('fraction = refraction = vision 'bent?)

19jul2004

Feb '04, SGW and I went 'bent shopping again, and this time I bought one.

$200 fixer-upper Vision R-40 off craigslist. Blue, OSS, very recliney seat. Rusty cables. About $60 for the three nine-speed chains (I could have done better). Almost immediatelt I break the crankset shift lever. Anyway, today, months later, I fix it. Well, I took Threespeed's advice and just dropped on a stem shifter. Good enough. It has one of those combo brake/shifter things, ugh.

It's amazing what a pain in the neck repairs always are. Even putting a rear rack on the thing was a serious hassle. Maybe the ingenious previous owner had a reason for drilling out the upper braze-ons =/

All the hassle of SWB but none of the handling or storage benefits. By hassle, I mean I had to retract the boom all the way to match my height, and now the wheel hits my heels on turns =/   I could probably get it a half-inch further out if I sacrificed the sweet tilt of the seat - notch it up straigter, I could probably reach a bit farther.

So, there's the chance I'll stick a road fork in this and call it a chopper. I recall daydreams about putting an xtracycle on the back, making it a real party barge of a SCUL vessel - load it up with lights and punchbowls and speakers and palm trees. Or something. Now that would be a long chain. No way while it's a nine-speed - $$!