Friday, May 27, 2005

Fendered, At Last!

So I had some bad news at work, about which I shall vent in another forum, and I needed a fix of some sort. Getting drunk would have just ruined me and other forms of substance abuse were out of easy reach.

It was pouring rain at my quitting time, preventing me from making the 10 mile ride home, so I caught a ride with John, in his BMW and rode home from the Nelson.

"Fenders," I thought, "I need fenders."

So off to Acme where Sarah and Christy were working.

"What's wrong with your bike today?" (I had been in earlier in the week having the bottom bracket rebuilt."

"It just needs fenders."

"Have I got the fenders for you!", Sarah said, picking up a wrapped package of Honjos, "Only a hundred twenty bucks."

"That's more than the bike cost", I laughed. "No, I want those old ones we looked at on Monday... with the fins." I went to the shelf and looked through the old fenders. They were still there, chromed and cool.

By no means did they snap right on the bike. Originally built for a 3-speed, they required 3 tries at extending the stays. And the fronts, they needed to expand their radius to avoid rubbing the tire.

"Nasty chain, Jeff. You really need to replace this. When they get this greasy and gritty, you can't clean them. You're just pushing the dirt into them." I'll have to do that soon.

Anyway, it took an hour and a half, a couple beers and a trip across the street to pound the fender on a round table sitting on the side walk at the Vintage store but we made it fit.

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