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January 5, 2009

"New" bike ()

by fluffy at 8:11 PM
Just paid $90 for an old piece of crap KHS Brentwood. Also ordered $70 worth of accessories for it online (back rack, cargo net, panniers). It also came with a rather nice water bottle cage and a u-lock with long "uncuttable" cable (so I can actually lock it up in the garage now). Basically the accessories I have for the bike are worth more than the bike.

The ride home was rather painful and difficult, both because I had a hell of a lot of stuff in my backpack and because the bike really needs a tuneup. I'll do what I can to tweak the brakes and so on tonight (when I also get my various existing accessories installed) although I really should just take it to a mechanic. Maybe tomorrow, if I don't go to the Delicious Monster Macworld party.

Comments

#11634 01/05/2009 11:22 pm
Okay, there is something absolutely satisfying about taking a barely-rideable $90 piece of junk and making it perform pretty decently. The rear hub is kind of gunked up but I figured out how to adjust the brakes all by myself (both the tension and the angle), and I fixed the angle of the rear wheel which was almost rubbing against the back fork. I also installed a kickstand, the bell, and my various lights (there's something odd about having $250 worth of lights on a $90 bicycle...) and gave it a test ride around the garage.

Tomorrow I'll probably just take it to Performance Cycle to get the rear wheel lubed (I have a feeling the previous owner lubed it with WD-40 or something) and then I should have a wonderful ride.

Also I need new handlebar grips and pedals. I'll probably just buy those at Performance and have them install them since that's just fiddly and un-fun to do.
#11636 01/06/2009 04:34 am
One thing about cheap bikes in a thefty area- easy come easy go. Plus you might be able to get great trade-in value later. Last time I was riding a $20 garage sale bike, I decided to get a nicer one and it got $50 credit.