Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
So, the house isn't selling. It's just not.
Rather than being upset about this, I'm actually kind of excited. This means that all the money and sweat I poured into getting it ready for sale goes to.. me! I still have to refinance it, but I get to refinance for a smaller loan, since I've been slowly paying down the principal over time. And when I move back in, I'll move back in to a gloriously clean, shiny new house!
New paint. New floors. Maintained yard. New curtains. Everything's clean. New faucet in the bathroom. Finally, finally installed undercabinet lights in the kitchen.
All the work I put into the house earlier this year was primarily to fix it up after 7 years of not caring too much about appearances, piled on top of the previous owners moving out in such a rush that they didn't even get all their junk out. There were still crayon marks on the walls from pre-2000.
So it's really hard to view this as being a bad thing. As I've argued with myself over and over again, I don't dislike the house, I just don't really actively like it. The kitchen's great, but everything else is too small. The basement's too short to be active down there, at least for me. Kristin doesn't like basements, so that makes the whole basement space kind of wasted.
Well, we've actually worked out some solutions to these problems. Probably the biggest (and riskiest) one is to put the bedroom down in the basement. Yes, it means darker and colder, but then, the only time I go in my bedroom is really to sleep. Why should I dedicate a bright, warm room to being unconscious for eight hours? Much better to use that bright, warm room for daytime activities.
Also, just because some previous owner built their own shed in the back yard 50 years ago, doesn't mean I need to keep it. Inspired by my own desire for a shop, and my friend Jesse doing this exact thing, I think I'm going to yank out the old crappy shack back there, and replace it with a shiny new one that's actually usable! Same size, but well built, not rickety, and at least temporarily not full of spiders. If I do things right, I can probably even use it as a tiny shop space (10x12 is not a very large space for much of anything, but I could put a little bench in there).
The final "maybe hopefully" thing I'm going to do is put a garden in the back yard. Right now, the back yard is full of grass I never use, which requires either mowing or watering, neither of which I'm keen to do. It'd be so much better utilized growing vegetables and fruits. We'll see if it actually pans out, but with any luck, I'll have some of my own vegetables to eat next summer.
Posted at 23:22 permanent link category: /misc
The myriad ways of bicycle maintenance
First off, happy birthday, bicycle! I bought my Gary Fisher bike just over a year ago, on September 16, 2006. Since that time, I've racked up 1484 miles. If I hadn't moved to Fremont halfway through the year, I'd be closer to 2000 miles.
In any case, one of the recommended maintenance items to do about yearly is to service the wheel hubs. I'd never done this before, so like all new things, it sounded ominous and complicated. Of course, like many things that sound scary, it was simple.
I read up on the procedure, and it basically boils down to, "Take apart the hubs, get rid of the old ball bearings and grease, put in new ball bearings and grease, and put it all back together." The only tricky part is adjusting the bearings. I didn't actually find it very tricky, I just followed the instructions Sheldon Brown had written up, and it all went quite well.
Of course, it wouldn't make an interesting story if everything went perfectly. (Even with this complication, it probably doesn't make a very good story, but you're sitting here reading it anyway.) In their efforts to keep the bike from being astronomically expensive, Gary Fisher did what many companies do: they used some cheaper/knock-off components. In the case of this bike, they used hubs from Bontrager, an OEM-only manufacturer which probably produces fine parts. They're cheaper because they don't say Shimano or something on them, not necessarily because they suck.
Since the instructions said to replace the bearings (except in very expensive hubs, the balls are actually sitting loose in the bearing), I went to the bike store and asked for new bearings. The first question was, "What size do you need?" I had anticipated this, and said, "I have no idea, but I have the bike here." The nice man behind the counter said "Yeah, bring it over, let's take a look," with his voice, and "Not another one," with his body. I felt sorry for him, but the bike didn't come with a manual so detailed as to list bearing specs on the hubs.
I wheeled the bike over, and he sort of threw up his hands without actually throwing up his hands. "I guess I can give you the Shimano standard, will that work?" I had no idea, but it seemed reasonable, so I came away from the store with 22 3/16" balls, and 20 1/4" balls -- the front would take 10 per side of the smaller size, and the rear wheel would take 9 per side of the larger. I also got a couple extra, because loose ball bearings are essentially tools of the devil, and will disappear at the least provocation, usually when you need them most. By buying extra, I was effectively guaranteeing that none would go missing due to that corollary of Murphy's Law.
Anyway, I got the bike up on the stand at work, and took off the front wheel. The advice is to start on the front, since it doesn't have the complication of dealing with all the gears and such. It came apart as expected, using tools that I had bought previously for exactly this task when dealing with the Xtracycle wheels. I got all the balls out, and collected on a paper towel which had been strategically crumpled up to keep them from rolling off. I confidently grabbed my trusty little ziplock bag of new balls. I pulled one out and carefully compared it with an old ball: a perfect match. Cool! I counted out the balls on the paper towel, so I'd know how many to put back in. 1, 2, 3... 22, 23, 24. Wait a minute. 24? I counted again. Sure enough, there were 24 balls that came out of the front wheel. 12 per side. And I had bought... 22 balls. 10 per side plus a couple spares. Argh! Of course I managed to buy too few, even having gotten extras!
I mentally revised my schedule for tomorrow, moving the Xtracycle into the "active bike" slot as I planned errands. I'd just go to the very close bike shop at lunch, and get the extra balls to finish later.
I decided, as long as I was at it, that I might as well try doing the rear wheel. Maybe it would have a more expected number, but also if I needed more rear balls, I wanted to know before I headed to the shop. I was strongly reminded of working on the Xtracycle as I took the back end of the bike apart.
Fortunately, the back hub used the expected number of balls (9 per side). However, looking at a piece called the cone, each side looked a little worn. The advice I've read is to replace anything that looks even slightly worn. I decided I should go to a more distant bike shop tonight, since I had two things I needed.
So, out came the motorcycle (the logistics of where my various vehicles live is complex), and off to the bike shop. I retrieved my extra bearing balls, and asked the mechanic there to look at the cones. He declared them fit, and I headed back to finish the job.
I finally finished up around 10 pm. I had started at about 5, but I was going slowly and methodically, and had taken a surprisingly long time to clean off the individual chain rings as they'd come off the rear wheel. That trip to the bike shop in the middle really added to the time, though; it always does. I always try to have everything on hand, and somehow, there's usually something that slips through the cracks. Nothing kills progress on a project like the necessary trip to the store.
And, of course, I did more than just repack the hubs. As long as I was doin' stuff I also cleaned and lubricated the chain, adjusted the derailleur, and adjusted the brakes.
The nice thing about doing preventative maintenance is that you know you're doing the right thing. The bad thing is that there's very little sense of accomplishment. I didn't fix anything that was broken, I just kept it going. Nothing really got better. It'll last longer, but that's a pretty cerebral reward. In this case, conquering the new task was rewarding, but on the whole, it was not my favorite way to spend 5 hours.
Posted at 23:09 permanent link category: /bicycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater