Originally Posted by jyl
I have a backlog of bikes to fix.
Young friend (the one who’s shopping for a Forestor) crashed her bike for the second time on the Portland Streetcar tracks. I can’t understand crashing on tracks once, much less twice. They are plainly visible and not moving, after all. I gave her this bike, a 1970s lugged Nishiki touring bike with triple crank and cantilever brakes, that I picked up for $45 at a garage sale, because it is good quality and was in fine condition, then stashed in my garage until someone needed it. She was embarassed and took it to a bike shop to fix after the first crash. When I heard about the second crash, I told her to bring it to me. The damage was trivial - stem misaligned and front fender rubbing. So I fixed those things and gave it a once over, tomorrow I’ll pick up some lights for it and return it to her.
My son’s college bike needed fixing. This was his high school bike too. It is a 1986 Peugeot PX with SLX tubes and full Mavic group, quite the racebike in its day. I bought it for $150 from a guy who was happy it was going to someone who would appreciate it, laced NOS MA-40 rimes to the original Mavic hubs and butted spokes, lectured my son about proper locking technique, and it survived four years locked up outside a high school with no theft. Now it is nicely camouflaged by its chipped decals and flaking chrome, but still rides like a performance machine. Adjusted fenders, shifters, lubricated, rims are still true. Later this week I’ll replace the cabling and housing, install new lights, and he’ll come up from college and load it in his station wagon.
My daughter’s bike has a flat tire. This was her high school bike, and she never rode it, then her college bike, and she rode it only occasionally. It got a flat tire A YEAR AGO and she never got that fixed. Sigh. She claims to want to ride it now, uh huh. I won’t need to do any tune up - it probably has 10 miles since the last tune, four years ago.
And my own bikes have various things that need attention. It never ends.
I like working on bikes. Unlike cars and water heaters, I know what I’m doing, have all the tools and supplies, can work standing up in a garage with jazz playing, and nothing takes more than an evening or two.
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