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In general, I’ve found being playful, happy, silly and very vocal helps. Don’t get angry or upset because that doesn’t really help anything. Be cautious and expect people to freak out and behave weirdly. Take it all in stride. Tourists are part of the fun and texture that makes up DC.

[Dirt]

Good discussion. I’ve learned a lot from close calls and hits that I’ve taken over the years. I’ve always been one to follow the rules and not Evel Knievel stuff, but dialing things back a notch or two more has made life quite a bit more safe.

[Dirt]

Scott Street was activated this morning. Oak street is still not active.

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Great answer, Baiskeli. I follow the rules and obey the signals, but I’ve learned not to trust the cars. I do my best to instill their trust in me. Can’t expect them to obey the rules if I am not willing to do the same. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. That way I can live to ride another day.

[Dirt]

I’ve been hit at every one of those intersections over the last 5 years. I’m happy to see more prominent signals. Hopefully this will get cyclists obeying the rules a bit more. Not sure what to do about the cars that ignore the rules.

[Dirt]

Take it easy on that collarbone. I’ve re-injured before healed before and that is the opposite of fun. Hang in there. Enjoy the new bike process.

[Dirt]

@DismalScientist 3305 wrote:

I think the walk/don’t walk signals were “ineffective” because people chose to ignore them. I don’t see how these signals will change anything.

They incorporate Arlington County’s new “Taser Enforcement” technology. BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT

[Dirt]

PrintError: Glad to hear you survived. Hopefully better things come your way. Rock on!!!!

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Good points, y’all! I identifying the source of sounds is always tough while riding. I’ve SWORN that I had a bottom bracket creek and it turned out to be a rear hub… or bottle cage.

That said, I’ve really only had one square taper crank that has never worn out… Campy Nuovo/Super record. Pretty much everything else has at one point or another, gone south. Actually I take that back. I have some Superbe Pro track cranks that still rock on. Other cranks have been deemed mortal in one way, shape or form.

[Dirt]

My solution to this kind of thing is really annoying. As my bike makes new noises I add just enough jingle bells to drown out the noise. When I run out of places to attach bells, I know it is time to fix something.

Totally joking about that.

Take a look at the inside of the square taper on the cranks. The aluminum of the crank is softer than the steel of the bottom bracket. If the crank has spent some of its existence over or under tightened, the BB tapers can dig into the aluminum, causing creaking and eventually wobbling. Once that happens, there’s not much that can be done to address the problem beyond replacing the crank. Sometimes this just happens with years of use… even if the cranks have been well cared for.

As a side note, square taper cranks should never be greased. ISIS and splined BBs? Yes. Square taper? No.

There are some ghetto methods for fixing this, but they are not pretty and rarely last. Some are really cool and require cutting the BB spindle if you ever need to “undo” what you “fixed”. Often that kind of fix is worse than the disease. Lack of resources makes for strange bedfellows.

On that note, I’m going to end this post. *Applause*

Pete

[Dirt]

Very cool! Jamis is a pretty dang good company to deal with.

[Dirt]

Cool stuff, Liz.

They’d both be pretty good and bad projects for getting going with mechanics. On the good side, there’s not much you can do to hurt either of these bikes. They’re gonna be pretty forgiving to work on in many ways. On the down-side, you have to have realistic expectations for how they will function once they’re overhauled. The brakes and levers on both bikes, when working PERFECTLY, never generated much stopping power. Just the nature of the beasts with flexy levers and calipers and non-machined rim surfaces.

There are some things that will likely not be easy at all. To service the headset bearings (where the fork goes through the frame) you’re going to have to remove the stem. Due to rust and age, the stem is going to fight you on that. Penetrating oil helps. So does a BFH (Big Flippin’ Hammer). Adjusting saddle height might require similar “persuasion”.

That internally geared hub probably still works nicely. At Apocalypse +1 the world likely be populated by roaches, my first attempt at baking muffins at high altitude over an open fire and millions of fully functional internally-geared hubs.

That said, I think you should go for it. Not sure which one I’d suggest starting with, quite honestly. I was gonna say the one with the internally geared hub would be a good one to start with, but if the cables are missing, there are some weird small parts that are likely missing.

Do you have space that you can work on these incrementally? It might take some time.

Also keep in mind that what you learn from these will likely help with some skills that you need to work on modern bikes, but most of what you’ll be learning is a sense of bravery and adventure. Though the concepts are basically the same, things on modern bikes are often a bit different. If you can work on these, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how easy stuff goes on a modern bike. Stuff is much more precise.

Is that of any help?

Pete

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Bravo, Greenbelt. I’m glad no-one was hurt. Sometimes stuff just happens and I like the way you handled it.

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Great talking to you too. Sorry for yelling out “We’re all gonna die!” as we crossed Lynn St. Vehicular manslaughter jokes never get old with me.

[Dirt]

I totally agree and disagree with everything written so far. (Bwahahaha… That’s the sign that this post will likely be 100% useless.)

DSalovesh is right, you need to do more than just hose off the bike to positively effect brake performance. Brake and road grime can render the most lovely brakes almost useless. I would say that modern dual-pivot road brakes feel and brake better than pretty much any canti set-up I’ve ever used. That said, if your cantis are set up correctly, and the rims/pads are relatively clean, cantis should work well for general use.

If the bridge cable is too high, it can cut down on power. You can get pads that are grippier, but then you run into James Dean syndrome (live fast, die young) and need to change them often. Do your rims have machined sidewalls? That can impact how the brakes work.

Another option may be linear pull brakes. They fit on Canti mounts and have marginally more power than cantis. They require different brake levers though and if you’ve got integrated shifters, that gets kinda weird. Then a “travel agent” cam is needed to get the correct amount of cable pull from your existing brake lever.

Did I confuse things more? Good.

Pete

[Author]

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