Shouldn't I be happier? - Page 3 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

12-25-2006, 08:47 AM

Ozark Bicycle <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:
> > Ozark Bicycle <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
> >
> > > Surely, "Henry" deserves a better fate than a dumpster ride to the
> > > landfill! Someone, somewhere can offer "Henry" a home and a new life.
> >
> > In order to be a decent, safe ride again, Henry would need numerous
> > repairs. First and worst, the bottom bracket is shot.
<snip>

> > Additionally, I'd have to replace the entire drive train

> Do you mean freewheel and chainrings? Or are you saying the FD and RD
> must go, as well?

For some reason "FD" and "RD" aren't ringing a bell this morning.
Front and rear what?
I'd expect this bike to need every part in the drive train: pedals,
cranks, bottom bracket bearings, chain rings, chain, rear sprockets
(bike's too old for a "cassette" as we now know it). And as long as I was
at it, I'd want new bearings in the rear wheel, if not a whole wheel, see
below:

> > and both wheels

Front has hit one too many potholes (I ride fast in the dark on my
daily commute) and is very badly bent up. I had to use channel lock
pliers to reduce rim damage enough that I could even ride home the day of
the mishap. Use the front brake these days, and it feels like you're
pounding the bike, or your braking hand, with a hammer. Rear wheel might
be salvagable, but given its age I wouldn't vouch for the bearings or the
spokes. Tires, oddly, are possibly the best parts left on this bike. I
put new ones on and rode the bike for a couple of weeks before I bent the
rim and decided I'd caught the bug and needed a whole new, and much
sturdier, ride. (Henry's replacement on the commute has double-strength
rims, shocks, and armored tires.)

> Might just be the ideal urban commuter, no one will steal it and it's
> already "ugly", so damage from being locked up outdoors is moot.

You keep talking, and I might just keep Henry and hand him over to my
son who's off to college in a year or so. Still very uncertain about that
bottom bracket, though.

Bill

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12-25-2006, 09:17 AM

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:
> Ozark Bicycle <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
> > [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:
> > > Ozark Bicycle <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Surely, "Henry" deserves a better fate than a dumpster ride to the
> > > > landfill! Someone, somewhere can offer "Henry" a home and a new life.
> > >
> > > In order to be a decent, safe ride again, Henry would need numerous
> > > repairs. First and worst, the bottom bracket is shot.
> <snip>
>
> > > Additionally, I'd have to replace the entire drive train
>
> > Do you mean freewheel and chainrings? Or are you saying the FD and RD
> > must go, as well?
>
> For some reason "FD" and "RD" aren't ringing a bell this morning.
> Front and rear what?

Oh, sorry. Front and rear derailleur.

> I'd expect this bike to need every part in the drive train: pedals,
> cranks,

Are the pedals and crankarms damaged in some way?

> bottom bracket bearings, chain rings, chain, rear sprockets
> (bike's too old for a "cassette" as we now know it). And as long as I was
> at it, I'd want new bearings in the rear wheel, if not a whole wheel, see
> below:
>
> > > and both wheels
>
> Front has hit one too many potholes (I ride fast in the dark on my
> daily commute) and is very badly bent up. I had to use channel lock
> pliers to reduce rim damage enough that I could even ride home the day of
> the mishap. Use the front brake these days, and it feels like you're
> pounding the bike, or your braking hand, with a hammer. Rear wheel might
> be salvagable, but given its age I wouldn't vouch for the bearings or the
> spokes.

Bearing balls are cheap. Check to see if the cones are usable. If the
spokes aren't breaking, they're probably okay?

BTW, how many miles on this bike?

> Tires, oddly, are possibly the best parts left on this bike. I
> put new ones on and rode the bike for a couple of weeks before I bent the
> rim and decided I'd caught the bug and needed a whole new, and much
> sturdier, ride. (Henry's replacement on the commute has double-strength
> rims, shocks, and armored tires.)
>
> > Might just be the ideal urban commuter, no one will steal it and it's
> > already "ugly", so damage from being locked up outdoors is moot.
>
> You keep talking, and I might just keep Henry and hand him over to my
> son who's off to college in a year or so. Still very uncertain about that
> bottom bracket, though.

