PointColville

This was a great forum when I was getting back into bike commuting. I'm halfway into month three of commuting on my Ebaycycle, and I thought I would check in with what has and hasn't worked.

1) Bike
I bought a frame and boxes of parts off Ebay and put it together in my basement. It wasn't until test ride number 10 (or was it 15) that everything was dialed in, but now I'm pretty confident that if anything breaks I can fix it on the fly (because I probably mis-installed it in the first place). Most of the parts came from Ebay retailers, and in the two cases where I bought the wrong part, I negotiated to get a different part of lesser value (calling the balance a "restocking fee." Friends have warned me that I would finish with a basket of non-fitting parts. Instead I just have a couple of inexpensive items.

I suppose the hot button issue here is that I didn't support my LBS. There were a couple of late nights when I thought I would be dragging the pieces into the LBS the next day, crying uncle, but ultimately got it together.

2) Route
I've read some of the debates on paths vs. road, owning a lane, and so on. I happen to have a path running along most of my route, heavily travelled by bike commuters, and it seems utterly silly not to use it.

3) Weather
I wear clear Oakleys on every ride. I'm in the dark half the time, leaves are blowing around, and it makes for a comfortable ride. I have a light goretex rain shell and as long as the tempurature is above 45 degrees, I'm happy in shorts, T-shirt and shell.

4) Showering etc.
I shave and shower before biking, then change at work. No issues so far. Colder weather improves thing, to a point.

5) General observations
In the car I would talk on the phone during the entire commute, on rails toward the office, mind elsewhere. Now I feel alive during my 50 minutes or riding, morning and evening. Also, I notice things I never saw from the car. For example, rats. Rats running across the trail. Rats dead by the side of the road. Small enough to go unnoticed from a vehicle, but visible from my two wheeled steed.

The other benefit is that my kids are starting to see the bike as a normal mode of transport, and even cracking jokes about it. As in:
"Dad, why can't your bike stand up by itself?"
"Well, um, gyroscopic, um, well, I don't know."
"Because it's too tired."

Longhorn

I was wondering what an Ebaycycle was! I'm really impressed! Do you have an idea how much your bike cost, not including labor, of course?

I get close-up views of dead armadillos, deer, and possums. I'd take a bike path if one existed out this way but I ride from the country to the edge of town so it's rural roads for me. There are some other nice views, by the way. And I get to pass a couple of cute-faced donkeys, horses, goats, and Longhorns.

tacomee

Yeah, what do you have into your *ebaycycle*? Would you have been better off moneywise just buying a new bike? So what kind of bike did you build? Why did you even try this crazy plan?

Not that there is anything wrong with monkeying around with used bikes! It's really fun-- start looking for old bikes/parts in dumpsters and yardsales and your next bike might be really low cost.

Blue Order

I stopped supporting my LBS when they stopped supporting me. When I can walk into my LBS with my 28 year old Motobecane and get service instead of a sales pitch for a new bike, I'll change my mind.

roadfix

I've built a couple or three complete Ebaycycles myself as well......with 90% of components, including frames, as used. New items were generally new-old-stock.

ArizonaAdam

You should put the complete bike up for sale and see if you can make your money back.

Where are you at? I do ride with traffic, and support VC, but if I had a path I'd ride it.

max-a-mill

nice.

you not only have a bike, but know how to build/fix one now!

congratulations. i'd love a picture if you got one.

Brian

I've built several ebaycycles. All it really takes is a bit of knowledge and a lot of patience.