Walking on Susnhine

 

 

With everyone on holidays ~
dive into summer and all it has to offer :

There's long summer days,

icy treats to keep you cool

vibrant colours and fun, summer fashion

relaxed beach days

outdoor entertaining and delicious seafood.

Melissah xox

Images via 1, 2, 3, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6, 7

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'Tis the Off-Season

The holiday rush of the city really got to us this year, and we wanted to be some place quiet. So for the days leading up to Christmas, we stayed on Cape Cod. 

And quiet it was. Turns out Provincetown has chosen this winter to repave its roads and fix its sidewalks, so basically the whole town was dug up and closed to motorised traffic. 

But despite the roadwork, many of the businesses remained open, catering to locals and to the occasional visitor. The result was the sort of insular pedestrian small-town atmosphere that has long ceased to exist under normal circumstances. People said hello to each other on the streets. The phrase "How are you?" was interpreted as a question, rather than a greeting, and detailed answers were given. Merely seeing each other walking, or cycling around the town center had created a sense of relaxed familiarity among everyone present, however temporary. 

Even in the busiest, most hectic part of summer, what I like about Provincetown is how relaxed and unaggressive it is. Bikes, pedestrians, cars. Tourists, summer people, locals. Gay, straight, undefined. Somehow, all of these categories are simply combined, without being pitted against each other. They are separated by "and" and not "versus." It's a microcosm that does not reflect the reality of life elsewhere. But at least it shows that, in theory, it's possible for people to function like this. And in the off season, with everyone squeezed into the same couple of bars and coffee shops after hours, this became all the more apparent. 

Last year I mentioned noticing more incidents of aggressive and inattentive drivers over the winter holidays in Boston, and this time around it seems even worse. First it was the rush of last minute Christmas shopping. Now I guess it's the post-Christmas sales. Soon it will be New Year parties. Whatever it is, drivers on the roads just seem so impatient and angry right now. Sure, they might arrive to their holiday parties smiling, saying all the requisite niceties and exchanging beautifully wrapped gifts. But what's the point, if for entire weeks leading up to this they are filled with such stress, that rage is boiling just beneath the surface? I couldn't even feel annoyed at the woman who laid on her horn and shouted when I took too long making a left turn the other day. Obviously something other than me on my bike must have been the real cause of her anger. So I try to be extra cautious on the roads. And I try to not fall into the stress trap myself. No big plans. No pressure. No stress. That's my plan into the New Year.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas

with loved ones, friends and family

~ enjoying all the merriment that Christmas has to offer!

Hope you all have truly beautiful day!

Melissah xox

{Image via Sally Lee By The Seaedited by Coastal Style}  

Variations on Red and Green

Growing up, red was my mother's favourite colour. And my mother was a tirelessly creative woman back then. She sewed, she knitted, she made things. Consequently I was dressed in red sweaters and coats. I slept under a red patchwork quilt. You get the idea. I did not know how to communicate my dislike for this colour. When I was 3 years old, I was gifted a red tricycle and stunned my parents by breaking into tears at the sight of it. I loved riding that trike. But when no one was looking, little by little I began trying to scrape the paint off. My parents grew concerned and eventually got rid of it. They must have thought I was eating the paint. 

As a teenager, I gravitated toward all things drab. This was the '90s grunge era, so that was easy enough. Army-navy stores, denim, plaid, combat boots. I rode a matte black bicycle then, and even peeled off its bright decals. When asked what my favourite colour was, I did not have an answer. In college I wore black. I made large charcoal drawings. I took black and white photos. 

Sometime in my twenties I saw a weathered old bicycle locked up to a farm gate by the river. It was a lady's bike in the signature English shade of bottle green, and the weak East Anglia sunlight was hitting it just so. The enamel paint had a special quality to it that made it resemble an aged candy wrapper. I saw it and I knew right away that I liked it. As an adult, it was a thrill to learn that I had a favourite colour after all. I began to experiment, to chase after the perfect green. Somewhere between sage, chartreuse and olive, this ideal shade existed and was waiting for me. 

After that I relaxed about colour. Blues and lilacs began to sneak their way into my surroundings, mingling nicely with the greens. Accents of pinks and reds appeared.

A couple of summers ago, I was staying in Vienna and looking to buy a vintage racing bike to bring home. A friend found me the perfect one and took me to see it. It was a bright red Moser. I remembered the trike of my childhood and laughed. "I love the bike, but I hate red." I got the Moser anyway and rode it for two years. It wasn't just red, but an unusual shade of strawberry with a subtle golden sheen to it. Everyone complimented the colour, protesting when I revealed my plan to eventually repaint the frame. "But the red is great, and it's so you!" Soon I began to receive red articles of clothing as gifts. I remembered how, as a child, I hated being known as the girl in the red coat, the girl on the red trike. But now it just struck me as funny. I still dislike red, but I guess I no longer think that's important.

I talk to lots of people about their fantasy bikes, or bikes they are nostalgic for, or bikes that simply stick in their memory for some reason. Red bikes and green bikes are mentioned more than any other kind. The colours play an important role in the story, but for reasons the story teller cannot clearly express. They will just keep repeating that it was a red bike, or a green bike, stressing the colour as if this information is pertinent to how special the bike was. It's not always a straightforward, cohesive story, just like mine is not. I suspect a lot is left out, possibly the most relevant parts. Of course we could break it down to the basics. Colour, motion, emotion. Excitement, tranquility. Stop, go. Red bikes, green bikes. But who wants to see it like that.

Happy Holidays

With only one more sleep before Christmas ~

I wanted to wish all of my blogging friends in sunny Australia

a very 

Merry Christmas

For those off on holidays - enjoy, relax and stay safe.

~:~

For blogging friends from afar ...

Happy Holiday

I envy your snowy, wintery Christmas festivities

Enjoy your day with cosy fires, falling snowflakes and snow covered landscapes. 

Melissah xox

{Images via Country Road, edited by Coastal Style}

Check out my other blogs Scrapbook and Country Style Chic

Trek Multi Track 700 / Winter Commuter Part 1

Hello and Welcome, This will probably be my last post for 2012. Before I start, I would like to wish you all a Safe and Happy Holiday Season. And a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous New Year as well.

Above: Laura's vintage Trek Multi-Track. Laura called recently and asked me if I would be interested in possibly finishing her Trek winter bike project? I said I would be happy to take a look at it. And if possible build her a winter bike to ride. When I first saw the bike my first thought was "Just Shoot Me Now". Just kidding, I told her I would be happy to finish the project.

Along with several original parts this project came along with a newer partial parts bike. At a glance, I was not sure if I would be able to use much off this "more modern" bike to build up this Older Trek. As it turned out The (Novara) parts bike would play a huge part in finally finishing this project.

Above: Among the many parts was this old and heavy Schwinn rear rack with collapsible side baskets. It weighs a ton, but I fell in love with it right away. I was like a kid with a new Transformer action figure. There is no way I would use a rack this heavy for this project. However, there is also no way this rack will leave the shop/garage! It will be mine!

Above: The first problem, the infamous "SLR BR CT90 M" brakes. You might remember these from the Nishiki Mountain bike repair. All the spring covers or shrouds for each brake arm were broken. On that Nishiki I was lucky. I had some bushings on hand, that with a little cutting fit nicely. I was not that fortunate this time.

Above: Here is the culprit. These covers would break right at the anchor point for the brake arm spring. So when you would brake "even a little hard" the spring would pop right out of the anchor hole. This would make the brakes feel like mush. So I searched the web for some new brakes.

Above: I found these Shimano BR CT91 M brakes on the internet. Now it seems logical that the CT 91 would be the replacement for the defective CT 90. But I decided to call Shimano first just to confirm. The lady on the phone at Shimano "bike division" assured me these are the proper replacement. So back to the E Bay to order the new brakes. So while I am waiting for the new brakes to arrive, lets see what other trouble I can get myself into.

Above: Amazingly the headset was no problem. Both the cups and bearings were in fine shape. After de greasing and cleaning both the upper and lower cups and bearing cartridges, a little grease (who am I kidding, I grease everything pretty heavy) and back together she goes.

Above: Here the threaded Headset is all reassembled with the threaded race screwed down into place, not too tight or loose. Above that goes the cable hanger/bracket then a spacer/washer then the cap nut. As always you want to make a note of the proper order in which to install the various washers and brackets etc. etc. BEFORE you take yours apart. For a more detailed threaded headset rebuild, Just search "rebuild threaded headset" using the "Search This Blog" feature located in the right column near the top, just below the followers.

Above: Here I am reinstalling the sealed bottom bracket using the sealed bottom bracket removal tool. All I did was remove the unit and clean up the outer surfaces. Then I cleaned out the bracket shell itself. Since the bracket spindle turns smoothly inside the unit with no grind or play, there is no point in replacing it now. So here I have wrapped the threads once with Teflon Tape (optional) Then after applying the smallest amount of grease to the bracket shell's (female) threads. I can now thread the unit back into the shell.

Above: The Shimano triple crankset. You might have to blow this pic up to see the details. Laura pointed out what appeared to be broken teeth on the large chain-ring. On closer inspection I noticed at 180 degrees the same pattern of shorter sprocket teeth. So I did an image search for Hyper Drive crank and found another crank with the same pattern of shorter teeth. I suspect this somehow results in smoother or quicker chain-ring changes or shifts. What got my attention first was the teeth did not feel like they had been broken. And the crank spins pretty straight. I would think an impact hard enough to break off sprocket teeth would have had enough force the bend the chain ring. So if you are familiar with this crank type please feel free to leave a comment.

Above: The first parts salvaged from the parts bike were these pedals. I have my doubts that these will perform well in wet and or cold conditions.

Above: The Ze'Fal mud guards cleaned up nicely using Armor All (plain) cleaning wipes. The Armor All cleaning wipes do a really good job. And working inside it is much more convenient than having a bucket of soapy water or spraying bio de greaser in the house. Here I am also removing the brakes and cleaning up the posts. This will save a little time when I am ready to to install the new brakes.

Above: Laura wants a riding position much the same as on her road bike. For this reason I am installing drop handlebars. The alloy road stem pictured was salvaged from her Dads old Schwinn World Voyageur. You might remember the World Voyageur, I stopped restoring it after discovering the frame had been compromised. I wasn't too deep into the restoration when I spotted the problem. So it really wasn't that big of a deal. Hey, You can't save them all.

Above: The rear replacement brake arrived first. Here I am removing the cantilever brake arms using the little Park Tool three way tool. If you do not already have one of these, and you work on bikes you really should get one. And while you at it, you might want to also get the little three way socket. Both wrenches have the most common sizes for brakes and derailleurs. When removing the arms and springs I take notice of which hole the spring is inserted in on the frame. On this bike they were all inserted into the center hole.

Above: A really bad picture showing where the little flange with the three spring anchor holes is located.

Above: Here I have installed the new rear brake arms. I will need to do some more frame cleaning before the rest of the brake assembly gets in the way. Wait till you see the ridiculously over complicated cable hook-up. It is also (kind of) impressive I guess.

Above: As is typical on a step through frame, the rear brake cable is routed so that it comes up from below. Usually I would expect to see a small pulley wheel that the cable could go up and around, so that the cable can now pull upward on the straddle cable. Not this time. Here someone has designed a teeter-totter style lever. The rear brake cable comes up from below and connects on the right side (front) of the lever using a barrel shaped Knarp that is cradled. Now a second short brake cable connects the opposite end of the teeter tooter to the straddle cable. So when the brake lever is pulled the right side of the teeter totter lever is pulled downward. This raises the left end (rear) of the teeter tooter lever. Which is connected to the straddle cable by the second shorter cable, closing the cantilever brake arms. If you were to ask me what think of this set up? I would say "That is taking the long way around the block" It IS "kind of cool" in its own way though.

