06may2003

Just got this, 01 May 2003. My first skinny-tires zippy bike, pick it up with your pinkie.

Gotta get this a cyclometer and soak in the glow of it.

I'm not sure how I feel about the touring posture, but this turns out to be another bike you can ride no-hands even at pretty low speeds. Maybe get one of those bifurcatey seats?? Not sure what riding no-hands is like on one of those.

The sweet guy selling the bike said Did I want to take the T home instead of ride, the first time? and that in any case I should email him when I made it home.. I said I'd sorta offered a neighbor an errand in that part of town, but I'd see how it went. He got this:

So, of all things, after Microcenter, I went to Trader Joe's and loaded up the panniers to overflowing with frozen blueberries and stuff and it was still a sweet ride home. Hee, and part of it no-hands when my neck got crunched up from touring-bike posture...

So I still don't have the experience of carrying it all light and easy up the front porch stairs... next time!

Strapped a 12-pack of TP on top with the spare tube he threw in (sorry) - didn't mention that...

20may2003

The light's no good, battery won't take a charge. Something like $10-15 to replace the batt, might well do.

Got this its own cyclometer. (Was sick on the side of the road on the way from work to Broadway Bicycle School and once between there and home - rice gone bad?) Got Blackburn front racks off eBay for $10. Installed S-hooks on the front panniers. Hose-clamped down the wheel QRs.

With the mountain bike awaiting repairs (and with the tall bike profoundly sucking in daytime traffic), this has been my main commute ride for a while, now. Lovin' it...

07jul2003

Got a (slow leak) flat, found out H's pump plus the 4" of air tube that's all I salvaged from my (RIP) cheapo iMac pump plus the presta adaptor does okay.

Turns out one of the kiddie bikes I trashpicked the other day had the most gratuitously cushy gel seat cover on it. Plopped that on here, over the already mighty cushy gel saddle - oh, my. Possibly the biggest improvement is the increase in seat height I was too much of a wimp to just adjust for myself. Still, the best solution is going to be getting better at riding it no-hands more of the time.

26oct2003

No, the best solution is a SpongyWonder - although at a good touring angle, it does NOT lend itself to riding no-hands.

I saw one of these on a Raleigh 3-speed, otherwise quite period, parked at a garage sale, and struck up a conversation, and mail-ordered one.

25jan2004

A year and a half ago, PigPen talked me into road bikes for winter riding - e.g. they cut through snow instead of cake up with it. This is all I've ridden this winter, poor thing. AND NONE OF IT COUNTS because I never got a cyclometer on it! It went on YellowBug!!

Spent some time yesterday changing the chain and giving the drive train a good scraping and scrubbing and degreasing - took the pulleys off kinda thorough. That disturbing noise is gone... I probably shoulda paid more attention to that - so sweet now.

08feb2004

Hacksaw figured out how the handlebar rack goes on! I studied it carefully before taking it down, but I can not reconstruct it. I think I have the bar in the right place, but not the bungee.

(Read about photopage/pag-*?)