Not about books
About bikes. :)
So, I've become determined to be a year-round bike commuter, even though I live in a state where it routinely gets to be minus-20 effs outside, with snow everywhere. I've read things, man. I know it can be done. And when things get too furry, I can always take the bus.
Because I love taking bikes apart and staring at them, there are now four bikes in various stages of disrepair all over the dining room, where a normal adult might have something called "a table". One of my friends gave me a beater bike she picked up at a flea market and I've been slowly trying to winterize it, mainly because I love my main two bikes (Ebbe, the commuter/cruiser, and Otto, the terribly 80s road bike) and because from everything I've read and heard, after just one winter of road salt and grit and slush, I'm going to be spending a large part of the spring pulling rusted and dead components off my winter bike.
So far I've just left the bike with stock components--mtn bike tires, regular cables and housing, the very very cheap freewheel it came with--and haven't done much besides fix the brakes and front derailleur, and put a new tube in one of the tires. But today to celebrate the new year, I took Lebelle for a test ride.
The brakes gave out after the first mile, and after the second, I realized that a rear fender would have been a really really good idea (to avoid that saucy wet butt look). I have no idea what went on with that derailleur, because it sort of worked sometimes, and at other times it claimed to have no idea what I wanted when I depressed the shifter. Oh, and the seat-post bolt went, so I wound up riding the last mile home with my thighs sort of clenched together to keep the seat facing somewhat forwards, and the
It was spectacular.
The seat's an easy fix, as are the brakes, and I'm learning you really only want to use your rear brakes on snow anyway, to avoid spinning out. I'm not sure the derailleur's worth doing a major overhaul and/or replacement on, seeing how it's likely going to be one of the things that takes the biggest hit, slush and grit-wise. It looks like a lot of people opt for single-speeds in the winter, which makes a ton of sense, and if nothing else, by golly I'll be dropping those summer pounds in a hurry.
The brakes...I think I'm going to wind up going to the bike shop just to check on them, because from what I could tell out there, the problem lay with the brake cables which, being metal, freeze inside the housings. Which is awesome, yes, but more awesome is the fact that I'm not skilled enough to yank them out of the housings and replace them in under a weekend, which would sort of cut into the rest of the stuff I have to get done on any of my three to-do lists. But it could be fun.
Fenders are easy. I just have to commit to putting them on rather than oh, I don't know, going skiing tomorrow. :D
So, I've become determined to be a year-round bike commuter, even though I live in a state where it routinely gets to be minus-20 effs outside, with snow everywhere. I've read things, man. I know it can be done. And when things get too furry, I can always take the bus.
Because I love taking bikes apart and staring at them, there are now four bikes in various stages of disrepair all over the dining room, where a normal adult might have something called "a table". One of my friends gave me a beater bike she picked up at a flea market and I've been slowly trying to winterize it, mainly because I love my main two bikes (Ebbe, the commuter/cruiser, and Otto, the terribly 80s road bike) and because from everything I've read and heard, after just one winter of road salt and grit and slush, I'm going to be spending a large part of the spring pulling rusted and dead components off my winter bike.
So far I've just left the bike with stock components--mtn bike tires, regular cables and housing, the very very cheap freewheel it came with--and haven't done much besides fix the brakes and front derailleur, and put a new tube in one of the tires. But today to celebrate the new year, I took Lebelle for a test ride.
The brakes gave out after the first mile, and after the second, I realized that a rear fender would have been a really really good idea (to avoid that saucy wet butt look). I have no idea what went on with that derailleur, because it sort of worked sometimes, and at other times it claimed to have no idea what I wanted when I depressed the shifter. Oh, and the seat-post bolt went, so I wound up riding the last mile home with my thighs sort of clenched together to keep the seat facing somewhat forwards, and the
It was spectacular.
The seat's an easy fix, as are the brakes, and I'm learning you really only want to use your rear brakes on snow anyway, to avoid spinning out. I'm not sure the derailleur's worth doing a major overhaul and/or replacement on, seeing how it's likely going to be one of the things that takes the biggest hit, slush and grit-wise. It looks like a lot of people opt for single-speeds in the winter, which makes a ton of sense, and if nothing else, by golly I'll be dropping those summer pounds in a hurry.
The brakes...I think I'm going to wind up going to the bike shop just to check on them, because from what I could tell out there, the problem lay with the brake cables which, being metal, freeze inside the housings. Which is awesome, yes, but more awesome is the fact that I'm not skilled enough to yank them out of the housings and replace them in under a weekend, which would sort of cut into the rest of the stuff I have to get done on any of my three to-do lists. But it could be fun.
Fenders are easy. I just have to commit to putting them on rather than oh, I don't know, going skiing tomorrow. :D