Above: This pic shows how the short brake cable connects to the rear (left) side of the teeter-tooter type lever. To get the long cable taut I clamped the brake closed, then loosened the knarp and pulled the slack out of the cable. Then I just re-tightened the knarp and released the clamp. I think this system is "over engineered" and was designed to impress rather than to improve performance.

Above: Before I install the new front brake cantilever arms I very lightly grease the post. This picture also clearly shows the flange with three holes. The center hole is the one I use for the return spring anchor point. The other end of the return spring also has a prong that inserts into the hole inside the spring cover or shroud.

Above: Here I am installing the new front brake cantilever arms. You can "not so clearly see" the return spring prong as I am inserting it into the center hole on the flange.

Above: Here both of the new front cantilever brake arms are installed. There is a lot to do before I can even think about hooking this brake up. So for now I'll move onto something else.

Above: The rear wheel and 7 speed cassette unit. Laura did a fine job cleaning up the rear rim. Which after cleaning up the front wheel I can tell you was no easy task. But I needed to clean and free-up this cassette. The amount of crud in between the gears was about as bad as I have ever seen. I will also remove the axle and cones and bearings and clean everything up and replace the bearings. After giving the cassette unit a good spray with "White Lightning Clean Streak" I go between all the gears using the scraper (above) in a saw like motion. I had to repeat this a few times. I also sprayed heavily between the pie plate and the cassette. Then used a rag on edge (also in a saw like motion) and worked my way around. This also had to be repeated a few times. Once everything looked clean I went between the gears with a rag edge working my way around, again in a saw like motion.

Above: When I was scraping The crud between the gears it was coming out in chunks. You can see the teeth on the White Lightning scraper are still loaded up with crud. I will need to soak these in bio de greaser over night. Once the cassette was all cleaned up it spun much better but still needed lubrication. For this I spin the free wheel by hand with it facing upwards. After applying a few drops of lite machine oil in the grove between the axis and the freewheel. It takes a little while but eventually the oil will find its way inside the unit and lubricate the small needle bearings. Now it is spinning smoothly and free. I was not able to remove the cassette. So ALL this was done with the cassette still mounted. This makes cleaning out the hub and replacing the bearings difficult but not impossible. I was too greasy to take pictures of all this. But as you may have noticed, on this project I will be focusing on the brakes. And latter on the handlebars, shifters, brake levers and much more.

CAUTION: Do not run a wheel brush or grinder or any rotating power tool without wearing safety glasses! I have pulled a tiny brass bristle out of my face on more than one occasion. But never out of my eye! Above: Cleaning up the front wheel was really something. The Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish had very little (if any) effect. This was an absolute first for me. So I found my fine brass wheel brush and mounted it on the DeWalt high speed drill and went to work. Afterwards I touched up around the spoke nipples using FINE automotive grade wet sandpaper. After which I gave the rim a quick polish with Mothers. Cleaning out the front hub and replacing the bearings was 100% easier than the rear hub. And as you can see the wheel now looks pretty good. When purchasing replacement bearings you want to look for Grade 25 Ball Bearings . This is the highest rating for steel ball bearings.

Hey, That about covers it for Part One of the Trek Multi Track 700 project. This project gets pretty involved and there were a few major problems that had to be dealt with. You can expect at least one or two more posts about this project coming to a blog near you real soon. In the mean time, Remember to Always..... RESCUE, RESTORE & RECYCLE....... Cheers, Hugh From my family to yours, Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season!

ATTENTION AMAZON SHOPPERS! You can help Support This Blog by simply shopping on Amazon dot com using the Amazon Search Box located at the Top Right Corner of This Page. It will not effect your cost and I will receive a very small commission. Thanks for Your Support, Hugh

A Modern Beachy Xmas

I am feeling very inspired
by this fresh, modern take on Christmas.
I love the simplicity of the white, aqua and silver.
I think they all look very 'chic and stylish'  

Melissah xox

Images via 1-2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Check out my other blogs Scrapbook and Country Style Chic