Things had got off to a flying start, I’d unearthed the high lustre Nitto stem with lazer etching, a bevy of compatible pursuit type bars, a little used EAI track sprocket and of course, the dynohub front wheel complete with front tyre to replace the elderly Araya that met it’s maker the week previously.
In the quiet of Saturday afternoon, I set the Holdsworth in the workstand and had a quick check, offered the spacers and stem atop the steerer-everything aligned perfectly- just a question of getting the bung in place and save for bar tape and brake calliper, the front end was complete.The Woodman bung does away with the star fangled nut in favour of a re-useable expanding wedge, working on exactly the same principles as SFNs and the old fashioned expanders found on quill stems. Inexplicably, mine had been assembled incorrectly so a quick bit of tailored surfing confirmed the correct layout. Returning to the garage, I applied a slither of non lithium based grease to the expander wedge and threaded sections before inserting, popping spacers and bars and stem in position but alas, this was not to prove a euphoric climax…
Mysteriously, the cone shaped locking nuts and metal sleeve managed to come adrift, lodging themselves firmly into the steerer tube. I had hoped to turn the fork upside-down, pass a small drift through the fork crown and tap it free-unfortunately; I had screwdrivers of correct diameter but insufficient length so the race is on to find a suitable implement and I’m now wondering if a SFN might prove the better option and in this respect, Cro-moly steerers are a godsend.
Deflated but calm, I turned my attention to the Univega. Setting in the stand, I reasoned if I was using the Nexus dynohub wheel, I might as well turn the increased resistance to good use-namely producing my own illumination. The Basta lamp gifted me a few weeks previously thoughtfully incorporates an integral switch (fortunate as I couldn’t find the Shimano unit) and so it was simply a case of trimming the wiring to correct length and plugging into the hub.
Having treated the contacts to a quick lick of Vaseline, I invited my six year old to spin the wheel. His eyes lit up as the headlamp bust into life and I explained the principles behind dynamos. He seemed very excited at the prospect of generating our own light without worrying about charge levels in Ni-Cad and Lead acid bottle batteries. I’ll be mounting a white LED as a contingency but it’ll be nice to remove some handlebar furniture!