I concur. I just brought home a bike for Pete my buddy built for his kid using a nice aluminum mtn frame and quality components he bought or had lying around. He took too long building the bike and his kid is now like 6'2" so an 18" frame wasn't going to work long term for him. Get good used if you can.

I bit the bullet and got a bike! $95 used from Volpe Cycles in Philadelphia. If he's half as good as the glowing reviews on Yelp, things should be good. (I just put half down on Saturday; he's going to adjust & tune up everything. I'll have time to go back and get it this weekend.)

It's a Raleigh Eclipse with a new gear system. It has the thumb-operated trigger shifters, which I really liked when I had tried them on a new bike. The wheels and brakes seem to be in good shape, as far as I can tell.

The last time I got my bike tuned up it cost more than that. That seems like a great deal.

I finally got to ride again post pneumonia. The weather was unseasonably warm on Christmas Day, so I rode what remains of my home mountain biking loop. There was a lot of carrying since some sections are thick with falls but I was out for over an hour with no ill effects. :) Its about 34 degrees here now, so I'm gonna try to get out before the snow.

Merlin and I got out again today. I cut a lot of trail and am within 50 or 60 yards of closing my main loop. I added some nice terrain and Merlin took the time to mark the new sections so we'll be able to do them in the dark. :)

It was really warm down in Denver yesterday (but windy). I saw a lot of people out on bikes.

Its crazy warm here as well 44° F. Pete did a road ride too.

It was over 60 here today.

49.3 F, at 6pm, on New Years Eve... amazing.

It is getting back to seasonal temps today, 31F. I did finish my loop yesterday so next chance I get I can ride the whole thing.

I rode from dusk to dark last night. My lungs were wheezing pretty good at the top of the light-line climb but I am alive.

and what doesn't killl you.... :thumb:

Are you riding in cold temps ?
Sometimes even walking gets my wheezing started.

Kills your knees.

Tomorrow you shall ride with Jurgen in the garden between dawn and sunrise.

...a wonderful garden: yet nothing therein was strange.

It was over 40 my wheezing used to be reserved for sub 20.

"Well, friend, and whither are you going?"

"To the garden between dawn and sunrise, Jurgen."

"Surely, now, but that is a fine name for a garden! and it is a place I would take joy to be seeing."

"Up upon my back, Jurgen, and I will take you thither," says the Centaur, and heaved to his feet. Then said the Centaur, when the pawnbroker hesitated : "Because, as you must understand, there is no other way. For this garden does not exist, and never did exist, in what men humorously called real life; so that of course only imaginary creatures such as I can enter it."

"That sounds very reasonable," Jurgen estimated, "but as it happens, I am looking for my wife, whom I suspect to have been carried off by a devil, poor fellow!"

---

Here's the entire book, available electronically:

Jurgen, by James Branch Cabell

:)

Nascent Codger Takes Assault & Bike Theft Seriously
 

Cops: Man, 65, shoots teens who pushed him off bike, kills one

D.A John T. Adams gave this account:

Link

My goodness, why didn't the police prevent that crime? :rolleyes:

smartass.

What to do with your old bicycle? How about: [Warning! Graphic?]

pretty cool.

Cool, but there are starving children in Ethiopia who could ride bicycles just like those...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Some of those look like they could be classics someday.

Was that the pink power ranger taking a video I saw?

Why would they chop up good bikes?

Blame it on the marketing people. They are the ones behind most boondoggles.

I couldn't find a boondoggle, but here's a boonekitteh for you.

Haaaaaaa....

That begs a caption contest.

Accidentally bought a bike while shopping for Hex' b-day pressie..... Diamonadback Clarity 1 on sale fore less than $300. it has rained ever since.....

I need some help please.

I'm riding more which is good, but on the last ride the cable sheath for the rear derailleur failed making shifting impossible, which is bad. I have a cable kit and I've managed to get the old cable out, and the new cable partly in. The twist shifter was a bitch, and the front sheath was a bigger bitch, and now I'm lying on the floor trying to coax the ever shortening frayed cable end through blind eyes of needles and fuck this shit. BEFORE I throw the bike through the window, I thought I'd come here for some help.

I'm KILLING MYSELF fighting the frayed cable end pushing it through holes and caps and sheaths and shit... if it weren't frayed, this would be pretty easy. I'd be on the road by now. But. But but but but... number one, I don't have a tool that is sharp/powerful/magical enough to cut the little fucking cable without fraying/crushing/bending/distorting the end. Two, once I do have an end that is... kind of mostly the same height and direction amongst the individual strands, pushing on those chiseled tips causes them to bite and .. it's not working.

I've tried soldering but I can't get that to work, though it seems like the most elegant solution. I can't get the solder to adhere to the cable. Maybe I need to go back to the store, get a monster cable cutter with admantium blades or a variable sword or something, and a soldering iron capable of just melting the individual stainless steel strands and fuck the solder. Then I can push on that (wire) rope.

I'm seriously frustrated. Help please!!!! How do you bike hacks handle cable ends?

I can picture exactly what you are complaining about. I have no solution though. I might try dipping the end in epoxy or something to glue the strands together. But that's just a guess and I don't know if it would work.

We buy new cables that have tinned (soldered) ends. Then clip them to length afterwards. You don't need a beefy cutter, just a sharp one. I use a pair of Craftsman dikes to cut the cable housing. A pair of Channel lock dikes would be plenty sharp to cut the cable. Bike shops sell inexpensive cable cutters for $20- $30.

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-...-cable-housing

Even with a sharp cutter, you end up with a bundle of wires cut off square. Not conducive to threading through a maze, as the blunt end of the wires on the outside of the bundle are going to catch. The wires have to be secured together, preferably in a way that can form a point, or at least rounded edges. Since you don't have the proper stuff to solder them, probably epoxy would be best. After it sets, you may even be able to contour it a little with an abrasive.


and more beer.

