Label Whore

A friend of mine, and fellow mechanic, always comments on those customers who are always hearing a creaking this or knocking that. His point is simply, "How much enjoyment can they have while riding, if they are always so concerned with these things?"

I was pondering this question, as I rode into work last Thursday, (aka Bike To Work Day...), and ironically as I hear my bike start creaking.

My thought process was more on those things that we take for granted. There are lots of good parts out there, and lots of bad ones. But there are certain no-doubt workhorses. Thomson seatposts, Chris King headsets, Brooks saddles, Look pedals and Phil Wood hubs are a few that come to mind. Expensive, yes. But you know you can pop any of those on your bike and not worry about it, and that's why they are everywhere and have been for decades. But it's not about the name, it's about the product doing what it is supposed to without any issue. And those names can be counted on for that.

The idea behind my bike is utilitarian. It needs to get me where I need to go. Steel frame, fork and stem for strength and ride quality. King, Thomson and Looks all for reliability. Brooks for comfort. Disc brakes to always stop when I need to. SRAM chain for quietness... Sadly, the only things I haven't upgraded are likely the root of my creak; the Bontrager wheels and cranks. More sadly, I don't have the several hundred dollars required to build Phil Wood/Mavic wheels and forget about that whole area of the bike.

So, basically that was all a tangent-ridden way of saying that I took the opportunity on this year's Bike To Work Day to appreciate those parts we often forget are so important to our end goal of getting where we're heading and enjoying the ride.

Mechanic Monday.

I am pleased to announce the completely unofficial fictitious sponsorships for my mechanichood that I have just made up right now. This year's sponsors, who get me thru every day, are in no particular order:

• This Blog: I promise, I'm better with a wrench. Buy a sticker.
  
• Coffee: I plan to take advantage of this sponsorship by ingesting no less than 30oz. of coffee each day, much as I have for the past 14 years, in order to wake up and face my daily tasks.
• Lamonicas NY Pizza: They are apparently unaware of this sponsorship deal, as they still charge me for pizza. Sweet, sweet pizza.
• Rock N' Roll Lubrication: My bench has recently become almost exclusively RnR. Red Chain Lube, Gold Chain Lube, Nipple Cream, Cable Magic, Red Devil grease. Even their fancy little grease gun. I got sick of using products I wasn't stoked on. I'm stoked on them.
• Park Tool: Only because you just can't escape them. But I don't care, I'm still using my Hozan Third Hand.
• 60's/70's Soul Music: Seriously. Who doesn't like it? Name one person, you can't.
  

AB 766; Repost

Please check out BikingInLA's post on AB766. It's something everyone should know about, and everyone should get involved in.

The brief explanation:

In order for law enforcement to use radar guns to enforce speed limits on roads, those roads need to be surveyed every 7 years. The survey involves monitoring the average speed of drivers on said road, and the result of the survey is that the speed limit is reset to 85% of the average speed. Therefore, since most drivers speed, the speed limits are usually increased on roads.

Of course, if you don't want the speed limit raised, you can refuse. But then the police cannot enforce the speed limit using radar.

If something sounds wrong with this, do something about it.

Mechanic Mondays Are No More

First off, allow me to apologize for my extended absence. I've missed several weeks of writing, and I swear, I have a good excuse.

I have been "promoted" to a full-time mechanic, complete with a schedule change to insure we have wrench coverage every day of the week. So whereas before, I had some downtime to ponder new posts, and lunch breaks to write on, I now have a near constant rotation of repair work to handle, and eat my lunch mostly one bite at a time between flat fixes and other assorted fun.

Therefore, I am officially updating the name to "Mechanic Whenever-I-Have-The-Chance-To".

As some of you, who follow my Twitter, may know; yesterday I had an unsuspecting customer bring me a 1965 Schwinn Paramount track frame/fork/Campy headset/Cinelli bars/Campy cranks from his mother's garage. It essentially looked like this, but blue without chrome lugs:

Serial number Y95, which makes it the 85th frame produced in the Chicago factory after July 20, 1965. (I guessed 1967-1972 when I saw it). Nervex lugs, Campy dropouts.

He had no idea what he had, and explained to us that he scoffed at his mother's suggestion that it might be worth $300. Simply a fairytale created by a senile old lady... Naturally, it occurred to me momentarily that I could probably offer him $100 and have this beauty all to myself.

Unfortunately, my excitement over seeing a bike this rare got the best of me, and my mouth was working independently from my brain spewing random facts about Paramount, Waterford, including guessing the age within 2 years and telling him its value would be closer to $500 (or up to $1,000 if he had the rest of it in said garage).

It's just as well, I never would have slept again if I ripped off a widow selling her beloved's favorite bike. Damn my morals and values.

And on an unrelated note; what is it about people who buy electric bikes? They are the only sub-genre I've ever experienced that seem to always be pushing their bikes on everyone else, suggesting that everyone try it out and buy one because it's so great and better than a regular bike. As if people who ride bikes don't really like it, and would prefer to not actually pedal, but rather cruise around on a notbikenotmotorcycle...