Alex Wetmore is always busy with something…

I started on this fixture a couple of months ago, then back burnered it.  A couple of weeks ago I started to get active again and this weekend I was able to put the finishing touches on it.  I’m really excited about how it’s come out. 

It is highly insipired by the Arctos Frame Jig that was designed by Gary Helfrich.  The details and implementation are different, but it is setup in the same way and I copied the basic overall shape and virtual BB pivot of the Arctos.  I always liked the idea of the Arctos Frame Jig because it was made of T-Slot extrusion (in my case I’m using 15-series 8020).  That makes the fixture a bit more modular (so that I can reconfigure it for different needs) and kept the largest pieces that I needed to machine relatively small.  It doesn’t make it easier or cheaper to make the fixture compared to other designs, there are still over a dozen custom cut parts on here which required high precision and 8020 extrusion is not cheap.

A key feature of this fixture is that every adjustment is locked independently.  My old fixture had many parameters locked with the same few bolts.  With the old one if I screwed up a miter and made a tube 1mm too short I’d spend 20 minutes rejiggering everything and getting it all aligned again.  On the new fixture I’d just need to unlock a couple of handles, slide one part to make the small adjustment, and lock them again. 

It was really important to me to have a fixture that makes it easy to install and remove the frame. This fixture makes it easy, you just raise the upper head tube and seat tube cones, release the dummy axle using the quick release, and remove the shaft collar that holds the bottom bracket in place. Many other designs have solid rods which run through the head tube and use many more clamps around frame tubing, but I didn’t want mess with all of that.

This new fixture is much easier to configure than my old one.  The basic measurements required are:

• X and Y from the center of the bottom bracket to the bottom of the head tube (438mm Y, 451.7mm X in the drawing below)
• Head tube angle
• Seat tube angle
• Bottom bracket drop
• Chainstay length
• Head tube length
• Seat tube length

Here is a drawing for the next frame that I’m building which shows these dimensions (in red).  It also lists dimensions for mitering (in cyan).  That is basically everything that I need to make the frame.  This bike will be my new commuter, replacing my Novara Fusion.

The fixture will have scales which allow for direct reading of the first 4 items listed.  Currently there isn’t a permanent scale for the X offset, but I have a simple solution of clamping a ruler in place.  I did make direct reading scales for the head tube angle and seat tube angle, shown here:

The bottom bracket drop also is set from an easy to read scale.  The alignment of the bottom of the dummy axle with the scale shows you the bottom bracket drop (74mm in this example):

It isn’t obvious from photos, but a tricky part of the Arctos Jig (and this one) is that the BB position stays static as you adjust the seat tube angle.  The same is true for the bottom of the head tube.  The seat tube angle adjustment has a virtual pivot point around the bottom bracket despite not having anything connected to that pivot point.  That is done with two slots that are concentric around the bottom bracket.  I cut these on my baby sized CNC mill, this would be a much harder operation to do on a manual machine.  The HTA block has a real pivot which is aligned to be directly under the bottom of the head tube.

The rear triangle setup is pretty easy.  There is a rear triangle tower that has a quick release dummy axle holder that is centered with respect to the tube cones.  It can be slid back and forth by opening two handles, and then you can read the rear chainstay length using a ruler:

Arctos Jigs use solid aluminum for the standoffs to this rear tower.  I hate drilling really deep holes in solid aluminum, so I used 80/20 which already has a hollow cavity down the middle.  The end plates that I made keep the threaded shaft for the locking T-Nuts in place:

I used the bottom bracket post from my old jig, but I’ve always been proud of this design.  The key is using an adjustable locking shaft collar (about $30 from McMaster Carr).  That shaft collar gives me a fine adjustment for the offset so that I can handle 68mm to 73mm bottom brackets easily.  Removing the outer locking shaft collar frees up the frame.  The rod running through the bottom bracket is solid 5/8″ steel and is plenty beefy. 

