Happiness is..........

For a bike rider, happiness is:

Having a passing car pull all the way over into the other lane to give you plenty of room, then waving cheerfully as he goes by.

Or, even better....

Having a car wait patiently behind you until the oncoming traffic clears, then pulling over into the other lane to give you plenty of room.

Believe it or not, BOTH of the above happened to me on Day Hollow Rd today.

Peugeot City Express

So, somewhere along the line I picked up this well used Peugeot commuter bike that looked like it had possibilities. It was missing a seat, but at first glance, it appeared to be a repairable bike.

On further inspection I discovered that the left shifter had been replaced with a cheapo friction shifter off another bike. The right indexed shifter was broken. The left brake lever had been replaced with one off a mountain bike and it didn't have enough travel to engage the center-pull brakes.

I thought the biggest problem would be getting the rust off the steel frame, but the problems turned out to be much bigger than that. What to do now?

Looking around the shop I spied an almost new Schwinn that had gotten up-close and personal with a garage door. The fork is badly bent and in 2 years I haven't been able to find a replacement. I made some measurements and it appeared that most of the Schwinn components (wheels, derailleurs, shifters, brakes, brake levers) could be moved to the Peugeot.

Though I'm sure that the Schwinn SRAM components aren't of the same relative quality of those originally on the Peugeot, at least I could make one whole bike out of two halves.

So far, I have moved the handlebars, complete with shifters and brake levers from the Schwinn to the Peugeot. Surprisingly, the SRAM derailleur from the Schwinn has the same relative location and bolt size as the Peugeot and it was easy to switch it over. I've moved the nice aluminum wheel from the Schwinn to the Peugeot with nothing more than a 1/8" spreading of the frame between the drop-outs.

Unfortunately, the brake levers from the Schwinn don't have enough travel to adequately engage the stock center-pull cantilever brakes on the Peugeot. Fortunately though, the direct pull V Brakes from the Schwinn fit perfectly on the bosses of the Peugeot frame. Not only that, but the brake pads even line up with the rims. So, now I have a completely consistent and compatible shifter, derailleur and cassette as well as brake lever and brakes on the rear.

The Peugeot front derailleur seems to work fine with the SRAM shifter so I may just leave that alone. The front brakes, however, will have to be replaced by the Schwinn direct pull brakes.

Mechanically, this bike is coming along much better than I expected. Unfortunately, it seems that the frame is a bit more difficult to clean up than I expected. We may have to be satisfied with a "rust-on-white" color motif on this one.

Does Technology Matter?

YES! YES!! YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

All winter I've been working on various donated bikes, mostly either low end Walmart bikes or very old (30 years) higher end bikes. I've gotten used to muscling them in and out of storage and onto the repair stand, as well as pedaling them up and down the road on check rides.

Today, I decided to get my carbon-fiber frame Trek Madone down for it's first ride of the year. What a refreshing difference. It felt like it took zero effort to lift it down from the ceiling storage hooks. I put it on the floor and wheeled it over to the work bench to air up the tires and the rolling resistance felt like ZERO.

It is even so much better than my Cannondale R300..... If you're still riding that steel framed Peugot, you might want to think of an upgrade. Can't wait to get out and ride.

Test Rides

I managed to get a few miles in the saddle and road test some project bikes yesterday. 3 bikes, 5 miles each. All bikes are in great shape, but I'm not. Where is the warm weather??????

Another Art Project

This is where I hope to hang the Humber someday. Just had to try it out with the Falcon though.

Turning into a SLUG!!

Is anyone else having this problem? As March approached, I stepped up my indoor exercise routine to make sure I was ready for some serious biking when warm weather appeared. It all worked out when we had a few warm days and I was able to get some fairly serious road miles under my belt.

Unfortunately, since we were plunged back into winter a week ago, I've done absolutely nothing. It's so hard to get back on that exercise bike once you've had a renewed taste of the road.

Sunshine and 32 today. Not normally warm enough for me to ride.... but I may just make an exception today. Gotta get out of this rut!!

One more Falcon Attempt

Steve kindly found two sets of crank arms and chain rings to help try to get this bike fixed for good. Unfortunately, it seems there was no standard for cottered cranks back in the day, so neither of the ones he gave me would fit. I've attempted to bend the original chain rings back into shape. While there is much less wobble, shifting is still inconsistent.

I think I'll declare this bike as done as it's going to get. If someone wants it with all it's issues, it's theirs. It looks pretty!! Unfortunately, that doesn't count for much if you're looking for transportation.