chanamagoo

So, I wasnt sure where to post this...it's not a question about bike mechanics, but I needed a place where I could brush my shoulders off a bit because I'm feeling pretty good right now!

I recently figured out what kind of bike I like...I started off with a Jamis Coda, nice entry level hybrid, but that got stolen (jerks!), so I went to an old, Panasonic steel frame from the 80's that was pretty cool, and had my LBS help me decide what components I wanted and I sat and watched while they put it together. I may have held a wrench or something. But then, I decided that I wanted something a little bit more aggressive, so upgraded to a nice and simple black Leader road frame and transferred all the components from my old frame to my new one. It's a 3-speed internal hub...it has white deep v-s for the girly side of me that likes pretty things, etc etc...I posted a pic of it (sorry it's so small...I dont know how to make it bigger...) and for THIS one, my LBS actually let me tool around in the shop and try to build it up myself (they rock). I needed a ton of help, but it was nice to get my hands dirty. (Incidentally, I discovered that it is MUCH easier to take a bike apart than it is to put it together...)

As you can see from the photo, I had drops with white bar tape...today, I took my bike to my LBS to put a different set of drops on it...a little bit of a shallower drop and a little more light weight. I asked if I could try to do it myself, thinking, 'oh, I'll just unscrew that...put that on there...and voila. New bars!' I did NOT know that it is a little more complicated than that. It took me 2 HOURS, but I managed to do the whole thing myself! I unhooked the brakes and bar end shifter, took the original drops off, then put the new drops on and put it all back together and rewrapped it with black bar tape. As I was paying for the new handlebars, I decided I wanted to go with 23s instead of 27s for tire size, so I bought a coupla those, strapped them to my bag and took them home to try to switch myself. Because this is the first time I had ever changed a tire EVER, this ALSO took me about 2 hours.

Sooooo...right now I am puh-RETTY pleased with myself because it is the VERY FIRST TIME I did all these things without any help from my LBS...I really, really want to be one of those people who dont rely so heavily on their LBS for simple things that they can easily learn how to do themselves...and today I FINALLY feel like I have taken a tiny, itty, bitty step in that direction.

I just like knowing how to do things. And I'm excited to learn how to do more things. That is all.

Thanks for reading!

surreal

Congrats; looks good. FWIW, if you click on the thumbnail-ish pic, you get a full-size one...

-rob

1nterceptor

Good job!


https://times-up.org/index.php?page=b...ensRepairClass
https://www.recycleabicycle.org/adult-education

TrojanHorse

There's only one way to learn this stuff and you're doing it. Congrats.