I’ve already been asked if I’m going to make this fixture as a kit.  The simple answer is no for two good reasons:

1. It isn’t my design.  I wouldn’t feel comfortable selling anything that was so heavily copied from an existing source.
2. There are a lot of parts in this fixture that were done on my manual mill and which require a good precision.  I think that a realistic estimate would be 15-20 hours of labor per fixture.  I just don’t have that amount of free time and would rather use what I have to build frames, spend time with my family and friends, ride my bike, etc.

However I am helping Alistair Spence make one of these fixtures for his shop.  I’m excited about the possiblities of us both having compatible fixtures, it opens up options to make unusual hybrids for building tandems or cargo bikes somewhere down the line.

I’m writing this post while on limited sleep, so hopefully it makes at least a little sense.  If you have questions leave comments here, on my smugmug (permanent), or my flickr (free account, so photos will fall off over time).  There are more photos published in both locations than in this blog entry, and you can find high resolution versions of all photos there.

As I mentioned in a recent blog post I’m building a new commuter frame and fork.  I’ll be moving all of the parts over from a Novara Fusion that I bought.  That includes the disk brakes.

I don’t like most disk brake rigid forks because they are either straight blades or have a really ugly bend to them.  I wanted to build something that looked a bit more traditional.  This presents an interesting design challenge though, since disk brakes are known to “unrake” forks with a tight bend.  My solution was to make some custom dropouts that extend far above the disk caliper into the more stout portion of the fork.  The dropouts had the match the bend on the fork blades.  I still consider this an experiment until I’ve put some hard riding on the fork.

I love the results!   It still isn’t as elegant as a nice flat crowned fork with a brazed on centerpull, but it doesn’t look half bad.

The brazeon count is a bit out of control.  There are eyelets near the bend for fender mounts, eyelets at the midfork and embedded into the crown for mounting a porteur rack, and a simple cable guide for keeping the brake cable out of the way. 

I did use a trick.  The brake is a “rear” disk brake because those are mounted inline with the dropout.  “Front” ISO disk brakes are offset by 4mm from the dropout, and that wouldn’t have allowed me to make one piece for both the dropout and the disk mount.  I wanted a single piece because it saved me from making a fixture for the disk brake mount or making a really complicated dropout.

The dropout has Keith Anderson TITO stainless inserts brazed in.

Next up: finish up the new frame jig and build the frame.  A rack might come out around the same time.

I spent a rainy Saturday finishing up 6 fork fixture kits.  The 5 prototypes that I made have been in use for about 6 months now and everyone who has reported back has been very happy with the kit.  The fork jig is designed to be fast to setup, accurate, and to provide a lot of brazing access.

For $90+$10 shipping you get this:

With the assembly instructions, around $100 in other parts, and an hour of time you can turn it into this:

 This is probably the only batch of kits that I’ll have available for a while, I want to make progress on some of my other projects. Email me (alex at phred dot org) if you’d like one and I’ll send you an invoice via PayPal.  Seattle residents can pick them up in person and save $10.

Sorry, I’m not shipping internationally right now.  I will start that back up in the spring.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in my kayak or thinking about paddling this year.  It isn’t a replacement for cycling, just another thing that I’m enjoying.

Earlier this summer I bought a used Valley Nordkapp kayak.  I’m really loving this boat (I like the one that I made in my class last spring too, but I like this one even more).  I’ve been taking classes and learning new skills and recently added a few nice toys to the boat recently to help with that.

When I’m practicing rolls and rescues it is nice to be able to get all of the water out of my boat quickly and easily.  In rough conditions it is even nicer to be able to empty the boat while being able to use my paddle for bracing.  I was going to put together my own electric bilge pump setup, but Blue Water Kayaks sells a kit that does the job nicely.  There is a battery pack and pump behind my seat:

The big blue box has the battery and electronics.  It is held to the bulkhead with some bungie cords.  Underneath there is a small 500 gallon per hour pump that can be run off of the battery.  It is glued to a piece of foam which is glued to the floor of my kayak.

