Minor bike repair badassity

[lady brett ashley]

This is actually my spouse's badassity that i wanted to share because i'm proud of it!

We have two bikes that have been unused and kind of falling apart.  I didn't have a car when i was single, and biked all over the place.  Then i got car access, got lazy, and moved farther from work (still only 4 miles), and the bike got mostly abandoned.  The spouse's bike was a cheapy-cheap bike for fun/ a 10-block commute, but due to said cheapness, broke within weeks of buying it, and was also abandoned.

Inspired by the 3-year-old's plan to buy a bike over the weekend, my honey fixed our bikes up - all 4 busted brakes repaired for free with either cleaning up/aligning or salvaged parts from our very nice packrat neighbor's scrap.  There is still a broken shifter that i think we're going to need bike shop help with.

So, not the most badass, but something of a milestone to me, as the spouse does not tend towards handyman, nor towards frugal, and managed this project without supervision and with only two purchases: $10 for a bike pump and $10 for an infant seat (that could easily have been a $60-$100 purchase).

Result: family bike rides!  And i can start riding my lazy ass to work again!

[BlueMR2]

A triple win!

Learning, exercise, and money savings all the way around!

[lady brett ashley]

Well.  That was preemptive.

We ran into a lot of hurdles trying to deal with step-2 repairs (to take them from "can make a circle around the house" to "safe and able to commute") - we've given up and taken them to the bike shop, and it's going to cost us about $260 all told.  So, complete fail on the money savings, and partial fail on the learning.

On the bright side, i *did* ride to work this morning (which made all the bike's ill repair very clear).  4.3 miles, 30 minutes - despite not having ridden in a couple years and the state of the bike, so i think i'll be able to cut that down - and i don't smell or feel like death from having done it!  Hoping to keep this up a few days a week 'till the weather makes it unworkable.

[prefrontalfinance]

Just want to give props and encouragement. My bike commute is also 4 miles 1 way - I take it at what I think of as a leisurely 25 min ride. I know that you can do it too :)

I have slooowwwly been learning the various types of maintenance, so I just want to say, if I can do it, I know you and your partner can fire up youtube and learn it too.

And remember, the 260$ you paid to fix it up will easily last YEARS if you follow the ABCs - Air (pump the tires) - Brakes (adjust or replace, just like your partner NOW KNOWS HOW TO DO YAAAAY!!) - Chain (clean the chain). Further, if you have any questions or concerns that come up, just head on back the the same bike shop and ask away. Plus, 260$ is still cheaper than a brand new cheapo bike from the big box store.

Air - I ride ~40 miles a week, and I think I pump my tires like once every 3 months or something. Easiest is every couple weeks see if you can squeeze the tire.
Brakes - Squeeling horribly: adjust. Replace Once they've worn down to the wear lines.
Chain - I've gone >6 months in crappy weather riding on leaves/dirt/gravel without cleaning it. My current goal is one ~20min cleaning per month. Only skills required are how to use a toothbrush and squeeze bottles.

[robtown]

Good job on riding to work.   You'll find that the 4.3 miles is an easy 25, or even 20 minute ride.     Home repairs, once you gain experience and a few tools,  are much cheaper than repairs at the local bike shop (LBS).    I've sold some older, but fully restored steel frame bikes for under $200.  Of course that's my hobby, so my labor is cheap.  Just about any bike can handle a short commute and is better/faster than walking.  A good quality bike,  even an old one, in good repair is a joy to ride.

Check out bikeforums.net,  they have a great community and forums such as bike mechanics and commuting you might find interesting.

[enigmaT120]

Check out bikeforums.net,  they have a great community and forums such as bike mechanics and commuting you might find interesting.

Thanks for that; I've been meaning to recommend that forum for a while and kept forgetting.  What's your handle on that one?  I use the same one I use here (and many other places).

[robtown]

Bikeforums.net name is "robtown",   same as here and Ebay. 

[cmk]

  There is still a broken shifter that i think we're going to need bike shop help with.

When I got my bike out for the first time this spring, the right shifter was completely unresponsive.  In the past, I would have bought a new pair of shifters but I couldn't find a pair for less than $50.   I googled for advice on fixing it and found out that sometimes flooding it with WD4 will get the shifters lined up again (not sure about that terminology!).  I pointed the straw right into the shifter and sprayed a lot in and just kept working the shifters until all speeds worked again. I was so surprised and happy!

[lady brett ashley]

Thanks for the encouragement and advice y'all!

We picked the bikes up Wednesday, and i actually didn't recognize mine at first because it was so cleaned up.  Which also means it rides beautifully now (also really impressed with the bike shop, which sells exclusively $1000+ bikes, but was really helpful and not judgmental about helping us with our department-store-quality bikes).

Rode it home Wednesday (bike shop near work), and to and from work Friday.  It's been lovely.  Hoping to keep up a Mon-Wed-Fri routine (Tues and Thurs are my days to do daycare dropoff, which i'm not going to be doing by bike anytime soon =).

It's starting to get hot, so i'm going to have to work out my options for lengthening the bike season without being gross to work with, but i think i've got at least a few more weeks of riding before that could make it impractical.

[Thegoblinchief]

It's starting to get hot, so i'm going to have to work out my options for lengthening the bike season without being gross to work with, but i think i've got at least a few more weeks of riding before that could make it impractical.

Synthetic fabrics are your friend!

Minor thread hijack:

Measure your bike chains from center pin to the center pin 12" away. They should be exactly 12" apart. 1/16th of an inch off is okay. 1/8th off means you need a new chain ASAP or you risk damaging the sprockets.

I had NO IDEA about this until GuitarStv mentioned it in a different thread. I caught mine just in time when I checked it.