Budget Bicycling - 2008 Journal

1 January 2008

It's a delightful, balmy, 31oC day here at Chez Humble, and Mrs Humble and I have just returned home after a week's vacation. I'm just about to head outside and make sure that I have a functional bike for tomorrow's commute.

I don't have any New Year's Resolutions, just a couple of thoughts:

  • If something's easy to do, it's probably not worth doing;
  • You're not setting challenges for yourself if you already know that you can achieve them.

    (I do of course reserve the right to change my mind at any time).

    7 January 2008

    Back in December I offered a few bikes for "sale". While they haven't been moving as briskly as I'd like, they *are* going out the door. Here's an update:


    Malvern Star 20" dragster. Steel rims. 3-piece cottered cranks. Coaster brakes. Plenty of surface corrosion on chromed parts. Spokey-dokes. Needs new seat. Appears to be complete. Otherwise in rideable condition (or as rideable as these things ever were).
    Speedwell 20" Multi-Bike. Steel rims. Coaster brake on rear, pressed-steel caliper brake on front. Carry basket. Mudguards. Sidestand. Built to be rideable by adults. Make a good shopping bike - nobody would steal it! (I've tested this by taking it shopping and leaving it unlocked). In rideable condition.
    15-speed 24" MTB. Steel rims. Pressed steel caliper brakes. One-piece crank. Non-indexed thumb shifters. In rideable condition.

    Peugeot 12-speed road bike. Alloy rims. Alloy caliper brakes. Plastic pedals with toe clips. Missing front derailleur and left shifter. Broken rear spoke. Needs new tyres, front derailleur, front QR skewer, seatpost and seat. Would need some fettling to be rideable.
    Shogun Tri-Sport 14-speed road bike. Narrow 700C alloy rims. Dual-pivot alloy caliper brakes. Wrong front derailleur fitted, not working. Needs new seat and tyres, otherwise rideable.
    10-speed 26" MTB. 3-piece cotterless cranks. Steel rims. Alloy caliper brakes. Non-indexed thumb shifters. Needs new seat, otherwise in rideable condition.

    15-speed drop-frame 26" MTB. One-piece crank. Steel rims. Pressed steel caliper brakes. SIS thumb shifters. In rideable condition.
    18-speed 26" MTB with Biopace chainrings. Alloy front rim and steel rear. Cantilever brakes. SIS thumb shifters. In rideable condition.

    In other news, Aaargh is now an 18-speed bike again thanks to a generous donation from Peter Howard. My distance is still ticking over at 130km per week, although I've taken to riding the blue Speedwell Multi-Bike (see above) for shopping purposes. I can manage it for up to 20km rides now, before the diabolically hard seat and too-short seatpost start to make me walk funny.

    The temperature is usually about 20oC for my ride into work (I leave at about 7am), getting to about 35oC for my ride home in the afternoon. There's relatively little snow on the road, as you might expect. (You *are* still reading this, Steve and Xavier?) ;-)

    10 January 2008

    Another flat today. It's a bit irritating that the guys in charge of mowing the grass near the cycle paths seem to feel that picking up the glass bottles and other litter first is somehow beneath their dignity...

    14 January 2008

    Fixed another flat today, but this time it wasn't my own - it belonged to a fellow cyclist in distress 5km from home. He was just about to call his wife and request a pickup, but I pointed out to him that he'd never live down the shame and humiliation if he did such a thing.

    I changed the tyre and patched the tube, but I insisted that he pump up his own tyre (it was one of those oversized 2" mountain bike tyres, which take about 300 strokes from my mini-pump). He seemed impressed that it only took about 5 minutes, and vowed that he'd be buying his own patch kit, pump and spare tube on the morrow.

    I'll probably be needing to apply another patch to my own rear tyre soon, it has one of those annoying, hard-to-find slow leaks that take 3 or 4 days to flatten the tyre. I've been a little busy for the past week, and I've just been pumping it up every couple of days (I wasn't able to find it when I got the explosive decompression puncture mentioned above).

    21 January 2008

    Due to a moment of stupidity yesterday afternoon when I started using an angle grinder without first putting on safety glasses, I caught a bit of flying metal swarf in my left eye. Because it was late in the afternoon I assumed it would wash itself out overnight, but when it didn't I booked in to see a doctor at 16:20. It was embedded in my cornea, and since there wasn't quite enough of it sticking out for him to get a grip on with his tweezers he had to "gouge" a little bit to get it out. Needless to say it was a bit painful once the anesthetic wore off.

    The last time this happened (17 years ago) I swore "never again!" - at least it lasted longer than the average new year's resolution. ;-)

    The bike is running just fine, I'll try to find that slow leak in the rear tyre tomorrow (since I'll be staying home from work anyway).

