Joys of a successful trip

Back to babies r us today, with a side trip to pick up a bike tree and some paint samples. Out and back inside three hours, in time to put the rack together while the saints committed two quick turnovers against the 49ers. Ouch.

The tree went together pretty easily, even w/o directions. It was more like a diagram of what the finished project would look like. Woo hoo.I love putting things together in the garage when it's cold out, not so much when there's snow to track in. That floor gets slippery as shit, and there's a lot to do in there over the next few weeks. But getting the bikes up, including the trainer, was a good start.The trainer had to go up too b/c the wife wanted to get some sample colors for painting the future nursery. Once we had paint, there wasn't going to be much time before it got tested on a wall so the bike had to move for its own safety. That was surprisingly fun. Which is good, b/c we're not sure about the tan color. Good thing they were just samples I guess.

Current beer-scale: 6.3

That's a lot of box

Picking up baby furniture this weekend turned out to be more of a challenge than expected. We thought everything would come flat-packed and easily fit into the hatchback. The dog stayed home and we made the drive out to the store early on Saturday to pick everything up.

Oops.The crib was flat packed but I think they basically laid everything out and put it in the biggest box possible. And the little dresser we bought is in one piece, surrounded by 3 inches of styrafoam and put into an even bigger box. Fantastic.

Thankfully, the in-laws were home and able to come by with both their cars. They took the caliber home while the wife and I each drove one of theirs to drop the furniture off in the garage. And the dog happily hopped in when we turned right around to drive both cars back and pick ours up. Everybody wins.
Except the tank, who was literally boxed in this morning.

There's still a lot to do-I have no idea how to get this stuff out of the garage, and the trainer bike currently in the nursery will make 4 bikes in the garage with no real way to store them. Good problems to have I suppose.

Current beer-scale: 1.8

Wow that's ugly

Frankenbike went tits-up last winter. The freewheel went completely free around mid-March, so the Trek came out a few weeks early. Cut to May and getting ready to move, when Frankenbike comes out of the basement and the entire thing has rusted together. The freewheel went from spinning to being so fused it might as well be a fixed cog, both wheels had spokes rusted off, the chain was one long piece of rust, and the front brake had fused into place. Joy.
The summer started with me determined to get the bike into ride-able shape for this winter. The chain and the brake weren't too hard, but the wheels were a challenge. Ultimately it would be cheaper to get a new set versus having a shop rebuild them. But in the research into affordable options, I saw a $99 fixed gear at a big box. Namely, Walmart.

Ew. But that was where Frankenbike had originally come from, and it had lasted about 5 years in truly heinous conditions. If I could get an entire bike for the price of a cheap track wheelset, it might be worth picking up and parting out. So that's exactly what I did yesterday.

Actually we were out in the 'burbs to pick up several other items, including a new comforter for our kick ass bed, dog food for the next few weeks, and a Sam Adams winter brew package (more on that later). So tacking a stop at wally-world wasn't too out of our way. Even better, the closest one claimed this bike was still in stock.

Which it did, even though it took finding a stock-guy and having him grab it from the back. That actually worked out for the best, since that meant the crappy bike was still in it's crappy box. I'm glad we ended up with the Caliber, b/c anything any smaller wouldn't have been able to get everything home last night.Notice on the top of the box:What a useful warning. I wonder what prompted them to put that on the box versus other warnings.Anyway, not a terrible packing job. They did offer to put the thing together for me at the store, but I figured at this point I had more than enough experience dealing with shitty bikes to handle it. So far so good, but there's plenty of little detail work I need to get to before it'll be ready to actually ride.

One such issue:
How the fuck is that supposed to work?

Anyway, the thing is basically together and man does it look ugly. Surprisingly one thing I thought I would immediately change would be the tires, but they're actually in decent shape and might work well for a winter. We'll see. If I can get fenders around them they'll stay.
At least there's still some time before I have to have it ready to ride. It was in the 50's this morning, and even with some rain coming the Trek can handle that. Here's to a nicer fall.

Current beer-scale: 7.7

pulling the trigger, again

We've been squeezing every last drop of life out of the Rav since the move, limiting our driving as much as possible. The good news is we live in a very walk-friendly neighborhood. The bad news is even that wasn't helping the car last any longer. Corrosion on one of the wheels meant we had to add air to one tire every time we went out, and by the time we got to the gas station down the street the entire car was pulsing and shaking. Replacing the coolant pump and ruptured starter hose had to be done when it broke down in June, but there doesn't seem to be much life left in the old girl.

