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| Author |
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| 25 new of 291 responses total. |
keesan
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response 14 of 291:
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Jun 24 14:23 UTC 2002 |
bikepartsusa.com has a large list of front and rear baskets in various sizes.
Small, large, and giant front baskets $11 $13 and $28. Silver or black, or
wicker. $2 extra on shipping. Complete and ready for attachment.
sportsbay seems to be associated with yahoo.
I did not use a graphical browser so don't know what the baskets look like.
If you get any baskets we would like to see them. They also have kids' front
baskets.
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jep
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response 15 of 291:
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Jun 24 15:00 UTC 2002 |
Ah, yes, they have a lot of selection, including the one I saw at the
other site. It doesn't make sense to me that no one around carries
bike baskets. They used to be widely available at K-Mart, Walmart,
etc. I'll have to check with the bike shops; if I can't get one
locally I'll order one.
Thanks!
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russ
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response 16 of 291:
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Jun 24 21:17 UTC 2002 |
Way to go, John.
I pulled my old Nashbar road bike out of storage and got it into
mostly-usable condition. The spokes and cables have some rust on
them but they are all working.
Unfortunately it still seems to be really heavy and slow, even
compared to my mountain bike which has much fatter, draggier
tires. Or maybe it's just the higher vantage point.
One thing for sure, the clip-on aero bars are a lot easier on the
wrists than normal handlebars. There's something about being able
to put your weight on your elbows which seems luxurious.
Anyone want a 27" wheel 21-speed road bike, cheap?
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eskarina
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response 17 of 291:
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Jun 24 22:07 UTC 2002 |
Am I the only person around who thinks that the weather of late is WAY too
hot for any biking longer than a mile or so?
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keesan
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response 18 of 291:
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Jun 24 22:10 UTC 2002 |
No, I agree, at least before dark. We cancelled a trip to the beach because
it is too hot to bike 20 miles each way. What we need is a cold morning and
hot afternoon and cold evening.
Russ, maybe some of the non-visible parts of your bike need work. Jim took
apart my bottom bracket and replaced bearings and cup and added grease, and
it goes much smoother now. Also oiled the chain and pedals, which helps grind
down the rust.
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russ
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response 19 of 291:
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Jun 25 01:37 UTC 2002 |
John, you might want to invest in water-bottle cages for both bikes.
I know there are clamp-style mounts for bikes without braze-on mounts,
and those might suffice for both your bike and the Trail-A-Bike.
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keesan
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response 20 of 291:
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Jun 25 01:55 UTC 2002 |
We have a collection of cages, two of which don't require mounts as they come
with clamps. Stop by and take a look.
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jep
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response 21 of 291:
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Jun 25 02:22 UTC 2002 |
I bought a water bottle which had a plastic clip (is that the cage?);
unfortunately it broke. It's still usable but it slides some and the
bottle tends to fall out when I put it on John's bike.
I didn't ride on Sunday because of the heat. Today I was just too
busy. Tomorrow is going to be in the mid-90's again according to the
weather forecast. I'm taking the afternoon off; John and I are going
swimming somewhere.
This weekend it may cool off to the 80's for a high; we'll do some more
riding then.
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clees
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response 22 of 291:
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Jun 25 08:48 UTC 2002 |
I would be nice if I could join in a bike ride while I am in Ann Arbor.
Unfortunately I'll be arriving on Saturday 14th September and be
leaving 22nd September (only one week), and on Thursday the blue will
be having her birthday, an event worth paying attention to.
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jaklumen
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response 23 of 291:
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Jun 25 10:00 UTC 2002 |
resp:13 Swwwweeeeeeetttt! I might actually get one, because my
friends live *really* close to a grocery store! Muy onda!
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russ
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response 24 of 291:
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Jun 25 12:04 UTC 2002 |
Re #18: I recall that it felt about the same when it was new, though
I could be wrong. It's not an overly heavy bike, so maybe it's just
the size and the gearing which makes it feel heavy. I will try to
remember to oil things and see if it feels different.
I'm still lusting after a recumbent, so I may have two road bikes
to get rid of soon (the Nashbar, and one Torpado frame in need of
un-bending the fork and lots of work on derailleurs - the Torpado
is probably the better bike hands down, but I got tired of trying
to fix everything and was too cheap to buy a quality replacement).
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jep
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response 25 of 291:
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Jun 25 12:36 UTC 2002 |
My manager works part-time at Ann Arbor Cyclery (I think that's the one),
and told me they do have bike baskets in stock. I forgot to stop by at
lunch time yesterday; I won't be able to make it today, but maybe
tomorrow. I'd much rather buy one I can look at and tough, rather than
buying it over the Internet.
Russ, how much are you asking for the bike you're selling?
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gull
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response 26 of 291:
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Jun 25 12:44 UTC 2002 |
Re #16: How are the wheel bearings after all that storage? If they're
draggy, that'd make the bike feel slow. So would brakes that are out of
adjustment and dragging on the rims.
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keesan
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response 27 of 291:
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Jun 25 15:25 UTC 2002 |
Russ, bike over some time and Jim can look at your bike. He likes looking
at bikes, especially the innards. By road bike I presume you mean something
with very skinny tires and curly handlebars, designed for racing not for
dragging trailers 6-10 miles. John, we can put you together a better
all-purpose bike (lighter weight than what you have, better brakes and gearing
system) if you don't mind the 'mens' style' because we are only using the
womens' style for ourselves. Start by trying out what we have working
already. We have one very nice aluminum frame that needs one $20 piece added
plus wheels, seatpost and saddle, and a Raleigh frame, both mountain style
but fairly lightweight. If you want to pay us for our time and aluminum
wheels, we could probably build you something pretty nice for $100 (less than
a medium-priced K-Mart special).
Are you free Wednesday evening?
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jep
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response 28 of 291:
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Jun 25 16:10 UTC 2002 |
I'm not too interested in a different bike, not really. I was more
curious how much Russ was selling his bike for because I'm interested in
what different types of bikes are worth. I don't have any problems with
the bike I've got now. It's nothing special, but it gets me around.
I'll definitely check with you before changing to a different bike, but
that's not likely to happen this year and probably not until John is ready
to ride distances on his own bike.
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keesan
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response 29 of 291:
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Jun 25 18:02 UTC 2002 |
You can spend $2000 on a bike, or $70, or get a used one for free.
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russ
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response 30 of 291:
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Jun 26 02:44 UTC 2002 |
I had a price in mind very close to "free" for the Nashbar, mostly
because it's taking up space that's at a premium and I don't expect
to be using it much. OTOH, the frame is for a tall man, so not
that many people could really ride it; maybe I should have gone
with 700C wheels instead of 27".
It has little mounting nubbins for a top-bar frame pump, which I
don't otherwise have a use for and might as well go with the bike.
Carry a spare tube and a flat can't strand you, it'll take two.
A tube fits nicely in one of those little nylon under-seat packs.
I got in a ride before the storm clouds blew in tonight, and chopped
over a minute off my best time out but only made my third-best total
time due to a slow return leg (about 2.5 minutes slower than my best
return time). I'm putting it down to the wind and/or traffic delays.
I'm still averaging over 15 MPH, which isn't bad.
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scg
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response 31 of 291:
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Jun 26 05:45 UTC 2002 |
Be careful about "oiling" a bike. Bearings should be packed with grease, not
oiled. Oil will disolve grease. The only thing on a bike you should be
oiling is the chain.
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mdw
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response 32 of 291:
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Jun 26 05:49 UTC 2002 |
And what would you use in one of those enclosed 3-speed planetary hubs?
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gull
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response 33 of 291:
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Jun 26 13:14 UTC 2002 |
I think those usually take straight 30-weight automotive oil.