    28 January 2008

    A public holiday today, and I managed to pass along another of the freebie bikes. I rode it to the Civic bus interchange (26km) and handed it over to Inge, who seemed very happy with his coke-and-bus-ticket investment:
    The frame is a bit small for me, and the seat post was also a bit too short for my comfort. Fortunately Inge is about 5cm shorter than me, so it should be a better fit for him.

    28 January 2008

    A bit of a warm day today, with a top somewhere around 35oC.

    I thought I should mention Aaargh's new pedals. I fitted them just before I headed off on the Great Victorian Bike Ride back in November, since there was no way I was doing that ride without toe clips! Plastic pedals are fine for everyday riding (provided you aren't a big strong type who stands on the pedals uphill a lot), but they're not really suitable for bolting toe clips to. The only metal pedals readily available with a 1/2" thread (used in 1-piece cranks) are those big chunky BMX ones, which aren't much good for toe clips either.

    Fortunately I had a pair of 1970s-era rat trap pedals with a 1/2" shaft. These are built to last, and are easily disassembled to allow you to service their bearings (which are cup and cone, just like a wheel). I prefer the strapless toe clips, since they're easier to get in and out of while commuting (where I might have to stop 10 or 12 times on the way).

    Also, my Subway Bike arrived last week, and I assembled it on Friday. Mine was beaten up a bit in transit, leaving the box quite battered, the front wheel out-of-true, and the chainrings slightly bent. Nothing irreparable, and I think that if Darth Vader was a cyclist he's be riding this very black bike. ;-)


    Aaargh's classic pedals
    If the air temperature gets above about 30oC, my speedometer goes unreadable like this. It keeps counting, you just can't see what it's thinking
    My brother's new bike, Lord Vader. It's remarkably similar to Aaargh in both specification and quality.

    19 February 2008

    The recent lack of updates has been due to fruit and vegetable harvestand preserving season - my free time has been mostly spent pickling, jamming and preserving. I've even had to delay Aaargh's 4,000km service for a while. Still riding though.

    25 February 2008

    I picked up a new bike on Saturday, and spent a couple of hours tinkering with it rather than doing my yardwork. ;-)

    I assumed from the fact that it was leaning against a dumpster, was 30 years old, had two flat tyres and handlebar tape falling off, that it was probably available for recycling. I popped some flat MTB bars on it, added some grease and a new bearing to the totally-dry bottom bracket, and all was well. Not counting the rack, it cost me about $16 in new parts (1 x brake cable, 1 x gear cable, 1 x pair pedals).

    (Hint: that means if you like the look of it, you can have it if you pay me $16). ;-)


    The mighty Apollo 12-speed. You can see from the grass what I should have been doing. ;-)
    A rather neat rack that I bought on-special for $29 while on the GVBR.
    The handlebars are a bit sun-faded, but the stem was the correct size and the brakes and friction shifters were already fitted.

    Chunky steel cranks, and a new pair of platform pedals.
    The real reason why I swapped the bars - I didn't want to spend $20 on bar tape.

    26 February 2008


    Sometimes the location of your puncture is easy to pinpoint.

    3 April 2008

    It's been a while since my last update, so I thought that I should assure you that I'm still riding. I had a couple of weeks off in March due to holidays (first week) and a really, really bad throat infection (second week). I'm all better now though.

    This weekend I'm going to perform a slightly-early 5,000km service on Aaargh, mostly because the rear tyre is completely worn out and showing canvas. I must say I'm not too impressed with these Huffy-brand slick tyres from K-mart, for $17 I'd expect them to last a bit longer than 1,500km (on the rear wheel). I've bought a couple of new 26x13/8" tyres from an eBay bike shop for $16.50 each, we'll see if they last any longer.

    Watch this space, I'll post some photos of the 5,000km service on Sunday.

    6 April 2008

    Time for the 5,000km major service!


    That's what we call a worn-out tyre
    And that's what we call a worn-out chain
    A nice build-up of grease on the rear derailleur jockey wheels

    The chainrings weren't quite so greasy
    The rear axle cones were in good condition, with no evidence of wear or pitting
    There was no wear in the rear hub either

    The wear in the front hub's cones is about the same as it was at the 2000km service. I've decided to leave them in, and see how long they last
    There's a slight blue mark in one of the front wheel's bearing cups (not very visible here, unfortunately)
    This is a tightwad's technique for wheel truing without a stand

    Some tools of the trade. WD40 is very good for removing the worst of the grease from your hands prior to washing (spray some into your cupped hand, rub them all over, then wipe off with a paper towel or rag). It smells nicer than kerosene, too
    No wear was evident in the bottom bracket bearings. One of the reasons why I chose a bicycle with a 1-piece crank is the size of those bearings, and the ease of maintenance.
    The bottom bracket cups were in excellent condition

    Huffy 26x1.95 slicks now have a different tread pattern, and are rated to 80psi instead of 50. Time will tell if they last any longer than the previous ones.
    Considering Aaargh's quality and mileage, it's still in pretty good shape. I'm expecting to achieve 6,000km by the 1-year mark

    It turned out that I should have done some more research on tyres before I bought the new ones. Apparently a 26x13/8" tyre fits a totally different diameter rim to a 26x1.95 tyre, as this article from the late Sheldon Brown's website would have told me. So now I have a pair of tyres that I have no use for! Let me know if you use 26x13/8" tyres, and I'll send them to you (within Australia) for the cost of postage.

