Wednesday, July 02, 2008

I'm not dead!

Hard to believe how time flies and certain hobbies get neglected when there's an old house, small kids, and the minutia of life to take care of.

Seems I've spent more time reading about and looking at bikes on the net than actually riding them... shame. I did get the Trek 700 all painted (Rustoleum black) and rideable, but it didn't take long to find out that the headset was shot. Today I finally ordered a Tange headset online. I was hoping, but not expecting, to find one locally. Big Wheel Bikes in Old Town didn't have them. When I called Spokes, the guy was nice and polite but must have been shocked anyone would be asking for a 1 inch threaded headset. Like he said, they hardly ever hear a request for one and only occasionally have one in a drawer somewhere.

Velo-Orange carries a nice alloy Tange Passage, but I opted to save money and found another seller with the steel version. This bike, after all, is my FreeCycle find and I'm trying to keep costs low. I also managed to find a Wald chainguard on eBay with a BIN that had been sitting for several days. After waffling a bit, I went ahead and clicked. I'd prefer to have a close-to-full chain case (bike has a rear derailleur), but I'm not going to wait around hoping one comes my way.  I wonder how hard it would be to make one?

I also signed up at the Slow Bicycle Movement.

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