Silk Purse

They say you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but this bike comes close to disproving that. It has come so far from its humble WalMart beginnings, that it is almost unrecognizable.

I rode it to the coffee shop, yesterday. Then, on the way home, I rode around, aimlessly, for about an hour. I took the bike path which follows a drainage ditch through the D.U. neighborhood, and comes out behind the YMCA. I stopped in at the bike shop and grabbed a cable, then continued riding up and down alleys in the D.U. area, just enjoying the warm weather and celebrating the fact that I finally felt almost normal, again,

When I got home, I put the bike on the stand, and pulled the rear wheel. Twenty minutes later, I had re-centered the axle so that I could add a spacer on the drive side. This allowed me to adjust the derailleur to the hit all five of the cogs on the freewheel.

Speaking of the freewheel ... I found a five-speed freewheel at VeloSwap, last week, which has a 34-tooth large cog on it. With the 22-tooth chainring, the bike now has a 17.5" low gear, which matches the low gear on my 29er. At this point, the bike should be rideable on any trail I would ride on the 29" mountain bike.

I also drilled the dropouts and bolted the rack directly to the bike. I was not satisfied with the P-clamp mounting. It set the rack too high on the bike, and it wasn't very stable.

The relocated lower mounts moved the rack back far enough tht I had to fabricate an extension for the front struts.

While I was at it, I installed these Simplex shifters. They came off of a Peugeot mountain bike which I fixed up for my friend Paul's stepson. They really don't work any better than the shifters I had on the bike, before. But, they are a matching pair, and they just have that cool 80s vibe.

So, I think the bike is ready for a GrinderBikes sticker.

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