The bilge pump sends the water out a hose which runs to the front of my kayak’s cockpit and out through a small port on the top of the kayak:

On the rear bungie line you can see a big black box.  That is a magnetic which turns the switch on and off for the pump.  Getting that switch right is the hard part about building your own electric bilge pump, and it is nice that Blue Water Kayaks does a good job for you.

I carry a second paddle on the front of my kayak.  That paddle can be used if my primary paddle breaks or is lost, or just if I want to use a different style of paddle.  My boat already had bungies for carrying the paddle there, but the end of the paddle was scratching up the boat.  Today I had some unexpected free time and made a holder that the ends of the paddle shaft can sit in, saving the surface of the kayak.

There is nothing special here, they are just tubes of heavy duty pack cloth with some webbing that ties them to the deck lines.  The only innovation that I can offer is the use of a ziptie (any stiff plastic would do) put into the front hem that will keep the tubes open at all times so that I can easily put the paddle away.  If you don’t want to make your own then just get the North Water Paddle Britches which do the same thing in a more stylish way.

Tomorrow I head out for a two day kayak camping trip in south Puget Sound and I look forward to trying out some of this new gear.

A couple of months ago I bought a 2009 Novara Fusion bikes on closeout from REI:

The REIs around Seattle had a small number of these for half of their original price.  The bike came with front and rear Alfine hubs, generator lighting, fenders, a rear rack (that I removed), a chainguard, and disk brakes.  Not bad for under $500!

There are some nice details.  This taillight is battery powered and turns on automatically turns on if the bike is moving and it is dark out.  Sadly it uses a non-standard N battery, otherwise it is nicer (in brightness and function) than the Planet Bike Fenderbot.

There is a cool bell that is built into the brake lever that I’ll have to take a photo of later.

The disk caliper is tucked away on the chainstay, out of the way of the seatstay and rack and fender mounting.  The dropout even has provisions for the included kickstand:

I did replace a few components.  The stock cranks were wide and not very nice, so I put on something better.  I also replaced the tires, pedals, handlebars, and grips.

My next project is to replace the fork and frame with ones that I build.  The Novara frame has a reasonable geometry and fits me alright, but I don’t like the very stiff aluminum.  The fork needs more rake if it is going to work well with a porteur rack.

Tubing arrived for the new frame this week.  I’m using Pacenti Slant Six lugs with True Temper Verus HT 8/5/8 oversized tubing.  The lugs will keep the sloping top tube of the Novara, a feature that I like because it makes it a bit easier to loan the bike to friends who are shorter than me.  I don’t like the chain tensioner that came with the Novara, so I’m going to switch to the Engin/Paragon Rocker dropouts which have chain tensioning built in:

I think I’ll make my own front dropout that incorporates the disk mount and which extends high up the fork blade.

I’ve also been riding my last project all summer, but haven’t posted a photo of it since having it powder coated.  I still don’t consider the bike done because I haven’t built the light weight rear wheel or had the stem and rack chromed.  I’ve still put over 1000 miles on the bike in this unfinished state, so I maybe I should call it finished.

I love this bike.  It is fast, light, handles well, and looks nice.

Reminder: I also have a blog over at http://roughstuffnw.org that has occasional trip reports.  I posted one last weekend about riding the Mountain Loop Highway.

Hammock camping at the Suiattle River

I’ve been camping with my Hennessey Hammock for 10 years now.  I’ve used it snow, hard rain, and in warm summer conditions.  During that time I’ve spent more time fiddling with hammock gear than the rest of my camping gear combined. In the end I just bought the accessories that I should have gotten in the beginning: a good down underquilt and top quilt.  The underquilt is a down blanket which hangs underneath the hammock to provide insulation that doesn’t get compressed.  Without one the hammock is pretty chilly if temps are below 60F outside.  The quilt wraps up high around the hammock and is the warmest and most comfortable setup for the hammock.

