Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Journey of the Boardwalk: Part 5 (PZ Racing & Gold Bling)

It has been a while since I last posted! Had been busy with cycling events such as NTU Bike Rally and OCBC Cycle. Suddenly had an inspiration to continue with the story of my Boardwalk, so here I am.

In the previous part of the story, the bike was upgraded from 7 speeds to 8 speeds and then to 9 speeds. The stock Dahon Neos Derailleur was used, even for 9 speeds. It worked decently, although it can be seen that it sometimes struggles a bit when changing gears. But it must be said that most of the time, it works extremely well, with fast precise shifts. A very decent derailleur.

In order to improve the shifting by changing the rear derailleur, an adaptor/gear hanger for the derailleur is needed. The problem with the Dahon Speed/Boardwalk series of bikes is that it does not come with a gear hanger fixed on the frame, neither does it come with a blank on the rear dropouts that can be swapped for a gear hanger, such as those found on aluminium frames such as the Vitesse or Mu series.

I actually came across some online sites from Taiwan and China that sell the special gear hanger for Speed/Boardwalk series bike frames, but it is a problem buying it as they usually deliver only locally and/or accept only local modes of payment.

However, I happened to ask KS from MBS about this, and he said that they have the gear hanger! In fact it was the last one available there, and it took quite a bit of effort and lots of searching before it was found. Really lucky of me to be able to get it.

The rare and elusive gear hanger for Dahon Speed/Boardwalk frames!

Of course, with the gear hanger, the next step would be to find a suitable rear derailleur. Since I already had a 9 speed shifter, the SRAM Attack, I would only need a compatible 9 speed derailleur. Initially wanted to get a black 105 RD, but it was not available. Settled on an Ultegra Short Cage RD instead. A bit of overkill, but I couldn't wait to get a new RD. It was not much more expensive than a 105 RD anyway.

The new Ultegra 10-speed RD looking sweet on the Boardwalk!

With the new cable routing required, a new gear cable and cable housing was also required. Also, the rear quick release only just managed to fit in, due to the additional thickness of the gear hanger.

Another significant upgrade that followed was the changing of the wheelset, again, from Kinetix Comp to PZ Racing. The front hub of the Kinetix Comp is actually very good, with smooth rolling sealed bearings. However the rear hub, which still used loose ball bearings, wasn't very smooth. Better than the stock wheel, of course, but still not as good as a sealed bearing hub. The only ones suitable, and available at MBS were either the PZ Racing wheelset or the Kinetix Pro wheels.

Settled on the PZ Racing wheels as they have more spokes that the Kinetix Pro wheels, which makes me feel safer and less likely to be in trouble due to broken spokes. They may not look as speedy or lightweight, but they roll very well indeed. The PZ Racing wheels also comes with nice carbon-wrapped rims and black bladed spokes. Sealed bearings front and rear makes the hubs roll very smoothly. Not to mention the loud and nice sounding freehub of the PZ Racing rear wheel! Once again, I was lucky as I got the last set of PZ Racing wheels available.

New PZ Racing wheels!

After upgrading practically every part of the bike, there isn't much left for upgrading. Came across this website, torontocycles.com, where they sell anodised aluminium bolts in many colours, some of which are specially made for bicycles. At that point in time, the only bling part which I had were the gold quick release skewers and the gold chainring bolts. Black seems to go well with gold by giving a very unique look. Therefore I decided to deck my bike out in more gold bling, by getting some gold bolts.
They even have the brake lever adjustment bolts in gold!

Some gold bolts here and there for the brake calipers.

Unique gold accented Ultegra RD!

Changed to the gold RD mounting bolt, cable clamp bolt and jockey wheels. In fact I got the whole derailleur kit in gold, but the other bolts such as the cable tension adjustment bolt and the high-low screws did not fit very well so I didn't change those. The RD mounting bolt as seen in the top of the picture was really tough to assemble, as the strong spring made it really difficult to align everything properly after dismantling. It took one hour and many sore fingers before it was assembled. Will not take it apart again!

The Token brand gold jockey wheels are really smooth compared to the default Ultegra jockey wheels. Definitely worth the upgrade and for the bling factor. However, as the jockey wheels are aluminium instead of the default plastic, they will tend to make more noise at certain speeds.

Gold QR and Presta Valve caps.

Gold accented drivetrain!

Very nice shot of the rear wheel and RD, courtesy of Taiwoon!