Is it the right side of the bottom bracket shell has the damaged
threads?
>
>
> Bill
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> |Real e-mail: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ], minus the letters w/ tails.|
> -----------------------------------------------------------------

12-25-2006, 01:41 PM

On 24 Dec 2006 17:05:02 -0800, "The Historian" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
may have said:

>
>Werehatrack wrote:
>> On 24 Dec 2006 12:12:48 -0800, "The Historian" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
>> may have said:
>>
>> >Do people often name their bikes? A friend of mine is restoring a 1978
>> >Volkswagon Vanagon, which he has named "Brooke."
>>
>> Picking a small nit, the Vanagon model designation was not used in the
>> US in 1978; that year, the model available was just a Van. (The
>> Vanagon model has the flatter nose, the non-torsion-bar front
>> suspension, the relocated fuel tank which allowed the rear area deck
>> to be lower than the Van's, and eventually was fitted with the
>> absolutely awful "waterboxer" engine that I renamed "the popcorn
>> motor" not long before I left the VW dealer system.)
>
>You can see Brooke here:
>
>[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
>
>Go to the end of the photo album. Ignore the fat bicyclist in front of
>her.

Ah! A Westphalia camper. Yes, that's based on a Van, not a Vanagon.
Be glad. The older vehicle had many years of refinement behind it,
and for all that it had a plethora of faults by comparison to some
others, in my opinion it was superior to its successor in most
durability-related respects, even by comparison to the air-cooled
Vanagon. (I will politely decline to discuss the ill-fated Vanagon
Diesel, a vehicle that should never have been made.)

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

12-25-2006, 03:23 PM

>
> Pat wrote:
>
>> HEY! Bikes belong in the dining room, not the garage! I thought everybody
>> knew that.
>
> Do you really keep your bike in the dining room? I've heard of being
> attached to it....

Well, you first have to get rid of that annoying table and chandelier, but,
yes, once those are gone, the dining room is an ideal place. You do know
that tires and tubes don't belong in the garage (at least in the Texas heat)
and I had a saddle where the foam just disintegrated after being in the
garage for a year or two. So, there's your reason: it saves money to keep
the bikes indoors, although Bill does have a point about the mountain bikes
being happy in the garage.....

Pat
>

12-26-2006, 09:52 AM

Browse [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] , drill down to your local area, join
the yahoo group, and offer to give the bicycle away.

Ozark Bicycle wrote:
<deleted>
>
> Surely, "Henry" deserves a better fate than a dumpster ride to the
> landfill! Someone, somewhere can offer "Henry" a home and a new life.

12-26-2006, 08:04 PM

"Rex Kerr" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in news:1166948034.492703.142930@
48g2000cwx.googlegroups.com:

> Well, I did it... I bought the Trek 520 that I've been talking about at
> Chain Reaction to replace my tired commuting bike... I'm excited, can't
> wait to go for a ride... but when I got home and parked it next to my
> old Nishiki I just felt this overwhelming sadness. I've had many good
> miles on that bike, and now I'm just going to put it in storage!
>
> Maybe one day I'll run across some old parts that'll get it running
> again without dropping too much cash.
>
>

First: congratulations on the new ride!

As for the old one, my solution when I got my new bike this year was to
completely disassemble the old one and I've been slowly polishing,
lubricating and reassembling it. While the new bike is getting all the
miles right now, the old one is getting lots of TLC and will look and
ride like new before too long.

