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torquillEvents conspired this morning such that I didn't take my usual morning train. After a bit of contemplation, I drove up instead.
I didn't go pick up my bike at the train station, as I had the (still uncovered) seat to my second bike in the trunk. I drove over to the Market Garden, did my three hours, and then walked over to get my secondary bike from the Domes so that I could go to lunch.
Someone from the Bike Church had mistakenly chained it up with their BikeBrary, however. Despite it being Wednesday, there were also no ministers in evidence (end of quarter blues). I walked back to the car and drove to lunch, then got my primary bike (Spirit) at the train station. (Hauling it in and out of my trunk, since it doesn't have any quick-release wheels and won't fit neatly because of the rack and basket, is not something I had wanted to do twice today. I was fantasizing about bike racks while taking it back to the station.)
Before class I did manage to grab Chris, who lives at the Domes and has minister keys, and he was willing to unlock the BikeBrary chain. I was crashy by the end of class, but I was thinking enough that I could get back to the car and haul Spirit back where it needed to be. I didn't even get too woozy from the exhaust fumes coming in through the open trunk. :)
Then I went back to the Domes to get the second bike, Opportunity. I put the unfinished seat on and rode it back to the car -- and just that little ride was enough to make me realize that the two bikes are like night and day. Spirit is a little too tall for me, and the handlebar post is a bit short; no matter how I work it, I have weight on my hands all the time, and it consistently wrecks my shoulders. Opportunity is lower and puts my shoulders almost directly above my hips -- I feel like I'm sitting back comfortably, with no weight at all on my hands. I can steer without leaning. The seat is sprung, which takes a lot of the minor harshness out of the ride. I really like this bike, and it's sad that it's taken six months to get it to a rideable state.
Then came the task of putting it into the car to come home, as I want to tweak it with a fully stocked machine shop at my disposal. And that's when I fell in love all over again.
To think I had considered removing the rear quick-release (I was ambivalent about it on the front wheel). Unlatch, loosen, pull the chain off; unlatch, loosen, pull the other wheel off; the whole frame fits easily inside my trunk. No pulling and pushing and swearing. No wedged handlebars. No need to get a bike rack for my car just to transport my bike to and from the train station here at home, or for when I have to drive up to Davis and fetch it from the station up there.
I confess, it still needs some minor work. There's no fitting for the luggage rack, so I have to make one. The back brakes are sluggish, the front brakes are hyper. One of the ratcheting shifters needs tightening (love those shifters). Tuning, essentially, and adding things like a water bottle holder. It's stuff I have time and tools to do down here over the break, along with finishing with re-covering the seat. Then Opportunity becomes my school bike, and Spirit comes down to Concord for occasional use.
Such a nice bike. It's not pristine, but I can clean it up a little, and I'm tempted to stencil "Opportunity" on it. (Spirit is so named because it's a FreeSpirit Outrage, an old 80's Sears mountain bike. It's already got its name on it.) It may be lacking Spirit's distinctive red fork... but did I mention it's purple?
I've gotten Spirit -- a $50 Burning-Man bike -- to a state where it's very reliable and as rideable as I can make it without major structural changes. I got Opportunity to give me another bike to fix and learn on without the time pressure of needing it to get to class, and I've been doing that. Eventually I'll have it to the same state that Spirit's in now... maybe then I'll buy another one from the Bike Church to tinker with, to give me more challenges. :)
I didn't go pick up my bike at the train station, as I had the (still uncovered) seat to my second bike in the trunk. I drove over to the Market Garden, did my three hours, and then walked over to get my secondary bike from the Domes so that I could go to lunch.
Someone from the Bike Church had mistakenly chained it up with their BikeBrary, however. Despite it being Wednesday, there were also no ministers in evidence (end of quarter blues). I walked back to the car and drove to lunch, then got my primary bike (Spirit) at the train station. (Hauling it in and out of my trunk, since it doesn't have any quick-release wheels and won't fit neatly because of the rack and basket, is not something I had wanted to do twice today. I was fantasizing about bike racks while taking it back to the station.)
Before class I did manage to grab Chris, who lives at the Domes and has minister keys, and he was willing to unlock the BikeBrary chain. I was crashy by the end of class, but I was thinking enough that I could get back to the car and haul Spirit back where it needed to be. I didn't even get too woozy from the exhaust fumes coming in through the open trunk. :)
Then I went back to the Domes to get the second bike, Opportunity. I put the unfinished seat on and rode it back to the car -- and just that little ride was enough to make me realize that the two bikes are like night and day. Spirit is a little too tall for me, and the handlebar post is a bit short; no matter how I work it, I have weight on my hands all the time, and it consistently wrecks my shoulders. Opportunity is lower and puts my shoulders almost directly above my hips -- I feel like I'm sitting back comfortably, with no weight at all on my hands. I can steer without leaning. The seat is sprung, which takes a lot of the minor harshness out of the ride. I really like this bike, and it's sad that it's taken six months to get it to a rideable state.
Then came the task of putting it into the car to come home, as I want to tweak it with a fully stocked machine shop at my disposal. And that's when I fell in love all over again.
To think I had considered removing the rear quick-release (I was ambivalent about it on the front wheel). Unlatch, loosen, pull the chain off; unlatch, loosen, pull the other wheel off; the whole frame fits easily inside my trunk. No pulling and pushing and swearing. No wedged handlebars. No need to get a bike rack for my car just to transport my bike to and from the train station here at home, or for when I have to drive up to Davis and fetch it from the station up there.
I confess, it still needs some minor work. There's no fitting for the luggage rack, so I have to make one. The back brakes are sluggish, the front brakes are hyper. One of the ratcheting shifters needs tightening (love those shifters). Tuning, essentially, and adding things like a water bottle holder. It's stuff I have time and tools to do down here over the break, along with finishing with re-covering the seat. Then Opportunity becomes my school bike, and Spirit comes down to Concord for occasional use.
Such a nice bike. It's not pristine, but I can clean it up a little, and I'm tempted to stencil "Opportunity" on it. (Spirit is so named because it's a FreeSpirit Outrage, an old 80's Sears mountain bike. It's already got its name on it.) It may be lacking Spirit's distinctive red fork... but did I mention it's purple?
I've gotten Spirit -- a $50 Burning-Man bike -- to a state where it's very reliable and as rideable as I can make it without major structural changes. I got Opportunity to give me another bike to fix and learn on without the time pressure of needing it to get to class, and I've been doing that. Eventually I'll have it to the same state that Spirit's in now... maybe then I'll buy another one from the Bike Church to tinker with, to give me more challenges. :)