So after copious amounts of internet research, we had a list of cars (hopefully) within our budget to test drive. Toyota's Yaris and Matrix, a Jeep Patriot, Dodge Caliber, Ford Focus, and possibly a Nissan Juke. That's a full day and then some.

We started at Toyota out of some misguided sense of brand loyalty. I say misguided b/c as soon as we mentioned what we wanted to test drive and trade in, the salesman took us for sure things and started rolling back any end of year price cuts. Apparently everyone in Illinois wants a Yaris or Matrix, and we were astronomically lucky to see one of each on the lot that day. Which might have been the case, but who knows. It felt more like a line to feed customers. Actually test driving was a blast though--they had a separate track to go on with obstacles. The wife and I traded off; I took the easy lap with the Yaris, and the obstacles with the Matrix.

The Yaris had more room than I expected but ultimately we liked the Matrix better. The Yaris is a cheaper, less-stylish Mini Cooper. Which would be cool, but I'd rather have a Mini. We talked price on the Matrix, and I was dumb-founded at how little they were willing to give on price. I expected some negotiations with the model year ending and economy in the crapper but nothing was happening. I guess they felt like they would sell it one way or the other. But they didn't sell it to us, and we left there pissed at wasting our time. That, and at the idea of only getting $200 for our trade-in.

The Ford dealership was a little better. We tested a Focus sedan, nothing fancy. No track to test on either but the local streets gave us a better feel anyway. At that point we weren't interested enough to talk price, and still being pissed about Toyota jerking us around, we took off.

Having already been out for over 3 hours we decided to skip the Nissan and hopefully kill two birds with one stone at the local Jeep/Dodge. As luck would have it, they had tons of Patriots & Calibers, and the salesman by the door when we first hit the lot seemed alright.

Both models are actually built on the same chasis and drive very similarly. The Patriot was way too much car for us though. It felt smooth and had good pick-up, but the thing was just way too massive. The Caliber was a little closer to what we were looking for, with a lot of the same features but at a few thousand less.

Add on getting over two grand more for our trade-in, and by the end of the day we went from this:

to this.

The funniest thing is the Rav doesn't look half-bad in that picture. But that doesn't show you just how much dirt, sand, & fur we vacuumed out of there that morning, or the smell from the dog barfing in the car Friday afternoon, or the 130K miles we had on it, and the sad rumbling and clanking noises the engine made. It's only been a day but the Caliber is fantastic: we drove it home that night after showing the in-laws and driving them to dinner in it. So far so good. Rave reviews all around. We'll see how it goes Monday night when we have to drive back to hand over the title to the Rav. But that's one car trip I'm looking forward to.

Current beer-scale: 3.3

40 degrees? Seriously?

I got to work completely soaked for the fourth day in a row this morning, but this time it was due to a mild downpour vs sweltering temps. Not a bad ride in the persistent rain, but the forecasts are only calling for a high in the sixties after three days of 90+. Quite a change.

Also a change is having the car back, so we can head out tonite and pick up some small things to help us acclimate to the new place. Rye for me, blinds for her. Ah, marriage & adulthood.

Current beer-scale: 8.4

ETA: clothes still being wet and a nasty headwind make for an awful ride home tonite. That was just fucking brutal.

Wednesday at noon

And counting down.

Someone got to open some presents a little early this weekend...


Partly b/c the in-laws thought it would be funny to wrap some treats and throw them under the treat. A cute thought, but wrapping a pig ear isn't going to keep super-turd there from:

a)immediately smelling a treat and
b)immediately shredding anything keeping her from said treat if she can get away with it.


So she was happily shredding presents all day yesterday. Hopefully she doesn't get any ideas home alone with the tree today. She did look pretty tired by the time we got home last night.


Current beer-scale: a Bears/MNF high of 8.2 & climbing

Just remember to smile

Happy as a clam, she is.

A good weekend, all things considered.

Current beer-scale: 4.1

This weekend left me in tears

Not the sad kind, but the "Why in god's name does my back hurt so much" kind. One night in the 'burbs and my back hurts more than it did after our move.

I blame the dog. We went out to the in-laws Friday afternoon, and she came into the house at one point smelling like behind the scenes at one of the houses in the zoo. Pure stink, to the point we had to stop eating lunch and throw her back outside. People were literally gagging as she walked in happy as a clam. "Guess what I rolled in guys!" We never did figure out what it actually was. Fox urine seems a likely culprit, but it could've been anything.

