All About the Bikes

Here’s a Saturday that seems like a Saturday should be.

After (and during) my morning coffee, I tuned up this department store bike that my friend, Chris, dropped off for me to look at. This entailed cleaning the chain, adjusting the gears, front and back, truing the rear wheel, adjusting the headset, and pumping up the tires. A test ride around the block proved it road-ready; I set it in the garage for him to pick up, or perhaps I’ll carry it over to West Seattle on the trailer tomorrow.

Then I spent about an hour giving the 420 bike some much-needed TLC. I overhauled the bottom bracket, cleaned the drive train, adjusted the deraillers, and shined up the whole rig with simple green. Another spin around the neighborhood to make sure everything was in proper working order; the old bike proved as grateful as ever to be cared-for.

I convinced Ani, Mimi, and Elek it would be fun to ride on the trailer over to 2020 Cycle, and it was. They laughed the whole time, even when we were going barely three miles an hour up even the slightest grades.

At the shop, I splurged on two new Brooks saddles for the tandem, a B17 standard for the front and a fancy tooled-leather spring B18 replica for the rear.

Back at home, I did some minor service on the tandem, replacing the rear derailler cable, cleaning up the remnants of last week’s Fucking Hills Race, and installing the front saddle. (The rear await an adapter part.)

My neighbor, KC, had asked me a few weeks ago would I help him do some work on his bike. Having the repair stand set up in the studio with the door open was my (not-so-subtle) way of inviting him.

I got to pretend I was a real mechanic adjusting his gears. Returning from his test ride he said, “That’s a happy bike.”

And a happy day for me, too.