Cycling Sucks!

ANOTHER FLAT TODAY!!!

I didn't even get to the meeting spot for the lunch time ride today before I was walking.

I'm not having any luck with keeping air in my wheels lately. Right now, I'm thinking out converting my bike into something like this and taking up boating.
Maybe I could turn it into some kind of art piece.

Just kidding! Cycling doesn't really suck and I'm not going to be taking a blow torch to the Felt anytime soon. But man, this is frustrating.

I do believe I may have found the problem, though. I have a loose wheel that may be contributing to my flats. I will check it out tonight when I get home and see if that fixes things.

If not, my next solution is to just buy a new bike...let's see if Goy (my wife) goes for that one!

Bike Update

Alright, time to get back to some bike stuff. Got my brake levers and my shifters in the mail since last bike update. Brake levers were $17.90 ($27.50 with shipping). Shifters were $48.00 ($55.50 with shipping). This past weekend I also had to take the bike to The Bike Shop to have the headset pressed. That cost me $26.18. I found out later Ben had a press...if only I had been more patient...oh, well. I also found out that I bought the wrong bottom bracket. I knew I needed an English threaded bottom bracket, but somehow I ended up with an Italian Threaded BB. I'll chalk it up to eBay tunnel vision. Already started the search for another BB. Too much fun!


Total for build to date: $503.66, well there went my $500.00 cap...let's see how far this goes!

Ben Lends A Hand

Thanks to Ben for checking out the Felt today. It seems that I was sold a bottom bracket that was not the right size. All is not lost...I called IT&B and they have another one that should work and since I have to drive back down there, they are going to do all the work for me. It also gives me an excuse to go down and check out their bike swap meet tomorrow. Thanks again, Ben.

The Felt Needs A Fix

My wife was out tonight so did some late night maintenance on the Felt. Finally got the bars taped, so jumped on to take a ride around the block to see how she felt. I had not been on it since installing the new bottom bracket. Well, of course, I found a problem. It seems that the front derailleur is all out of whack...not sure if this is from the new bottom bracket but I am betting that it is. I tried to get it adjusted but had no luck. I will probably have to swing by The Bike Shop tomorrow to see if Mel and the boys can hook me up. If not, I will have to find somewhere to get it looked at on Saturday. Oh, my wife is going to kill me if I have a double bike day weekend. Oh the pain!

Tough Ride, Got My Saddle

On Thursdays, HACC does hills and yesterday we did hills. The hill up to Camp Smith is a killer and for some reason I just wasn't feeling it (even though I did knock out two trips up the hill and back). Casey had an accident and broke his wrist. Tough day.

Got home and found out my saddle had come in the mail! This saddle was actually featured in the April issue of TRIATHLETE which just came out.

Saddle: $17.50. Shipping: $9.00. Subtotal: $26.50

Total for build: $316.11

Not Zipp, X-Lab, or Neuvation...give me Velocity Deep V, baby

Nice ride into work today. It has been a couple of weeks since I have commuted to work by bike, which I usually do. I have been busy at work and with school, so needed to drive.

Finally got my wheels in...they are the Velocity Deep V (650c) wheels. I had been waiting awhile for these and was finally able to pick them up at the post office today. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to start putting things together.

Wheels: $100.03 (+ $25.00 shipping).

Total: $289.61

Quiet Weekend

Well, not much going on this weekend. I finished up my Algebra exam (91%) and was happy to finally have a weekend without homework and got in an 8 mile run on Saturday. Today, just watching the Milan-San Remo bike race. I got my rear derailleur in the mail on Saturday. It was a little more beat up than I thought it was going to be so I am looking for a good deal on a better one.

Waiting for the final grades for my class and a few more parts to come in the mail. Once my wheels come in I'll start putting things together.

Rear Derailleur: $45.33 (+ $10.00 shipping) (Ouch!!! I fell into the thrill of bidding on this one. I could have gotten a better deal but got too into winning when someone kept bidding against me...bad mistake).

Total: $164.58

More Parts

Took a break from taking my Algebra final...man this is tough, checked the mail and got two more parts. Got my cassette (11-21T). I'm going with Ultegra 9 speed to keep the price down. The crankset I bought had 53/39 chainrings. I was also given a set of chainrings (56/42), not sure which way I'll go with those.

I also got a Shimano clamp for mounting a braze on type front derailleur. Not sure if I'll use this but I seemed to find more braze on type derailleurs on eBay and got a good deal on the clamp. The bike needs a clamp on front derailleur, so this solves the problem if I get a good deal on a braze on derailleur.

Cassette: $45.26 + $12.00 shipping = $57.26

Clamp: $7.99 + $3.00 shipping = $10.99

Total to date: $109.25

First Part Comes In The Mail

Received the first part for my bike project. It is a Shimano Ultegra crank and bottom bracket. I have the day off work today (I'm taking the final for my Algebra 209 class), so I got up this morning and cleaned it up while I was having my coffee. I will start putting things on the bike when more parts come in.

For those keeping tabs, I picked this up for $31.00 plus $10.00 shipping.

My Bike Building Project

Well, thanks to Gil Loomis, a member of my cycling team, Hickam Area Cycling Club (HACC), I am now the proud owner of a Griffen bicycle frame that I intend on building up as a Tri/TT bike. It is an older frame that Gil used to ride and is in perfect condition. This is my first bike building project, so I am trying to keep the project reasonably priced by scouring eBay for parts. It has been quite a project already just on the eBay search alone.

Now, I did say this is my first build...so you won't see crazy stuff like Zipp wheels and top of the line, carbon this and that like on Ben's and Casey's blogs (other HACC members). You will just get the story of me building up this great bike that was so graciously hand down to me. The goal is to try to keep this build under or around $500. We'll see how that goes. I already have several items on the way that I have gotten through eBay

This is also the first time I have done this blogging stuff, so bear with me. It will surely improve as I play with it more.

And the journey begins...