More money, fewer gears part 4: it is finished.

After a bit of pratting around last week with the Dicta sprocket and my Diamondback's 3/32" chain, it looked distinctly like the sprocket was determined to accept only a 1/8" BMX chain. The replacement sprocket, a 3/32"-friendly ACS Claw ("Da craw! Da craw!") turned up from UK Bike Store almost as soon as I'd even thought about it. Then, while on an otherwise pointless run - I'm hideously out of shape in running terms - I bought a 3/32" Shimano chain.

A couple of 3/32" half-links* arrived today at work from St. John's Street Cycles; I fitted the chain, tightened the tensioner and it was finished.

Needless to say, it was a massive anticlimax. I have built...a bike. It has wheels, pedals, handlebars and brakes. It appears to work pretty much in exactly the same way as every other bicycle built since 1880. I'd half expected a gaggle of passing couriers to stop by to congratulate me on my Herculean feat and praise the majestic angle of the seatpost or something equally stupendous. Unfortunately, it was 7 pm and the couriers had all gone home to rest their over-developed legs and, with their atrophied arms, to shovel high-carb dinners into their gullets like Atkins-hating velociraptors**.

I cycled home from work along the Water of Leith path, then up Broughton Street and Queen Street and finally up the short, sharp hill to St. Andrews Square. The geometry is a little strange compared to the Diamondback: the short stem and wide bars probably contribute most to that, although the frame really expects to be run with suspension forks and my £10 bargain bin specials are probably not helping matters. A pair of these bad boys (I've stopped even trying to be a non-geeky cyclist) will sort that out, I think.

The most striking thing is the combination of the absolute silence while pedalling - an absence of derailleur will do that - and the obnoxious clicking while freewheeling. I'd forgotten how much noise BMX freewheels make, and amplified by a big, bendy frame and larger wheels, it sounds like a football rattle in the hands of an ADHD child hopped up on Sunny D.

Mostly, then, I kept pedalling as fast as I could. The gearing seemed almost a little low; I made it up most hills with a minimum of fuss and effort (despite being fairly circumspect in applying pressure, in case an ill-fitted bolt or half link should decide to pop out) and I found myself spinning out fairly quickly on the flat. I'll see how I do on something more challenging like Dundas Street before changing sprockets, though.

So I now have a kingsized BMX-alike commuter bike, and I'm not afraid to use it. Only one thing remains: what should it be called?

* It's worth noting, if this hideously drawn out build diary hasn't made you nauseous to even catch a glimpse of a bicycle, that St. John's Street Cycles appear to be the only UK company that sell 3/32" half links. The side plates of the links are fractionally larger than those of the Shimano chain I'm using, but this hasn't caused any problems.
** My God, I think I just broke English with that sentence.