Got back late sunday, yesterday got to work, left work. Went home, caught up on email and such. Then I headed to wal-mart in search of cheap, new equipment for my trusty steel framed ATB style bike. There’s a few places where the frame / joints have some minor rust starting to appear, but nothing to worry about yet.

The biggest problems it has right now are the wheels… They’re a bit out of true, but after about an hour and a half with a spoke wrench I’ve got them in better shape than they’ve been in -years-. I figure I’ll go out and abuse it a bit tonight, then see how things are holding up and make some more adjustments. The front wheel hasn’t been right for a long time… ever since I hit that parked car and bent it… Granted I had a bike shop up in ohio ‘fix’ it, but it’s always had a bulge on the braking surface of the rim. I pounded that a bit last night with a hammer, and it’s getting back into shape. The rest of the wobbles I got under control with the spoke wrench. It’s really amazing how a few quarter turns will yank the wheel back into alignment. It’d be nice to have some lighter wheels, but they’re still in pretty good shape considering the old brakes were rubbing metal on metal for the last few months when I did take it out. There’s some minor rusting on the rims, mostly on the braking surface. The tires look to be in the early stages of dry-rot. Considering the bike is probably about eight years old, and it’s still got the original tires, I figure it’s doing pretty well.

I’d love to get some new wheels & tires, but I just can’t justify it yet… another month or so and I might manage that. Depends how much I ride it. I live about a mile from a really nice bike / walking trail, and the weather is finally getting nice enough to get out on the bike on a regular basis. I got out last night and did a few sprints through the apartment parking lots around 11 o’clock to test the new brake shoes and make sure I had the cables adjusted well. The brakes haven’t been that good on the bike since I first got it. I’m really happy about that. I used to regularly ride this bike 8 to 10 miles a day during the summers back home when I didn’t have a car. Man I was in (comparatively) good shape back then.

Update: The bike is definately in good shape. I, on the other hand… am not. Just did about a 3.5 mile ride and I barely made it up the stairs to the apartment (3rd floor) carrying the bike. Whew.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 5th, 2004 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Core Dump. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.