Roll On, Rollfast.

I was at work a couple weekends ago, making my rounds when I spotted a gigantic bike sale going on in someone's yard.  I returned later to find that a guy who I only know as Victor was moving soon and trying to sell as much of his stable as he could.  As far as I could tell, he was just like me.  He had various vintage bikes, frames, and wheels lying around and crates full of old parts. Most of the bikes were ones that hardcore cyclists and enthusiasts would shrug off as being heavy, crude, and worthless.  There were many old electro-forged Schwinns, Free Spirits, Hercules AMFs, and a few brands I'd never heard of.  There really weren't many high-end frames and most of the bikes were to be sold as projects or for parts.

Toronto From The Perspective Of This Dude

Well, I guess there's no good way to introduce this smoothly, but last week, I went to Toronto for three days with four other close buddies from the architecture school.  I drove us from Ann Arbor through Detroit since I knew the way and we switched drivers a couple times once we got into Canada.  We ended up looking at things that we'd otherwise pass by if our parents were the ones to organize the trip.

1980 Schwinn World Sport

Here's my second commission: another red Schwinn for another friend.

Well it used to be red, at least.  This 1980 Schwinn World Sport was rescued from the dump as always.  It had a bent rear wheel and all of the usual consumables were shot: tires, tubes, chain, cables, etc.  This particular bike was made in Schwinn's Giant factory in Taiwan rather than the Chicago factory.  One of my friends, again from the architecture school, wanted a decent road bike to get around town and go on nice rides with, but within a budget.

The Best of Luck

Within a week of completing the Wrench-A-Thon, all three of my bikes fell victim to some rather unfortunate events.

First, one of the nuts on the rear axle of the '58 Sports got stripped.  This is the 1979 wheel and hub it's using, so the right side nut is two pieces rather than one.  I guess I tightened the nut down too hard thinking it would prevent the wheel from slipping forward, as this had been a constant problem ever since I repainted the bike.  The nut actually gave out while I was at work so I had to walk the bike the whole way home.  I ended up replacing the 1979 right side axle nuts with the one-piece 1958 one for the time being.  I think I should order some new ones just to be safe.

Wrench-A-Thon Part 3: 1979 Raleigh Superbe

Finally, updates for the third bike have been completed.  I'm not going to say it (or any of my other project vehicles) is ever done because everybody knows that would be a lie.  I'm just talking about the series of things I've been planning to do as of this spring.

Wrench-A-Thon Part 2: 1979 Ross Gran Tour

I have completed my mission to finally make the Ross safer.  After months of hacking around and throwing things together, I got tired of almost-dying every time I hopped on.  I cleaned the disgusting, oily, muddy winter mess with WD-40, degreaser, and a Super Soaker and slowly replaced components one at a time.  I received the beater back from the shop today due to something I did not have the tool for, but I'll get to that later.

Wrench-A-Thon Part 1: 1958 Raleigh Sports

For the last month, I've been performing some rather needed updates on all three of my bikes.  The weather is warming up and the money is flowing in; not that the weather has anything to do with the amount that I ride, but I felt like it was about time.  Below is what my room frequently looked like: at least one bike and many tools and components strewn about.  This photo is from the day I installed the reproduction Raleigh reflectors.

Throughout the wrench-a-thon, the bikes have more or less remained in rideable condition when they had to be (or at least one was rideable at any given time) while I waited for parts except for Gwendolyn, the '58 Sports.  Without further adieu, here she is.