2024-11-19 from the editor of ~insom
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Man. It's been a good week for bicycles.
Took that fixed-gear out for a spin and it's just ... a lot
of fun. Super light weight, not a problem on Ottawa's
terrible roads at all, really. Getting used to having pedal
straps and slowing down with my feet, but it's nice to learn
a new skill. And it's just really, really fun.
I went for lunch with D and we swapped bikes on our way
back: he really liked mine (the fixie) and I learned that
his was terrible and close to unsafe. It could be fixed, but
at the end of the day he has outgrown it and he it's his
actual way of getting to and from college, so we bought him
a new one. He also learned that defaulting to an MTB isn't
great when you don't go off-road, so he's gone for a
city-bike. (AFAI can tell, that's a road bike but with flat
bars and thicker than usual tires? Or it's an MTB frame with
fixed forks and thinner than usual tires?)
Which means I have a new-to-me old bike to build out into
something new. I'm thinking pursuit bars and brake levers on
a single-speed with 2" tires and 29" wheels. It'd be nice to
replace his fork but it's probably more than I want to do
_right now_ but replacing the crankset with a 1-by seems
reasonable.