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keesan
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response 34 of 291:
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Jun 26 14:23 UTC 2002 |
Jim also oils the brake cables in their housings when they are rusty, and the
gear cables, and brake pivots and 'whatever I feel like oiling'. He takes
apart things with bearings and greases them, or if he cannot get them apart
he oils them. He oils pedals if he cannot get them apart to grease the
bearings. There are bearings in the bottom bracket (between the cranks),
(ball bearings, those should be greased), in the headset (under the handlebar
stem), in the pedals, in the hubs of the wheels. He oils anything rusty, such
as the seatpost. Jim has enclosed 5-speed hubs and thinks 20-weight oil is
better than nothing. Used motor oil will do or Sturmey Archer oil.
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russ
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response 35 of 291:
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Jun 27 01:46 UTC 2002 |
Enclosed 5-speed hubs? Wow, I thought the most you could get in that
style is 3 speeds. What kind of ratios do you get, and what's the
mechanical efficiency? Do any of them have drum brakes?
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scg
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response 36 of 291:
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Jun 27 05:42 UTC 2002 |
Sounds like Jim's doing an effective destruction job on those bikes. Cables,
brake pivots, components (rusty or not) that you don't want to fuse together,
and so forth, will all do much better with grease than oil. Bearing
assemblies that he can't get into will probably still do better with old
grease than with new oil eating whatever grease is left.
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mdw
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response 37 of 291:
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Jun 27 06:10 UTC 2002 |
All the cable lubricant I've ever seen is thin runny oil - I should
think grease would be very hard to spread along the cable, and would
also increase internal resistance. Sure, for wheel bearings and pivots,
you want something much thicker, but I don't believe it's better
everywhere else as well. For one of those enclosed hubs, I think grease
would make it pretty much unshiftable.
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keesan
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response 38 of 291:
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Jun 27 15:53 UTC 2002 |
Jim says you want oil in the enclosed hubs, 3-speed and otherwise.
The 5-speed hub gives you one shifter on one side, acts like a normal 3-speed,
he cannot remember the percentage - up a third down a fourth? No. Anyway,
then there's a 2-range lever on the other side, which essentially puts you
into a wide-range 3-speed with the same middle but two different ends. To
go up a steep hill you go to wide range and low gear.
The bikes Jim's been working on were already left out in the rain for a few
years by the previous owners so he cannot make them a whole lot worse. He
says he takes apart and greases things eventually, but to get them going he
first tries oil. He has taken things apart (that he did not oil) and found
NO grease in them, so oil is better than nothing and he says it washes the
dirt out.
The internal hub loses about 5% efficiency in the non-middle-gear as compared
with direct chain drive, he heard.
He has one hub with coaster brake but not 5-speed and he thinks you can get
a combination. Look for Sturmey Archer hubs online. The coaster brake hub
can be used with a derailleur, he has heard, but it is currently part of a
3-speed bike. He had another bike with a shoe brake, a drum brake, enclosed
in the hub, hand brake but enclosed, good for mud, and it has a freewheel and
multiple gears (5-speed cluster but you can sometimes change that). He kept
the wheel when the frame broke. He had some disk brakes but gave those away.
Good if you made a heavy duty trailer they are easier to put on the trailer.
Yesterday on the way to the dentist I found two free bikes. One had a
shredded seat and good wheels and the gears don't work but are the ratchet
type which I like (if it works). THe other had a new seat but a mismatched
post (the top two pieces did not fit the post itself) so wobbled, and a wheel
was gone, and it has a nice rear rack so we fixed it up for me as we could
not find a long enough seat post for Jim. The open frame bikes are now being
made with 16 or 17" seat tubes. 6-speed, pink purple and turquoise era, twist
grips, upright handlebars which we will replace some day. The bottom bracket
is loose and needs to be taken apart and maybe parts replaced, or at least
inspected before tightening it. Jim trued a front wheel and added that - we
walked there and biked back, carefully. This bike has working gears and he
adjusted the brakes so now they work too.
We are going out of the 3-speed business, does anybody want one? They are
heavy as they all have steel wheels. Jim may keep the one with coaster brake
to haul large object but he cannot find long enough seat posts for the open
frame style and he does not haul on a top-tube bike. We should make a trailer
some time soon.
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