Since today was a bright and sunny day, not to imply that it
was warm, I decided to take my recently completed (Saturday) project out for a
spin. So with that introduction I present my “Winter Bike” or as Brooklynn has taken
to calling it recently, “the rain bike”.
I’ve had this bike in since 1989, which makes it older than
some of my kids (Alessandra) who are now having kids of their own. ~Sigh~ if only
the bike could just produce “grandbikes”.
Anyway, this bike was completely rebuilt from the frame up. I
stripped it down to bare frame and since its steel I coated the inside with a
special product to prevent rusting. I then rebuilt the hubs on each wheel, the
bottom bracket and the headset. All of the shifting and braking was completely
refurbished and put back on the frame. The only things that are really new is
the bar tape, the red tires and the fenders.
I was quite pleased with the look but now that I’ve ridden
it I’m really thrilled at how well it came back together. No shifting or
braking problems at all and it felt great to be back on the old steed. After the ride, I hung the bike in the garage next
to the summer bike, the relatively new bike, and as I closed the garage door I’m
pretty sure I heard snide remarks coming from Summer. I just looked at the
black bike and in the sternest voice said “knock it off, you’ve been out all
summer long.” She’s always been the snarky one, being carbon fiber and all.
