Been Working the DayJob

It's been awhile. I've been working a lot and not doing as much with the bikes. I have been working on my other hobby, making books. I haven't been on the computer nearly as much as I used to be but I suspect with Wint now in full swing I'll be spending as much time as I was this summer, with this being the only room with AC.

Anyway. Some updates. I found a totally sweet Haro mountain bike on Craigs list for good money for my winter bike project. Turned out to be a nice bike but not for this project and not for me. When I took it for a spin I nearly took a header over the front, I'm just too long in the torso to ride a bike with 24 inch tires. SO I've tuned it up an put it up on clist. Hopefully the person who is seeing it on Thursday will make a good offer and it will be out of my way. After bringing the bike home the significant other took one look in the garage and told me I wasn't to buy another bike until I got rid of at least one of the bikes that I currently have.

Ahem.... I think it's a bit of an addiction. I have the MadWagon cruiser with the weed whacker on it. The StingRay with the happy time engine. Another StingRay sans motor and mid project. The Scwinn S95.6 with no motor and no plans to motorize it. I picked up a cheap Iverson GrandSport 10 to scavenge for vintage friction shifter and dérailleurs. Anyway, when I brought the Iverson home is when the plug was pulled on more bikes.

So today when I saw an ad on clist for 2 bikes cheaper than dirt* I paused for a second before sending an email... I did it and figured that because they were so cheap it would be okay... One is a Trek 800 Antelope, most likely a 1991. The good? It's in very good shape. The frame is steel and while slightly heavy it is strong. Perfect for motorizing. The stand over height is about 29 inches which is just about right for me, and the frame is a good size for a motor. I'm very happy with this bike. The bad? The components are pure shit. When I say pure shit, I mean they are the very bottom rung that Shimano made, with plastic components. I would be better off putting the SunTour Honors onto it from the Iverson and replacing the crap plastic shifters with the sweet shifter levers from the Iverson. The brake levers are also crap and integrated with the shifters. I hate plastic on bikes, hate it. This bike will be more work than it is probably worth but for a beater bike or for motorizing it is perfect. The Antelope/800 series was TREK's cheap line of bikes. This has26 inch tires and has a 17.5/18inch frame.

The other bike in the deal is a 1980 Raleigh Reliant, 21inch frame. The components on this one are SunTour Sevens Dated to 1980. The bike could be older but I don't think so. I had emailed the guy a few times and he let me know that he was no bike mechanic so I suspect that everything on both bikes is original. There is some rust on the front forks where the chrome is, but everything else is in good shape. Brakes work, dérailleurs appear to work and friction shifters move with ease. It needs new tires and brake pads. This bike is far too tall for me to ride with any comfort. I'm going to put the new tires on it clean it up and make it look good then get rid of it. I'll probably hold this one until summer for selling it. Though it is ripe for a fixed gear project.

Anyway, I paid so little for it that any work I put into it will be worth the pay off.

I also bought a freewheel removal tool so that I can work on the hubs of my bikes. It's about time. I've been messing around with bikes since I was a kid and never had the proper tools to do this.

^*This is a bit of a misnomer on my account. Have you bought dirt recently? the stuff is crazy expensive... For dirt. These bikes were cheaper than dirt but dirt being expensive it's not a good comparison. Lets say that these bikes, both of them cost me less than what I spend on coffee a week, which isn't much, seeing as how I make it at home. So you figure that out.

Comments

[Fixie Blog]

whered you get your freewheel removal tool?

[leslie]

I was able to order one for vintage suntout components on eBay. Well worth the $5 for the part and the $3 for shipping seller was BUILDURBIKE It has shipped, so we'll see how it goes.