Last day at bike shop

My last day at Eaton Bikes is almost finished. A girl came in with a flat front tire, and through the course of a short conversation while I was fixing it, I learned that she might kinda want to know how to fix it herself. Great! I let the air out of the fixed tire, pull it apart and we go through the repair again. She does it herself this time, while I instruct. I don't charge for labor since she did the repair herself. Plus I just don't wanna charge six bucks labor for someone who wants to learn something.

Holding a Cateye light

I'm at the bike shop still, even though my schedule says I should be gone. A guy bought a bike and he needs accessories installed and accessories transferred from his previous bike. I bought the previous bike for $40. It's an olive colored Trek 820 with a very large frame - probably 23". At 7:21, I'm holding his headlight and preparing to move it to the new bike - a corny new GT. At some point after this, I realize that my new $40 purchase might be a headache or a total loss: the seatpost is very much frozen. Aluminum in steel. Crap - I should know better. but I saw a deal, and I jumped at it. I want to build this bike into what it is capable of being.

Eddie's xtracycle. I eat.

Eddie made chicken and rice. This is really good food. Eddie finally bought an xtracycle after thinking about it and dreaming about it forever. It's here in an open box, and we've been looking at it. Since I'm Eddie's friend, and I have keys to a bicycle shop, I'm going to help him with the installation.

I'm emailing Shelly

I'm at Eaton Bikes again. We just closed, and it's just me. There is a normal-sized keyboard here, and I can click around like crazy. On the internet. I am emailing Rochelle Salamon at sodashelly at gmail.com. You can email her too. She'll be happy to answer any questions you have about Philly, hockey, relationships, or dogs that hug people.

Mid piss

I'm in the very middle of a pee at Eaton Bikes. I'm here alone, and I'm thinking about bicycle seats made by Brooks. I got one here, and I'm contemplating whether or not to treat the underside of the leather with 'Proofide,' which is the saddle goop supplied by Brooks. I'm hiding out a little. I think I need some time alone. Plus, there's a shower here that I can use. I'm also in the process of not-drinking, and my mind keeps reaching for a beer. My life is pretty much awesome whenever I take a deep breath and think about it. My lungs aren't quite big enough at the moment, but my ability to reason is picking up the slack. You know exactly what I mean.

Bicycle fix-it w/ Chris

Nobody is teaching these guys how to fix bikes - which sucks, because they want to learn. Dave and Bill work in the rental department, and they both want a good bike. Dave and Bill and I each have a bike in the stand. Each is a separate project that needs attention. I'm spending too much time working on my bike, but I'm still making perpetual rounds helping with all three projects at once.

Bill has a road bike project. The frame is a lugged steel Bianchi of less than incredible quality. It's getting built up from the frame. Before tonight we've installed a sealed bottom bracket, and the original Sugino cranks. It has a new too-nice Shimano 105 headset, and some way-too-race-y wheels that Bill might have to spend too much for. But moving on: we're setting up the brakes. The calipers are the new super-long reach Tektros that can put a pad on a braking surface 73mm below the brake bolt - and they're dual pivot calipers at that. A new and exciting concept only recently available, and very reasonably priced! Well, the reach is maybe too long for this bike. The pads sit on the braking surface, but they're clumsily jacked all the way to the very top of the slots on the calipers. The Shimano aero levers are nice and pretty though, and the combination will work well. I show Bill how to measure and cut the housing, and how to run the cables, seat the housing, and set up the brakes. Then tape the housing to the groove on the inside of the bars. That's where we left it.

Dave has a goofy Kona frame with track ends, made for intensely fat tires and single speed. There's a braze-on (TIG weld-on) for a coaster brake arm to be bolted. Dave has one gear, and he could really use at least three. Eaton Bikes has a goofup-ordered 26" Zac19 rimmed Shimano Nexus 3spd coaster brake hubbed wheel. Perfect. We installed the new wheel, which required springing out the stays by about two millimeters. Somehow this made the right crank touch the chain stay. I swear we only spread it a miniscule amount. But the crank was close. It's a 113 width bottom bracket with a road-ish crank arm that does not stick out enough to clear the stays, which appear to be designed to clear tires at least a foot or two wide. So I showed Dave how to pull the cranks and bottom bracket, and install a wider BB - then how to put the chainring on the inside of the spider - then how to remove all that stuff again to put a couple little spacers on the right hand side of the BB so the chainring doesn't touch the stay. The spacers were Dave's idea. Genius which should have come from my mind first. I forgot about BB spacers.

