Life, Lust, and Silly Puns

The Red Bike 2.0 is finished!

Anyway, here's what I did today. Replaced brake system, which includes brake lever, cable, most of the housing, calipers, and brake pads. Since my fenders are attached to the brake bolt, I also adjusted the fenders too. I also found out that, because of the weird derailleur mounting, the frame rubbed the chain while on the highest gear (a whopping 3-5!) So I also adjusted the rear derailleur.

Overall, a good pet project. No quick releases at all means that you can't mess with my bike unless you bring tools. 1.5'' tires roll fast. Fenders cover road crap. Rigid fork doesn't suck sprinting power. Yeah, it's a good beater bike.

I was flying down a hill. At this point, it didn't matter that I had just failed an in-class essay 15 minutes before. I was on 3-8, but I knew that if I pedaled, I would spin as if I were on 1-1. My handlebar was incapable of turning. I don't know whether or not it was because of the centripetal force of my front wheel, or because my arms were frozen in place from the exhilarating speed. Cars were passing me at ~10 mph. It was great.

When I walked out of Lit, I knew I had two options. Either go home and mope about my failure to prepare for essays, or go do some hill training on that "valley" on Stevens Creek. After stopping by my house to drop off my backpack, sweater, and lock, I was on my way.

Roughly 15 minutes later, here I am, typing on my laptop, eating a Clif bar.



At least I'm not moping about my essay.

Yup, they arrived today, on time, from Amazon. They're not like the mountain bike style, where they're mounted on a seatpost, 5 inches above the tire. Rather, they're a more traditional style of mount, with less than an inch of tire clearance. And I got the set of front and rear fenders + shipping + whatever for $15. Not bad.

Anyway, I'll post some real pictures of the Red Bike when I get my brakes. Meanwhile, enjoy some "teasers".






Yeah, I'm so artistic.


._.

F5F5F5F5F5F5F5... you've done it before, I'm sure. Perhaps you were tracking a package? Well then you might start to know how it is to track 3 packages... and knowing they'll get at your front door a week later than you had thought. The wait is killing me.... F5F5F5F5F5F5F5F5



If you didn't know, that's from XKCD.




F5F5F5F5F5F5F5F5

The following has nothing to do with biking. Surprising, no?


So apparently, this new thing is spreading. FutureGame. Click a few lucky clicks, win Apple stuff. Naturally, I wanted to do a little background info, as it had to do with money, and the Internet. As it turns out, the Terms and Conditions (oh my god, I read it! *gasp*) aren't so long. The following are two quoted paragraphs, with bolding on the words that I want to emphasize.

"Players may request prizes and/or money awarded to be sent to them only when the value of the award has exceeded $20 and the Player has been registered for at least a month. Prize and/or money awards will be sent at the end of each calendar month, provided the Player had eligible awards and requested the said award.

To receive prizes and/or money, FutureGame requires a home address and phone number. To receive more than $400 in cash or equivalent prizes during a calendar year, FutureGame requires the Player to provide their Social Security Number as well as complete a W-9 Form from the IRS for tax purposes."

If you play it safe, earning $0.01 every time... well, don't worry. You have a whole month to get $20. Enjoy your Shuffles guys.

Yes, I have played it. Yes, you can win prizes. Yes, there are better ways to make money. Just my little rant.

So I guess rainy season has (finally) started. For the first time in a looooong time, the humidity in my room has gone above 30% (It was 50% on Friday :P) But then rain comes with a price - getting wet. Pretty obvious, I know, but my slick tires attract a lot of kick up. Since Friday was the first time it's rained in a long time, all the road crap was kicked up onto my bike and me :[

So yeah, I'm getting fenders. But not on my Mesa! I'll be riding my red bike 2.0 for the rest of the rainy season... as soon as my parts come in. Fenders come Wednesday, and brakes come sometime next week, or maybe the week after :[ I haven't ordered my tires/tubes yet... if I really can't wait, then I'll replace the current tires with my old Mesa ones. WTB Velociraptors :P


Oh, and just a side note, if you wash your bike with a garden hose, wipe it dry with a towel after you're done. The fluoride in the water will leave marks. (Thanks for reminding me Jasper)

My dad didn't want to spend too much money on the rebuild, and I remembered I had my old riser bars that came stock on my Mesa. So I put those on. I cut 1" off each side before I put them on ;) No specific reason. I await my brakes. I'll post pics once I get my new brakes on.

It's starting to look like a decent beater bike now, instead of some crappy mart bike.

So one Black Friday a few years ago, my dad decided to get a $40 bike from Walmart. Luckily, it wasn't a Y-frame. Here's the best picture I could find of it.



I didn't want/forgot to take pics of the bike before I started fixing it up, so the pic above will have to do. It was stored outside, so just imagine random bits of rust in nooks and crannies. The brake pads are terrible and deteriorated (not worn out!), and the brake calipers are plastic, so whenever I brake, the calipers bend. It has no quick-releases whatsoever. The shifters are friction shifters, not index-shifting. Index shifting, you press a lever once, and it shifts 1 gear. Friction shifting is like turning a knob. ~80's technology.

Anyway, what's been done already? First off, I replaced the seat with my old WTB seat, and the disgusting handlebar "grips" with my old ones. I raised the seatpost, too :P. I used my Dremel with a wire brush bit to get off all the rust. I cleaned the chain (link by link!) and lubed it, and also adjusted the front derailleur. I also cleaned the cassette. I spent 30 minutes with Goof Off and got all the (peeling) decals off. The frame looks much better without those lame decals. I'm ordering a new brake kit today (levers, cable housing, cable, calipers, and pads). Hopefully I'll get new tires and tubes, handlebar, and seat post quick release, with the priority in that order. I'll take pics after I get new brakes.

It's a good beater bike, and once I get new tires and tubes (and hopefully flat handlebars), I might bike to school on it occasionally. ;]

Yup, switched 'em with my old Raleigh, although something was funky about my right metal pedal. Somehow it didn't fit my 15 mm open-head wrench. So I had to use a monkey wrench. No pics, use your imagination. :P

Yup, I cleaned my disc brakes the real way, so no more squeaking for me. Last time, I used a towel and water, which did the job I guess, but not what you're supposed to do. You're supposed use either denatured alcohol, which is better, or isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, which takes more to do the same amount of cleaning as denatured.

I also adjusted my pads, so no more rubbing, either. Disc brakes are a PITA. Sure, they're better at stopping in all conditions, but Cupertino's mainly dry anyway. Whatever. I'm just glad cyclocross bikes come with canti's :]