Commuting - Second commute was great! Until.......

Rode the bike home for the second time this week today. I was suprised at how much better this trip was compared to the first.

First time I made 4 stops in the first 8 miles to let the ol heart slow down a bit. Today, I stopped after 8.3 miles and that was only because my butt was getting sore from the seat. :) I thought it would take more trips than that to make it that far without a stop. Pretty cool.

Until...........

Ride was going well, made it past the point I stopped on Tuesday and ran into some steep hills. Was gearing down at the first hill when my chain got lodged between the two biggest sprockets!!! I had already lost one gear, but I was able to get by without it. But this one is needed for the hills! Argh! That last half mile to a pick up point was brutal! Would have made it all the way home had I not busted my bike.

Needless to say that this weekend will be spent at the yardsales looking for a new bike. Only paid 10 bucks for the Huffy, and I am pretty sure a replacement gearset will cost more than the bike is worth.

The seat was hurting me anyway. ;)

Hoping to score a bike so I can commute again on Monday. Local thirft shop has a Motive for $40, but I can get a better deal at the yard sales.

Now I know why you guys love to ride so much. This is addicting.

Planning to buy a nicer bike, but want something to get me by till I have the cash to do so. I just ride home at the moment, so worst case I take the bus or call the wife for a ride if anything goes wrong.

It can be surprising how much better even a cheap bike can be made by cleaning and adjusting.
My kids have cheapo bikes, because they just wear them out and outgrow them anyway. I fiddle with them once in a while and get them shifting pretty well for another month or two. Generally not much is required, though the biggest problem is bent deraillers (they drop their bikes around a lot).
By contrast, I've got a $300 Giant hybrid, and the only thing I've ever done to the shifting in 6000 miles is to slightly adjust the cable length a few times, and it shifts fine (of course, BETTER in non-freezing weather and when I have a new chain and clean freewheel).

Friends don't let friends ride huffy's.

A slipping chain wiped put a gear? What do they make those Huffy components out of -- pot metal?

Paul

A new bike would be better, but you'll need time to do your research, search the forums, ride a bunch of bikes, etc. before you make your purchase decision. If you're buying a garage sale bike, check the other thread about garage sales and what to look for and what will need maintenance and replacing.

The gears that have failed just popped out of position and moved next to the smaller gear next to them. I tried messing with them, they snap back in place, but the next time or two the chain goes on or past them they pop back out again and the chain slips between the gears once more. Really annoying when trying to make it up a hill at a constant cadenance. All of a sudden you have no power at all and I have to stop and get the chain back on track and all. I bought the thing untested at an auction a few weeks ago.

Was just going to use it for riding around the neighborhood, but then the commute bug hit and I decided to see how much milage I could get out of the thing.

The LBS has some nice bikes in the $250-350 range. Figure another 6 weeks before I can afford one. In the mean time all this messing with junk bikes is getting me some experience with bike maintenance and repair. :)

I am naturally cheap so messing with old stuff and making it work is part of my personality.

Off to the yardsales then to a storage auction.

Look I paid $25.00 for a huffy and it carried for two months for 1700 miles. now I have a Peugeot that I paid $10.00 for and it has carried me for 535 miles. That comes to 35.00 for 2235 miles, or 1.5 cents a mile. if I had droped $500 on a new bike that would have come to 22.4 cents so far. So there you have it. The only reason I replaced the huffy was that the head tube was starting to flair out on the top and bottom and it was way too small for me. To Peugeot has not given me any problems yet.

I'm also a cheapskate and I love tinkering, but having an unreliable bike is just too much for me to bear. I bought a Giant hybrid for $300 and it's done a great job hauling me around in all 4 seasons, 2 years and 6000 miles so far. Don't be afraid that a new bike will take away your tinkering; no bike owner is ever done messing with their bikes.

I gotta hand it to you, bilder. I'm not sure I would have had the patience for so much adversity when I began (not sure I even have it now!), and with such good spirits too! :beer:

I was fortunate to have $200 to drop when I walked into my LBS, with close to zero knowledge of brands and styles, and told them I wanted to start commuting. Fortunately, my LBS knows commuting and they were able to sell me what they knew would work for me, for the money I had (a Diamondback hybrid). I would not have had the knowledge to buy a fixer-upper and fix it up! (I hardly have it now; I've gotten about as far as changing my own brake pads!)

