A Geek and Her Bike

I'm taking a break from learning about various fungal lung diseases to talk about a few things I learned from the Peugeot this past week. Although 'lung fungus' is a term I will not soon erase from my memory...... ew.

So - a few lessons from L'Ecole de Peugeot ("The School of Peugeot" for you weenies who don't know your French):
1. As cool as it looks shiny and clean in my dining room it looks even cooler with fenders and covered with slush, locked up outside the grocery store.
2. I suck at taping bars. Not even close to doing a good job of it - notice how there are no pictures to prove this. Just believe me.
3. Don't coast. Don't coast. Don't coast. Don't coast.
4. "PING!" is not something you want to hear while riding up one of the biggest hills in GR. On my way home from school on Monday, I was almost to the top of the Michigan Street hill when I heard this noise. Luckily, it was just the lockring popping off the bottom bracket cup and not the chain breaking in half. The Peug is sidelined for awhile so I can figure out a remedy for this.
5. Having a project bike is somewhat of a detriment to students. Like right now, I should be concentrating on my lung fungi instead of writing about my bike.

Anyhoo - that's it. I am excited for this weekend since it means the Yankee Springs Time Trial. No, I'm not racing. I've been on the planning committee for the race since last October or so and it will be really good to be on the other side of the race. The weather report is stellar and I hope we have a HUGE turnout since this will be the major money-maker for our MMBA chapter this year. It will be a busy weekend of lots of work so let's hope it will be worth it....

I Got Fixed

It's cold, snowy and generally crappy and I don't want to talk about it.

I do want to talk about the newest addition to our little family. Nope - sorry Mom, no new grandkids.... unless you wanted a grandkid with wheels and a seat. My little curbside treasure that I rescued a few weeks ago has blossomed into a fly new ride and I'm so excited! That is until I look outside at the four inches of slushy snow we got today but I digress.... It's not quite gallery-worthy yet but it's getting there.

The frame was in surprisingly decent shape for being a piece of trash. I stripped it down to the frame and drive-side bottom bracket cup (which is pretty much fused to the frame) with the help of Steve, Lee, and John from Ada.

Then I rebuilt the bottom bracket with a new spindle and bearings (original cups), took apart the headset to clean and repack those bearings too, and polished the handlebars to a shiny luster with some miracle rubbing compound they had at the bike shop. I also built my first set of wheels at Velocity - thanks to Paul and Sven for the help.

A few spare parts later.....

Fixed gear! Steve and I finished it up around 11 last night and headed out for a spin around the neighborhood. It will definitely take some practice but I can't wait for the snow to melt so I can ride 'er again. Only a few small details left - front brakes, new grips, and I'm going to repaint the gold pinstripes and lugs with some sparkly paint. It's been such a fun project! I guess it's kind of lame to waste a whole post on some junk bike I found on the curb. Perhaps the picture my seven year old niece drew for us this weekend sums it up.....
At least I'm sad with a sweet ride......