Ladies projects?

Pardon my intrusion, but I asked this question on the any question answered forum and received only one response.

This question follows on from the ( not entirely serious ) comments regarding the lack of forum females recently made on the moderator request thread.

I know there are lots of girls/women/ladies on the forum, yet so few of you appear to post in current projects. The main one that comes to mind is LongAndWinding's beautiful Demon Frameworks project. http://www.lfgss.com/thread77424.html , but that was ages ago.

I'm quite happy to be proved wrong. I might simply not notice, especially as gender isn't immediately obvious from a username or avatar. This thread about ladies bikes has had only seven pages worth in nearly three years. http://www.lfgss.com/thread46170.html

Why? Tinkering with bike parts isn't an exclusively male preoccupation by any means. I once met a lady in real life and she told me so.

Anyone?

This was my only response.

I can't post my current project as it's taking so fucking long that ChainBreaker will be riding his bike before mine is done. It's bad enough that the mechanic in my LBS laughs at me whenever I go in.

I don't have the mechanical know-how to do the things I would need to in order to put together my own bike. I fear I would get laughed out of CP if I started a thread where I changed my saddle/seatpost/bars/stem/wheels/pedals.

^ Some people have changed far less than that in CP.

Ed put mine up in the Current Projects thread a couple of days ago - http://www.lfgss.com/thread102493.html

My first time putting a bike together (with a lot of help!) resulted in my previous everyday bike, a Swinnerton, and was very much a case of trial and error. I still don't have much mechanical know-how but am learning as I go along... Like Cazakstan I fear I would be laughed at!

Pardon my intrusion, but I asked this question on the any question answered forum and received only one response.

This question follows on from the ( not entirely serious ) comments regarding the lack of forum females recently made on the moderator request thread.

I know there are lots of girls/women/ladies on the forum, yet so few of you appear to post in current projects. The main one that comes to mind is LongAndWinding's beautiful Demon Frameworks project. http://www.lfgss.com/thread77424.html , but that was ages ago.

I'm quite happy to be proved wrong. I might simply not notice, especially as gender isn't immediately obvious from a username or avatar. This thread about ladies bikes has had only seven pages worth in nearly three years. http://www.lfgss.com/thread46170.html

Why? Tinkering with bike parts isn't an exclusively male preoccupation by any means. I once met a lady in real life and she told me so.

Anyone?

I've never really taken on a project tbh - although my Charge Plug became something of a Triggers Broom as I changed the wheels, crankset, bars, brakes etc but under guidance.

I don't have the mechanical know-how to do the things I would need to in order to put together my own bike. I fear I would get laughed out of CP if I started a thread where I changed my saddle/seatpost/bars/stem/wheels/pedals.

Which brings me onto raising something I've been pondering for a while - would any of the LFGSS Ladies want to learn some practical skills - like wheelbuilding or bike building? Have tentatively sounded our London Bike Kitchen who like the idea - how many here would be interested?

I would love to learn some practical skills. Learning how to fix brakes, wheel building/truing, headset/bb servicing/changing etc.

My bike is going through a Trigger's broom phase at the moment!

Nice one! I'll have a chat with LBK and see what we can rustle up. I'd really like to build my own wheels.

I'd be up for building my own wheels. Looked at doing a LBK but just haven't had the time.

I stripped, got resprayed and re-built my mixte.
This was when I was a lurker, afterwards, then ended up signing up and being on 'ere.
I just couldn't be arsed creating a build thread. I just did it when I could. I guess I also feared being laughed out of here for stuff like "oh my god cant believe you didn't know that".
Since then I've fucked around with various other bits and pieces on that and my other bikes, and also been doing work on my friends bikes, etc.
Shit, actually just realised, I do bike tweaks a few nights a week, yes I lead a simple life.

Maybe it's a case of we do stuff, just don't want to tell the world about it.
I'm building a bike for a friend, maybe I'll CP it.

Although dedicated threads can be good ( not always ), I wasn't really thinking so much of the individual CP threads. The original CP thread was and still is composed of little tweaks and minor updates of existing bikes.

^ Perhaps you're right and us guys just want everybody to acknowledge our awesome bike building skillz?

Being laughed out of a thread for a lack of knowledge is both sad and ridiculous. If everybody knew everything about bikes then much of the bike related stuff on here could be rendered pointless.

If people don't want to do something, then there's no problem, but when they feel uncomfortable about sharing something they might be really proud of, then it seems a real shame.

I haven't put any of my builds in CPs, mainly because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to upload photos but also because I just don't feel the need to get everyone's opinion!

