Bikes are cooler when they WORK.

Right now I have SIX of my own bikes. On;y one, the oldest by far, actually works and is rideable. I have an old Cannondale M500 frame that I am building up for fun as an around town bike. I have my trusty Diamondback Sorrento that won't shift right, a Trek 820 with a bad hub and a cracked Grip-shift, a Peugeot PRN-10e that is awaiting a brake cable replacement and bar-wrap, a Raleigh Marathon that belonged to my Father -in-law (so even though it technically works, I can't ride it in foul weather) and a Triumph three-speed from back in the day. THAT is the one that works! So, if I want to cycle, I ride up-right and slow. Not very sporting and hard to keep a target heart rate with only three gears but I'll tell you what: I LOVE that bike. It's so much fund and oh-so proper to ride. I pretend I am a Merchant-Ivory character as I ride about town on it. I had a great success with it today as I mounted a kick-stand to it! I needed the "win".

A few days ago my Sorrento gave up the ghost and would shift only into the low gears, not out of them. As you can imagine, this made riding rather difficult. I found that the metal of the barel adjuster had been torn open and decided that that was the cause of the problem. So I went out and bought another one and installed it and the bike STILL wouldn't shift back down. I messed with that bike for hours today and still it only works kinda right. The 820, despite three different test-rides crapped out on me the first time that I used it. THe hub spun while I was hammering up a hill, causing me to stop and cracking the grip=shift. I have a set of 7-speed trigger shifters that I could swap out but my two spare wheels are both 8-speeders!! So I can fix the hub problem OR the shifter problem but, of course, not both! This bums me out because this is the bike that I bought to "save" the Sorrento which is also now on the D.L. too. Grrr..... I neede that kick-stand install to save my day, mechanically speaking.