Not that you have to pay money and buy (almost) new, as CigTech points out, but either way, here's hoping you have a better bike soon! :)

Well I guess the rise in gas prices has made bikes a hot item in the yard sale business.

Ran all over town today looking for a cheap bike. Every time I asked a yard sale operator if they had any bikes for sale I heard the following:

"I did, but they sold right away this morning."

One lady had a road bike for sale that was not out in the open, but the thing about came up to my armpits it was so huge. Found a couple others that were little more than scrap metal with a price tag on them as well. Everything decent was taken.

I did get a lead on a Magna Eco-Sport. Elderly lady and her husband bought them and rode them once or twice, been in their garage ever since. They are both womens bikes, but if the price is right, I have no problem with that. Gonna talk to her tomorrow and take a look at the bikes.

I did find an old Roadmaster by the dumpster. The front is bent, but the rear looks to be in good shape. Temped to see if I can take the rear wheel with gearset and put it on my Huffy. Would need some adjusting, but it may work. Odds are they are made in the same factory. :) Tomorrow will be a day for tinkering.

I want to ride home most of this coming week so I am hoping to get something together tomorrow. Either a patchwork repair or maybe buying that Magna thing if it is cheap enough.

Well I did not find another cheap bike, but I got a replacement gearset for the old Huffy.

Was talking to some folks at chruch today and mentioned my ride home on Friday. One lady told me about a guy who lives in a nearby trailer court who repairs old bikes and sells them.

Stopped by afterward and spoke to the guy. A nice older gentleman who had a yard full of various bikes. Saw a number of common brands and a few that were unknown to me. He did have a Novus bike that fit me rather well, but I did not like the shifter system on it and I think the price was a little high ($35). I asked him if he had any rear wheels with a good gearset he would be willing to sell.

3 minutes later I had a nice straight wheel with 5 speed gearset in my hands for 10 bucks. Will have to adjust my derailers for one less speed, but that is the beauty of old school friction derailers, anything will fit with a small adjustment. :)

Looks like the guy has a nice little home business going on. He is retired and started to fix the neighborhood kids bikes for free to be nice. Then when people started to give him their old bikes for parts, he got into repairing and selling them. Still works on the kids bikes for free. Nice guy. I now have a source for cheap parts. LBS for the good stuff, this guy for the el cheap-o repair jobs.

I am back on the road with only 10 bucks out of pocket. Total of 20 dollars into the bike so far. Sure beats buying gas!

i like your attitude!

if you keep looking i bet you'll find some nice bikes once in a while.

... I am watching a bike stable being born <tears of joy>

Got the new (used) wheel on the bike and adjusted the dereailer. Works good and it feels nice not having to worry about hitting a broken sprocket while shifting.

Added some slicks to the bike while I was at it. Friend gave me a pair he was not using anymore.

Today should be an interesting ride home. :)

There's really no need to buy a new bike to get quality. The guys in classic and vintage can tell you that. I have a high end Falcon tourer from the 70's that I got for nothing, and with 1 hours tweaking and adjustment, it's doing just fine.

To Peugeot has not given me any problems yet.

And never will.

Until you have to replace something.

(You'll have at least one sympathetic ear)

Looks like the guy has a nice little home business going on. He is retired and started to fix the neighborhood kids bikes for free to be nice. Then when people started to give him their old bikes for parts, he got into repairing and selling them. Still works on the kids bikes for free. Nice guy. I now have a source for cheap parts.

That's actually how the guy who owns my new LBS got his start. Today he's going strong and just became a Jamis dealer. Still takes time to work on kids bikes though.

Sadly, he's not as local as my old LBS - but a "Hey!" and a friendly smile go a LONG way.

Well I made it all the way home today!!!!! Got a workout on some of the hills, but I made it!

Bike did well. I need to do an adjustment on the front dreailer, it did not want to shift down on the hills.

Took me 90 minutes to go 13 miles. As I get this flabby body in shape that time should go down.