Toolimation

January 28, 2012 9:22 PM

Toolimation: An animated take on building up a touring bike [SLYT]
posted by BlooPen (18 comments total)

My husband won't let me play that again.
... But I really want to.
posted by Malice at 9:40 PM on January 28

WAAAAAYYYY too long. But cool.

Nice bike. Enjoy your ride.
posted by LoudMusic at 10:33 PM on January 28

Loved it (could have done without all the countries as tools and just got to the bike building). As someone who failed to put together a simple shop-bought bike recently, I watched in awe!
posted by greenhornet at 1:27 AM on January 29

cool, but why did he put a front wheel on, then take it off, build another one, then discard the first one; all painstakingly animated?
Building my own wheel is one of the few things i would balk at though, i would be constantly worried that it would collapse under me one day.
posted by kev23f at 2:30 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]

That gave me an Ikea migraine.




(but how cool?!)
posted by taff at 2:36 AM on January 29

I am very jealous of this person's tool collection and apparently plentiful free time.

Of course, I have apparently hit the S-1 limit of bikes I should own anyway (where S is the number of bikes at which your spouse leaves you), so I guess it's a bit of a moot point.
posted by Dr.Enormous at 5:05 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]

How about using one of those screwdrivers to put a cover on that electrical outlet?
posted by digsrus at 7:17 AM on January 29 [1 favorite]

The first bike shop I worked for lacked some of the tools this guy has in his private collection. And I'm confused by this trend towards the "touring bike as indestructable tank" vision of long-distance bike touring. I've never done any super-long-distance touring, but the people I know who have ridden around the world did so on bikes no more rugged than a 1980's mountain bike.

Also, I thought it was just run-of-the-mill stop-motion animation and was kind of freaked out when the tools started flying.
posted by richyoung at 9:39 AM on January 29

The first song was Ewan Dobson, but it sounded for some reason like it was recorded by holding a crappy mic up to a crappy speaker. Why would you spend all that time making a video only to neglect the audio to such a degree?
posted by Rhomboid at 10:42 AM on January 29

All those tools, and the man doesn't own a proper floor pump?
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 8:12 PM on January 29

I do some heavy, heavy bike maintenance, restoration and customization. I just don't have that many special-purpose bicycle tools:

1) Tire levers.
2) Spoke wrench (three sizes in the same wrench)
3) Crank puller (Yard-sale find, only $5)
4) Headset remover (only $10 brand new at Nashbar, works like a superhero in under five seconds. Much safer than trying to chisel them out with a long screwdriver)
5) Chain whip. (was a buck at a yard sale, or I wouldn't have bothered.)

I work enough on cars, lawnmowers and other stuff where getting bike-oriented tools would mean I'd have to maintain two sets of tools. I don't have the time, money or organizational skills for that.

Most of the time, a general purpose tool of good quality or a little creativity will suit instead. A Craftsman crescent-end wrench is thin enough to use as a pedal wrench, for instance. High-leverage lineman's pliers work as cable and housing cutters, provided they're sharp and not dollar-store junk, and a bolt-cutter is a great chain breaker, since I usually replace the busted link(s) with a quick-link, anyhow (provided the chain isn't a rusted wreck like on some of the vintage rides... a new chain is $5 at the hardware store and comes with quick-links.) A hair elastic or zip-tie works swell as a third hand. I have an all-in-one hex tool with seven different metric ball-hex keys built into it that I find more convenient than hunting for bits or loose allen wrenches. Large adjustable wrenches work on BBs and headsets.

I set headsets with a long threaded rod, a pair of nuts, and a stack of washers. This was $3.00 at the hardware store. "Professional" headset presses =start= at 100 and head north of there in a hurry.

While some modern bikes with hydraulics, proprietary BB's and 11-ring cassettes may need some stuff that I don't have, the only tool I'd really want would be a facing tool, if I ever decide to build a bike from a new steel frame. Even then the money they want for it is stupid.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:12 PM on January 29

As the creator of the Toolimation video let me say thanks for the Positive feedback...and let me address some of the less than thrilled people.

Yes I know it was a bit long but I had a lot to do...it wasnt about just building a bike it was about the tools it takes to maintain them in today's Bike shops, the tools you see represent 1/2 of all the tools I own, bikes are more complicated and as a new product is brought to market I buy the tool to service it...Yes I am a Professional bike Mechanic for 15 years in case you are wondering... the reason all the tools are not there is my sink was in the way so I could not go back any further with the camera.

....yes people ride around the world on all kinds of crap and they have all kinds of problems...most of us who tour long distance (I just did 16mo on 4 continents fully loaded trouring) grow weary of crap breaking so those of us in the know build what we think is the "ultimate touring bike" so we don't have to deal with crap breaking on us..."Just run of the mill stop action" how many stop action films have you made????? do you have any idea how hard it is????? do you have any idea how many hours i spent ?????? think hundreds!!!do you know how many SINGLE photos it takes think 5000-6000 there is NO video in the video it is all done with Single photos..... it is always wise to have experience in matters you want to rag on before dissing on others....or you might seem like a fool.

as far as the music goes Yes it seems to be recorded by a crappy mic...that happened in editing not sure why it came out that way, trying to fix it only made it worse so I left it alone. Ill do better next time

Yes that socket has been like that for 10+ years...I just didn't have the heart to change what has been for so long....and usually there is a couch there so it doesn't need one.

