2014-02-01 - Ride Around Park on New Single Speed Bike (Oops!)

Miles: 5.7
Start Time 4:47
Moving Time: 0:40:52
Elevation(Ft): 0
Avg Speed(MPH): 8.4
Max Speed(MPH): 12.5
Avg Cadence:
Avg HR:
Max HR:
Temp Out: 50
Temp In: 50

You may recognize this as the 1-0 speed road bike I have been refurbishing for one of my grandsons. Sadly when I came home Thursday it had blown over in the 20-30 MPH winds of the day. Yesterday I went out to tweak the shifing adjustments before putting it into the car with the mountain bike to take to my grandsons and discovered that the frame and derailleur hanger had been bent badly. After spending some time trying unsuccessfully to straighten it all out I decided to cancel the delivery trip and convert this bike to a single speed and refurbish the mountain bike I got out of the trash a few days ago for one of the boys.

It was an easy job to remove the shifters, derailleurs and cabling and some links from the chain to complete the conversion. I have ridden the bike around the park several times including this evenings ride and it is a fine bicycle for the purpose of knocking around here and I doubt that it will be stolen soon. Even on the relatively flat terrain of the park it gives a much more serious leg workout than my geared bikes which I shift to suit the terrain. When the dust settles I will add a chain tensioner and perhaps a more modern flat handlebar.

Spring in January is over. The unseasonably warm weather is gone as of today. My recorded high today was 57. I know that many parts of the world would consider 57 a heat wave in January but since it was 77 2 days ago it is a bit hard to take. It looks like today's temps will be the norm for at least a week.

Last night I spent a couple of hours shopping and ordering the parts to fix up the second mountain bike. It is a "Roadmaster" which appears to be a Walmart brand at this point. It appears to be of 1990s vintage. We could probably buy a new one for the $143 I am spending on parts but hopefully this will make a better bike with better equipment all around. I think it will be a much more durable than the old 10 speed would have been.

Broken shifters:

Completely worn out brake pads: