hand, the new Dia Compe cable clips are perfect. These are great for restorations and for securing shift cables on internal hub conversions. And they are available in all three common steel tubing sizes, 25.4mm, 28.6mm, and 31.8mm.
24 June, 2009
Little Problems
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20 comments:
Just had to buy an entire set of anti-theft skewers when all I needed was the front. (The rear is has track nuts and a solid axle. Now if you could design anti-theft rear track nuts...)
Any chance you might consider just the front skewers from this first run?
Thanks Chris.
Great . . . Great?
First you do the Frenchy BB and now traditional cable clips - damn.
All the parts I've been hoarding for the last fifteen or more
years . . .
Thanks VO - now I'll have to rely on Social Security and eating pet food instead of being able to retire comfortably by selling my "stash" to scruffy bike people addicted to sniffing shellac fumes.
+1 on selling front skewers alone; I too have a nutted rear axle.
Probably there is a market for these, given the resurgent popularity of internal hubs.
I will second the request for front only theft deterrent skewers. I actually have two bikes that need the front skewer only.
Stahl
what was the resultant length of the rear skewers? Based on the counting of squares method of measurement, and assuming the shorter one is at 100mm spacing, they may play well with OMM racks, and the longer required axel?
Mis speced parts could still have many uses
Thank you for stocking cable clips for tubes larger than 1" diameter. I was looking for these a while back, couldn't find them, and almost settled on some stick-on guides instead.
The rear skewers, as they are now, will only fit 135mm rear spacing. The new ones will work with 126mm to 135mm spacing.
We may sell just the front ones. I need to see what the deal would be if we ordered them separately. Plus we had them pre-packaged in nice little sets of two.
Are you going to sell any skewer sets with the existing 135mm rears? I'd buy a set today if I could. I've heard that many people use that size.
Okay. The skewers are now for sale and at a lower price since they only fit frames with 135mm rear spacing. They are in the new products area on the front page of the store.
Out of curiosity, which tubing size is 25.4mm?
I think the metal clips are an awesome idea for those who want to convert a modern fixie frame into something more versatile, like an internally geared hub or singlespeed. Thanks for making them in the multiple sizes.
mburdge
couldn't you just cut the threads lower on the sqewer so that they will fit a 126mm dropout? Or is the problem that the free nut is the one that takes the key, so then the extra length can't protrude from the end when the sqewer is being tightened down? If so, then you can just instruct the user on how to cut the sqewer down with a hacksaw (you still need to cut the threads for them though).
Allan
If one was so inclined, couldn't someone just cut the excess threaded length off the end of the skewer so it would fit a narrower spacing? Surely there's not enough threaded length to cut down to 120 mm...but maybe 130?
The only problem is that the threading doesn't go down far enough for hubs narrower than 135mm.
The outside measurement on dropouts with spacing for a 126mm hub is usually about 134-136mm. So when the factory confirmed the spacing we thought it was outside spacing while they gave us inside spacing.
Perfect timing on the anti-theft skewers, Chris! My brand new Rivendell frame needs locking skewers and I've been unable until now to find any that I'd be willing to put on my bike. I have a 135mm spacing and a set is now on order! Cheers
--Karl
"On the other hand, the new Dia Compe cable clips ... in all three common steel tubing sizes, 25.4mm, 28.6mm, and 31.8mm."
What?! No 25.0 for French Reynolds top tubes, like my old Peugeot? Is there a bit of gap remaining on the 25.4 when tightened, such that it would clamp to 25.0?
Actually, the old Metric-diameter top tubes are 26.0 mm in diameter, not 25. They are a bit larger than the British TTs. Metric down and seat tubes are 28.0, which is 0.6 mm smaller than British.
Chris, will a normal allen key work with the skewers, or not? In the photo the key appears to have a small hole drilled in the end. I like the skewers but wonder what I'll do if I lose the one special key and I need to fix a flat, for instance.
The whole idea anti-theft deal is that a normal Allen wrench won't work, but we'll be getting extra wrenches in the next shipment so you can always get a spare.
I'm forgetful enough that I'd have to wear the special key on a chain around my neck. Maybe I can drill out the pin from the female nut so a regular key can fit it, then I'd only be vulnerable to thieves who carry allen keys, which is probably good enough for where I usually ride. I'm going to order a set.
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