Saturday, January 09, 2010
Cold Weather - It should end soon
I haven’t ridden since mid-December. It’s been way too cold for this old guy. The Breezer has been flawless all these month. I passed 2600 miles to/from work back in early December.
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Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Working Flawlessly
Just a quick note to tell all that the Fleck system is working like it should. I’ve done nothing but add salt periodically and everything is working the way it should be working.
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First Good Crash
Well… “Pay Attention”. Isn’t that what they alway say? I wasn’t and I paid the price.
This morning’s ride to work was as peaceful and uneventful as ever… Don’t know what I was daydreaming about… but long about halfway I’m on Malone coming up to Rosemont - a Stop Sign for me…
Am I paying attention??? No… of course not - there’s never any cross-traffic at this intersection - at this time in the morning…
--- Wrong ---
I’m almost at the intersection when I finally come to my senses and see a car coming from my left. My first thoughts - while traveling over the handlebars - way before I crashed to the pavement - was “Man… those brakes are good...” Well… my 62-year-old body crashed to the pavement on my left arm/shoulder and both palms… and my first thought at that point was “Hey… that wasn’t so bad.”
My gloves saved both palms - especially my right. An hour later - the right palm is still stinging. Thank you Craftsman Gloves…
My boot lace somehow got wrapped around the mirror coming out of my left handlebar… my arm and shoulder that took the brunt of the impact didn’t hurt at all.
The guy in the car stopped to render aid but I told him that I was OK and it was totally my fault for not paying attention. He said “Looks like you were prepared...” (Helmet/Gloves/etc). He went on his way and I untangled myself from the bicycle.
At first, it looked like the bike had no damage at all… but a bit later - back on my ride to work - I noticed the brake adjuster on the right brake handle was damaged… Looks like I’ll eventually have to replace that component of the bike. The adjuster bent and broke the threaded part it fits into. But...the brakes are working fine and other than that, neither me nor the bike have any visible damage.
Lucky me…
View 10jun09 - Crash in a larger map
The bike’s been performing well and I’m on it to/from work most days. There is some clinking, clunking going on in the bottom end that is bothering me… I’m going to schedule a look-see with Steve’s Bike Shop on 23rd Street and have them see what can be done. 5th Gear needs adjusting too. It takes some back pressure on the gear changer to keep it where it needs to be. If I put it in 5th gear and do not apply the back-pressure, it will slip and slide and all that. The bit of back pressure fixes it for 5th but I shouldn’t have to do that. All other gears are fine. Just 5th.
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Monday, April 13, 2009
Monsoon Ride
I checked the weather this morning and knew the afternoon ride home would be wet and wild. Exactly how wet and wild I wouldn’t find out until this afternoon.
Everyone at work offered to give me a ride home… and my standard answer was, and always is, “If you bite it off, you’d better be prepared to chew and swallow it.”
It was mean and nasty with lightning and flooded streets and poor visibility all the way home but it was just as nice as could be - at the same time.
The word “monsoon” comes to mind. After spending much of my early adult life in Southeast Asia - I remember those days and this afternoon would have rivaled those good old days…
It was wet… it was wonderful and I’d do it again any day - just to get to ride.
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Saturday, April 11, 2009
Lots to catch up on…
Where do I begin? First off - the Jwin radio ended up sucking - a big oozing $10.00 piece of crap… big surprise, huh?
I purchased a Sangean DT-200VX 
from Amazon for around $50 and it’s been a much better radio… it has a belt clip that I use to clip to a D-Ring on my backpack strap and that keeps the thing up around my shoulder and very “listenable” - Great to not miss Bob&Tom most mornings… Although some mornings I’m just in the mood for birds… and don’t run the radio.
On the afternoon of August 11th, about 3/4 of the way home, the old cell phone rang. It was an EMT at my Mom’s apartment, needing to get in… They’d received a call from the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” people. I turned around and raced through town and got there in about 10 minutes. Mom mom had fallen and couldn’t get up… ha!. Well, it was off to the ER for the 88-year-old gal and of course, she ended up with a broken hip. Needless to say - that was the end of riding to and from work for a while…
There were many trips to the hospital, family coming into and out of town… transfer to a rehab facility… daily errands, appointments, visits, etc… all of which were just easier to do by truck. Well, it took a long, long time to get to a point where I felt comfortable with not having the truck on-hand during the duty day. Turns out there were many times where it was necessary to run and meet someone or sign something, etc… but by the Springtime, I was itchin’ to get back on the saddle.
