Hello,

A year ago I started bicycle commuting on an old DiamondBack mnt bike that my friend had rotting in his garage.

When I realized I liked the whole thing, I got a road bike with drops.

Now my friend is trying to start riding, so I've loaned him the DB.

For reasons I can't tell, I've never been able to get it to shift into all three chainrings, and since it was supposed to be a 21 speed, the 14 speeds which are available are more limited (or at least off balance) in range than, say, the 14 speeds on my 7x2 road bike. (this is despite more than a few nights with screwdrivers and playing with the derailer, moving it around, and doing all I could think of)

Well, my friends a clyde, and he realized that the seat kinda sucked too.

And the seatpost is some ghetto fabulous wallmart-special-style that is permanently attached to the seat and allows the seat to rotate on a vertical axis with no means of stopping it I can find.

Further this is an aluminum bike that rides like the bad type of aluminum bike, but still weighs more than 5 lbs more than either of my steelies (I'm sure the 26x1.5" tires/wheels have alot to do with that.)

So, I could get a brooks,
and a seatpost
and take it into the LBS and blow $30+ to get the gears working

and then I'd have an old mountainbike that may shift properly, has a good saddle, and still weights a ton, has mediocre brakes etc.

But I really can't bring myself to throw away a bicycle that still, for all it's flaws DOES operate, and doesn't have any defects that would make it "unsafe" per-sei.

I'm not sure what to do.

-- James