learning to fix

So, today I had a day off, more or less, and I spent most of it futzing around putting the whole bike together. I started off with making sure that the wheels fit where they were supposed to.

After that, I spent some time removing things from the frame that had been sitting on it for about a year now, such as loose disconnected brake cables, random screws that used to hold in things like the water bottle holder, and so forth.

Next I spent a little time getting the front wheel in, in such a way that it didn't actually rub against the brakes when it spun. After successfully doing that, it was on to the rear wheel.

I spent a long time trying to get the wheel positioned correctly in such a way that the chain ran pretty straight from the crankset to the cog. After suffering much frustration at a rusty part of the axle that was making moving this one nut really difficult, I got it about right and tried screwing it in. It looked pretty good, I screwed on some pedals, and then started trying to track down a chain tool.

A while later, I successfully got my friend on the phone and went over to his place to finish up. I put on the chain, and tried it out.

Turns out I still need to spend some time working on the height of the handlebar and saddle. The cranks are a little long too, I think. They seem to come dangerously close to the ground as it is, and if I were turning a lot, probably worse so.

I'm also not used to the whole fixed gear feeling either. It's a bit weird for me, especially given my funky left knee.

But, I'm going to stick with it and see how it goes.

Oh, and I think the rear wheel isn't quite circular, which is a little scary, but I'm not really sure what I can do. I need to bring it in to a bike shop, I'm pretty sure.

So, after much ado, I finally got around to buying some wheels on craigslist. They're tubular, which... means very little to me, and I worry that this will ultimately be problematic.

The rear wheel is on a track hub and some... errr... I forget the company, rims. I don't know any of these companies or anything. I do know, however, that it has a track hub, that my 16t cog fits on it, and the lockring too. So, yeah. I also somehow still have neglected to figure out how I will go about pumping them as needed.

Beyond that however, I think I've now got the makings for my bike, I need only learn how to put the pieces together.