Friday ramblings...

It’s been a while since I have been on the bike. With one kid going off to college for her first year, another going back to high school and the third coming home on leave from being deployed on a ship for the last 11 months, plus normal work and home chores and a bout with shingles has left little time for two wheeled fun.

But now, things are settling down and a routine is beginning to be established and the bikes are appearing on the radar.

Tomorrow will see temps reach no higher than 90° and so should be a great day for riding.  I really enjoy Saturday morning rides. Easy going, stopping often to see or hear the sights and sounds. I am fortunate to live in a place where I can leave straight from home and either ride in the ‘city’ or out in the country depending on whether I go right or left at the end of my driveway.

It’s interesting to me that I tend to like the road better in the mornings and mountain biking in the evenings. Any of you that way?  Have a certain type of riding you prefer to do at a certain time of day?

Stopped by my LBS on the way home from work the other night and rode the Salsa Vaya 3 (2011). 55cm and was PERFECT for me. Short legs and long torso makes it rather difficult to find a bike that’s just right.  If I fit in the legs (stand over is good, seat to handle bar height ratio is good) then the torso is way too short.  I end up feeling like my knees are hitting (and usually do) my hands when on the handle bars.  If I find one that fits in the torso, it is usually way too big (tall) for me in the legs. So almost al of my bikes have really long stems on them. Which is ok to a point but I have to be particularly careful on the mountain bike as having my hands too far forward reduces my ability to handle the bike as efficiently as I should.

Case in point, my current and only mountain bike has a stem that is too long.

This is a Trek ST-120 (I bought it in 1996 – the only year they made this bike) size Medium and yes, that is a unified rear triangle. The stem, a Control Tech (http://www.controltechbikes.com/#) 110mm.  I feel like my hands are too far out front and thus I am hesitant to ride down anything too steep for fear of going OTB. But, the bike fits great from the waist down. I fear that I will need a custom mountain bike made when the time comes to get a new one…of course I know what you’re thinking. “It was time to get a new one a week after you bought this one.” and you’re probably right but, when it’s all you got, you ride what you got. Plus, my attention in biking has been focusing lately on road and more specifically, touring. Thus my stop and testing the Vaya.

Pic downloaded from the web but this is pretty much how I would (will) set mine up only I would (will) add front and rear racks.

 

Looking forward to touring. I have a small, three nights, four days four state park loop tour already planned, just need the gear to do it!

Road Bike Restoration

                 This was my first attempt at restoring a bike.  I knew nothing about taking a bike apart and much much less about putting one back together.  I was nerveous. Over the next 18 months I You Tubed, sought advice from all manner of forums, pestered and tested the patience of my LBS's head mechanic, Marshall (God bless you sir for dealing with this idiot in a professional manner.) but most of all, made a million mistakes restoring this bike.......but I loved every minute of it.

I bought the bike for $5 at a garage sale.  I wasn't in the market but hey, why not?  After a little research on the webby thing, I found a site that had original brochures for Miyata bicycles (what luck, right?).  I found out that my bike is an 1983 710. In complete original specs!!







The overall condition of the bike was horrid.  Paint was scraped and scratched all the way to the metal in a lot of places. It had paint overspray all over it. Tires were even original still. 

I had a vision of what I wanted the bike to look like, I just didn't know if I could make it happen.










         I began my stripping of the bike and that stuff. Parts laying everywhere, in labeled Zip-Loc baggies (a tip from You Tube video).  I decided it needed to be repainted so I had it powder coated.  Huge lesson learned here.

$140 for what I thought was 2 coats and a sealant....ummm, no.  $140 for a bead blast of the frame and fork and ONE powder coat....coat.  DOH!. Sucker-Bob!



The rear derailleur's "B" screw and housing was sheared off somehow.....you can see how bunched up it was.  My lovely and talented wife found a N.O.S. (New Old Stock) derailleur that was an exact match!!  Cool!  $35 on Ebay.




















I relaced the wheels with new 14 g. spokes and let me tell you, that Sheldon Brown site is awesome and let me tell you as well.....THAT was one frustrating night!!  I honestly don't think I will ever lace again.  Some things are worth paying someone else for.

New tires, Schwalbe Marathon touring tires at $60 each.

New bar tape and hoods, all new cables and housing, saddle and brake pads, chain, custom decals,  cassette, etc.....

Custom panel decal with original manufacturer font style.

            I wont bore you with all the details, lets just say that even with just the few items I priced out above, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that I spent way too much.  No way was I going to get my money back out of it and even much less so on making a profit!

How did it ride?  Like silk.  Oh so smooth. I enjoyed evening neighborhood rides on it. To be honest, compared to todays bikes, this was superior.  They just don't make bikes like this anymore.
But alas...I had too many bikes and ended up selling it to a good owner.

Like I said above, I loved every minute of this process and learned so much!  It really was a great experience for me.

Check out the video (click to expand and watch full screen) and I hope you like it.  Thanks for watching it and visiting my litle corner of the web.