Temp just cracked 50F. Time to get my butt in gear today and enjoy what will probably be the last "warm" ride until March. Where to go? Have two hours before it starts to get cold and dark. I'm thinking not Arbys. Maybe Chinese or Dairyette? Or, leftover Thanksgiving grub?
All I know is this Deadliest Catch marathon is killing my motivation.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Pile of bike parts
I've been a bike commuter for 8 months now. In that time I've gone through 3 bikes and I'm on the fourth.
Front to back:
1990-ish Dyno conglomerate
2008 Next Avalon (pile of aluminum crap)
1990 GT Outpost (steel beast!)
The Dyno came to me courtesy of a roommate that moved out and left behind a lot of great stuff, including this bike. It needed new tubes and a brake of some sort to get it rolling. What did I do? I got some tubes and popped on a rear brake and hit the park. At the park I blew both new tubes, pringled the front wheel and broke some spokes on the back. Not a great day.
The GT was been with me since the day after it hit the showroom floor. I'm pretty sure it was the fruits of my eleven year old labors of collecting aluminum cans over the summer. I kitted that bad boy out with Panaracer Smoke and Dart tires, CatEye speedo, upgraded the wheels and various components and had a good light weight trail bike. A few years later I turned 16, got a car and it went into storage. Eight months ago it came out of storage, 16 years of sitting. Popped on some Bontrager H2 fat slicks, a seatpost rack, mounted some cheapo MP3 speakers on the handlebars, a new chain and took off everything that made the bike shift and made it as single speed as possible.
All those fixes lasted me about 800 miles when a goofy little crash sent me over the handlebars, creased the front wheel, broke half a dozen spokes in the back, scraped all the freckles off my left shoulder and some really neat looking scars on my left hip. All that at less than 5mph. I almost didn't wear my helmet that day but something told me to cover my head. The rack hit me in the top of my head.
The NEXT Avalon belongs to my parents. When my bike died it was scavenged for parts to get the GT up and running. That was full of fail. The Avalon wheel rims were too narrow. The hubs were too wide. Put it back together and make due with the oxymoron bike, the full suspension beach cruiser. Rode that beast for about a month and one morning I wake up with a message on facebook that changed everything.
More on that, next time.
1990-ish Dyno conglomerate
2008 Next Avalon (pile of aluminum crap)
1990 GT Outpost (steel beast!)
The Dyno came to me courtesy of a roommate that moved out and left behind a lot of great stuff, including this bike. It needed new tubes and a brake of some sort to get it rolling. What did I do? I got some tubes and popped on a rear brake and hit the park. At the park I blew both new tubes, pringled the front wheel and broke some spokes on the back. Not a great day.
The GT was been with me since the day after it hit the showroom floor. I'm pretty sure it was the fruits of my eleven year old labors of collecting aluminum cans over the summer. I kitted that bad boy out with Panaracer Smoke and Dart tires, CatEye speedo, upgraded the wheels and various components and had a good light weight trail bike. A few years later I turned 16, got a car and it went into storage. Eight months ago it came out of storage, 16 years of sitting. Popped on some Bontrager H2 fat slicks, a seatpost rack, mounted some cheapo MP3 speakers on the handlebars, a new chain and took off everything that made the bike shift and made it as single speed as possible.
All those fixes lasted me about 800 miles when a goofy little crash sent me over the handlebars, creased the front wheel, broke half a dozen spokes in the back, scraped all the freckles off my left shoulder and some really neat looking scars on my left hip. All that at less than 5mph. I almost didn't wear my helmet that day but something told me to cover my head. The rack hit me in the top of my head.
The NEXT Avalon belongs to my parents. When my bike died it was scavenged for parts to get the GT up and running. That was full of fail. The Avalon wheel rims were too narrow. The hubs were too wide. Put it back together and make due with the oxymoron bike, the full suspension beach cruiser. Rode that beast for about a month and one morning I wake up with a message on facebook that changed everything.
More on that, next time.
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