I started to think about the real costs of the hammock with this gear and was a bit stunned at how expensive the setup really is.

Costs and weights for my hammock setup (weights are measured on my kitchen scale):

Costs and weights for a bivy setup:

Both of these are lightweight setups suitable for one person camping down to around freezing.  The sleeping bag prices are based on current closeout Rab bags from http://www.departmentofgoods.com, non-closeout prices on comparable bags are easily double that.  The pad and sleeping bag used for the bivy setup are also ideal for tent camping (when sharing shelter with someone else), while the Hammock underquilt and top quilt are more special purpose items.  The bivy also works in more places, the tent limits me to camping with the trees.  Either setup just about fills a small Ortlieb pannier when packed.  There are cheaper and lighter bivy options, I have this one because I got a very good deal on it ($20 lightly used).  If I were buying a new one I’d look at the $90 REI Minimalist.

You can use a hammock with a sleeping pad and a normal sleeping bag, but it isn’t nearly as comfortable or lightweight.  I think that it is a good way to try out a hammock, but if you get into a hammock I’d expect to upgrade to at least a nice underquilt over time.  I don’t think I could recommend a hammock to someone on a budget, a lightweight tent or bivy is a more flexible setup to buy into.

Despite all of that I love my hammock.  If you can afford a good hammock setup I don’t think you’ll find a more comfortable night of sleep.

If you are into hammocks and are under 6′ tall get the Rab Quantum Top Bag while you can.  This is a sleeping bag with no insulation on the bottom.  I slit the bottom sheet in half and hemmed it (which took about 30 minutes) and ended up with a very nice top quilt for half the price of any other option.  A quilt is ideal for the Hennessey Hammocks because it is hard to zip up a sleeping bag from inside the hammock.

I went out to the Kettle River (the northeast corner of the state) to visit John and his family. They have a nice piece of land that is right on the river, next to a 3 mile dead end road that goes through national forest, and with almost no neighbors. Great dirt road and paved road riding abounds, and when you get back and it is hot and sunny you can jump into the river and go for a float.

We went on two rides. The first was an out and back on a dirt road going up a mountain. We saw 0 vehicles but about 20 cows that wouldn’t get out of our way for a few miles. The second ride was a loop that went a little over 20 miles and we saw 10 cars, despite being on paved roads. It had one climb, lots of rollers, and better scenery than I can find near Seattle. I’m surprised that there aren’t more cyclists heading out this way for vacations.

In the evenings I had fun hanging out with John’s family by the fire and eating some excellent food.  It also helped to see a bit more blue sky than we’ve had on the western side of the state this year.

I enjoyed this view for much of the weekend.

This view is across the river and up some hills from the fire pit

Liza enjoying some time by the river at one of the fishing spots

I took this photo because the sky and landscape looked awesome. When I got back to the house Liza (who was riding behind me) said "Did you get a good photo of that moose?" They thought I had stopped for the Moose, which you can see if you look carefully to the right of the road.

Full moon, river views, good company

'Stine, who used to work at Free Range Cycles, now lives in Eastern WA. She dropped by on Friday and made a very nice paella on the fire.

There seemed to be an endless collection of fire roads to explore

These cows insisted on riding with us for about 5 miles. It was slow and smelly,but they finally found a field to stop at

I brought my new folding kayak and paddled down the river a couple of times

An old farm that we rode past on a ride. We headed into the valley beside it...great riding and no traffic.

wildflowers and a barn

Lake Roosevelt was created by daming the Columbia River. There are some lost towns under it.

This trike is many sizes too large for Maddie,but she handles it better than any of the adults

It’s been a pretty cold and wet spring in Seattle this year.  In most years I’ve already spent a week’s worth of nights outside by this time, but this year I’ve barely done any camping.  That is changing now.

