Anyway, she was also shopping. Successfully. She made the leap and bought a road bike (and a pretty sweet one at that). So... now I'm somewhat in a spot... needing a slick road ride but with no cash. Certainly not the kind of quid a fella needs to get properly outfitted with a set of skinny wheels. However, I spent some time sifting through the pile of old beater bikes that were in the swap.
Wasn't having much luck and then I found this:
She's a beauty eh?. Nope. But I think I can make it work.
The good: This bike cost me a whopping $10. Can't go wrong at that price. Can't even get a single pedal for that these days. The entire drive train uses Shimano components that look like they were the cat's meow in their day. The Cromo-steel frame is light enough and if you look past the gawdy pink and blue pizzazz... it could have potential if repainted. It's even got potential for a conversion to a hipster single speed unit if desired. Also... it fit me.
The bad: The boys tell me that the Biopace chainrings it sports was one of the biggest flops in bike history. Rather than a circle, they were formed as ovals, under the notion of giving a longer down-stroke to your pedal. Problem is that they turned out to destroy a large number of knee joints before their advantages were widely debunked. So they'll have to go. The bike also has suicide shifters mounted on the frame's downtube. I'm not sure I'll ever shift gears with them so it may as well be a single speed. All the soft goods (tires, cables, pads, bar tape) have to be replaced.
The Ugly: The color, obviously. Also mold. Thick black mold on the rubber caps at the brakes. Gross. I tried to peel them off to drop in a bucket of bleach but I just ended up tearing them. Replacements added to the parts list.
Gross!
So... First step is to strip everything off and sand the frame. I've already got the fork done. Anyone have colour / paint job ideas?
Neon green. Then we can match.
ReplyDeleteMostly metallic navy, blending to some neon green near the tail, so it looks like you're tearing away from Jill, heading to the front of the pack!
ReplyDelete