At the end of the month (so in about a week) I’ll be moving to a new residence. I say residence because I’m not fully set yet on what to call it. It’s not an apartment, not really a house, I’m still renting, etc. So it’s a residence for now.
I was pretty productive today, and to reward myself, I spent some time on Craigslist looking at bikes. In recent days, I’ve been looking at manual cars and trucks (I would really like to learn how to drive stick) and motorcycles as well, just for fun. Those are all pretty harmless, because I already owe the bank a bunch of money on my current car and can’t reasonably afford another, nor do I have the space to keep a motorcycle anywhere. Bikes, though, are much more dangerous, if only because they’re mostly cheap enough for me to purchase without my bank account taking a serious hit – I’m talking on the order of $250 or less. And I really don’t need any more bikes.
On the 3rd or 4th page of results, I stumbled across a decent-looking rig that said “FREE” in the caption, and when I clicked through to the details page, “FREE” again in the description. Following a couple of rereads to make sure I wasn’t mistaken, I emailed the poster to ask if it was still taking up space for them and tell them that I’d be happy to do them the service of removing it from their plate. They said yes. I went for a swim with my girlfriend who is learning how to swim properly in open water. I hopped in the car and hoofed it a half hour to a cul-de-sac in an outer-ring suburb. The bike was leaning against a tree about 10 inches in diameter in the front yard. I glanced around the side of the house to see if there was anyone around I should say hello to. When I didn’t see anyone, I put the bike on my hitch rack and pointed my grill back toward civilization.
Of course I’m thrilled to be the most recent owner of a white, aluminum Trek 7000 with neon green accents. Of course, being free, it’s not exactly mint. I’ll go into the bad, the good, and the even better below.
The Bad
- The rear tire is way flat and rotten and will need to be replaced
- The front wheel is, rather surprisingly, a 700c wheel. Not the 26″ that fits the bike. Also needs replaced
- The rear wheel is the right size but looks rough and narrow
- As well as I get along with the aesthetics of canti brakes, these ones aren’t the prettiest. The pads are also from the 90s
- The front derailleur is adjusted by a grip shift and the rear derailleur isn’t adjusted because the trigger shifter is shot
- The chain is rusted to hell
- The saddle is a piece of garbage
- The bars aren’t technically broken, but they do stink
- The pedals stink
- The head badge is gone
The Good
- I would expect to find most of the above issues on any bike up to $150-ish anyway
- The derailleurs and cranks are matching Deore LX, which I like very much
- The cassette looks perfect
- The seatpost isn’t seized
- The cranks turn
The even better
- I have a shabby 26″ wheelset that will fit this bike just fine. Just need to transfer the cassette over and buy some new used tires and we’re off to the races
- I have new yellow bottle cages from a build that didn’t end up using them
- I have new blue cable housing from that same build
My plan (or at least as much of it as I’ve worked out) is to build a sort of technicolor dream bike out of the free frame and the components I have sitting around at home. I’ll have to make a run to the local nonprofit bike shop to donate/recycle some of the bad stuff and pick up some functional, pre-owned replacements.
I’m going to run to the store and see what I can find. When I’ve done some updates I’ll make sure to tell the internet all about them.
What I’d really like to do is turn it into a rad supercommuter with an internally geared rear hub and a dynamo in the front for a lights-on, low-maintenance ripper. But that would cost lots of money, and the main benefit of this bike for me, right now, is that it was free. I’ll post cost updates in the next report. This could turn into a stone soup situation fast if I’m not careful.
What I need:
- rust-free chain
- cables (2 brake, 2 shift)
- bars
- shifters?
- tires
- v-brakes if they’re cheap
- grips
- saddle if there’s a decent one
Elliot DH 