Bike Refurbishment a Success…Finally

I had entertained the idea of re-selling the bike when I was done since the iBert did not work out, however don’t think I could resale it now.  It became quite expensive. So far I have invested $86 into the bike ($30 for bike, $5 for gas to get bike, $11 for 3 cans paint, $5 for chain break tool, $20 for tires and $15 for Chain).  If I want to make it look really adorable by adding a tan leather seat (shown) with matching grips and a basket (shown) I would need to add another $52 bringing the grand sum to a whopping $138. Not to mention I have invested maybe ten hours in labor including driving back and forth to stores. Wow. I could have bought a brand new bike.  Of course I would have missed out on the satisfaction of putting this bike into better shape.

And there were the proverbial bumps in the road (and on my head): bike chain -- I needed two (figured this out after three trips to store), head injury, putting it together wrong, not knowing what size tire the bike should have and then I finally found a tire size inscribed on the rim. OMG. There are so many things to take into account when buying a used bike that I did not for example: is the frame bent anywhere most especially where the tires are, are the rims bent, does it need new tires, are the chrome things bent so much that the rub the tire, and is the handle bar stem secure. I figured the frame looked good and that was the main part not taking into account all the moving parts on a bike that could break or not be sound to begin with.

All in all fixing up the bike was a fun and entertaining experience.  I am not sure what I am going to do with it -- keep it or sell it, but I am sure about one thing:  I am leaving bike refurbishing to the professionals and I will to stick to woodwork and painting and such.

White Horse Lake in Northern Arizona

We did a day trip to White Horse Lake on Sunday at the recommendation of my brother and his wife who joined us for the day.  This is a very lovely small lake near Williams (or Parks) with a hiking trail that goes around the lake.  This trail can also be mountain biked.  Be aware if you are trying to escape the heat of Phoenix it was not much cooler up there -- 86 degrees.  The lake roads leading to camping areas are paved and they were not very busy which I imagine is due to the out-of-the-wayness of the lake.  There are many hiking trailheads near the lake campground as well (more on the trails at http://www.hikercentral.com/). 

There are some very positive aspects of this campground which make it more child friendly than Woods Canyon Lake Campground (last Sunday's day trip).  As I already mentioned it is small and out of the way which make it much less occupied than the Rim campgrounds.  The children were able to run and bike around on the paved roads without having to worry about getting run over by cars or ATVs.  Most camps are already setup with fire pits, barbecues and tables as well bathrooms strategically placed within easy walking distance of most camp sites.  Make sure you bring everything you need since there is not lake store and any shopping would be a good thirty to forty five minutes one way (slow driving due to 15 miles of dirt road).  The lake offers fishing, kayaking, canoeing and even "wading" -- I saw more than a few people and dogs wading in at the boat ramps to cool off.  Just  to emphasize how quiet this lake was in our eight hour trip we only saw to two kayaks on the lake.

We would definitely go to this lake campground again -- it was incredibly beautiful and very quiet.  However, we would go early or later in the summer due to the higher temps resembling too much of what we are trying to escape!

Bike Refurbishment Saga

Since starting this project last week I have not sustained any more injuries, which I am happy about because my bump is still here and hurting four days later. The bike has been cleaned and washed, cleaned with kerosene and washed and sanded and washed -- so I am pretty sure it was clean when I painted it. However, after priming it and wet sanding it according to the guidelines I found the primer washed off! I let it dry for well over 24 hours and the same thing happened again. Well, I decided I am not going to sand this bike down to the metal since that would just be too much of an investment (afterall I do have a house to clean, a toddler to watch, and meals to cook -- well not really the cooking part but I do I have things I have to do). After the two coats of primer I put the first coat of appliance paint (yes, that is correct appliance paint is what the Home Depot Guy and fellow customer recommended). Sadly, this part hasn't gone well either. The paint left a dimpling effect behind. I am not quite sure what to do at this point, but I feel anything I do or have done will look better than what it did before.

So far the only part of the refurbishment that has gone well is cleaning up the seat. The seat had been oversprayed with paint prior to my purchasing it, however after a thorough cleaning with saddle soap and conditioning with beeswax it looks great!

The Little Blue Bicycle Refurbishment Project…

The Score: Bike 1, Lucille 1 lump

I have a mountain bike and I really like it but Ibert the child safety seat does not. Ibert is a great idea, but for me and many others if you are small with a small bike Ibert is not going to work for you. So…I did want any obsessed parent would do I bought another bike with more clearance for Ibert and Ethan (Ethan is the son and Ibert is the seat).. and since I am a sensible obsessed parent I decided I was not going to spend more than $50. After a diligent search on Craigslist.com I turned up a so-called-antique bike for $65. It definitely looked old – but it had character. After a few emails to the seller I was told the antique bike was not for me since it appeared I was not looking to appreciate its antiqueness (I am afraid I questioned his knowledge that the bike was an antique afterall he admitted he was not a bike-guy), however he had just the bike for me for the amazing price of $30. So off we went to pretty-far-away-land of east Mesa where I found my future bike. I had Ibert with me of course so I tested it out. It seemed to work and perhaps would work best if the handlebars could be raised – to which I was assured they would. I hate impulse shopping and prefer to think about things first, but I sure didn’t want to drive all the way back here again after having “time to think about it” -- so I bought it. Once home we got “her” all cleaned up and even adjusted the handlebars with the help of a neighbor. Ibert looked really good on this bike and I could squeeze in between him and the bike seat, barely, but it was doable. Maybe I could raise the handlebars just a little bit more? So I loosened the main nut around the stem, then I loosened the bolt holding the stem in the bike, then I pulled. But nothing happened…it wouldn’t budge. So then I pulled really really hard and the handlebar came off, but first it hit me in the forehead with the force that I exerted to get it out. It really hurt and now I have a huge blue lump on my forehead. It was so big my son thought it was a “booby” – this is something he calls all bumps including my boobies which are a little bigger than bumps.

All in all I am not so sure Ibert and this bike are going to be good together because this too is a small bike (see what impulse shopping gets you). So what are my choices? Resale the bike for $30 plus pain and suffering or…refurbish the bike and sell it for more or keep it. So far one hour and one lump invested. I will keep you posted on the refurbishing progress. 

As it turns out ibert the child bicycle seat fits my husband's bike very well.  After some websearching I noticed that many women had the same problem with the seat fitting their bike, however it fits a man's or larger bike very well.