BIKE!!!

It's new to me bike day!  Why is this day significant to someone who's life revolves around bikes? First, it's a road bike.  Second, it's a STEEL road bike.  Third, it not only has gears, but has a triple and it freewheels!  It has been ages since I have had a road bike with any of the previous qualities.  Soo excited to be able to cruise at 24 mph without blowing up.  Looooong rides actually sound fun, and dare I say, it is making me seriously consider triathalons.  Gasp!  I am also happy to report that the Jamis Ventura is equipped with pannier mounts.  Bike touring?  Yes please!

I found the bike on craigslist for a ridiculously low price, like it only should have come with one wheel and no handlebars, low price.  After emailing and texting back and forth with the seller, we agreed to meet at four on Tuesday after work.  I have to admit that I have spent very little time in Marshall, NC.  It is BEAUTIFUL country!  I wanted to just keep riding and riding when I was test riding the bike.  I have to admit that the singlespeeder in me wanted to scoff at the triple front chainring, but I have to say, it was actually fun to change gears and go FAST!  I will definitely be making it out to Marshall for more riding.

Now for the bad.  A individual that shall remain nameless was said to have worked on the bike.  They have been advertising on Craigslist for a while for cheap on the spot tune ups.  After arriving home, I proceeded to go through the bike a little more thoroughly.  Having been a mechanic for 13 years, it's hard to trust others work whether it is my cars, or my bikes.  Please note that I am not trying to bash the individual as I know this could have been an isolated incident and we all have bad days.  It is just that the problems I found were pretty significant, and just plain dangerous.  Plus the previous owner had paid good money and probably expected quality work.  First I found 2 of the main bolts on the stem to be loose.  Not sorta loose, but starting to backout of the stem loose.  Next, the last cog on the cassette was not keyed properly to the freehub body.  This caused not only the cassette to be loose and to rattle, but also did not allow the lock ring to be properly tightened.  In other words, it could have come off.  Next all the adjustments had been made by rolling the barrel adjusters out.  Finally, and this was another dangerous mistake, the front brake cable was not properly bolted to the brake and actually came out when I pulled hard on the front brake.  Luckily none of these problems were found on Town Mountain.

I am fortunate enough to have the capacity to fix my own bike.  If a less skilled individual had purchased the bike they could have seriously gotten hurt.  I also feel bad that the previous owner paid good money for a service that was not performed properly.  I realize that money is tight these days on both end of the bike repair industry, but please realize that this is a case of you get what you pay for.  Be careful out there!  Now get on your bike and go somewhere!

2002 Jamis Ventura 520 butted steel frame

Random video of the day is......