Why the Wheel Build when there is a wheel? it was just that i needed to keep the front end up and since I had taken photos already with the wheel on , I could not be bothered to edit it out, yes I know it seems like a strange thing to do

This is my first video, I am now planning another that takes place in Hong Kong, it also has to do with tools, it too will be long and probably not perfect since I am not perfect.

Thanks
AA
posted by alohalisco73 at 8:30 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

I have 6 floor pumps , 1 German, 1 French, 2 Japanese , 2 Pedro's....You are of course referring to my Mini floor pump i used to pump up the tyres...it just fit the shot better, plus it's 10 years old and has been on every tour I have been on so it deserved the spotlight.
posted by alohalisco73 at 8:34 PM on January 29

As far as tools for bikes go..you can do it with a few nuts and washers and even a big old adjustable wrench...but in today's bike shops with all the high-tech materials used the right tool is always the right choice....plus it just saves time if you have the tool made for the job....try to take out a modern BB with a regular wrench or adjust an old headset with just a Crescent Wrench it cant be done with the BB and the headset needs 2 one to hold the top nut and a slim 32-36mm to hold the bottom one.

"the right tool for the job" is my motto and it has never let me down...it has on occasion emptied my bank account...they can be expensive but are worth every penny!!!!
posted by alohalisco73 at 8:44 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

I did all right with a pair of adjustable wrenches taking apart old headsets. Modern BB and cassettes need special tools, I agree, which is one of many reasons why this retro-grouch won't use them in a build. I'd put a Phil Woods JIS BB and a Sugino crank up against Shimano/SRAM proprietary stuff anyday. (I'm not a weight weenie, tho...)
posted by Slap*Happy at 2:48 AM on January 30

My tool philosophy is somewhere between Slap's & AA's. If I can buy the proper tool for:

Ct < W * N * Cpro

(where C_t is the cost of the tool, C_pro is the cost of having the repair done professionally, N is the number of times I expect to use the tool in a given year, and W is the wealth factor - that is, when I feel poor, W = 1; when I have disposable income, W has been known to approach values as high as 3.

...ahem, where was I? If I can buy the proper tool for a price that satisfies that equation, I do. So far, this means I'll let a shop face my frame and press my headsets. But I install my own bottom brackets, build & true my own wheels, adjust my own hubs, install my own cables....

And AA, easy there, don't let us get your back up:

1) I would dearly love a custom Bilenky touring rig. In my experience, it confers a certain je ne sais quois upon the owner - like, "Hey, I'd like to come to your wedding, but I think I'll be in Senegal by then. Unless I take the northern route, in which case I might be in Estonia. Or maybe I'll go counter-clockwise...."
Sadly, my own life and finances are such that I must choose between the tour and the bike. So I've chosen to have a mediocre bike that I get to ride, rather than a dream bike I can't afford to tour on.

(Though I will say that I'd rather have to fix a derailleur drivetrain many, many times, than a Rohloff internal hub once. So two bike dudes have different ideas of what "dream bike" means. In other news, water has been found to be wet.)

2) I once made a stop-motion video containing at least 8, possibly as many as 15 photos. It took forever to make, and was _{the exact opposite of} awesome!! So I have some inkling of how much work it took, and didn't mean "run-of-the-mill" as criticism. What I meant, actually, is that the flying tools looked "FX" rather than photographic, and that surprised me because I thought they would stay on the ground, as they must if you were assembling the video solely from photos, as is how stop motion is usually done. Does that make sense?
posted by richyoung at 12:44 PM on January 30

I take exception when someone starts to criticize others hard work without basis or lots of knowledge about what they are criticizing.....it is supposed to be fun but when people start to rag on others about what they do....well the world hates a bully.

Lucky for us the Rohloff hub is not fixable by you me or the other guy....there are 1000's of parts and it takes a degree in mechanical engineering to figure the thing out...OK maybe not a degree..... but I for one wont take it apart just to play with it.

Rohloff has a service life of 75,000-95,000km with some well over 200,000 and still rolling , long past the useful life of any other drive train, the failure rate of Rohloff hubs is less than 1% according to Rohloff and this is usually a rider induced issue, not the hubs design. I broke one cable on my Rohloff and dirtied up the cables 1 time enough to make the shifter stop working in 2 years of use these are the only 2 things....I would adjust or fix my XT stuff at least once a week after a heavy riding session.

There is 0 and I mean NO Video in my Vid 100% photos only. the flying tools are all done with fishing line pulled up inches at a time in order to make the tools fly...it is a cool effect I think. Once again assuming that things have to stay on the ground in order to be taken photos of shows a lack of either Knowledge or imagination...Ill let you decide.

I hope in the future we can all just enjoy what others do and be thankful that it was a video about building something instead of destroying things, like so many You tube hits seem to be.
AA
posted by alohalisco73 at 2:52 PM on January 30

Aw, i'm sorry i missed you chiming in here earlier alohalisco73, its always great when subjects of posts turn up to comment. Thanks for explaining about the second wheel anyway, the additional info, and for the cool video!
posted by kev23f at 5:59 AM on February 7