It took until late March for that to happen… But, by then, Mom was through her rehab and had decided that remaining where she was - at a nursing home that doubled as a rehab facility - was the thing to do - instead of move to an “Assisted Living” facility where johnny-on-the-spot care was not the case. I finally felt ready to return to my two-wheeled way of commuting.
I thought it would be a chore getting my head and body to re-adapt to the 8.4 mile ride - but I was wrong. It was like I’d never left the saddle. So… things are back to normal… two wheels most days - except when the weather is total crap or there is the need for a vehicle somewhere during the duty day… like an off-campus appointment for the mom. But… all in all - it’s all back to normal and I’m happy as a clam with the Breezer.
I did add a Bell Bike Saddle Pad - !!! With Memory Foam !!! - a good investment for my tired old ass… although I had to lower the saddle about half and inch to compensate. I also added a Bell LED taillight to augment the Breezer tail light. It has 7 settings - on solid or six different blink patterns. It’s pretty bright and irritating to car drivers, I’m sure - all the better to be noticed with. All of my morning departures are around the 5:45 AM time frame so it’s pretty dark before mid-April. I mounted the thing, using the seatpost attachment that came with it - to the left down-tubes of the Breezer luggage rack. Not pretty but it works. Couldn’t mount it on the seat post due to the Breezer Bag trunk, I’m running now.
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Tuesday, July 01, 2008
No Problems
A couple of weeks ago the water felt a bit hard… It only took me two days to realize I hadn’t put any salt into the brine tank in quite a spell.
I dumped the bag I had spare - recycled that night - everything’s back to normal.
Duh…
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Great Riding
Just a note to say my trips to and from work are going well…
Almost got slammed by a lady last Friday. She was pulling out of a Child Care place on Hwy 390 and I was in the Bike Lane on her side of the road - riding against traffic. I admit - it was probably partially my fault by being on that side of things. Luckily, she saw me immediately upon gassing it and she stopped abruptly - saving us both a lot of grief.
Yesterday, some dill-weed in a Black F-150 had his two tires well inside the bike lane when he turned from Jenks, west onto Hwy 390. If he reads lips, I’m sure he’ll hit me on purpose next time.
Other than those couple of incidents… the riding has been peachy. I’ve put on around 400 miles so far and have discovered that for each 17 days I ride to work instead of drive, I’m saving a tankful of gasoline. Since I filled up 8 days ago, I’ve put less than 40 miles on the truck.
I’ve did pick up a small jwin radio at the BX a couple of week ago for $10. It clips on a backpack strap and has a speaker that allows me to listen to Bob and Tom in the mornings… I was missing that a bit. It doesn’t get the best of reception so I’ve ordered a Sangean DT-200VX thru Amazon.com. The 200VX is in a league of it’s own as portable radios go… and should do much better than the jwin. It should be here in a day or so, and the wife wants the jwin for her trips to the gym.
I also ordered the Extended Trunk Bag from Breezer to give me a little better carrying capacity. I’m sure Grocery Panniers are in the future.
This morning, on the way to work I ran by my Mom’s apartment complex and dropped off her rent check and cruised by an ATM and made a deposit. Both of those tasks have always been by truck. How cool is this???
Gasoline here is above $4.00 per gallon most places in town - and up to $4.19 on Panama City Beach.
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Thursday, June 12, 2008
I have a taillight…
Parts from Joe arrived on Saturday. I immediately went to the garage and started work.
Rather than just rip all the old stuff off, I opted to try my most suspect part of the circuit - the crimp-on connector on the positive wire at the headlight.
I snipped off the suspect connector, stripped a quarter inch of insulation and used the multi-meter to confirm that I now had continuity between the headlight end and the other end of this wire.
I soldered on a replacement connector that was in Joe’s shipment and viola’ I had taillight…
I didn’t need to replace the entire wire and all associated connectors from front to back… just the offending connector.
Joe told me to keep the extra parts for spares.
All is well… Biking to and from work; a round-trip of 16.4 miles, as many days as I can.
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Friday, May 30, 2008
Update - with Picture
Well… I’m doing the 16.4 mile round trip almost every day now (Grocery Shopping yesterday after work - no bicycle riding) and saving a gallon of gas each and every day. It takes me about 45 - 50 minutes most days.
This morning I had to go on-line to the Credit Union’s on-line banking just to see when I last filled up my truck. It was on the 13th of May. I still have 1/4 tank remaining.
