My time to go ride these days is early in the morning, before work - and frequently before the sun comes up. I had thought I would put some fresh batteries into a 20-year-old Serfas headlamp that I uncovered while looking for something else, but the halogen bulb had burned out. In the course of testing it, I had remembered how nice the mount interface is. Then I remembered the pink LED mini-flashlight that came to me with the donor Schwinn World Sport. That had been badly zip-tied to the bars and on the verge of falling off - but it worked well and gave off a good light. But how to mount that light onto the Serfas bar mount? Then I remembered my big bag o' junk cycle computers and harnesses. A few minutes later I had snipped the wires and cut the side rails off a handlebar mount, drilled a hole in it for a mounting bolt, and assembled it onto the clamp. A little digging in the junk bag turned up the bolts I needed, and a moment later I had a free working headlamp. While I was at it, I fished out my favorite cheesy bicycle bell and repaired it. The bell, for which I paid the princely sum of $1, had been sitting with a broken clamp band for at least a decade because I couldn't bear to toss it. Initially I thought I would adapt another computer harness, but in the end I decided to just drill some holes and run a zip-tie to complete the repair. And it works, and I have my favorite cheesy decor item back on a bike again!
The lamp works better than I hoped, but with one nagging problem - it rattles really loudly. I suspect it's the battery pack, and I bet if I put a ring of cut inner tube around that, it will be much quieter. I'll know tomorrow.
Today's second shakedown ride went much better than yesterday's. The bottom bracket appears to be fixed and I have dialed in the front derailleur adjustment. The left pedal spindle is definitely bent, but not badly, and I need to raise the saddle maybe 1 cm more, but other than that, it's come together nicely. The long, long wheelbase and the big heavy 27-in tires combine to give it a stately gliding quality going down the road, and no-hands riding is a breeze. I settled for riding the neighborhood loop again, but perhaps tomorrow I can venture further afield. Here it is, the end of summer and my kids about to start back to school and I have yet to ride from the house to Hodges and back. Maybe tomorrow.
18.97 km down.