Oh man, what an afternoon I had yesterday. I went by my brother’s house to return the mountain bike he let me borrow while my bike was in the shop. He had an old Schwinn road bike hanging in the garage. I’m sure I mentioned this in another thread. Well anyway I picked it up and headed to the LBS for some tires and tubes.

From there I went straight home and started gathering the cleaning supplies. Then I put the bike in the shower and gave it a good rinse. The dog was confused and nervous by the sight. I took off the wheels and removed the rotten tires and tubes. I wasn’t sure if I needed tubes or not but I opted to replace them since the bike hasn’t been ridden in about fifteen years or so.

Realizing that I was about to start making a mess, I took the rims outside for a good scrubbing. But before any of that could start, I set the mood by putting Utah Phillips into the CD player and opening a cold beer. Several hours went by and the rims were looking good. While cleaning the cog/cassette (still not too hip on the lingo) I notice the nut that holds the bearings in place was loose enough to turn with my finger. I realized that this wasn’t right so I went ahead and backed the nut all the way out so that I could get a look at the bearings. They were bone dry so I packed some grease in there. Word to the foolish, a lawn chair on the front porch is not the best place to pack a bearing. I didn’t have the proper spanner wrench to put the nut back in place so I used a hammer and center punch. This may sound Cletus-ish but it worked, so cut me some slack.

Then came the fun part, putting the tires on. I’ve read where you’re supposed to be able to put the tires on without using any levers but I’ll be damned if I could do it. I had no problems with the fatter tires on my hybrid but those little bastards just would not cooperate. But eventually I was able to get them on, after much swearing.

By this time, I had a couple of friends drop by. One of them actually cooked dinner; thanks Zach! Brats and Beer (Belinda Carlisle was right, heaven IS a place on earth). At this point the pace dropped a bit but I continued piddling away; cleaning the chain, putting the tires back on, and adjusting brakes.

Finally the time came for the test ride. The rear wheel could use a little truing and the brakes need some more adjustment, but other than that it rode pretty sweet. The shifters will take some getting used to, as well as the drop bars. It’s going to be a nice ride, just you wait.

I didn’t mean to go on so long but hopefully some of you will understand the excitement of bringing a bike back from the grave. I’m so happy I could pee my pants.