| Re: Finished my project bike!
Pat wrote:
> I was given a mountain bike in pretty sorry condition as a project
bike. I
> stripped it down to the empty frame and rebuilt it one piece at a
time (with
> the help of some bicycle repair books). Along the way I learned a
ton about
> how bikes are put together and some of the little "tricks" to getting
them
> to work right. Yesterday, I finished putting the new cables on the
> derailleurs and I actually got them to work correctly!
>
> I highly recommend this approach to learning how to work on a bike.
Reminds me of how I got my first "good" bike.
I was riding a ten (count 'em, 10) speed I bought in a drug store,
believe it and drool, but I was newly married and scrimping. I
figured the Raleigh Super Course would _someday_ be within my budget...
Then I found out my guitar teacher had one lying in his basement.
Seems he'd bought it, fell off, and never rode it again. Soon we had a
deal: He got the Staiger, perfectly tuned and trued. I got the Super
Course - with the tweaked plastic derailleur, the wheels out of true,
the freewheel that freewheeled both directions, the cables that were
rusted solid, etc.
It took a week of vacation to get it right, working in our tiny living
room. I learned a lot, indeed! But the bike was such an improvement
over what I'd had! I wanted to ride it forever.
And I may. That was 1976. It was the bike I took on my first overseas
tour, my first cross-state tour, my first century, my first road race,
etc etc. And it's still the bike I ride to work, 29 years later!
Except, that is, for the few upgrades I made along the way. New tires,
hubs, rims, spokes, saddle, seatpost, cogs, cranks, shifters,
handlebars, stem, seatpost, brakes, paint...
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