    I've also left the chain replacement too long again, and as a result I've caused some wear to 2nd gear on Peter Howard's half-worn-out 6-speed freewheel. Not to worry though, that still leaves me with 15 usable gears. ;-)

    Total cost of service:

  • New chain $11.00;
  • New tyre $17.00;
  • Kerosene $1.00;
  • 2 hours labour $0.00

    8 April 2008

    I might have to replace the freewheel after all - 2nd gear is a bit "skippy" under load, and it's a bit fiddly to avoid using it. I'll look at it again on the weekend.

    11 April 2008

    2nd gear has stopped skipping, it seems that the chain just needed 100km or so to bed in. Of course, this means it'll probably be worn out in 1,000km or so.

    17 April 2008

    No commute yesterday due to my attending a funeral in Sydney (300 km away). No commute tomorrow due to my attending a funeral here in Canberra.

    Hopefully that will be my quota of funerals for the year. :-/

    22 April 2008

    5,000km! w00t!

    22 May 2008

    OK, so I'm getting lazy about updates. I arrived home yesterday from 2 weeks in Fiji, and I'm really feeling the cold now! ;-)

    I scored 2 broken spokes and a set of flat headlight batteries on the way home today, and my left pedal seems to have developed a bend in the spindle. It must have happened gradually, because I haven't noticed it until now.

    29 May 2008

    I rode my gentleman's motorbicycle (1967 Honda CT90) to work yesterday, because I had a blood bank appointment after work and for some reason they don't like the idea of me cycling home afterwards. Still, all this cycling must be working: my resting pulse rate is now down to 52bpm.

    The funny thing is that even though it only takes about 25 minutes to ride home on the motorbike, it still *seems* longer than the 40 minutes by bicycle. Lots colder, too! ;-)

    6 June 2008

    I discovered a puncture yesterday when I was about to head off to work, which was probably due to having a wet riding day on Tuesday. Wet days are rare enough around here that I'm happy to take that one for the team, though.

    I've checked my numbers and if I do about 100km of leisure rides in addition to my commuting I can achieve 6,000km for my first year of ownership of Aaargh. To be fair, that's counting from 28 June 2007, which was the first day I actually rode it. ;-)

    28 June 2008

    Oh well, I gave it a good try but didn't quite make it. Still, 5,938km for the year isn't too bad. I've written up a 1-year ownership summary here.

    On Wednesday the Blood Bank turned me away because my resting pulse rate was 45bpm (they have a policy of making you get a Doctor's certificate if you're below 50bpm).

    Today I replaced the bent 1970s pedals with some new plastic ones (I finally found some that are suitable for use with toe clips). The bottom-bracket bearings were making a "skritch" noise when the left crank reached top dead centre, so I changed them too. I also replaced the rear brake pads, which were looking a bit worn.


    Worn-out brake pads. The one on the bottom right is worn all the way through to the metal backing.
    Nice clean new pedals. My right ankle took a while to adjust to the non-bent spindle!

    29 June 2008

    I went for a ride today to prune a big apple tree that grows beside the road about 18 km from where I live. It's at least 20 or 30 years old, and has obviously never been pruned. The 4 hours I spent on it made a good start, at least now it looks like a tree rather than an overgrown shrub. Another couple of hours should finish the job, then I'll work on it's friend on the other side of the road.

    After writing about it here I'll probably never see an apple from it again, but that's OK too. ;-)


    Before - it's basically a tangled thicket. It had a good crop of apples last season, but they were very hard to get at. You couldn't even get in underneath the tree!
    After - It now has a bit of a tree-like shape, and you can walk in underneath it. If it were an orchard tree I'd shorten it to about 1/2 of it's current height, but I kind of like the way it looks now.
    One of the 2 piles of removed wood.

    8 July 2008

    Riding home yesterday in the dark and rain, I made the mistake of thinking "This would be a really bad time to get a puncture". Seconds later: Pssssssshhhhhh!

    I found the hole in the tyre but wasn't able to find the object that caused the puncture, so I just put the spare tube in and went home. On the way into work this morning: Pssssssshhhhhh!

    I found the problem this time, a little fragment of glass floating around inside the tyre. Let that be a lesson to me!