My City Bike is in the stand getting those damn drop bars off. It's a good bike, but it doesn't work for me at all with those handlebars. It feels like I'm riding a tiny frame, even with the bars jacked way up on the Technomic stem. Clearly a bad idea in hindsight, but I'm happy to have tried and failed, just to get that out of my system. I'm putting the Tall Cool stem back on with some alloy northroad handlebars made by J&B (Sunlite). The clamp diameter works, and the bars are very similar to the ones from the Raleigh Sports that I used in the first place. For good measure - and to always be changing stuff - I'm installing some Avid single digit 5 v-brakes, and some similar matching Avid brake levers. I put on the alloy seat post I was looking at, and finished it all off with some very handsome khaki colored OURY grips that look fantastic with the frame. I'm not the first person to fawn over aesthetics, but the City Bike is looking like an attractive simple machine. I think an overhaul of the original cup and cone bottom bracket is kinda in order though... geez, self. I overhauled it once, but it's been a long time and now it's been cared for by criminals. Time for some new grease.

Rehab the snabbed cycle

I'm at Eaton bikes after hours. I want to swap around parts on my Diamondback and my Diamond Back. The Diamondback (compound word) is the younger bicycle of the two, and the bike that I call my City Bike even though it does everything. It's a cheaper super-beefy hi-ten frame, but I love it more. I'm here at the shop after work so I can clog up two work stands and the entire workbench with no interruptions. Steve came over, so we're each drinking two tall Budweisers and listening to music from my iPod while I work on my bike. Silver Sun Pickups, My Morning Jacket, Nirvana, Iron and Wine, other artists.. I'm experimenting in the spirit of trying out everything possible, and goofing with bikes. I'm putting drop bars on my Diamondback - reclaiming my recovered City Bike. I have a Technomic quill stem by Nitto with a shorter than average extension. This stem is paired to some cheap anatomically bent black drop bars by Dimension with some new Shimano aero levers. I'm using the original cantilever brakes - cheap as hell, work good. City Bike is getting new wheels. I'm using the double-walled eyeletted Zac19 Weinmann rimmed, stainless steel 2.0 gauge straight spoked, Shimano RM60 cassette hubbed wheels that were intended as my temporary wheels for the Diamond Back. The City Bike's original rear wheel was thoroughly goosed for weeks before it was stolen. I hit a curb pretty hard when I first got to Key West - by the Home Depot. That was when I was still sleeping in Truck House. I kept riding on that wheel in the spirit of riding whatever still works. Now I'm upgrading. Previous to theft, I installed a J&B 'Tall Cool' (their name) stem. It does not mate properly with the Raleigh Sports-born northroad bars I was using - requiring beer can shimming. This worked worse than mediocre. This situation was going to be amended before it was stolen, but then theft got in the way. Now I can finally address the handlebar setup. Additionally, I'm installing a rear rack by Delta: tubular aluminum, black, rated to 60lbs, holds a u-lock perfectly. This rack replaces the uniquely substantial steel rack made by who-knows-who. The steel rack has no bolted or movable hardware - the struts that attach to the seat stays are a welded integral part of the rack. It just so happened that mated to the City Bike it leaned back to the precise angle necessary to allow for a hose-clamped milk crate to clear the back of the saddle. But now I'm changing it for this Delta rack. Dunno... just am. I also have my eye on a new alloy seatpost to replace the obviously functional steel beast-post. Dunno... just do. So we'll see if this bicycle is acceptable with drop bars. Of course it will work, but will it be fun and comfortable for me? That's the name of the game. That's the purpose of this evening. As Dave from West Chester said: "So, I guess you're all wondering why I've called you here this evening." I got a kick out of him saying that.

Kevin / stolen bike / new job? / soup

I'm always slacking off when 7:21 hits. I'm at Angela and Duval talking to Kevin at his info booth again. I'm apprehensive. Someone stole my City Bike. I'm going to drive up to Lantana, FL tonight to sell Truck House. Kevin said I might be able to park in front of his house. It'd be nice to add a sanctioned spot to my bag of parking spots. He said I could even plug in... but no need. I don't really need electricity. I haven't missed it very much, surprisingly. I'd rather just have a spot to kick open the side doors and cook. My new $19.99 propane camp stove is great.

My anxiety is keeping me from having the will to work. I know I'll be quitting very early. The anxiety isn't very bad though. It's mild, and it's aimed at my stolen bike and the impending road trip. I'll be calm once I'm rolling. I'm looking into a mechanic job at a shop to substitute for some of my pedicab days. If it's good, I'll get $15/hr cash, and work on customer repairs. I'll do pedicab just on weekends. Pretty sweet setup if it works.

I'm sorta sharing Kevin's soup. Like potato soup with shrimp. Good.