South Salem Cycleworks bicycle services, tech and more
Our services: Repairs | Custom wheelbuilding | 1994-98 Campagnolo Rear Hub Ratchet Ring Removal | Custom bicycle fitting | Frame Saver rust protection
Tech info: Adjusting Campagnolo 11+ speed rear derailleurs | Derailleur pulley wheel dimensions | How butted bicycle tubing is made
In addition to being a full-service local bike shop (LBS) we here at South Salem Cycleworks offer a variety of personal services to make your active sporting life more fun and enjoyable.
Bike Rentals: We are out of the rental business. We have no bikes to rent.
Repairs
We fix bikes, all kinds of bikes. And we do it well. We have seen it all and repaired it all. Let our decades of experience and huge assortment of specialty bike tools get your bike back on the road.
Sometimes in the modern cycling world as designs rapidly change, it can be nearly impossible to find a that special repair part. We pride ourselves in finding solutions to these difficult-to-solve problems. Sometime it can be something as simple and finding an axle washer/spacer of just the right outside diameter.
Michael Wolfe writes: "We needed a couple bushings for lengthening the spacing on an axle, and they had to fit within the confines of a freehub. I set them up on a drill and used a file to bring these washers down to the desired circumference."
The two pictures below show owner Michael Wolfe solving the problem.
The problem: The washers are a bit too large.
Here they are turned down and ready for installation on a hub.
Custom Handmade Wheel Building
Michael hand-builds all of the custom wheels for the South Salem Cycleworks bikes and frames. Michael will work with you to determine the best overall combination of rims, hubs, and spokes to match both your riding style and your new custom frameset.
In addition, Michael will build wheels for hard-core commuters, tandem riders, and tourists that will withstand the rigors of the road.
Here's a customer's testimonial to our wheelbuilding care and expertise.
We can take care of you, no matter what your wheel needs: Racing, touring, commuting or tandem riding. We have decades of wheel-building experience under our belt.
Michael writes, "I didn’t have the internet to guide me in spoke length when I began building wheels, and Sutherlands wasn’t always up to date. I still refer to my stack of cards when building a wheel, using lengths that have successfully been used before.
"I recycled colored paper that came from the old Sinclair Imports specials that were mailed to shops initially, but still use colored paper to list what I’ve successfully used to build a wheel."
Michael's spoke length encyclopedia
A fun example of our custom wheelbuiding: A customer had a lovely early 1970s Reynolds 531 Raleigh International. Michael built a set of wheels that respected the Raleigh as a vintage, hand-made bike, but still took advantage of modern spokes, nipples, rimstrips, tubes and tires to give the customer a more reliable ride.
Below the Raleigh wheels is a set of wheels we built on White Industry Hubs with Ritchey rims.
Here is the wheelset. Campagnolo Record high-flange hubs laced onto Mavic Mod E2 rims. The rear drive-side spokes are double-butted DT Revolution 14/17 spokes. The rest of the spokes are lighter 15/17. All are laced up with DT alloy spoke nipples. Rox rimstrips, Michelin Airstop tubes and Panaracer Pasela ProTite folding tires complete the rolling ensemble.
Another shot of the pair.
The rear wheel, showing the strong drive-side spokes and the beautiful Campagnolo Record high-flange hub.
The front wheel.
And here's the beautiful Raleigh International with the wheels Michael built for it. Even if the generous owner who let us post these photos hadn't told us it was a 1973, the special, rare Nervex lugs would have given it away.
While we're at it, here's the Brooks Professional saddle. The semi-wrapover seat stays are elegant.
Chrome-plated Nervex lugs
Weinmann centerpull brakes, handlebar water bottle cage. A different era.
And of course, the beautiful Campagnolo Nuovo Record rear derailleur.
Here's another set of custom wheels we built: A set of White Industries Red T11 hubs laced onto Ritchey Vantage Comp 26" mountain rims. Would you like a special set of hand-built wheels like these, lovingly built by a master wheelbuilder? Give us a call or shoot an email to us and we can have you joyously rolling along.
The wheels: We used DT Competition 14/15/14g spokes for the driveside and Revolution 15/17/15g for the non-drive side.
The front used DT Competition 14/15/14 spokes, both wheels laced 3X with DT anodized red nipples.
Here's the pair
Side view of the front wheel.
The Ritchey rim label.
The White Industries T11 front hub
Angled view of the front hub.
Side view of the front hub
Looking in the front rim at the valve hole
Side view of the rear wheel.
Here's the rear rim decal.
Here's the beautifully machined White Industries rear hub.
End view of the hub
The other side of the rear hub.
Looking in the rim at the valve hole.
'94-'98 Campagnolo Hub Ratchet Ring Removal: I can remove the ratchet ring to get the cup out of a ’94-’98 hub. I sent a personal wheel to Campy California decades ago, but they returned the wheel for fear of pretzeling it. There were no tools available in Italy, and at the time, only two in America, one in California, the other in New York.
A Serbian refugee engineer walked into the shop years later, and said he could make the tool. I gave him my ’98 Record hub to use as a template, and never saw him again!
We have since acquired this very rare tool and can perform the service of removing the ratchet ring of ’94-’98 Campagnolo hub. If you need this service performed, please get in touich with us.
So, while the occasion may be slim, I am pleased to have a tool to do this.
Below is this special and rare tool.
Here it is with its Campagnolo bag.
Here's a closer view
And here it is turned over.
Custom Bicycle Fitting
Another service offered by South Salem Cycleworks is that of custom bike fitting and measurements. We can fit you to your existing bike or measure you for your new bike. This can be a time consuming process so be sure to make an appointment with Michael and he'll fully explain the process.
Frame Saver rust protection. $35.00 per frame or frame & fork
With a proprietary formula originally developed by a frame builder for frame builders, the venerable Frame Saver has kept rust from rotting steel frames from the inside-out since the mid-1990s.
I recommend this procedure for every steel frame, even if it only sees dry pavement. Just moving it inside and out results in a change in atmospheric pressure that pulls and pushes air inside the frame, leaving the opportunity for condensation to accumulate inside the frame. All of my personal bikes have been treated. One application lasts 3-5 years.
I charge $35.00 to do this to either a frame or a frameset (frame & fork). While I sell the product as well, I cannot ship it.
Let us protect your frame.
We have three different American-made Park wheel truing stands to do our work. But the basic design is the same for all of them. Here is a picture of the French-made VAR stand.
© 2004-2024 South Salem Cycleworks