Get in touch with Nik, head mechanic at LMNH for any practical skills you want to learn. Especially wheel building! She's awesome at it and needs to raise money quickly: https://www.lfgss.com/thread82236.html

I've usually got a project on the go. Right now I'm filing the spoke ends on the my first home built wheels. They will go on a 90s Caprice i bought from 76jimmy through the forum. The rest of the bike is stripped down into parts and stashed around the living room. Last month I made leather handlebar grips out of a charity shop coat.

I don't bother posting because i build to a budget so there's no porn factor, and the sort of bikes I like - ladies loop frames - don't interest many people.

I don't have any projects on the go as I tend to fettle or go to my local shop if there's something I can't (won't learn how to/feeling lazy) do.

I do sometimes read the CP thread and whilst it's nice to read about women's build projects it's not something that would draw me specifically.

Thank you for the mention! I'm so looking forward to getting the Demon back on the road, project Benjamin took priority just after the Demon was completed, but he starts nursery soon, so I shall get the wheels out and go bag me some Bicycle Tag of Bikes!

Might revive the thread if there are any build developments when the Demon gets some proper mileage.

Isn't the Demon the Benjamin of your bikes, and Benjamin occasionally a little demon?

Confused now. ;$

this is only my second post on the forum, so apologies if it's a bit cack-handed in terms of formatting...

after about 3 years of riding bikes in London i decided a few months ago to have a crack at restoring my grandmother's 1938 Raleigh. it was the only thing she was ever given new as a child and was passed onto my mother, who unfortunately suffers from labyrinthitis - her balance is so badly affected that riding a bike is simply out of the question, so the bike has languished in various garages for years. since moving to London i've built a single speed and then a 7 speed (arising from a combination of insatiable curiosity, a mechanical mind, a cyclist boyfriend and hating having to get the bus to work) so i thought now was as good a time as ever. i was fortunate enough to move in with a lovely mechanic friend a few months ago too, so he's been my port of call for pretty much everything i didn't understand and wanted to learn (lucky him!).

as projects go i'm sure it's on the lowest rungs of what people on the forum achieve, but if anyone's interested, here's a broad overview of how it's going:

this was how it started:

and a few close-ups:

the paintwork on the frame has worn down over the years so the only actually Raleigh-branded decal (apart from the metal heron on the head tube) is on the chainguard:


although, when i stripped the bike and removed the seat clamp i discovered two parallel lines of red and god pinstriping (more on that later...)

after the first round of parts stripping i took the bike to Armourtex in hackney to have a matt black coat put on the bike. they were not only super helpful and friendly, but also helped me remove the headset and cotter pins so i could finally remove the chainguard:

i then managed to find new 26" wheels, new brakes and brake levers (i'm not keen to keep the rod brake mech so switched it to cable/caliper brakes), vintage-style handlebar grips, and polished everything up as best i could. there are a few bits (on the chrome on the brakes and handlebars especially) which are't perfect but look much better than they did.

and now, for the part i'm really excited for... luglining and pinstriping! i'm just waiting for the paint to arrive in the post then i'll get cracking on it. after that, there's just installing the brakes (which involves drilling a new hole in the frame) and putting things back together. i've absolutely loved doing this so far and i can't wait to get it up and running.

if anyone has any thoughts or input, i'd be happy to hear from you! :)

as projects go i'm sure it's on the lowest rungs of what people on the forum achieve, but if anyone's interested, here's a broad overview of how it's going:

Nice work so far Lucy. Look forward to seeing how the pinstriping comes out.

It's entirely up to you of course, but I think this project deserves its own thread. You'll get a few more people viewing it that way and hopefully get some helpful advice on the restoration :-)

Yup, I'd say the same, set up a thread!

Good stuff, and best of luck!

That thing must weigh a ton! Good work!!

Nice work, kinda cool to resto your grandmother's stuff too.

It's entirely up to you of course, but I think this project deserves its own thread. You'll get a few more people viewing it that way and hopefully get some helpful advice on the restoration :-)

okay, will do! thanks for the advice :)

Hey good luck with the Raleigh old roadsters are heavy but classy and seem to outlast everything :)

Building up a 1979 Ciocc San Cristobal.
Thread here: http://www.lfgss.com/thread100258.html

A good few months old now but this is my singular XS frame built by my own fair hands.
Currently fitted with only a rear guard as toe overlap is too great with the balloon tyres but I love them too much to remove.

^ That's one great looking Peregrine there nunu. Nice to see one with proper fat tyres :-)

a slight update on my 1938 restoration project - http://www.lfgss.com/thread104095.html

also, my next bike is almost done, just hunting down bb. i'll also (when i have the money, ha) take it into armourtex and get it powder coated, excited! i should also put some effort into finding a decent saddle for it... i was planning on carrying on using the same san marco spid glamour saddle but, as ridable as it is, it's not fantastic, especially for longer rides. the search continues!