Mr. Fujiyama…

My SS is more or less a “real” SS now…the SS cog on the back is great. I brought the new wheel home, popped on the tire, set it on the bike and…
…discovered I needed a 1/2×1/8 chain…
…so I went back to McCully BIke. They had one so I was good to go…
…or so I thought…
Once I got the chain on I realized that I was just a wee bit off. The chain was just too loose for safety. If I removed a link it would be too tight. I needed a half-link. This time I was able to ride down to the shop and ask. Ben, the owner and chief mechanic and bottle washer, was happy to get a half-link on for me and while he was doing so he admired my bike.
He said they’d brought the frames in about 20 years ago and they were “classic.” And, he said, the bike is named for the old fellow over there truing wheels. It seems “Fujiyama” was a house brand from a time when that was something shops did. Cool.
I even remembered to ask if I could get a new set of cranks so I could run a single chain wheel. Ben counseled me to leave it be for now. The quality on new cranks using the old square tapers is “junk”. If I wanted to pay hundeds I could swap things around, but the low end is garbage.
That’s fine. While I probably will get around to it one of these days, I think I’ll wait till the wear is totally noticable.
I am going to try putting on a Zefal Lock n’Roll skewer on the front end so I don’t have to worry about locking the front when I’m in a hurry. We’ll see. I’d be just as happy with a new solid axle up there, but this should deter thefts of opportunity.
And finally…for now anyway…I discovered I didn’t put my rear tire on correctly – twas backwards. Now it isn’t and I’m beat. 🙂
Aloha!