A Few Bicycle Upgrades

I wrote a few days ago about getting a new bicycle.  Each day, a new upgraded part arrives for this new bicycle so, little by little, I've been upgrading this rather basic bicycle. 

I chose this specific bicycle because it had some features I wanted, the price was right, it was a larger model and I knew I wanted disc brakes of some sort.  I've had a difficult time finding larger bikes in summertime but a few popped up online after Labor Day.  

Unfortunately, this bike arrived with giant fluorescent orange lettering across the whole bike frame.  In my opinion, the color orange is suitable for only oranges, pumpkins and some autumn leaves.  Fluorescent orange is not suitable for anything and should be eliminated as a color.  One of the first things I did was repaint the frame to cover up this fluorescent orange lettering.  The bike was already gray so all I had to do with order a flat gray primer and spray over the lettering.  The color matches perfectly. 

This bicycle has hydraulic brakes so I spent some time educating myself about bicycle hydraulic brakes and then bled air out of the brakes and added some new fluid.  I have to say that, so far, I'm really enjoying riding with these brakes.  They work very well (especially after bleeding the little bit of air that was in the lines).

I tuned up the gear derailleurs so they work smoothly now.  I also cleaned and re-greased the chain.  

Last week a new seat post arrived but I had to return it.  It was supposed to be a suspension seat post but, no matter how I adjusted it, it would not absorb even a small amount of the bumps.  I only paid about $25 for that post so I guess you get what you pay for when it comes to these things.  I returned that lousy product and purchased a better one that cost me $135 (photo at left).  

Even at $135, this second suspension seat post was well worth the extra cost!  Now I have a suspension on the front end and under my butt making the ride significantly smoother.  This is very important for my spinal injuries.  

As I'm typing this, I just remembered that I also replaced the cheap, hard and uncomfortable seat/saddle that came with the bike.  I purchased a nice touring gel saddle instead and that is now on this bicycle.

I've added a mirror to the left side of the bike so I can see approaching cars while riding on the road.  Due to my spinal injuries, turning my head to look behind me while on the bike is difficult and painful so the mirror is necessary.  I'm still trying to get used to using that but it is definitely a nice addition.

I've added a camera mount on the handlebars for my waterproof action camera so I can record some parts of my treks (the mount is in the photo at right).  I tested that this morning and it works well.  

I'm still trying to decide on a rear rack with a bag for carrying some gear and I need to purchase some sort of front light too.  I don't plan to ride at night but I should have a light up front anyway.  My helmet has a red light on the back of it so I don't think I need another red light on the back of the bike.  

For some reason, the front wheel was a bit warped when the bicycle arrived.  This could have happened in shipping I suppose.  It wasn't badly out of true but whenever I looked down, I could see the front wheel slightly wobbling left and right as I was riding.  This was also an easy fix.  It just required adjusting the spokes appropriately to straighten out the wheel.  Now the wheel spins true with no visible wobble.  

The bike came with threaded holes already drilled in the frame for a bottle holder so I purchased an adjustable bottle holder too (adjustable for different size bottles).  That was easy to add.  The pre-drilled holes lined up perfectly.

The leaf colors are turning quickly!  Actually, most of the leaves are already off the trees.  This started before the leaves began to turn color.  Our yard is completely covered in brown and green leaves rather than yellow, orange and red leaves.  I still plan to go on bike rides everyday with a camera for some landscape photos but the time for autumn colors is getting very short.  Before long, it will be too cold for me to ride so I only expect another two or three weeks of riding unless the warmer weather continues into late October and even into November.  I have no doubts that the leaves will be completely off the trees within a week or two though regardless of the temperature.

I'll close this blog entry with just three landscape images from my ride this morning.  These were shot with my oldest digital camera (from 2005).