New! (Old) Bike!

Yay!

I met a lovely, funny, fantastically conversational woman on a ride a few weeks ago who sympathized with the lack of a granny ring on my bike.

(Vocab: A granny ring would be a third chain ring, the little one that you would switch to so you can climb hills on the bike by spinning quickly, using your aerobic energy rather than your strength and wrecking your knees)
(Backstory: The bike I ride, is actually an Aquila racing bike - it's super light, was engineered for a guy to ride in a racing position for most of the time. I've replaced the bars, seat and tires, and the frame is a reasonably good fit, so I ride it, but it isn't designed to climb hill after hill, and the gears reflect that)

Anyway, so C. and I were chatting, and she offered me her older Miyata touring bike. It was her "baby" (much as the Beast was mine)... and while she wasn't riding it anymore, she wanted it to be loved.

So I picked it up Saturday morning... a lovely pale blue Miyata bike. Heavier than my Aquila for sure - but with features that will make it a lovely city rider. A rack, and space for another on the front. Solid with a smooth pedal stroke. I'm so freakin' excited about it! The plan is to start the restoration soon after the rally, and get it on the road hopefully by fall.

Here's it's work list: In order of priority.

- recable the brakes, gears, get new housing for the cables.
- clean the chain and assess the chain rings, cassette, and current chain stretch.
- replace chain rings, cogs, and possible the chain (entire drive-train system).
- adjust derailleurs to smooth out gear changing.
- assess tires
- get a recreational seat
- get Mr. Tuffy's for the wheels and install.
- replace toe-clips

That's not so bad really, it's a great older bike - and I'm really excited about it! It's going to be a fantastic ride once it's all sorted!