A couple of days ago, I was on my way home from riding and saw a pile of bikes propped up next to a trash can. One in particular caught my eye- it was a bright blue geared bike of some sort with moustache handlebars. Noone was at home, so I left a note at the house asking if I could come back and get it. Later on that afternoon, the homeowner called back and said she didn’t mind at all, so I brought this home:
As luck would have it (for the bike, at least), the next day was cold and rainy. I spent most of the day with some rust remover and steel wool trying to get rid of a majority of the rust. I also dropped by the bike shop & picked up some new cables and a chain. After a day of dissassembling/reassembling, here she is…
The only thing I was worried about not working with the restoration was the front of the drivetrain- seems it took a hard fall on the drive side that bent everything up enough that the chainrings wobble as the cranks turn. It took a LOT of fiddling with the high/low limit screws, but I finally got it to work (though it’s still pretty noisy and not incredibly smooth). Now I’m waiting for a set of new tires (the old ones were rotten beyond recognition) from Harris Cyclery (the rim size is an odd one- 26 x 1 3/8). I plan on strapping some milk crates to the rack and turning her into a grocery getter. Hopefully once they get here, I’ll get some good out-of-garage photos!
So I was just there to watch since I figured out on Monday that it’s not wise to try dismounting your bike at speeds greater than which you can run. I managed to get a few photos in the dark- here are a couple of my favortires…
The winner- Russ Griffin:
Some dirty hippie in a gay sweater:
I was on my way home from work today (on my bike), when a beige Cadillac all but buzzed me in slow motion. I was a little miffed, but saw the handicap hangtag on the rearview and chocked it up to elderly driving. I continued up the road, approaching a stoplight at a busy cross-street. As I’m pedaling through the green light, I hear “Ma’am!” from my right , and see that the driver of the beige Cadillac has parked in the right lane of the busy cross street and is standing behind her car waving at me! I continue through the intersection and pull over to the gutter on the other side to find out what this woman wants.
The first thing I hear her say is “What are you doing all the way out here?”
Me (thinking she’s just a really crazy anti-bike person): “Uh… Riding home from work”
Her: “Are you Tim Taylor?” (I couldn’t understand her very well at that point, but she wandered into the street a little closer to me and yelled it a couple of times)
Me: No!
She starts trying to explain something to me, but I can’t hear what she’s saying because she’s on the other side of a busy road. By this time, the light has cycled, and she abandons her car on the side of the road and comes over to me. Apparently, she thought that I was her son, Tim Taylor, who lives in Midtown. He’s ridden a bike for more than 20 years, and she thought I was him.
Hmmm…
I know that it’s easy to mistake me for a guy from the back when I’m on my bike & wearing a helmet.
I know she said Ma’am when she was trying to get my attention.
I am confused as to how she thought I was her son while driving by and pulled over, used a female term to get my attention, then once again asked if I was Tim Taylor. Is he a transgender of some sort? I’m confused. I doubt that Tim’s bike is as ugly as the Mule, though.
Tim, if you’re out there, maybe you should give your mother a call.
The commuter is finished! It’s definately not pretty, but it’s a perfect utility bike. I rode it to work & for general errands Monday-Wednesday this week, though I did drive today because of the storms moving through the area. Here’s a rundown of the parts:
Early 90’s rigid Univega MTB frame (21 speed converted to 7 speed when the left shifter broke!)
Harris Cyclery trekking bars
70 deg stem w/delta stem riser
Kenda Kwick Roller Sport (26 x 1.25″) tires
Delta Supersherpa Megarack
Detours Toocan Pannier
And here’s the bike:
And yes, that is a 12 pack of Diet Coke bungee-corded to the rack :)