Cheers,
David

12-27-2006, 11:09 AM

"Werehatrack" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> On 24 Dec 2006 17:05:02 -0800, "The Historian" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
> may have said:
>
> >
> >Werehatrack wrote:
> >> On 24 Dec 2006 12:12:48 -0800, "The Historian" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
> >> may have said:
> >>
> >> >Do people often name their bikes? A friend of mine is restoring a 1978
> >> >Volkswagon Vanagon, which he has named "Brooke."
> >>
> >> Picking a small nit, the Vanagon model designation was not used in the
> >> US in 1978; that year, the model available was just a Van. (The
> >> Vanagon model has the flatter nose, the non-torsion-bar front
> >> suspension, the relocated fuel tank which allowed the rear area deck
> >> to be lower than the Van's, and eventually was fitted with the
> >> absolutely awful "waterboxer" engine that I renamed "the popcorn
> >> motor" not long before I left the VW dealer system.)
> >
> >You can see Brooke here:
> >
>
>[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
> >
> >Go to the end of the photo album. Ignore the fat bicyclist in front of
> >her.
>
> Ah! A Westphalia camper. Yes, that's based on a Van, not a Vanagon.
> Be glad. The older vehicle had many years of refinement behind it,
> and for all that it had a plethora of faults by comparison to some
> others, in my opinion it was superior to its successor in most
> durability-related respects, even by comparison to the air-cooled
> Vanagon. (I will politely decline to discuss the ill-fated Vanagon
> Diesel, a vehicle that should never have been made.)
>
> --
> My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
> Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
> Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

I always feel like a bicycle or a car should be named something appropriate.
My road bike is "the brown squirrel," and my car "the screaming cashew"
(1983 subaru station wagon). Another friend of mine named his bike "the
pink fury" and my dad's car was called the "quahog" because it looked like a
big clam (1992 chrysler lebaron).
A side note on the water boxer VWs. I've seen websites that sell conversion
kits to install a subaru motor in those vanagons. My soob has something
like 270k miles on it and still runs very well with none of the head-warping
issues of the early VW watercooleds. anyone done this?
Al

12-27-2006, 07:10 PM

On 24 Dec 2006 12:12:48 -0800, "The Historian" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
wrote:

>
>[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:
>> Rex Kerr <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>> > Well, I did it... I bought the Trek 520 that I've been talking about at
>> > Chain Reaction to replace my tired commuting bike... I'm excited, can't
>> > wait to go for a ride... but when I got home and parked it next to my
>> > old Nishiki I just felt this overwhelming sadness. I've had many good
>> > miles on that bike, and now I'm just going to put it in storage!
>>
>> Chronic crowding in my garage (five bikes [1] and one car) has just
>> about persuaded me that it's time to toss my veteran 1973 Astra 10-speed.
>> I've had that bike through thick and thin, ridden it in places from El
>> Paso to Edmonton, towed my first trailer with it, had all kinds of fun on
>> it.
>> But next time the city puts one of those big open-top dumpsters out in
>> my neighborhood, "Henry" [2] is going. What finally persuaded me that his
>> time had come was riding the other two bikes, and then getting aboard the
>> old warhorse and comparing condition, fit, and handling. I'll miss the
>> old steed, but the new bikes will ease the pain.
>>
>>
>> Bill
>>
>>
>> [1] Three mine, two my kids'.
>>
>> [2] My bikes are named after American conservationists: Henry is named
>> for Thoreau, and commuter bike Waldo for Emerson. I had intended to name
>> my newest bike Leopold, after Aldo. (Aldo and Waldo being just a little
>> too close.) But this bike is so--zonal--with its silver paint and black
>> accessories, that I ended up naming him Ansel.
>
>Do people often name their bikes? A friend of mine is restoring a 1978
>Volkswagon Vanagon, which he has named "Brooke." And I call my car "The
>Neilmobile", which is close to being a name, although it's more
>properly a title. But I've never heard of naming your bike.

I had a black and blue VW Beetle, maybe a '67, named The Bruise. A
friend of mine had a VW that was a Type 3 named Claire (the name was
painted on it when he got it.)

I have an almost 20-year old Schwinn Worldsport. The other day at the
Schwinn Shop I had it weighed and with the rack on the back and the
pump and kickstand it came in at almost 35 pounds. Even before this I
called it "The Mighty Schwinn," and now the title seems to fit even
more.

12-27-2006, 07:39 PM

I named two bikes in the 1968-69 era - the "Old Nixon" and the "New
Nixon", which conjured up a variety of images at the time - probably
many fewer now. I've long since quit the practice.

