MrBalky Heavy Industries

DIY headset locker for Rock Shox Pike

May 19th, 2009

This might work for other Rock Shox forks too…

My new Pike’s steerer tube has a cap in the bottom with a threaded hole the same size as a standard headset bolt (M6). Instead of pounding a star nut into the steerer, it’s exteremely easy use this cap as the bottom of a headset locker like the Azonic Headlock or USE Safe-T.

Required parts (in addition to headset, stem, spacers, etc.):
M6 threaded rod (shortest I could buy was 3 feet)
M6 coupler nut
Total cost about $5.

Insert the rod to measure the correct length. I threaded the rod through the bottom of the steerer tube until half an inch or so was protruding out the top of the tube. This took some time to thread the 10″ of rod through; I could have done an initial cut to an estimation of length to save myself some time, I suppose.

Add coupler nut, headset cap and original stem bolt. Thread the nut on the rod first, headset cap on original stem bolt, and then stem bolt into the coupler nut as well.

Tighten down the headset cap so there is no play or extra space in the steerer stack. Mark the point where the rod emerges from the bottom of the steerer tube. Take it all apart again, and cut the rod at the mark with a hacksaw.

Put it all together with the headset cap back on original bolt, coupler to original bolt, then threaded rod into coupler. You may want to use some removable threadlocker on the coupler to make it behave more like a single bolt when it’s in the steerer. Tighten the original stem bolt tightly into the coupler; it’ll butt up against the threaded rod.

Drop the whole thing into the steerer tube, thread it into the bottom cap, then tighten the bolt to the torque specs of your headset.

Posted in bike, hacks | No Comments »

More filler

February 24th, 2009

A dose of schadenfreude for your afternoon enjoyment:

Tags: Links
Posted in humor, humour | No Comments »

Follow my TiVo on Twitter

February 24th, 2009

The other night my friend Bob mentioned somebody had set up a Twitter account for their TiVo. After thinking about it for a second I said something like “that’s almost trivial”.

Naturally I had to see if it really was trivial, which in fact it turned out to be. @mrbalkytivo is busier than I am.

Put tweetTivo.php someplace to be called by cron.

class_tivo_xml.php is not written by me and is required. Google it up. Figuring out how to get the XML info from the TiVo is left as an exercise for the reader.

The script will tweet about any new recording that starts, including TiVo suggestions, which are not always reflective of my taste, but then again, neither are many of MrsBalky’s choices. I thought about enhancing the script to skip suggestions, but grew bored and drifted away.

Tags: tivo, twitter
Posted in hacks | 3 Comments »

So long W

January 19th, 2009

Less than a day to go.

Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

It may be that “history” will judge differently, but I’ll go out on a limb and say it now. Worst… President… Ever…

At last it’s time for the countdown to be retired:
ws-last-day

Posted in politics | No Comments »

TwitPic upload hack

January 13th, 2009

Some Twitter users have been using TwitPic to link photos to tweets. I, on the other hand, have been using Flickr and Snipr. It’s a PITA, so I’m giving TwitPic a whirl. Sadly, Digsby, does not support TwitPic, and I’m not installing yet another app.

TwitPic has an API, so I rolled my own simple uploader with cygwin and curl. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ve reinvented the wheel here…

Standard disclaimer applies: this is quick n’ dirty(tm):

#!/bin/bash

# curl executable.  I'm a PC.
CURL=C:/cygwin/bin/curl

# The upload script that will accept the data
UPLOAD_URL=http://twitpic.com/api/uploadAndPost

# Snag stuff off the command line
TWITTER_USER=$1
TWITTER_PW=$2
PHOTO=`cygpath -m "$3"`
TWEET_MSG=$4

# Prompt for message if it's not given
if [ "$TWEET_MSG" = "" ]; then
   read -p "Tweet msg: " TWEET_MSG
fi

# Go
echo Uploading...
$CURL \
  --form username=$TWITTER_USER \
  --form password=$TWITTER_PW \
  --form media=@"$PHOTO" \
  --form message="$TWEET_MSG" $UPLOAD_URL

# Wait for user to read result message
echo
read -p "Press <enter> to continue" bogus

Create a desktop shortcut with uid and password:

C:\cygwin\bin\sh.exe ~/twitpic.sh --userid-- --password--

Now just drag and drop the photo onto the desktop shortcut.

Tags: cygwin, twitpic, twitter
Posted in experiments, hacks | 2 Comments »

Germany: Lessons Learned

January 7th, 2009

I’m OK at American security, but in Germany, my knee hardware earns me an extra screening.
As automobiles go, the Audi A4 S-line is “just OK”.
The 2 second tailgating rule seems like about 1/4 mile when you’re going 200kph.
Watch out for “residents only” parking zones.
The Germans are anal about their rental cars. It took two agents about 5 minutes to determine that a tiny scuff would buff out. By tiny, I mean I’d have taken a picture, but I couldn’t even tell what they were looking at.
Navigation systems are like cheating.
Lufthansa wins back points with flight checkin at the train station.
Münster is super bike friendy.This video is incredibly long (thanks YouTube!); around 1:00 you will see us ride past all the cars at a green light for bikes only.
Lots of bratwurst is consumed…
… after preparation by a düde with mad skillz with the tongs.
While tasty, eating meat at nearly every meal can be digestively challenging.
It’s not just in Amsterdam that they put mayonnaise on fries.
The days are short, and the sun barely gets above the horizon at 52° north. Long shadows at noon.
11 oz bottles of 4.8% beer at sea level make you feel like some sort of drinking hero (or an alcoholic).

Tags: germany, münster
Posted in travel | No Comments »

Hate the iGoogle left-side navigation?

December 12th, 2008

Hate that it takes up screen real estate for no reason? Find Gmail canvas view as unusable as I do?

Check out all that unused grey space:
igoogle
The last straw for me today was to discover that they put chat in the navigation bar, and it was impossible to turn off. I found a groups forum thread where I could actually register my discontent, and found this little gem: