Bicycle Repairman

Much cooler today than a few days ago. Record setting heat Memorial Day, 50 degrees today and maybe the 30's tonight. Crazy weather but I can get outside and do something when it's in the 50's. Which is exactly what I did. I put the finishing touches on the front end of the Fair Lady this morning. New brake cable and pads, rim strip, tube and tire, and I got everything cleaned and polished. The front rim cleaned up pretty nice and the stainless fender looks real good after I wiped on a little chrome polish. I pulled the axle and put some fresh grease on the bearings as well. I took the whitewall tire off the unfinished chopper bike project rather than using the new blackwall I picked up the other day. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the chopper bike project, but I can return the blackwalls and swap them out for some new wide whites or put them on the chopper wheels. I'm still kicking around the idea of putting one of those gas motor kits on the chopper bike, but as always, I need to finish a few other things before working on that. If the weather stays cool, I might actually make a little progress in that regard.

Next up on the Fair Lady is the bottom bracket and crank. I think it will clean up fairly well in spite of one crank arm being kind of rusty. The chain guard has a chrome piece on the front of it that should shine nicely after it's cleaned up. The rim on the rear wheel is really rusty and should be replaced but it's going to have to stay. If I could lace wheels quickly, I'd swap it out. However, with my skill level as a wheel builder, that could bring the project to a halt. It would be a good one to practice on and it would sure make the bike look better when it was all done. 

Surly brought his bike trainer down the other day and I got my old Motobecane set-up on it this morning. I loaned the bike out a few years back to a guy who used to work at the school and told him to keep it as long as he wanted it. He brought it back this Spring after buying himself a new triathlon bike so it's now on the trainer after a few adjustments. It's set up in the new barn so I can ride when it's raining out. I'm still religiously doing my rehab exercising a couple of times per day. I'm supposed to keep my heart rate down under 90 beats per minute so no sprints but I'm getting an hour per day in on my off days of either walking or cycling as long as it's not too hot. Hopefully, the exercise will show some positive results when I take the stress test next week.