It has been a fascinating journey so far, with much knowledge gained and lessons learnt along the way. Of course, upgrading never really stops. In the next part of the story, the rear derailleur and shifters are changed yet again! Not without good reason though. Stay tuned!

28 comments:

  1. Where can you buy the PZ Racing wheel ? I didn't find it on the PZ Racing website.
    Regards
    DahonDash

    ReplyDelete
  2. It was a special order by Mybikeshop, it is no longer available.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much for your quick response.
      So if you want an intermediate gear between the Kinetix Pro (too fragile) and the Kinetix Comp (too heavy), you have to find a 20" rim and a hub that accepts more than 16 but less than 32 spokes and find a fitter wheel.

      Delete
    2. the wheelsport wheels that I am currently using is also very good. almost as good as pz racing but more affordable

      Delete
  3. ... or perhaps here :
    http://www.velocitywheels.com/store/product.asp?pID=134&cID=39

    ReplyDelete
  4. Back than, how much you bought the pz racing rims? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It sold for $550. very good quality, still running very smoothly after 2 years.

      Delete
  5. Bro if I want to get the bolts for the brakes levers n Brake calipers... Wich one should I choose from the website u provided

    ReplyDelete
  6. Take out the current bolts, measure the thread size and length, and get the same one. If they don't have the exact same length then you need to decide if the bolt should be shorter or longer

    ReplyDelete
  7. hi steve, wonderful documentation of your upgrade poisons! I am looking at the Speed D7 as well and would upgrade it if i'm comfortable with a foldie. From your post, if there's no rd hangar, im stuck with the neos rd and my upgrade options will be limited?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If there is no RD hanger, you cannot use other RD. but you can upgrade other components such as wheels, crankset, shifters (compatible with Neos RD). You can upgrade to 9 speeds with no issue. You can try Taobao.com if you want to get the RD hanger.

      Delete
  8. Hi Steve,

    Any direct link to the RD hanger?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No direct link. But try searching Dahon d7 rd hanger (convert to Chinese terms)

      Delete
  9. Hi Steve, thank you for this fantastic explications.
    I need more information on the Dahon Speed Conversion Hanger
    I need to know the exact measurements between points 1-2 1-3 -2-3
    http://i47.tinypic.com/5be6ab.jpg
    Or between the center of the three holes of the frame
    You could be so kind
    Thank you
    Best regards

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have tried measuring the distances as best as I can, and here are the values.

      1-2 49mm
      1-3 29mm
      2-3 26mm

      You can double check it by measuring the dimensions on the bike frame itself.

      Delete
  10. Hi,
    you're very kind.
    I'm looking for this rd hanger for my Dahon 24".
    Unfortunately, the measures are not the same,
    thank you very much.

    Best regards

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi,
    Any issues for your 10 speed Ultegra RD on a SRAM 9 speed cassette? Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It works OK, just ensure that you match the same brand of shifter with the rd.

      Delete
  12. we do have most of the PZ parts as Control Teck same just different sticker and we do have the droput conversions and double front adapters :-)
    its www.thorusa.com
    keep in mind that extra freight will be added after you p[lace your order from outside the States, but its only 24 dlr for small parts.:-)
    Best Thor

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi steve..

    does a tern link D8 need the RD hanger for upgrading?

    thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just see what is the current RD that is on the bike. If it is a Neos RD, then you will need the RD adaptor. Else, if you see a Shimano or SRAM RD, then you won't need the RD adaptor.

      Delete
  14. Hi steve, i've read online that sram and shimano shifters and rear derailleurs aren't compatible as they have different pull ratios. But your SRAM attack seems to work perfectly fine with your Ultegra rd?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The SRAM Attack shifter has a cable pull ratio that is the same as Shimano MTB. This is quite close to the Shimano road pull ratio, so it worked OK. The sweet spot for shifting is very small due to the not quite compatible cable pull ratio.

      Delete
  15. Hi Steve, planning to upgrade my p8 to 9sp and eventually 18sp, but not planning to change the RD as yet. Do you think the Neos 2.0 RD could handle the 9sp load?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it should be fine. Just remember to use a 9 speed mtb shifter from Shimano.

      Delete
    2. Alright thanks for the insight and advice and keep up the good work. You have surely inspired many.

      Delete
  16. is it safe to get wheelset from taobao? any reputable seller to recommend?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have not bought wheelset from taobao before. Including shipping cost, it might not be much cheaper.

      Delete

Every comment is moderated before publishing due to spam bots. If you don't see your comment yet, it is likely that it is currently being reviewed. Thank you for your patience!