Introduce Yourself: Names, Face, Bikes, Interests

We have a few threads here and there with introductions, but nothing organized. For this thread, post your picture, pics of your bikes, and a small blurb about yourself (favorite foods, commuting routes, etc).

yes, this was ripped off from chifg...

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Murphy on March 18, 2012 at 5:34pm

^ Riding that far on a fixed-gear sounds, well, painful.

Anyway, hi, I'm Kathleen:

& this is a blurry photo of one of my two bicycles:

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Permalink Reply by Vilda on March 19, 2012 at 10:48am

Welcome Noah, Miroslav, and Kathleen! ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Bob on March 24, 2012 at 11:59am

I'm Bob. This is me with my favorite comedian Emo Philips. I do most of my riding on my Specialized mountain bike because I get fewer flats that way and I do most of my riding solo. My wife has had to rescue me many times over the past few years.

I live in the northern suburbs and I do most of my long routes in McHenry County, where there's little traffic.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on March 24, 2012 at 4:24pm

Sue - good luck commuting. Make sure to share your experiences with us here!

Sue said:I mostly enjoy cycling in a commuting capacity. I work in the suburbs and this will be the first year I commute to work on my bike. Wish me luck!

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on March 25, 2012 at 5:08pm

I'm new here. I mostly commute from Evanston to the Loop on a mid-80s Trek 770 I built last summer/fall as a "frankenbike". It's not pictured here because earlier today it was too embarrassed to be seen without its wheels. It loaned them to my newly acquired '82 Masi Gran Criterium. The Masi's wheels are out getting trued and waiting for a new pair of sew-ups to arrive. I got the brakes hooked up today and couldn't wait to take it half-way round the block... (If you look closely, you'll notice that I haven't even trimmed and soldered the brake cables.) I also have an '06 Trek Madone 5.2. I'm debating whether or not to get rid of it now that I have the Masi.

Skip

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Permalink Reply by Apie (11) on March 28, 2012 at 2:25pm

I'm Andy, and this is my commuter bike Billy.

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Permalink Reply by Vilda on March 28, 2012 at 4:20pm

Andy you are a man of few words ;-) John W ya look familiar from a ride involving booze but those are hazy, and Skip you are a man of mystery. Welcome folks! :-)

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Permalink Reply by koala on March 28, 2012 at 6:13pm

Andy, nice Racer. I rode a coaster brake version of that bike some years ago. Every now and then I think about picking up a 3-speed.

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Permalink Reply by mike w. on March 28, 2012 at 7:40pm

SWEET MASI! Is that the original paintjob? Very well-kept. Don't just ride it, ride the HELL out of it!

Skip Montanaro said:

I'm new here. I mostly commute from Evanston to the Loop on a mid-80s Trek 770 I built last summer/fall as a "frankenbike". It's not pictured here because earlier today it was too embarrassed to be seen without its wheels. It loaned them to my newly acquired '82 Masi Gran Criterium. The Masi's wheels are out getting trued and waiting for a new pair of sew-ups to arrive. I got the brakes hooked up today and couldn't wait to take it half-way round the block... (If you look closely, you'll notice that I haven't even trimmed and soldered the brake cables.) I also have an '06 Trek Madone 5.2. I'm debating whether or not to get rid of it now that I have the Masi.

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Permalink Reply by Apie (11) on March 29, 2012 at 10:10am

My racer does have a coaster, I think its a SC3 inside an AW hub. It gave a few mechanics some problems because they were setting the indicator bar to where it should be for a reg AW hub. I love the coaster brake for the winter weather. I have enjoyed the Portage Park - Loop commute with Billy, but I'm ready for a new bike...and its ready for pick-up today!!

koala said:

Andy, nice Racer. I rode a coaster brake version of that bike some years ago. Every now and then I think about picking up a 3-speed.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 29, 2012 at 10:52am

The coaster is a neat hub but I prefer the drum version if one can be found -so do many others which is why they are not easy to find. They weren't very common even back in the day compared to the regular AW hub.

Adjusting any of the Sturmey 3-speeds is not nearly as difficult as many people make it out to be -even Sheldon is/was all wet on this one IMHO.

Set it in 3rd gear so that the cable is just barely loose. Give it a careful test ride to make sure that you don't hit neutral in 2nd. If you do then tighten the cable half a turn. Try again. If it still slips tighten it another half turn. Make sure it still shifts well between 2nd and 3rd and you are done.

This usually works unless the cable is kinked or binding. No amount of fiddling or following the factory or Sheldon method will make it work if the cable is kinked or binding -or if the trigger is binding or gooped up so that it doesn't ratchet and index correctly (or if the hub itself is gooped up and the clutch/clutch spring is binding or the key is dragging in the axle slot.)

It's not rocket science. It's just that many younger LBS mechs just haven't had much experience with old three speeds as they sort of fell out of favor until the last couple of years -and the ones that are still working usually just keep working forever (or decades -which is nearly forever in bike years.)

Sorry to hijack this thread. This probably could use its own thread.

Andy Pielet said:

My racer does have a coaster, I think its a SC3 inside an AW hub. It gave a few mechanics some problems because they were setting the indicator bar to where it should be for a reg AW hub. I love the coaster brake for the winter weather. I have enjoyed the Portage Park - Loop commute with Billy, but I'm ready for a new bike...and its ready for pick-up today!!

koala said:

Andy, nice Racer. I rode a coaster brake version of that bike some years ago. Every now and then I think about picking up a 3-speed.