UW gets "bike friendly" recognition

The University of Washington (my current employer) just received a recognition for its bike-friendly programs and facilities.

The Examiner states: "the University of Washington is a note-worthy partner with the city of Seattle in the effort to increase bicycling as transportation. In addition to promotion and classes, the U has a network of repair stations across campus and provides a variety of secure parking facilities."

The UW recently added a series of Dero Fixit bike repair stands (complete with tools) on campus.

crunchy

Notice anything about this derailleur on my old Raleigh rain bike? Why might the chain be skipping..?



Hint: look at one of the pulleys, specifically the lower one. (A good diagram of derailleurs can be found here).

Can't find it? Neither could I. Lost it on a ride recently! Had to avoid inclines and muddy, soft surface areas so I could maintain peddling. Did that for 5 miles!

PRO shop comes to Renton

Team Garmin pro rider Tom Peterson opened a shop recently in Renton.

They're offering a winter mechanic special - it's 12% off labor.




Peterson Bicycle is located at: 1755 NE 48th Street, Renton, WA.

From I405 North or South, take exit #7 and turn east. Look for the Dennys sign. Peterson Bicycle is located directly behind the Dennys with a bright yellow awning.

Call them at 425.271.0396 if you have any questions!

More can be found about this shop on their website. Tell Wyatt, the shop mechanic, you heard about them from Nate.

God, I love zip ties.

I love bikes... but I really have a thing for zip ties.

I picked up this chro-mo steel framed MOTIV brand (a Costco special) mountain bike really cheaply recently. It was a clean "garage queen" but lacked a saddle, seat post, and the shifters (shift+brake combo) were haywire like the ratcheting mechanism went afoul (common for a low end thumb shifter I've experienced). It has virtually brand new Tioga city tires too (though on the outset I was hoping to have a slightly more offroadable bike) and I intended to build it up for an in-town rider that I can leave chained up anywhere without too much worry about it being stolen or stripped.

I spent less than an hour swapping out the shifter+brake combo for an old school thumb shift and canti brake levers (somewhere I got these and had them lingering in a box of parts for just this type of project) and I found a bargain bin used seat at Bike Works ($5). The longest part of this work was getting off the handle grips without tearing the rubber. I also found a seatpost on e-Bay for $10 shipped. It should be here in a week or so, but I was eager to test ride the bike today, now that I'd fixed the gear issues.

I developed a 4 zip tie temporary fix for the lack of a seat post.

Here is the bike.


How the seat sits.


(Note to tinkerers: see the small yellow part on the seat? It's a small tear and I am wondering what - other than electrical tape - can I use to repair it?)

Underside of seat.


I wouldn't ride this for months like this - and I didn't even really sit on the seat while riding it through town as the height was way too low for me. I just wanted something there in the event I did need to sit for a moment.

I think Matt at Bike Hacks would love my hack.

mechanical issues

The last time I went riding on a local hard surface trail with an older Specialized Hard Rock I've been putting together, I had a rear derailleur bust off.



The derailleur snapped where it mounts to the frame. I was able to disassemble it to get it off the chain, however, as shown in the photo below, the chain was twisted (unrepairable) during the mechanical failure.



I figured I could slip the chain onto a middle chain ring and middle rear cog and limp it back to the trail head, however, with the kink in the chain, this was impossible. The chain kept shifting itself from one cog to the next until it got hung up in the spokes. If I had a chain tool with me, I could have broken the chain to remove the twisted portion... a chain tool was about the only tool I didn't have in my kit that day.

Yesterday, we went riding on the same trail, but I was on the hybrid Schwinn I was working on. The problems I experienced were generally minor: brake cable and pad adjustment. I did almost lose it when the handle bars twisted (the stem wasn't tightened enough!) but I was riding at a low speed and recovered but it could have been bad.

Lauren riding her bike.



The repair that took the longest was Rachel's 1-speed coaster brake bike - the chain was thrown off the rear cog. To make matters worse, I didn't have a wrench large enough to get her rear wheel loose so I could get just enough room to slip the chain back over the rear cog. I did have a chain tool with me, so I was able to get the chain put back on, but I had to split the chain and fix it that way. Of course, I did not have any gloves with me or hand cleaner and working on a chain was messy... so that experience kinda was not much fun. Luckily, my wife was there to assist in getting the chain back together.

Rachel back in-action.



Lessons learned:
1) bring a pair of rubber gloves in the tool kit
2) find an adequate adjustable wrench that's still small enough to fit the tool kit
3) check to make sure bolts are torqued down - espcially on "project bikes"

Status report: Magna and Schwinn

The Magna was fixed up and sold (for about $10 more than I put into it, not counting my labor... I think I was asking $30) and it is going to Burning Man this year. A snapped a photo of it propped up on the bench with newer tires, seat, brake and shift cables, etc.



The Schwinn Hybrid is mostly done and just needs some fine-tuning on the shifters. I've replaced the cables, brake levers, hand grips, front derailleur, tires, newer seat, chain ring, chain, and handle bars and stem. I am sure a few other items I've forgot. I probably have about $50 into it now (mostly used parts) plus 1-2 hours labor. I don't know if this is a sell-it or keep-it, especially so late in the riding season (some people ride in the rain around here, but many are fair-weather riders).



I got to test out the Schwinn today on a local trail. We had a few mechanical issues to resolve but I'll explain that later.

still fixing up bikes... just not as many

I have not posted in a while. I've been busy doing misc. stuff this summer. Going on trips and camping. Fun though, but hadn't been doing as much bike refurbishing this year as last summer. Also, I have not been as actively seeking out projects - last year I routinely combed sources for bikes being given away and had as many as 8 or 9 bikes in the garage at a time. Now I have just three, but they're keepers as far as I'm concerned.

From a friend I did get an old Schwinn hybrid that needs a total rebuild/clean-up and an old school Magna mountain bike that is rusty but should be easier to rebuild on the cheap, as I have a lot of the needed parts on-hand... new cables and better tires, mainly. Photos of the bikes in the condition received are below.





I think the Schwinn might be a good alternative to my commuter bike, as it has 700c wheels (generally better for a road bike) and the Magna might be rebuilt to sell for someone's Burning Man bicycle. I sold two bikes I "saved" last year to people going to the '07 Burn. Cheap bikes are desired as the dust of the desert playa is very destructive to bicycles' mechanical works.

a new superhero

From the Monty Python British comedy TV show...

end of summer

I took a few bike repair classes from the local bicycle club. I picked up a couple neglected bikes and got them up and functional again. Two were old Huffy bikes (one mens and one womens style frames) the other was a kids Trek mountain bike.







The Huffys were bought by two people (who didn't know one another) who were taking them down to the Burning Man festival.