One bath with normal shampoo only made her smell like someone had rolled a bar of soap through a pile of horse manure, so the wife made an emergency run to the pet store while I tried a mix of baking soda, dish soap, & vinegar a few times. That didn't really help, but it at least took some of the stink from the first wash off my hands. Good lord that was bad.

She ended up getting 6 baths in total, included a scrub with Nature's Miracle odor remover that we had to let dry on her and then rinse off. I think it was the two-plus hours I spent trying to get her to not run away from me & the hose that messed up my back. Ow. On the plus side, the dog did smell and feel great for the rest of the weekend.

Of course, I'm not smart enough to realize that a ride probably isn't the best thing when my back is in that kind of shape, so off we went Saturday morning on one of the trails around Wheaton. I have no idea where, but we ended up by a stable with some horses out. Even they smelled better than the dog had the day before.

All of this added up to me almost in tears last night when it was time to get off the couch and make dinner. God do I feel old. Several doses of advil later and a night back on my own bed and I feel a little better. Good enough to ride into work, but still grimacing at times. Again, at least the dog smells better. I'll take small victories where I can get them these days.

Current beer-scale: 7.8

Saturday fun, part II

So with everything ready to go, the question remained: how exactly to hang this bastard somewhere paint wasn't going to get all over something important? I had a few ideas in mind; with the fork still on, I could have locked the stem to the fence and used the fork to prop the frame out from the fence, but that might get into the neighbor's yard. I could have tried newspapering the garage and working there, but the heat was making the trashcans in there smell unbearable. The backyard was the best option, and since I was already wrapping parts in grocery bags and masking tape, why not go all the way and just white-trash it up. Out came the dry-cleaner hangers and gaphers tape. One hanger in the fork's wheel-wells, another around a tree branch and plier-ed into shape. A little more tape, and voila: one bike hanger. Far enough away from the house and deck that I could spray with impunity. Itching to begin, I gave the primer a quick shake and away we went. Now was when I actually started to get nervous about the project. Cleaning Frankenbike, sanding, even hanging, all those things were important but if they hit a snag it was early enough in the project that I could probably think up a way around it to keep the bike ride-able. The paint going on was the point of no return.

Fortunately there was no need to worry. The sanding seemed to do it's job, and the primer held to the bike really well. The entire can ended up on the bike, but by the time it did the bike was pretty much unrecognizable.

First coat on!

I did get a little over-zealous at points, leading to some drippage, but all in all the bike looked really good at this point (I actually liked it better white than I did with the silver on at the end of the day). BTW, the dog loved this project to the point I was a little concerned for her. I couldn't go outside without her each time, and she'd tear ass around the yard, blissfully uncaring about the heat or the sun. She practically collapsed at the end of the day she was so tired. It was great, as long as she's recuperated today.

Primer was on a little heavy at spots.

A little sanding over the drip spots, and it was time to try the silver. All in all, the painting took a little over 2 & 1/2 hours. I waited around 20 minutes between each coat, sometimes longer if I was playing with the dog. 3 primer coats, 2 silver coats, 2 clear coats. A lot of painting.

One of the silver coats; the second I think.

By the end of the day things looked pretty good. I was glad everything seemed to work out, even though I did like the bike better just plain white vs the silver. But now that I know it works, nothing's stopping me from sanding back down and re-applying some white gloss. Things are a little rougher-feeling than I thought they would be with so much clear coat on, we'll see if it requires more clear coat for the paint to stay on the bike and not on my pants. It was probably a little too humid for this yesterday, but some things you just can't control. I can always hope for better weather if I try this again. The real test is an actual ride, out in the elements with clothes rubbing and salt spraying. Hopefully it's a good long time before I get to try that for real.

Paint definitely didn't make the welds look any less awful, but all in all not a bad touch-up.

For now Frankenbike is waiting for reassembly, possibly even a re-christening once everything's back on. We'll see. Suburb days always go longer than expected, so by the time we got back there was only time to get ready for work today and that was about it. Re-assembly is probably tonite, with a pic or two to come. For now, I'm happy basking in yet another hare-brained idea panning out relatively well.

