so i did everything on my friday to-do list...
-----I got my dress, after trying on many more different styles. It's living in a closet at my sister's apt.
-----I got my gitane back (early 70's road bike)....and went to a different bike shop than the first one, where they laughed at the idea of french threaded pedals (what the 1st shop said) and tapped the threads in the pedals and i now have new pedals that work in there....now these guys did that while i waited for 10$. The other place were going to charge me quite alot for a tune up, including 75$ for a new derailler, which the 2nd shop sold to me for 15$. [the devil's gear in new haven is the awesomest]. I think most of the problem with bike shop #1 is that they are the kind of shop that has a room full of $$$$ bikes and they don't fix up old ones, and don't understand the urge to not just through down 2 grand on a new bike and be done with it. I don't think they were trying to bs me, i think they just didn't look at the bike. one of the mechanics there told me a long story of how he has an earlier, higher end gitane road bike and he had to get a new bottom bracket and crank set (those are actually french threaded) for 140$ to get around the pedal problem. I wonder if he too just needed the threads tapped...The Devil's gear, bike shop #2 were super cool, and since they repair and sell old bikes, they are probably way better set up for this kind of project. They were also not totally flabbergasted by the idea that i would want to do much of the maintenance/repair myself, which is a communication barrier i encounter at most other bike shops.
I'm pretty happy to have my gitane back in potentially working order, cause now i can work on it and my other bike will still be ride-able. the gitane is a ten speed and the cogs on the freewheel have years and years of black grime on them, so that's probably project #2, that and figuring out the derailler. I may not actually need a new one, the old one might just need to be cleaned and screwed on in the correct direction. (it was backwards)
so far, bike repair/obsession is just about as bad as pc building/upgrade repair in terms of cost/difficulty. it's fun however, and you learn alot, though bike repair is dirtier, and requires more specialized tools. I have a mild tool fetish though so that might actually be a bonus.
anyway, today's agenda includes getting some rim tape, and maybe some degreaser,getting quarters for laundry, going to the grocery store, going for a bike ride (with many layers on).
and maybe doing some laundry...
-----I got my dress, after trying on many more different styles. It's living in a closet at my sister's apt.
-----I got my gitane back (early 70's road bike)....and went to a different bike shop than the first one, where they laughed at the idea of french threaded pedals (what the 1st shop said) and tapped the threads in the pedals and i now have new pedals that work in there....now these guys did that while i waited for 10$. The other place were going to charge me quite alot for a tune up, including 75$ for a new derailler, which the 2nd shop sold to me for 15$. [the devil's gear in new haven is the awesomest]. I think most of the problem with bike shop #1 is that they are the kind of shop that has a room full of $$$$ bikes and they don't fix up old ones, and don't understand the urge to not just through down 2 grand on a new bike and be done with it. I don't think they were trying to bs me, i think they just didn't look at the bike. one of the mechanics there told me a long story of how he has an earlier, higher end gitane road bike and he had to get a new bottom bracket and crank set (those are actually french threaded) for 140$ to get around the pedal problem. I wonder if he too just needed the threads tapped...The Devil's gear, bike shop #2 were super cool, and since they repair and sell old bikes, they are probably way better set up for this kind of project. They were also not totally flabbergasted by the idea that i would want to do much of the maintenance/repair myself, which is a communication barrier i encounter at most other bike shops.
I'm pretty happy to have my gitane back in potentially working order, cause now i can work on it and my other bike will still be ride-able. the gitane is a ten speed and the cogs on the freewheel have years and years of black grime on them, so that's probably project #2, that and figuring out the derailler. I may not actually need a new one, the old one might just need to be cleaned and screwed on in the correct direction. (it was backwards)
so far, bike repair/obsession is just about as bad as pc building/upgrade repair in terms of cost/difficulty. it's fun however, and you learn alot, though bike repair is dirtier, and requires more specialized tools. I have a mild tool fetish though so that might actually be a bonus.
anyway, today's agenda includes getting some rim tape, and maybe some degreaser,getting quarters for laundry, going to the grocery store, going for a bike ride (with many layers on).
and maybe doing some laundry...