completely pointless random winter rant
 

SO..........

I officially have the winter blues. All i do at work is check this board and fgg. On my lunch break i devise new ways of spending my money on upgrades i don't really need. Its almost a compulsion. I have some insane sovietesq 5 yr plan to replace every part on my bike. At night i go to the gym and ride and come home and stare at my bike--sitting lonely and unused in the corner. WHen i sleep, i dream about riding. Whats wrong with me?

I need i winter bike. :(

You SO need a winter bike

SO ... you're So right!

if you don't get a winter bike, i'm flying out there to kick your ass.

i am trying to convince my silly uncle to sell me his old schwinn collegiate. He wont budge--he hasnt used it in 25 yrs--its sitting in his garage and he refuses to sell it to me----I dont know what his deal is.

I am scouring all the craigslist and e-bay postings in the area as well as frequenting the thrift stores for an acceptable frame.

I then plan on getting a new wheelset for Serenity and transfering the old one to the old frame

i need a good a$$ kicking!



---is anyone else in my boat?--or am i just a stupid loser who needs another bike?

Green Bay'll do that to you. Don't fight him for the Collegiate, they're heavy as hell.

I know, i so need to get back to Brew City or Madtown

There's a gym in Green Bay?

I was as surprised as you. Its not actually a "gym" its a YMCA--they dont even have any spinning bikes.

But we do have running water and electricity here!

yeah, pick yourself up an aluminum frame with clearance for larger tires.

Amazing! I've never been, but my friends from GB (none of whom ride) love to regale me with incredible tales of people walking nowhere and spending 8-hour shifts at the Old Country Buffet. My gym's a Park District and there ARE spinning bikes, but you can only use them if you take the class, which is only offered at 6 am, which is not going to happen.

Okay.

Keep checking the thrift stores or just ask around if anyone has an old road bike they don't want anymore. There has got to be a bike you can use for little or no money. It's just a matter of finding it. People making listings on ebay and craigslist are doing so because they want to make a buck or two. Same deal with the thrift stores and garage sales. What you need to do is find someone (using dumb luck and brute force) that has a bike they want to get rid of but are too lazy to put forth the effort to do so. They'll probably be the people that look at you quizically at first but then their face brightens as they remember that old bike in the garage that hasn't been ridden in years and ask when you can come pick it up.

Free bikes, dude; free bikes.

If you slop together a suicide hub, an old mountain bike makes a great winter bike. Don't put much money into it so you don't mind when it rusts out after a season or two. A brake would probably also be wise in case your ghetto hub job comes loose.

Mountain bikes are perfect for winter. Toss a Surly hub on one if you want to fix it.

What bike do you have now? Spray it with frame saver and ride it. Save your upgrades until the weather is nicer and replace your wheels and BB. Riding in ****ty weather is fun!

i figured a heavy bike would be better for winter

I got my uncle to sell me his Look KG86 with STI Ultegra 600, a Batavus Professional frame and boxes of vintage Campy and triathlete-specific parts for almost nothing.

I'd just steal that Schwinn from him.

heres what you do to shake those winter blues and blow your money.

tour de krolls.

hit all of the krolls around town starting at the one by the stadium and ending there as well. all i remember about that place is butter burgers for ubber cheap and abowl of chilli for ubber cheap

if that **** was vegan i would totally go out to GB for the tour

XVX

What is krolls? I just moved up here 6 mo ago---is that like "real chilli" in milwaukee?

I think it would be cool to get people together here in the winter and ride up and down the frozen river


off topic: are you guys in brew city getting clobbered by this snow storm?

check out freecycle.org... mabye .net, either way I posted on their message board and 2 days later I was in possession of a complete bike which became my very first fixie for nothing but the bus fair I used to pick it up... I'm now looking at nicer frames but for a winter beater frame you can't argue with free.
Edit:http://www.freecycle.org

Edit 2: The bike I scored was a 1982 Peugeot Sport UO6... apparently the canadian version of the UO8 or at least of similar quality. Frame is heavy, geometry is relax and pretty much all the components are POS but it's gotten me though the winter and I'll love it forever.

I get home after a absolutely horrid day of work (like one of those days where you want to go postal on your idiot co-workers) and decide to blow some money to feel better---ordered a set of velocity deep v wheels w/ formula hubs---then seeing as i almost got killed in the blizzard (yes--we have "blizzard" alerts here right now) on the way home and couldnt go to the gym i decided to givce my crummy old set fo rollers another try (i had heretofore been unable to stay upright past 5 minutes) and try out my first pair of clipless shoes (probably not a good combination). I dont know whether it was the clipless pedals--the itnense anger, the satisfaction of buying a new wheelset, or the bouncing souls tunes jamming in my ears---but i was able to stay up for 45 mins--sweated my butt off and feel much better now.

I like my bike---thats why its called serenity

Also sitting at home looking at the 5ft drifts outside.
The Y has spin bikes, Just flirt with the desk staff and they will le you use them in the gym.
Bellin Health also has spin bikes at both the down town and the airport locations.
I would be up for a krolls run mmmmm deep fried caulifouer the best!!!!!!
Dont worry the streets will be plowed on Fri and you can skid all day.

I'm thinking that in addition to a winter bike it wouldn't hurt for you get get a girl/boy friend, cat, wood carving kit, book club membership, wacky night job, or something else of the general distraction genre...

personally I like to find fun data sets and run wacky regressions on them...

don't be a *****. get some decent outerwear and suck it up.