Balk city racer

My bicycle commute is quite a long one at 15 kilometers. After wrecking two beaters (usual means to get around town here) in one year I decided it was time to upgrade.

In order to cut commute time it had to be fast but sturdy. No cables, derailers, brake levers, et cetera but not a fixie. I want to be able to brake and a low gear for traffic lights would be desirable.

So I bought a second hand steel Batavus or Gazelle frame (which of the two is not known) refurbished by Balk bicycles in the late eighties.
A SRAM Automatix internal gear hub which, in a 700c rim, will change gears (1/1.37) at around 15 km/h.
Mavic Open Pro rims, DT Swiss competition spokes, an All City track hub for the front wheel. I was able to keep the bottom bracket and cranks (Sakae Ringyo Royal, 144mm BCD) but got an All City 42 teeth chainwheel to go with a 22 rear sprocket.

Spoking my own wheels for the first time was a lot of fun and made easy realy with Sheldon Brown's directions at hand.

I later tweaked the Automatix hub as per Dave McCraw's instructions to shift a little later. I'm guesstimating it now shifts at about 21 km/h. It's easier on the knees, especially considering that on bumpier terrain the Automatix is often knocked in high gear far earlier then it would of it's own accord on flat tarmac.

The hub is very cheap and functions perfectly but you can kind of hear that it's cheap. It's shifting weights make an audible rattle over bumpier roads. I would spend lots more money on a more sophisticated version of this hub if it only existed. It would probably be a lot lighter too. But at current pricing this thing really is a steal.

Filmpjes van optreden Bloody Monday juni 2012

Open source espresso. That's what I want.

The Nocturn from ZPM Espresso is a crowd funded (Kickstarter) Espresso machine sporting open source PID software driving an Arduino PID controller. Can you spell w00t!

Sadly though, the ones scheduled for production are made to work on north american voltages. I am definitely on the 240V mailing list.

Black Pearl kayak - Maiden Trip

She floats! I am so happy! :D And it truly is one remarkable boat. I was really very excited to try her out. I've spent well over 300 hours to build this boat and was able to make it a good looking one at that. But whether it will track straight or just in any manner do what you've come to expect from kayaks in general all comes down to the moment you take it to the water.


To say this boat does not disappoint me would be a tremendous understatement. I'm still grinning from ear to ear and I'm so anxious to be on the water again. Wich is going to be this evening! Yay!!


Some photo's of last sunday's moment of truth:

That's one happy camper.

Thanks Angela and Joost for the pics!

Black Pearl kayak - All lacquered up

Yes! It did the trick! Lines came out razor sharp and looking very chique underneath the clear coat.

Black Pearl kayak - Paint job

Sanding is finally done! Time for a paint job. Got me some "DD Lak" (polyurethane based 2 component lacquer) from Polyservice. Beautiful stuff, flows like nothing you've seen but crept under the tape I used to border off the black strips I painted on the deck edges. Tough luck. Yesterday I gave it another shot a few millimeters in. This time pressing as hard as I could making sure the tape adheres as best it can.

Black polyurethane lacquer on hull and edge of deck.

Anything that isn't part of the deck is painted black.

That includes the seat.

Black Pearl kayak - The Sanding

Piece of pear wood for bow and stern. Just that more impact resistant.

My sanding under intensive scrutiny by mother.
Thanks mum and dad for the photographs!