Here's a YouTube that shows the cables being threaded into a "housing cable"
and terminated with a ferrule and lubricated before being attached.

You did the threading with the housings off the bike and replaced the housing at the same time, right? Cuz old damaged housings are probably as much to blame for shifter issues as bad cables.

That's why you cut them last, after they've been installed. And more beer.

OK Nelson, telling him he already fucked up doesn't help him. He's looking for a save here. You know, a way to bail his ass out before he damages his house and health.

Oh wait... lutefisk... never mind about the health. ;)

A new derailleur cable is about 3 dollars. It isn't 3:00 am Sunday morning and the guy is in Seattle! You can't spill a latte without hitting a bike shop.

But the only thing you can do if you fuck up a cable is to trim it back and when you run out of length, you have to replace it. Sort of like asking how to fix a light bulb filament. Hey I don't make the rules.

But what if he ain't got 3 bucks, and he's in a residential area with no bike shops, and obviously no bike to get there, and it's snowing, and he can't put gas in the car because he ain't got three bucks.

Now are you going to let him smash his window throwing the bike out, letting in the snow, then curl up whimpering in the corner, or are you going to come up with an ingenious fix to spare his mental health and snow stains on the carpet?

No, he's pretty much fucked.

He can make it into a single speed.

;)

You guys are sooo funny.

tl;dr
So. I'm done, I used superglue to solidify the loose end, it's working I've been riding and shifting and enjoying myself.

Long story long:

I watched your video Griff, thanks. Did you see the sample shifter cable at 2:50? That's what my cable looked like, they put different cable ends (I have temporarily forgotten the name of these anchors at the ends...). The end that matched my shifter was the kind where the cable entered the cylindrical anchor along the axis of the cylinder, so I cut off the other one where the cable entered the anchor perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder. AT THIS POINT, I have an irritated, uneven, sharp tipped rope to push on. The guy in the video just completely finesses this point, maybe his cutters are super awesome and finish the end just super, super clean. Mine do not. Pushing that cable end through the labyrinth of the twist shifter, then through the hole in the ferrule, through the hole in the opening in the cable housing, through another ferrule, then through another ferrule and cable housing and ferrule was just a few bridges too far (I have one of those bikes that omit a section of cable housing in this middle, ala bikini style versus one piece).

I got the cable and a needlenose visegrip and put that cable end in the flame of my new stove, celebrated elsewhere. I didn't want to bother worrying that my little 15watt soldering iron wouldn't get the cable hot enough. The stove sure as hell did, it was cherry. And the solder just beaded up and dripped off. Bastard. So... I thought I'd try lead and got a fishing weight and rubbed a shiny groove in the weight with the hot cable. Same result. Grrr.

I then tried some superglue. It is thin enough to not add any appreciable bulk to the end of the cable, and it wicked nicely into the strands of the cable. This seemed to work, because I then re-cut the cable through the little half inch stretch I'd painted with the superglue, like you'd cut a stranded rope through the tape you put on it so you wind up with two taped ends. Anyhow, this did do the trick and I finally got it through the last two ferrules and the last cable without opening any windows.

For the record, I had been using the bike as a one speed, there is a bike shop two blocks away, you can spill a latte without hitting a bike shop, but probably not two lattes. And it did snow last week here, cold in the morning but clear and beautiful in the afternoon. One more thing, I've never repaired a light bulb filament, but I did successfully shorten and reconnect the heating element of my electric drying twice before I ran out of patience and filament.

So you leave us on the edge of our seats, chewing our nails, getting ready to call the Seattle PD, for three days. Fuck it, we don't need you to have fun. :p:

I'm so buzzed from my ride today. The winter pounds are coming off, trail conditions were perfect, and people were happy. I was onto the big ring a lot today. At one point I was working this tight track down a washout and realized I was pulling a Michael Jordan with my tongue. Do not! Always keep tongue behind teeth while riding. Entered the flow state quite easily today. Younger guys were pulling off giving the crazy old bastards the line. Sweetness.

Buzzed, oh noes. :eek:

Um, how bout NOPE.

I just read in the obituaries that the godfather of the Schwinn Stingray just died. The guy heard of this new trend some of the kids in California were doing, pimping their bikes, and he pushed the idea through at Schwinn, against everyone's advice. It became Schwinn's best seller.

Those were pretty sweet. I had the Philly Sales knockoff. Beat the crap outa that thing. good times

schWING!!

I had a Raleigh. Not sure it it was this model but pretty close. I do remember the gear shift lever! I think mine was a bit earlier model and had the same size tires. Oh and mine was red, not pink!

Twil and I are going for a bike ride now! We're gonna cover a section of the Burke-Gilman trail starting at Gasworks Park and heading north.

You need Growlers. ;)

Interesting design. No front brake, rear disc break, looks to be a beer jug in the carrier, and a nasty-looking pinch point between the front of the seat and the cross bar. :eek:

A Growler is a beer jug. The purpose of the bike is to carry the Growler.

Never trust a bike not made of triangles.

Griff, relax, we used bikes made of triangles.

xoB, get out of my head. We used our bikes made of triangles to visit The Lake Trail Taproom. I had four glasses of water and a Hoppy Bitch while Twil enjoyed a Ginger Cider, both icy cold served in frosted glasses (a mug for me and a brandy snifter for Twil), and both on tap. Please note in the description that the entrance to the taproom is immediately on the trail. I hung our bikes on the wall and walked in with my pannier and helmet. We were right at home. I give it five frosty stars!

Here's our route. The link opens the map at the turnaround point, the Lake Trail Taproom. Zoom out to see the whole route.