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| I now own the blue Norco with the Canadian Flag Bell |
I have a Bike addiction! Let me introduce you to my 'New' addition. It's a blue Norco (Winter beater bike) that's actually in pretty good shape.
Help me decide a name for it!
Before I go on, I would like to ask my followers for name suggestions for the new addition. The person that I toured with this past Summer had named his Surley Ginger and my Rocky Mountain is named Pura Vida (though I wish I had a shorter cuter name for her too). I want something cute for it! Suggestions so far include Sven, Baxter, Roger, and Blue Peter the Blue Beater. Keep them coming!
Koops Bike shop found it for me. I still have my Pink beater bike that I bought last year, but as it's a bit small on me I got the shop to look for one for me. This one is way nicer and I'll keep it running better by making sure it gets a yearly tune up before use. The current Pink beater's gears are out of wack and there is a click when I pedal, so maybe something is loose there.
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| I need the tires from this one |
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| And they are off! |
I paid for the Norco bike on Saturday, and it will be ready to use by Wednesday, or so. They just have to look at it to make sure it's ready for Winter, swap the tires with the ones I gave them, and install the bike rack for it. It already comes with fenders, so that's a bonus! I am not sure what I will do with the ones that I bought for the Pink Beater. Actually, I am not sure what to do with the Pink Beater, do I use it as a 'training' bike for 'maintenance'? I don't really want to take it apart yet as it's still in reasonable shape. Just the gears are out of wack a bit. Though the cables look a bit rusty.
While at the bike shop, I bought a cheap tire for my Rocky Mountain to use while it's loaded on a Winter Indoor trainer. I'd rather wear a cheap tire out on the trainer then the good touring one that's currently on it. It's the season of transition. My Rocky Mountain doesn't like when it gets cold, so it's time to start using a bike suited for Winter. I don't regret getting the bike shop to find a beater for me and I don't mind retiring or semi-retiring the pink one as I got my $50 worth out of her. I was going to wait a bit to pay for the blue one, but as the weather is changing and I have been riding the pink bike to work now as the roads have become icy in the morning, I realize that the blue one they found will be a much more enjoyable ride for me.
I don't know how the Norco will handle the cold, but if the pink beater bike is any indication, it'll be ok. I'm going to be the official tester for the bike shop as they are installing Teflon cables for the blue bike for me to try out and see how it works in the Winter. I know that on the Pink beater things didn't work so smoothly gear and brake wise during the really cold days. The brakes still worked, just not at their finest...
I swear that I have been living at the bike shop lately.....:)
I don't have a winter beater yet - last year, I was able to make it through on my regular commuter, which is a folding bike. I think that's actually part of the reason I don't need a winter bike - if I ride in in the morning, and then the weather gets bad, I don't have to ride it home, and I don't have to leave it at work - I can take it on the subway. It's saved a lot of wear and tear on the bike. I also try to give it a quick rinse off after I've ridden in the salt, and I know this sounds so silly, but it's so easy to get in the shower.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty cool fold up bike. It's neat that you can do that, fold it up and take on the train. I live on a major bus route here, so I could put it on the front rack if the weather is bad.
ReplyDeleteThe bike is so pretty that it'll be hard to use though that's what I bought it for.