Pimp that ride

I basically abandoned my "Fuji" bike in favor of the Panasonic. Rear wheel on Fuji popped again (that's 3 tubes I wasted on this bike) and still didn't get new tube. I think it's the rim or rim tape (too wide). At this point I just want to make it rideable and sell it on craigslist.
Panasonic is another story. I decided to add some "functional" upgrades to it. Got regular bolt on skewers to replace quick release once for added security and SKS 35mm fenders (for riding in the wet weather.

Those fenders look real nice on the bike. I'm thinking about changing saddle (super uncomfortable) and adding some padded bar tape in the future.

Getting back in shape

Getting back in shape is tough after not riding for over a month. Daily commute to the train station helps a little. I just repeated Suffern-Ridgewood 22 mile loop last night after work. It seemed much easier than the first time I did it. Still took me 1.5 hours to complete tho... This time traffic was much lower (maybe because I started at 7:15 PM). I got a little wet in the rain on the way back, and it was getting pretty dark. Recently purchased PB Super Flash came in real handy for letting drivers behind me that I was there. I do need to get a good headlight too, because cars that enter the road or make right turn from the opposite lane hardly see me in the dark :(

Fixed gear bike tricks

Fixed gears? Single gear? Fixies? I'm so behind all these "new" trends :)
Seems it's hot new trend in biking, to convert standard multi-speed bikes into a single or fixed gear bikes. I won't get into too much details, except that two are not the same. In fixed gear, your pedals always spinning with the wheel (kind of like on little kid's bikes). What I didn't know is that you can do some pretty cool tricks on a fixed gear bikes (fixies). You can bounce, stay in one spot or ride backwards. Check out this video I found on bikeblog...

Unfinished from Tony West on Vimeo.

Panasonic Sport Deluxe

And here it is finally!


I took a few quick shots before riding it to the station this morning. Bike rides great!
Quick release skewers gotta go (wheels can be easily stolen). I ordered more secure skewers from Nashbar yesterday.


I wonder that this seal "Sakae Custom" means:


Here's stamp from another side:


Gotta read more about this allow on Wiki, but this steel is very light!


12-speed, hehe:


This is the only "big" issue I found with this bike. Left front brake seems to be bent, it's not parallel to the rim. I'm not yet sure how to fix it, or if I even should touch it. It brakes fine...

Another bike for my collection

Went over to a garage sale yesterday hoping to find some furniture for bedroom. Instead got me another road bike :) This one is real beauty: 12 speed Panasonic Sport Deluxe in MINT condition, and just for $40!!! Made in Japan too... I couldn't resist. I'm sure it's over 20 years old but it looks almost brand new. Even original tires look like this bike wasn't ridden for more than 10 miles. It even shifts better than my brand new Trek 1200. Very light too, weights like it's made from aluminum while actually it's molybdenum steel... Bike is a bit tall for me, but I think I can handle it. I took it home, washed it and lubricated the chain. That's pretty much all the maintenance it needs. Pictures are coming soon!

Fuji overhaul

Last week was pretty bad. I was on vacation at Maine (Acadia Park), then I got really sick and had to drive back 10 hours. So I pretty much spent my whole vacation sneezing and coughing... But I did get to *almost* finish overhauling my Fuji bike. It was very interesting working on the bike. I really took it slow. Here's the list of things that were done:
- Replaced Shifter and Brake cables
- Took apart cleaned and greased bearings in both wheels and crank
- Replaced pedals
- Raised handlebar
- Changed Tires and tubes

Cables

I was really surprised to find a decent $4 shifter/brake cables set at my local Walmart. Instructions where not very clear, but it was actually an easy job. They recommended measuring and cutting cables to right length, but I found it's much simpler just to thread cables all the way and then cut extra. Cable housing had to be measured and cut in advance of course. Old cables were horribly rusty. I couldn't even slide them out of the cable housing! That might explain why shifting didn't work.
I should also mention the tool, as it's very important. I wanted to get a standard Park Cable Cutter, but local bike shop didn't have any. They told me they've been using generic cable cutters without any issues, so I got a $11 tool at Home Depot. It works great, cuts both inner cable and cable housing (although housing is a bit too thick for it). One tool that's still on my wish list is a cable puller or 3rd hand tool. But it's possible to do job without it.
Because of the bike condition (rust) metal brackets that held break cables to the top tube, had to be sawed off by the Dremel tool, I just couldn't unscrew them. I replaced them by simple plastic cable ties :)

Bearings

I started with a front wheel. Taking hub apart was simple with regular wrenches. I soaked nuts and bearing balls in the Orange degreaser for a few minutes and then wiped everything clean with old rugs. Then I applied ALOT of white lithium grease to the bearings and put everything back. By the time I go to the bottom bracket I bought real (red) bearings grease. Inside bottom bracket I found pile of rust! Bearings were completely dry too... I wasn't able to get left part of the bottom bracket off (didn't have right tool) so I just reached from the right side and cleaned everything from there. Again I greased bearing balls and cones and put everything back. Except for old rusty metal pedals.
Rear Wheel. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get freewheel off. It got rusted in pretty good. So I did the best I could, greased bearing balls inside the rear wheel hub without thoroughly cleaning bearing cones.

Pedals

Obviously this was super easy part. I installed cheap plastic pedals from Walmart.

Handlebars

Unscrew top nut, hammer it down a bit and remove handle bar from the tube. Cleaned everything, lubricated with white grease and adjusted height. Very simple job.

Tires and Tubes

I did front wheel earlier, second tube seem to be holding without blowing up. I only pumped it to 60 PSI just in case. Rear wheel was a bit tricky. Rim tape was damaged so I had to buy new one. Only one I found was Pedro yellow sticky rim tape at local EMS store. It was a bit too short and too wide, but I managed to put it on. I had a little trouble with getting schrader valve thru the hole in the rim tape. While I was pushing it thru I think I might have weakened the tube. That's probably why it BLEW UP on me few minutes after I was done with the wheel. Yes another one blew up :( So wheel is still off the bike until tonight. I already got new tube from LBS in the city.

And big update, I got (yet another) road bike :)

Tire buster

I AM THE ULTIMATE TIRE DESTROYER, muahaha...
I can't freaking believe it, I bought new tires, new tubes, replaced busted tire and tube with brand new ones, pumped it to 80 PSI, checked everyone was ok. Left it alone and went out shopping for a while. I come back, wheel on the floor, deflated, tires is off, tube is ripped again in one spot... WTF is happening? I checked the rim again, no spokes protrude, no sign of anything that might have caused this blowout. I'm scratching my head. Just replaced it again (I'm out of tubes now). It's been few hours, I'm afraid to go to the basement to check :) I pumped it to just 60 PSI this time...