The Historian wrote:
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:
> > Rex Kerr <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
> > > Well, I did it... I bought the Trek 520 that I've been talking about at
> > > Chain Reaction to replace my tired commuting bike... I'm excited, can't
> > > wait to go for a ride... but when I got home and parked it next to my
> > > old Nishiki I just felt this overwhelming sadness. I've had many good
> > > miles on that bike, and now I'm just going to put it in storage!
> >
> > Chronic crowding in my garage (five bikes [1] and one car) has just
> > about persuaded me that it's time to toss my veteran 1973 Astra 10-speed.
> > I've had that bike through thick and thin, ridden it in places from El
> > Paso to Edmonton, towed my first trailer with it, had all kinds of fun on
> > it.
> > But next time the city puts one of those big open-top dumpsters out in
> > my neighborhood, "Henry" [2] is going. What finally persuaded me that his
> > time had come was riding the other two bikes, and then getting aboard the
> > old warhorse and comparing condition, fit, and handling. I'll miss the
> > old steed, but the new bikes will ease the pain.
> >
> >
> > Bill
> >
> >
> > [1] Three mine, two my kids'.
> >
> > [2] My bikes are named after American conservationists: Henry is named
> > for Thoreau, and commuter bike Waldo for Emerson. I had intended to name
> > my newest bike Leopold, after Aldo. (Aldo and Waldo being just a little
> > too close.) But this bike is so--zonal--with its silver paint and black
> > accessories, that I ended up naming him Ansel.
>
> Do people often name their bikes? A friend of mine is restoring a 1978
> Volkswagon Vanagon, which he has named "Brooke." And I call my car "The
> Neilmobile", which is close to being a name, although it's more
> properly a title. But I've never heard of naming your bike.

12-30-2006, 01:31 PM

Ozark Bicycle <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

> > > > Additionally, I'd have to replace the entire drive train
> >
> > > Do you mean freewheel and chainrings? Or are you saying the FD and RD
> > > must go, as well?

> > bottom bracket bearings, chain rings, chain, rear sprockets
> > (bike's too old for a "cassette" as we now know it). And as long as I was
> > at it, I'd want new bearings in the rear wheel, if not a whole wheel, see
> > below:
> >
> > > > and both wheels
> >
> > Front has hit one too many potholes (I ride fast in the dark on my
> > daily commute) and is very badly bent up. I had to use channel lock
> > pliers to reduce rim damage enough that I could even ride home the day of
> > the mishap. Use the front brake these days, and it feels like you're
> > pounding the bike, or your braking hand, with a hammer. Rear wheel might
> > be salvagable, but given its age I wouldn't vouch for the bearings or the
> > spokes.

> Bearing balls are cheap. Check to see if the cones are usable. If the
> spokes aren't breaking, they're probably okay?

> BTW, how many miles on this bike?

> Is it the right side of the bottom bracket shell has the damaged
> threads?

Not really sure how many miles on the bike. I rode it, sometimes
regularly, sometimes very intermittently, for many years. It really does
have a rickety feel to it now that I have a new bike to compare it to.
I talked to a bike tech about the bottom bracket once, and he seemed to
think my bearings would have worn grooves or ruts into the bracket itself,
the part that is integral with the frame. You can hear a "clunk" every
time the pedals make a revolution. That's why I was thinking of giving up
completely on the bike. I don't know what condition the shaft itself it
in, and the crank arms themselves would only have to be replaced if needed
to fit with new parts further inside. Pedals that old I'd want to change
out as a matter of course.
The derailleurs on this bike, incidentally, are by Huret. How long
since you heard that name in this age of Shimano? The front still works,
but the rear has never shifted onto the largest/lowest gear reliably.

Would you, and maybe Mark and anyone else on the group who actually
works in a bike shop, mind doing me a favor? This bike needs these
things,

DEFINITELY
Replace front wheel
Replace chain and all gears
Do something about bottom bracket
Replace brake shoes and all cables
Replace pedals
Retape handlebars

POSSIBLY
Overhaul or replace rear derailleur
Replace rear wheel (just on account of its age)

I'd appreciate it if you could look over that list and give me a
wild-eyed, ballpark, high-low guesstimate as to what kind of bucks it
would cost me to get this bike back into safe, efficient condition. By
coincidence, I suddenly find that I have a potential home for it, if it
won't cost more to fix than to replace.

Thanks,
Bill

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| The surest way to become a pacifist is to join the infantry. |
| --Bill Mauldin |
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