On Friday I made a quick getaway (by car) to a nearby National Forest and did some semi-wilderness camping with a few good friends.  This is one of my favorite spots and I hope to be out there again a few more times before the year is done.  It’s really nice having a camping trip that can kick off at the end of work Friday and still be back home by the morning on Saturday.

On Thursday I’m heading east for 4 days of camping and riding with John Speare, hanging out by another great river.  The weekend after that I’m heading for an overnight kayak trip to Blake Island.  Finally, summer feels like it is here.

Scroll past the text if you just want to see photos…

Christine and I spent 6 days in Iceland last week.  Now that I’ve been there I know that 6 days isn’t anywhere close to enough.

Iceland is a beautiful country.  It also has a few major oddities.  The first is the wind, it’s always going and it’s strong.  The second is that there are hardly any trees.  Apparently the original settlers used them up in the first 100 years.  The country once had 25% tree cover, now it is less than 1%.  Finally, since we were there near summer solstice it never seemed to get dark.  Even when I woke up at 2am on our first night I found a beautiful sunset, but it never got darker than twilight.

We spent 2 nights in Reykjavik, 2 nights in Isafjordur, and 1 night near Þingvellir (the Þ is pronounced th) National Park, with a lot of driving (about 700km) in between.  Reykjavik is the largest city in Iceland, but it is still pretty small.  The downtown core/tourist area was easily walkable.  We spent our first day in the city wandering around, and on our second day we took a bus out to the Blue Lagoon.  The Blue Lagoon is a huge thermal pool that uses the waste water from a geothermal power station as it’s water source.  It felt great and was very relaxing.

On our third day we picked up a rental car and started to head north.  We didn’t have an exact plan in mind, but a convenient ferry schedule made up our minds for us.  We arrived just in time to catch the ferry to the West Fjords.  The West Fjords make up the northwest corner of the country and are one of the most remote population areas.  The drive from the ferry north had incredible scenery and was about half gravel roads.  When we arrived in Isafjordur late that evening we made arrangements to go kayaking with North Explorers on a trip called “Hot Pots” that promised some more hot springs relaxation.

The weather and tides weren’t in our favor for the kayaking trip.   We went out with the group and found a lot of chop in the main part of the fjord.  We then tried to get into a more protected area, but couldn’t make it pass the current coming through a narrow bridge (the tide was going out).  Our guide actually capsized there when attempting it.  So we got out of the kayaks, carried them across the road, and paddled on the inside.  The chop was gone there, but there was still a very strong wind.  We went downwind for a little while and enjoyed looking at the seals, there were tons of them including many seal pups.  Turning around and paddling into the wind was very hard going.  About half of the group actually walked back, but Christine and I were among those who braved the wind and paddled back.

The night after our kayak trip we went out to dinner with everyone that we had gone paddling with.  We went to a resturant called “Tarhouse” that only had two things on the menu, fish soup and fish.  The fish that they offered was only what had been caught that day.  We ordered enough of both for everyone at the table and had a great dinner and the best meal that we’d found in Iceland (also served by some very nice people).  It was really good to hang out with some other travelers.

The next morning we started to head south again.  We only had one more night, but didn’t really have a destination in mind.  At about lunch time I decided that we should see if we can make it to Þingvellir National Park, part of a popular tour called the “Golden Circle”.  After another long drive over gravel roads with amazing scenery we came to a very nice hotel called Hotel Hengill that was next to Þingvellir lake.  Christine enjoyed some time in the sauna while I enjoyed watching the view out of our hotel room.

On our last day we went on a short hike near the hotel, then went over to Þingvellir to explore.  Þingvellir is where the concept of the parliment was first created (I had always incorrectly assumed that it was an English invention) and the park has many historical areas related to that.  It also had some incredible scenery and what felt like all of the tourists in Iceland (compared to a US park it was lightly attended, but compared to what we had seen so far it felt very busy).  We found a little used trail to walk on down a ravine, then came back through the historical area.