It’s a very pleasant ride in the mornings… cool and quite… This morning I peddled past a couple of bunnies out for their morning roadside grass…
I take water with me… and I have a backpack into which I put a replacement tee-shirt and whatever collared shirt I plan on wearing that day. Once at work, I just take about 40 minutes too cool down and then swap tee-shirts and put on my collared shirt and I’m good to go. I’m all decked out for the day by 0800 before anyone of note arrives. I park the bicycle in my “office” that we all refer to as “the hooch”
The evenings - going home - is a little hotter and sweatier - but no big deal. Usually it’s straight to the shower and I’m good to go for the rest of the day…
I really love the bike… it’s worth all the dollars I forked out for it…
Here’s a picture of it, parked in the hooch…
Here’s a good article about the Uptown8 - Click Here.
I noticed that when I decided to go two-wheel as my little protest against the price of gasoline, it was $3.36 a gallon. This week it is $3.95 a gallon here in Panama City.
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Joe Breeze
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Parts on the way
So I get an email yesterday from none other than Joe Breeze - President and founder of Breezer Bikes…
He called me today and I went over all of what I’d found in my troubleshooting of the problem. He agreed - open wire.
Joe was a bit ticked that the problem occurred but I told him I wasn’t worried. I was very happy with the bike.
Joe took down all my info and said he’d ship the repair parts immediately…
Once they’re here, it will be a simple task of soldering the new wire to the old wire in order to get it threaded through the frame tube when I pull the original wire out… if that is even necessary…
Now I ask you… how many times have you had a difficulty with a product, contact the manufacturer and were contacted by the president of the company? This is a first for me and it says volumes about Breezer Bikes and their dedication to making the customer happy.
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Thursday, May 22, 2008
Open Wire Confirmed
I jumpered around the suspect open wire from the positive post on the headlight to where this wire connects to the rear fender through a button connector.
I spun the front wheel and for the first time, the taillight came on.
I rehooked up the suspect wire and got no taillight.
Confirmed open wire.
Sent email to Mitch and CC’d Amy… advising them what I’d found and what I’d need to make the repair myself:
- 4 or 5 feet of new wire
- 3 button connectors for rear fender end of new wire (two to use, one for spare).
- 3 small blade connectors for headlight end of new wire (two to use, one for spare).
Awaiting word from Mitch.
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Riding to work
Taillight is not a show stopper… After a Saturday Afternoon ride from home to Publix Plaza on 23rd Street and Monday and Tuesday evening rides to the Southport stoplight… I’m was ready to hit the to and fron work route.
I rode to work this morning and found out a few things…
- I’m not 30-years-old anymore
- Life is good on 2 wheels
- I need to bring water along
- There are a lot of things to see and hear in the mornings besides Bob & Tom… (although I do miss them)
All in all it was a very pleasant trip - although it was a lot of “peddle, peddle, coast......................... peddle, peddle, coast”. It was a bit harder than I expected - but not a show stopper… not at all. Getting across the biggies - 23rd Street and 15th Street were a cinch… and I had bike lane, sidewalk or quiet residential streets for about 95% of my ride.
The only part of the ride that I would lable “iffy” was the 2 block from the Wal-Mart parking lot to the State Ave/19th Street roundabout. No bike lane, no sidewalk… but it wasn’t bad at all.
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Tail Light not working
Everything is good - except I can’t get the taillight to light. I’ve troubleshot things down to an “open” in the positive wire from the headlight, through the frame tube, to the back fender.
I’ve written Breezer and asked for advice…
I was contacted by Mitch and we went over the proper wiring of the headlight and the taillight. I told Mitch I’d double-check everything when I got home tonight and let him know what I found - even though I am pretty sure of the open wire.
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Saturday, May 17, 2008
The New Bike
I got a call at Noon today from Laura, telling me the bike was ready for pickup.
I had just gotten home from the Commissary run with Regina. I headed right out after getting the groceries put away.
The bike is beautiful and ready to go… althoug Danni said something about the lights… I wasn’t really listening.
He also pointed out a blemish in the saddle that he said should be addressed by the Breezer people and a new saddle requested. I confirmed the blemish… it looked like something had hung up on the saddle and punctured a small hole… I told hime I’d do that.
I trucked the bike home in the back of my pickup and put it into the garage - and did a cursory inspection - removing various bits of shipping protection.
When I took the plastic bag off the saddle, I poked at the “hole” and found it to not be a hole at all… just some extraneous material from the saddle manufacture. I plucked it off and the saddle was perfect. I did call Danni and tell him that is was no big deal - just in case he was concerned.
The bike is good to go!
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