The Birth of La Zorra Roja – Building My Own Bicycle

Today I took the long way home. Coming back from the bike-shop in the evening, I decided to take a spin along Victoria’s waterfront, passing through downtown, and along the shore to Oak Bay, in the east of the city. It was a lovely ride, with the setting sun behind me, and the sea to my right, and I was so happy. I contemplated writing a Ride-With-Me type article, but then I realized the reason for my happiness was something else: I was riding my newly completed bike, the one I made for myself. If anyone, she should be what my next post was gonna be about!

The Story of My Bike

Having built four bikes for Recyclistas, several times to be exact, as certain issues made me disassemble and assemble many key parts various times, I was excited to get started on the bike that was to become my touring vehicle. It was a red Kona Hahana mountain-bike someone had donated to the bike-shop, and Ryan suggested it may serve well as a touring bicycle. Its “chromoloy” frame makes it light-weight, especially with many aluminum components, its geometry helps maintain stability at high speeds, and it just happened to be my size. Also, the curved horns on its handlebar gave it a butterfly-like handlebar, offering many riding positions.

Of course, it was in a pretty bad shape, as most donated bikes are. Having been subjected to extensive (ab)use and subsequent lack of care, it showed lots of signs of wear and tear, covered by a layer of rust and dirt. However, the aluminum seat-post hadn’t seized with the steel frame, which would have rendered the bike useless, and it seemed like after a thorough cleaning its true essence would come out (or else some other irreparable problem, but we’d have to look beyond the obvious to discover that).

So once I was ready to work on my own project, I took it apart, completely. When the frame was stripped bare naked, I gave it a good scrubbing, getting all the rust-dust out of it. Once it was clean, a close inspection by expert eyes found it to be as good and useful as it had seemed, and I couldn’t be happier. The parts I removed were also put under rigorous scrutiny, as it is the case with everything that goes through the shop. Some pieces, such as the bottom bracket, I didn’t even have to show to anyone. It looked like it had been immersed in water for a long time, as it was basically just a clump of rust. Such a shame! To prevent anything like this from happening again, the first thing I did was to drill a small hole into the bottom of the frame. That way any water that found its way in, could easily escape again. Why this is not a standard practice in building bikes, or even frames, is beyond me.

Second-Hand as Much as Possible

One thing that was important to me was to make the bike as recycled as possible. On one hand I did want a kick-ass bike, on the other, I did not want to get into the whole consumption game with it, especially with the abundance of good quality second-hand pieces. And in this regard Recyclistas is the perfect place. In the end, the only thing that’s new, is what you should not get second-hand in any case: the chain, cables and housing, the cassette, and the bottom bracket. In fact, the crank-set is the only part  of the drive-train that is second-hand, as I found one in great condition in the used-parts box. Originally, I had intended to put in a used headset too, (of course with new bearings), but we just didn’t have a complete set for my type of bike. I also tried to use whatever I could from the original bike, such as the handlebar with the horns, the seat-post, and the fork. Everything else is from the second-hand bins.

Special Case of the Wheels

Looking at the original wheels, the rear one was immediately placed on the scrap pile. The front wheel seemed to have a decent rim, the spokes looked okay, but the hub and axle had to be cleaned and evaluated. Sure enough, not only the bearings were garbage (as they would be in all cases), but the cones were in a pretty bad condition, making me want to replace the whole axle-set. After rebuilding it, greasing and adjusting it to perfection, I spent a pleasant hour truing the wheel (my favorite bike-work activity), and I was ready to start on the rear one.

Since I believe the essence of a bike is the wheel, I didn’t want to leave Recyclistas, or even claim to have built a bike, without having built at least one wheel from scratch. That means, connecting a rim and a hub with the right kind of spokes, woven together in the right way. A daunting task, which I was up for, however. I had discussed the various methods (two-cross, three-cross, four-cross) with various mechanics, and interestingly, got equally passionate support for each type of cross. Eventually, I settled for the two-cross method, as that is supposedly the closest to forming right-sided triangles, which I know to be super stable.

The Art of Weaving Spokes

I will never forget that Saturday afternoon when my amazing instructor Camas explained to me how to build a wheel, while teaching a class of four people (essentially four simultaneous classes), as well as having some other things going on. I proceeded putting the theory into practice, and before I knew it, had a fresh wheel on my hands, wobbly as it may be. That was the night I could have easily spent at the bike-shop. I had just gotten some food and some beer, and fortunately my other great teacher Lee was staying late to work on a bike too. So I had all the time and peace in the world to true my newly constructed wheel, while having a long video-chat with my wife. I placed my phone on the truing stand, so I could see her while adjusting the spoke lengths.

In the end the make-up of the wheels is similar to the rest of the bike: the only new parts are the the cones, the axle-set, and the bearings in the front wheel; and the rim, the nipples, and the bearings in the rear one. The hub I used for the rear wheel was used, but had cones in good condition. The front one’s hub, rim, spokes, and nipples are the original ones. Both tubes and tires are excellent hand-me-downs.

Gifts, Donations, and Accessories

As my bike was coming along, various people came up to me with gifts from their personal stashes. That way I received some beautiful red pedals, lockable quick-release skewers (so nobody would steal my wheels), awesome leather bar-wraps for my horns, as well as some high-end shifters, and a comprehensive tool-kit. For all of these amazing gifts I’m deeply grateful to my two great great friends, Ryan and M86, both of whom I got to know in Tucson, AZ, where they were becoming passionate bike mechanics as the local bike co-op called Bicas.

The seemingly bottomless second-hand boxes at Recyclistas also offered a great deal of awesome accessories, such as fenders, front and rear racks, panniers, solar charged lights, and a huge bell with a wonderful sound. With each piece I felt more joyful and excited. Of course, adjustments had to be made, up until today, where I raised the stem and changed the angle of the handlebar. Finally, after various test-rides I can say: this bike is perfect, though I know I won’t ever stop working on it.

The Conception of La Zorra Roja

Every good bike needs a great name. I even named the bikes I made to be sold by the shop. Two of them have been bought already, so who knows what moniker they go by these days, if any. My own bike, however, needed a perfect name. I’m not even sure how Red Fox came about, but I felt a certain kind of foxiness in her (yes, she’s a girl, which I’m happy about, as I prefer riding females anyway). But once conceived, there was no going back. So I kept to the color scheme of the fox, using red, black, and silver in the colors I picked. Meanwhile, related soundtracks kept coming to my mind, such as Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix, and Hey Rote Zora by Heiter bis Wolkig.

Now that my bike is finished, and I’m leaving Victoria, I’m dreaming of the wonderful rides we’ll have together. First, going up across Salt Spring Island to my friend’s property outside Bowser, BC where I’ll be helping with an Earthship build. In between I’ll take a stint to the mainland and back, when my parents come to Vancouver for a short visit. Eventually, in September I want to go on my great trip down the coast, all the way across the US to Los Angeles, CA. And yes, at each stage you can look forward to some awesome blog posts.