Wrenching on bikes all day keeps the clock ticking away. Greasy hands. It all began with the need to add a brake pad to my rear 105 brake and replace my beat up Gatorskins with my new Mondo S-works tires. From there, I realized the need to true both wheels which I tweeked away at until within personal standards. 

Since I was working at the bike shop on a busy day, I helped out to relieve the other mechanics. Unfortunately, the day brought us several tweakers and drunks that were on the fence in such a way that I couldn’t quite prove or be sure of their state so I put up with them. As I began helping a guy out with removing his freewheel to access his broken spokes, I made mention of “nut” which in the world of bike repair happens to be a frequently used term. Some sick disillusion went off in his mind to grossly snicker and lose focus so I happily gave up the job to another mechanic and helped the more appreciative of the bunch. 

I discovered some beautiful old Campy Omega wheels. Gorgeous adjustment and fairly true for age. Wear seemed minimal so I decided to use my worktrade for the pair and donate my mismatched road wheels. Switched over the tires, tubes and cassette and back to truing. The out of true spot on the rear wheel turned out to be cracked so I finished truing the the front and switched back over to another wheel. 

Truing has only recently been a comfortable repair for me. In the past, it was intimidating, time-confusing and time-constraining. After teaching the basics of wheel truing over the past year, I’ve become more familiar and in tune with the process leading to my current comfort. Practice makes perfect as with cycling and art and anything you put your heart into. Perfection being in the eye of the beholder. 

Once we returned home after a 7 hour day at the bike shop, I brought my bike to our sweet work bench and set up shop for another hour or two. I put on my Ultegra brakes, switched the bars over to a fitted 40mm which actually fit my shoulder width and replaced some rusted housing. Adjustments to cables, housing, Campy Ergo shifters, brakes and finished the final touches of wrapping the bar tape. Beautiful. Can’t wait to ride in the morning even though I’ve already stayed up too late and the congestion and sneezyness that has been haunting me all day still lingers. 

This is my life in a nutshell. I love bikes, working on them, riding them, teaching bike repair, touring, talking about bikes, etc. A little bourgeois too now in taste, but I feel as though I’ve earned it and had to build it all up from scratch anyway. 

Thanks for reading! suckerss

Yay. I just finished my badass old school Peugeot floor bike for BICAS. Rebuilt from the grounds up. As the condition was pretty beat up when it was donated, several original components had to be replaced or touched up. I always try to the classics as original as possible. Also, I customized the serial # since the old one faded away:

Moni1

That’s right. From here on out all the unserialized bikes that come under my wrench shall be customized with a taste of Moni-numbers of love.

Photos will be posted soon. It’s one of those old school black + orange Peugeots with the yellow/orange/red stripes on the seat tube.