I got my bike fixed today!

[Krag 1901]

Some time ago my bicycle's freewheel gave up and I couldn't ride with my neighbor Gary, then Covid and my surgeries and I've lost a lot of strength and stamina. I needed to get my bike fixed to use it to build back.

I took the rear wheel to the bike shop and they said I needed a new freewheel, but they couldn't get parts. I got the hub off Amazon and took it in to them today. Five minutes later they had changed it and sold me two new tubes to replace the 20+ year old ones that don't hold air longer than an hour. Total cost $13.75 plus the $30 for the freewheel.

Waiting around for them to change it I was looking at the new bikes and was amazed at the cost of some of them. $3,500, $2,700, and those weren't the High Priced ones in the catalog!!! Even the BMX 20" bikes were $400-800, they had a couple of vintage Raleigh 3 speeds, in nice shape for $400.

My 20+ y/o 21 speed Giant cost me ~$700 on sale and I thought that was a lot of money at the time. But considering how nice it rides and how long it's lasted it was a good deal.

Now all I have to do is change out the inner tubes and get back on the road to recovery.

[Winger Ed.]

Inspiring.

Kinda makes me want to hunt down and get new tubes & tires for my purple, 1967 Schwinn, 5 speed, Stingray, 'fastback'.
I haven't ridden it since the late 80s.

[sigep1764]

First and so far only road bike is a Giant Defy 5 that has been upgraded with Shimano 110 kit and Bicycle Shop lightweight wheels. Whole thing is 18lbs with bottle cages, all aluminum. It has somewhere around 8k miles on it. Id like to upgrade to the new Defy Carbon with hydraulic discs, but I haven't been on the bike I have in over a year. Ive ridden other bike brands, but Giant just feels right. And they are the only bike manufacturer that produces their own aluminum and carbon.

[bakerjw]

I have a Giant TCR carbon. Great feeling bike although I've thought about going back to steel.
Steel framed bikes do weigh just a bit more than aluminum or carbon, but the frames flex giving them a very good road feel. Aluminum is just harsh IMHO where carbon is a bit more supple until it's not.
I am actually down to 3 regular bikes if you can believe that. My road bike, Steve, my Surly Karate Monkey mountain bike for playing and Effie, the love of my life. My Foundry Firetower bikepacking bike with a Lauf carbon leaf front fork.
Then we have 2 tandems with a new one on the way.

[DougGuy]

I have a 2007 Cannondale "Bad Boy" that I built from the frame up custom. It was great when I lived in Wake Forest but since I moved to another town it's too hilly here to ride it so it sits in the basement collecting dust. Sucks. I probably have $1500 invested in it.

[remy3424]

I sold my bike a decade ago after I was close to hitting a pair of bikers...realized just how crazy dangerous riding on 2 lane roads were. Decided I was not going to die riding a peddle bike on a public road, there are much better ways to do that. Do everyone a favor and stay on the trails and off the roads.

[Butzbach]

Inspiring.

Kinda makes me want to hunt down and get new tubes & tires for my purple, 1967 Schwinn, 5 speed, Stingray, 'fastback'.
I haven't ridden it since the late 80s.

Let me know if you ever want to sell it.

[Butzbach]

They are fun.

[Butzbach]

I sold my bike a decade ago after I was close to hitting a pair of bikers...realized just how crazy dangerous riding on 2 lane roads were. Decided I was not going to die riding a peddle bike on a public road, there are much better ways to do that. Do everyone a favor and stay on the trails and off the roads.

Do everyone a favor and share the road.

[CastingFool]

My youngest son rides a bike everywhere, even in the wintertime. He just got an electric assist bike, claims he can get up to 40 mph. Battery lasts up to 80 miles. Have no idea how much he paid.

[Krag 1901]

Pre-Covid my neighbor and I would ride thru the neighborhoods and around town thru the backroads for 5-10 miles, just to keep the corpuscles racing. Gary's about 4-5 years older, darn near 80!, I but he rides me into the ground. My street has a hill on one end , about 100 ft elevation change, makes a good exertion run, then back down the longer back slope to cool off. I just hope I can make it up the hill after I get the tubes in.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I should start riding again, I've got two Peugeot bikes. One a classic European Touring bike made in France and the other, a more practical road bike, 21 speed, ''Orient Express'' made for Peugeot in Japan. I think I have a grand total of $125.00 in the pair of them. The European Touring bike I got at a church yard sale for $5.00 and the Orient Express at a gun show for $120.00. I stopped riding when I was around 55, mainly for lack of level ground around here.

We met a couple on the Gettysburg Battlefield this spring with full size electric bikes you could ride or peddle. That, at my age is more to my liking! The woman claimed her bike would do 55MPH while the man said he had only had his up to almost 50. It seemed like a great way to tour the Battlefield! Only the price tag prevents me from buying one.

[Finster101]

I'm still riding a Peugeot road bike made in France that I brought home from Germany in 1983. Just sold the wife's Bianchi Nirone 7. Looking at getting a couple of trail bikes. I live on the boundary of a 2200 preserve that has trails. Need something with big tires, lots of sand here and it gets very loose in the winter when it's dry.

