More bike news

[unbibium]

My dad dropped off his old bike, to replace my missing one, and I tried to take it for a spin. Results: not good.

I don't think it's roadworthy yet. First of all, the brakes don't work. I can tell they're trying, but they're just too weak for me to feel safe. The front brake is crap, and the second brake is shit. Second, I'll need to replace the seat and grips, lest they stain my pants and hands. And after getting all that fixed, to make it useful I'll have to get a rack and basket on the back, and a water bottle holder. The tires are good, though. It's a ten-speed and I wonder if that's too few speeds for me.

The thing about the "cheap" bike I started with, and my second less-cheap bike, was that the brakes were just fine. If the brakes ever had a problem, it was that they were too tight and I'd have to pump them once or twice before a ride to loosen them up.

And I'm going to have to know my bike is safe before I start buying accessories for it.

Comments

[darquis.livejournal.com]

Brakes are very easy to adjust, it'd be all of 30 minutes if you didn't know what you were doing and needed to read Sheldon Brown's brake guide beforehand. Then you could take your newly roadworthy bike to the store and get it some accessories. [Unless they're disc brakes, in which case I have no idea what they take. Google might know, though.]