Bicycle I

[ewt]

I have a bicycle. The mother of one of my former students was getting rid of it as she now has a shiny new one (gorgeous piece of work really, I had to drool just a bit). It is an old Raleigh Caprice ladies' bike. Light pink metallic paint (hey, these things are important!), sit-up-and-beg type thing. It has a chainguard. It has fenders (or whatever those things that keep the mud off you are called in this country). It has a carrier on the back. She threw in the front basket, front light, bell, and weird sireny thing (with lights too!) for free. The tyres say 'Inflate to 80 PSI' which sounds like a lot to me, I inflated them until they were too hard for me to squeeze them (about 65). If I blow a tube then I will know to do less next time. There are only three speeds, the gear thingy is a Sturmey Archer (rather than a derailleur). I extended the seat as far as it goes and it is still about an inch too low - I guess I need to find a new saddle or an extension thingy or something - the saddle is more comfortable than the one I was riding in Bath though, so if the bike in Bath stays around and I get a new saddle for this bike then I might take the saddle from it and put it on the bike in Bath. Handlebars are a bit odd, make my wrists turn out a bit; I don't seem to be putting any pressure at all on them though so this should not, in theory, be a problem. I'll have to see.

Thanks to leunnammi for revealing the well-kept secrets of how to operate his bicycle pump. The tyres have a weird very narrow valve, rather than the standard size. The end of the pump actually comes apart and gets put back together a different direction in order to deal with this. I'm quite impressed with the pump.

I don't know a lot about bicycles but everything seems to be working alright. The bicycle goes. The gears change. The bicycle stops when I want it to. It turns okay, the ride is pretty smooth.

The light on the front is completely inadequate, I will put my nice light on it instead and use the one that came with it as a sort of emergency flashlight (unless I could replace the bulb or something - you can get weird LED clusters that fit into a normal flashlight lamp socket, it is way cool! I want!).

I wore a skirt just below mid-calf length and didn't have any troubles riding, so the skirt thing should not be an issue. Yay!

I feel like a teenager with a first car or something! I want to get panniers for the back, a water bottle holder, maybe a better basket, paint the whole thing some lovely colour or maybe just shiny black. I also want to get those little plastic beads that fit onto the spokes and put them on and mount a blacklight to the bicycle somehow to make them show up, but I don't think that this will be at all practical. I will get a D-ring lock. I left my other lock in Bath by accident, grah, but really ought to get a D-ring anyway. I wonder if it is possible to get a miniature license plate that says 'UNK' on it...not that many would get the joke, but still. How does one get rid of minor surface rust? I am told Coca-Cola works quite well because of the phosphoric acid. How does one prevent further rust once the surface rust is removed, other than keeping the bicycle in a dry place (this is England. Not going to happen)?

(sourcebook, I do still want the folding one if you are getting rid of it anyway - this one just came along in the meantime. I do need to e-mail you about travel and timing though as my father will be arriving at Heathrow that morning...with luggage. It could prove difficult to help him with his luggage and carry a folding bicycle around, so I would need to meet you fairly early, nab the bike, come alllllll the way back to the wilds of Hendon, and then go allllllll the way back to Heathrow. Alternatively, I could do Heathrow first, bring my dad back to Hendon, and then take off to meet you and a bicycle. This would be a bit rude as I have not seen my father since March (and that was only because my grandmother died and I went over to Canada for the funeral), and I don't know when I will see him again after he leaves... and if I have a new job by then I won't be able to spend much time with him while he is here, either.)

I have a bicycle. And now I have to go to bed.

And LJ is being pissy and not letting me post this, so I will send it in the morning instead.

Comments

[sourcebook.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about arrangements - if you have something to keep you going in the meantime, I can bring the folding one in on another occasion. For example, within a month I hope to be driving in a van full of massage tables, futons, chairs etc to set up a therapy salon near Liverpool St. A bike would fit in no prob. Also, I had a look at it and it's fairly severely rusted on all chrome bits - maybe I'll send you a picture and you can decide whether you really want it.

Cheers

Mark

Rust removal

[(Anonymous)]

Is performed with something abrasive. Wire wool or sandpaper will do the trick. Then paint over the affected area with err paint.

Rust

[devvie.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the new bike..i heard coca-cola works as a rust remover. Really, that's what I heard.