    15 July 2008

    Unfortunately I had a problem with those new bottom-bracket bearings. Either they were defective (unlikely), the wrong size (possible), or I fitted them incorrectly (very probable). Whatever the cause, the upshot of it was that the retainer for the chainring-side bearing shredded itself and dropped half of its bearings out. The hardened cups and cones weren't damaged, so I just replaced the bearings with used ones from my spare parts box (which may well be the very same ones I took out of Aaargh 200km ago).

    It was a nice smooth ride again today, although not nearly as nice smooth and fast as my ride yesterday aboard my Batavus.

    27 July 2008

    Mrs Humble and myself are flying away to New Zealand tomorrow morning for a 2-week skiing holiday, so there won't be any updates for a litle while. All going well I'll be returning home without too many bruises and plaster casts on 11 August.

    17 September 2008

    I didn't realise how long it had been since my last update! I'm still riding Aaargh, I've decided to terminate the experiment at the 10,000km mark now. My time has been occupied by gardening and archery lately, and of course work. Speaking of work, yesterday was the 14th anniversary of my starting there. I took the day off. ;-)

    Since the weather was too dry to light the bonfire back in May, we're going to run Unaugural 6.1 and fire it up on the 27th. It should be good!

    3 October 2008

    Only 1 commute on Aaargh this week, as I was ill on Monday and Tuesday, rode my Batavus on Wednesday, and the new Speedwell on Thursday.

    I was riding my Batavus on Wednesday because I handn't gotten around to repairing Aaargh's flat tyre and broken spokes (I really should re-spoke that whole back wheel sometime). On the way home I spotted an old Speedwell 10-speed at the top of a garbage skip, so I knocked on the owner's door and asked if I could take it (he was happy to see it going to some use other than landfill). I spent a couple of hours fitting it with MTB handlebars and new cables, and gave it a test ride to work on Thursday. The gears still need some fettling, I think that the either the rear derailleur or the frame dropouts might be slightly bent.

    On the way home yesterday, about 2 doors down the street from Wednesday's find, I spotted a trailer in the front yard of a house that had a characteristic "about to go to the dump" look to it. Since it had an old drop-frame MTB on the top, I asked again and once more got the OK. I also bought a relatively new (when compared to the rest of my fleet) Giant MTB from the householder for $10. I'm not sure what I'll do with that one, apart from checking fairly thoroughly first to see if it's been stolen.

    Ride to Work Day is coming up on October 15th, and my workplace has asked me to put on a bicycle maintenance workshop. So if you're in Canberra and you want to come along to Eddison Park, Woden on Saturday 11 October between 12:00-16:00 I'll be happy to see you. I'm planning to cover basics like chain lubrication, gear adjustment, cable replacement and puncture repair. If you need something more significant I might be able to help you out, but bear in mind I'll be instructing and YOU'LL be doing the actual work! ;-)

    We'll probably BBQ some sausages for lunch afterwards.

    7 October 2008

    This morning I discovered my bike once more sitting on a flat rear tyre. I couldn't find any obvious leaks in the tube, so I patched the 4 "almost holes" that I could see (the holes in each were only about halfway through the thickness of the tube) and tightened up the valve. That makes 17 patches on this tube now, which is definitely a Personal Best for me. ;-)

    13 October 2008

    Rain! My last 6km today were in rain that became bullet-like, and eventually I reached that happy state where you know that there's no way that you can possibly get any wetter than you already are.

    19mm so far, and more forecast for tomorrow. We need it.

    16 October 2008

    Say, I've now got some more bikes for sale. Check 'em out - they're VERY cheap!

    21 October 2008

    The "clicker spring" in Aaargh's right thumb shifter broke today. This particular type of shifter only holds its position via the "clicker" (it has no friction parts) so I had to ride all the way to work and back holding the bike in gear with my thumb. This evening I replaced it with a very similar looking friction shifter. I'm free at last from the tyranny of indexed shifting! ;-)

    28 November 2008

    I've had wet rides home both yesterday and today, and punctures from both. The little bits of broken glass seem to puncture the tyre much easier when the road is wet, eh?
    I can't see myself overtaking Mr Maple Leaf on our race to 10,000km now, but I'll keep him honest! ;-)

    14 December 2008

    I replaced the rear tyre on Aaargh today. It still had a few hundred km worth of wear in it, but I've grown tired of the wet-weather punctures. It also won't seat properly on the rim any more, which gives a "bump" with every revolution. The new tyre is a 26x1.5", and the 0.4" decrease in width is surprisingly noticeable.

    I also changed the left bottom bracket bearing, as it had developed a "scritch" noise again. The replacement was a used unit from my spares.

    I've been very pleased with the response to my Bicycles For Sale page - 5 new blood donors for the Red Cross! I'm out of stock now, but I picked up 3 fresh bikes from a couple of dumpsters today so if you're in the market for a cheap bike in Canberra watch this space.


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