I didn’t know what to expect when we planned on going to Iceland, but I really enjoyed it.  The scenery is incredible and it was very relaxing being in a place where there are hot springs in almost every city.  I hope we can visit again someday and see more of the country.

Houses in Reykjavik

This is what 2am looks like. Twilight, but not dark.

This Cathedral in Reykjavik is very prominent on the skyline. The texture also reminded me of what a Lego cathedral might look like.

The Perlan sits just outside of downtown and collects hot water from geothermal sources which is then distributed throughout the city for hot water and heating. There were nice views and an ice cream shop at the top of it.

Blue Lagoon

Christine enjoying the hot springs at the Blue Lagoon

A nice view on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula

First view of the West Fjords

Multi-tiered Falls on the West Fjords

Arctic Terns fishing on our kayak trip.

Seals on our kayak trip

Hot Springs that we enjoyed after paddling. Yes, that is a hot tub full of hot springs water the size of a swimming pool.

Cod cheek skillet for 4. They were very tasty.

Driving in the West Fjords involves a lot of going around fjords like this one. It takes about 20 minutes to go around a normal sized one.

Those three mountains might look like they are next to each other, but there are fjords in between each one.

Mountain Hut at the top of the one of the passes

Farm Field

This is my best waterfall photo, and as far as I know these two waterfalls don't even have a name. We parked by the side of the road and hiked back to check them out.

A random good view from the road back to Thingvellir NP

Hiking near Þingvellir Lake. The weather changed every few minutes, from rain to sun and back again.

We enjoyed hiking along this ravine in Þingvellir NP.

A historic church in Þhingvellir NP

All Photos

I’m in Oslo, Norway for work again and have a couple of days to myself.  My plan today was to rent a mountain bike, but by the time I found the rental place they were closed.  My GPS showed tons of trails in the area though, so I just started walking.

I quickly came to a sign that said “Velkommen til Nordmarka.”  Awesome, that was my backup plan anyway!  Nordmarka just means “north woods” and is a huge forested area in the northern part of Oslo.  This isn’t something small like Central Park in NYC, or Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, the Nordmarka just keeps on going and going and going (click the map and zoom out to see).  The coolest thing is that I got there by taking the T-bane (aka, the subway).

I looked at the map and started hiking towards the closest lake, figuring it might be pretty.  Once I was there I picked out another lake and hiked to there.  By the 3rd lake I figured I had a theme going and mapped out a sequence of lakes that would take me back to a different T-bane station on a different line.  The whole walk was about 18km (a bit over 11 miles) and I barely saw anyone, while hiking inside the city limits!

I’ve often dreamt of living in a city where one could take public transit to wilderness, spend the day or a weekend there (camping is allowed and popular in the Nordmarka) and easily get back home.  The closest thing that I’ve found was Wellington, NZ, but Oslo has it beat.

Sadly I left my camera’s battery in my hotel room, so you just get cell phone pictures.

The Hollemkollen ski jump, where I started my walk.

My first lake stop.

A fairly typical "blue" trail. Blue trails are summer only hiking trails. Red and brown trails are year round and more like tiny gravel roads.

Second lake

This is a ski cabin in the winter, a hiking cabin in the summer. You can stay there for a small fee and with nothing more than a sleep sheet.

The trails were very well signed. Sadly I find it very hard to keep Norwegian names straight in my head, so the signs were often confusing to me. I'm getting better at it though.

Third or Fourth Lake (on the hike), I lost count. The hike finished with three in fairly quick succession. The first of them had another set of cabins at it.

Whenever I thought things were getting a bit quiet there would be a babbling creek to keep me company.

The forest was beautiful and made me want to throw up a hammock and take a nap. Sadly my camping hammock was back in Seattle.

A bit of a view over the trees as I get towards the end of the hike.

This final lake was right next to the T-bane station and seemed to be the local equivalent of Seattle's Green Lake. There were many people out and enjoying the sun.

My route.