Current beer-scale: 3.0

Saturday fun, part I

Yesterday was the day. Finally, after an absolutely horrific move and spending a week trying to get the place set up, I had a day to sand down Frankenbike and see if I could rattle-can it back to some semblance of inconspicuous winter usability. Off came the stickers, and with a lot of goo gone and a little time it was relatively clean. I didn't realize just how much crap I had on that bike until it was time to take it off. It looked better already at that point; I was sad to part with my surfside sticker though.
With everything cosmetic off, it was time to get down to the frame, or as close as I could get without bothering to get some crank pullers. I ended up leaving the fork on too with the old stem just so I wouldn't lose any parts when it was time to put everything back together. There was a new rattling noise coming from the rear wheel, and when I took a closer look I saw this:
Crap! Not a major problem, but one more thing to take care of before this bike is ready to go again. Teaching myself how to re-spoke a wheel wasn't really on my to do list for the end of summer, but I'll figure something out.

While researching how to best try this project, I read that aluminum, especially the kind used for cheap walmart piece of crap bikes, has a clear coating that makes it resistant to painting. The good news is, that b/c it's on a cheap piece of crap, it's not especially durable coating and sands off really easily. A few quick brushes with a 150 grain block and you're down to the duller-looking aluminum that holds paint fairly well.
And yes, if I was lazy enough to stop short of getting down to only the frame, I was also cheap enough to just wrap everything in grocery bags and masking tape and hope that was good enough. The seat post came out as well once I figured out how to hang the damn thing somewhere I wouldn't get spray paint all over the in-laws deck or house. More on that in the next post.

First, a quick tangent here on the city vs. the 'burbs. It's impossible to purchase any kind of spray paint in the city, or at least in the four shops in lincoln park and lakeview where I looked. Of course this is a graffiti deterrent and not something I'm going to get all worked up about. There really isn't anywhere too conducive to spray painting a project in my building anyway, so one way or another this project was heading to the burbs. It does make me wonder just how people do end up getting spray paint in the city though, especially when there seems to be more and more of it in my neighborhood. I was also wondering if anyone was desperate enough to buy my left-overs. If I hung out in an alley with a trench-coat filled with half-full spray paint cans, would it be better or worse than someone selling drugs? Would my paint be too lame for someone to graffiti with? Would someone be that selective? Just the things I wonder when I have to go the suburbs to buy something, and then still have to flash id. Anyway, here's what I ended up with:
A primer, silver metallic finish, and clear coat to top things off. I also researched the best paints to use, and though there wasn't consensus these seemed to be solid bets. Also, the most important tool of all, my beer. It was 90 degrees yesterday, of course I was drinking. It mixed with the paint fumes nicely.
Still to come: shots of the first primer coat, the metallic finish, and final thoughts on the project so far. Good times!

speed freaks

Man oh man, I might be in a spot of trouble during Bike the Drive in a few weeks. Yesterday out in the burbs with the in-laws (who have finally talked me & the wife into the entire thing) we were talking about how they wanted the day to shape up and basically, we'll be meeting up with them at the rest points as they try to see just how fast they can do the entire ride. I know, if you feel slow blame the rider not the ride, but somehow I think their much pricier high end road rides give them a slight advantage over my frankenbike and the wife's hybrid. I'm not in it for speed either, but don't really want to spend the rest of the day hearing about how the kids got smoked by the parents.

Whatever. I get passed enough just while I'm commuting to not feel bad about it, and don't think Bike the Drive will be any different. Hopefully the weather will be nice and I can get some good pictures of LSD packed with bikes instead of cars.

We did hit some bike shops out in the burbs, which always makes me feel ridiculous as we drive all over to visit these shops. The shops out there are pretty good though. Overall my experiences with shops in the city that are in the neighborhood have been positive but occasionally I'll come across someone with an attitude that rubs me the wrong way. I commute on the cheapest bike I can manage b/c I crashed twice on my first bike, and didn't see the point to spending a grand on something that I was going to beat the hell out of on a daily basis. I've had frankenbike for over two years now, and have made a lot of "special" modifications myself over time. Currently it's a 7-speed, since when the front derailluer broke I didn't bother replacing it and left the 52 cog gear on the inside. I actually really like it as it is right now and am thinking about leaving it for the summer. Going in to a shop for a part or some advice is always a mixed bag. Sometimes it's a breeze, sometimes someone is asking me why I'm bothering and if they can show me this year's models. No thank you. Maybe I'm just going to the wrong shops, but when you're looking in the neighborhood sometimes your options are limited.

But this hasn't happened yet in my few trips with the in-laws. I ask for a part, if it's there I pay for it, and that's it. Plus, sometimes the in-laws even pay for them so it's a win-win. Now I get to spend my next day off tinkering, which is always fun. If I knew what I was doing, that would be even better.