[Maven]

Another cyclist here! What I'm hearing and seeing in local bike shops is a shortage of bikes and bike parts. Fortunately I've been able to get parts for my Felt road bike (needed a 2nd cog for the Shimano Ultegra shifter) and a new Wheel for my Specialized Rock Hopper. Both bikes are at least 15 yrs. old. As for riding on the roads, I prefer it, but lately drivers are a bit more distracted and just plain ornery so its a bit risky to ride on them. When I do, even on country roads, I wear bright colors and use lights fore and aft, which helps, but.... Cycling is fun and a decent way to get fresh air, sunshine, and exercise, but super competitive types make it a bit of a challenge.

[Bwana John]

Don't forget to change out the old chain when replacing the rear cogset. The old chain stretches with use and wears the cogs to the longer chain length. This will cause the chain to "skip" sooner or later, especially on the smallest sprocket.

Next time pay for the upgrade to a wheel with a free hub and cassette, and with rims that run tubeless tires.

The tubeless tires are the best improvement in bicycle technology I have experienced in 55 years of riding.

I took my "fat" bike (26"x4.5") down to the beach in Mexico and rode over cactus almost every day for 3 months, and only had to plug them once, the slime would just bubble out of the puncture and harden as I rode, it is a VERY expensive upgrade, but in my mind totally worth it.

[gwpercle]

About 1958 I made my first bike from main parts scavenged at the local dump ... mowed lawns to get money for tubes and tires . Fixed ratty and torn seat with a roll of black electrical tape my Dad gave me ...probably looked like 5 miles of bad road ... but I thought it was the finest two wheeled thing in the world .... but I didn't know how to ride a bike ! The kid across the street , Curtis C. , said I'm going to hold you up ... and you pedal as fast as you can ... I was pedaling for all I was worth on a downhill drag to boot ... when I looked back Curtis C. was 1/4 mile behind , standing in the middle of the street laughing ... I was headed past my house going way too fast and Dad was sitting on the front stoop reading the newspaper ... So I hollored to him " Look Dad ! I'm riding my Bike! " and I'll never forget ... the old man looks over his paper and says " That's Nice " and goes back to reading the dang paper ... I'm nearly flying , my heart is racing and the end of the street is coming up ...way too fast ... Curtis for got to tell me how to stop !!! Luckily I was able to lay it down in the soft St. Augustine front lawn without hitting any parked , moving cars or trash cans .
About the time I got up Curtis C. runs up and says you got the go part down ...we just need to work on the stop part ...Which he thought was very funny .
After that my bike took me everywhere and all over Baton Rouge ... If my mom had ever known all the places we went while she was working ... I would still be punished !
Gary

[bakerjw]

We are awaiting the arrival of our new custom tandem frame from Curtlo Cycles. I talked to Doug, the owner and builder, and he told me he was glad ours doesn't need any components as he can't find anything to finish builds these days.
That reminds me. I need to order a couple of rims and spokes to build the new wheelset. I love wheelbuilding. Something about it is relaxing.

[Bwana John]

I need to order a couple of rims and spokes to build the new wheelset. I love wheelbuilding. Something about it is relaxing.

I got taught to build wheels by a Buddhist monk, so I can totally relate.

If you haven't tried tubeless, I think the extra price of the tubeless rim, rim prep, and tires are worth every extra penny!

[Gator 45/70]

About 1958 I made my first bike from main parts scavenged at the local dump ... mowed lawns to get money for tubes and tires . Fixed ratty and torn seat with a roll of black electrical tape my Dad gave me ...probably looked like 5 miles of bad road ... but I thought it was the finest two wheeled thing in the world .... but I didn't know how to ride a bike ! The kid across the street , Curtis C. , said I'm going to hold you up ... and you pedal as fast as you can ... I was pedaling for all I was worth on a downhill drag to boot ... when I looked back Curtis C. was 1/4 mile behind , standing in the middle of the street laughing ... I was headed past my house going way too fast and Dad was sitting on the front stoop reading the newspaper ... So I hollored to him " Look Dad ! I'm riding my Bike! " and I'll never forget ... the old man looks over his paper and says " That's Nice " and goes back to reading the dang paper ... I'm nearly flying , my heart is racing and the end of the street is coming up ...way too fast ... Curtis for got to tell me how to stop !!! Luckily I was able to lay it down in the soft St. Augustine front lawn without hitting any parked , moving cars or trash cans .
About the time I got up Curtis C. runs up and says you got the go part down ...we just need to work on the stop part ...Which he thought was very funny .
After that my bike took me everywhere and all over Baton Rouge ... If my mom had ever known all the places we went while she was working ... I would still be punished !
Gary

Same here,We hit the dump until we had enough parts to build a couple bikes complete with ape hangers and banana seats.
Rode all over the place,Built jumping ramps and busted that tail plenty of times !

[FISH4BUGS]

I have a 1982 Schwinn Super LeTour 12.2 which I have ridden thousands of miles with. Redid the gears to bring it down to very low geared in 1-2-3 but normal after that.
I used to ride with a group of guys my own age with vintage bikes and once on an island in Maine we ran across a group of dentist cyclists that were there for some kind of conference. They marveled at our "old fashioned" bikes.
Of course they had the $3,000 racing bikes. We had the old 10-12 speeds. We both got where we needed to go.