gr8acclaim
New Member
Hello all. I'm another new guy. I'm here in Indiana, just east of Indianapolis, maybe like 10 miles, maybe a bit more.
I've been wrenching on my own cars for fifteen years, and about five years ago I gave up on the V-8 and have had sixes and fours since then (aside from a camaro I got cheap and resold on eBay).
My neighbors moved out two months ago and I helped the landlady clean up the place a little. Out of helping I got to keep the two bikes we found under the back porch. Got a ladies' 10-speed in decent shape and a 12-speed men's mountain bike. Both cleaned up pretty well. Took the WD-40 to 'em and wiggled some things around, and now the shift through all gears and all the brakes work. About the only complaints I have on either one is that the seats have holes and from being outside, they're waterlogged. Neither has any suspension though, because they're basically cheap-o bikes -- obviously no one would leave a $500 gem under the porch and move out...
I've been upgrading them a little since then. Got a $10 speed computer and hooked it up on the men's bike. Bought a new self-sealing tube to fix a flat on the ladies' bike. Bought a $10 kid's bike from a garage sale that has a twist-grip shifter for a 6-speed rear and swapped that over to the men's bike. Also I salvaged the seat off the kiddie bike so I can sit now without getting a pee-pants wet spot (people driving by were honking when I was outside adjusting the shifter and brakes).
Anyway, I've been looking around at the different things people have been doing and I'm stunned. I never thought of motors on bicycles before, but obviously I'm about the only one who didn't! I've seen some really cool installations and really cool modifications people have done to their kits. I've also seen some really cool chopped, lowered, stretched, and otherwise modified bikes without motors. I'm pretty jazzed! There's a lot of potential to do something fun and cool, and ultimately economical if I used it to get around in the spring / summer / fall...
At this point, I'm just deciding who to get my first motor kit from!
I've been wrenching on my own cars for fifteen years, and about five years ago I gave up on the V-8 and have had sixes and fours since then (aside from a camaro I got cheap and resold on eBay).
My neighbors moved out two months ago and I helped the landlady clean up the place a little. Out of helping I got to keep the two bikes we found under the back porch. Got a ladies' 10-speed in decent shape and a 12-speed men's mountain bike. Both cleaned up pretty well. Took the WD-40 to 'em and wiggled some things around, and now the shift through all gears and all the brakes work. About the only complaints I have on either one is that the seats have holes and from being outside, they're waterlogged. Neither has any suspension though, because they're basically cheap-o bikes -- obviously no one would leave a $500 gem under the porch and move out...
I've been upgrading them a little since then. Got a $10 speed computer and hooked it up on the men's bike. Bought a new self-sealing tube to fix a flat on the ladies' bike. Bought a $10 kid's bike from a garage sale that has a twist-grip shifter for a 6-speed rear and swapped that over to the men's bike. Also I salvaged the seat off the kiddie bike so I can sit now without getting a pee-pants wet spot (people driving by were honking when I was outside adjusting the shifter and brakes).
Anyway, I've been looking around at the different things people have been doing and I'm stunned. I never thought of motors on bicycles before, but obviously I'm about the only one who didn't! I've seen some really cool installations and really cool modifications people have done to their kits. I've also seen some really cool chopped, lowered, stretched, and otherwise modified bikes without motors. I'm pretty jazzed! There's a lot of potential to do something fun and cool, and ultimately economical if I used it to get around in the spring / summer / fall...
At this point, I'm just deciding who to get my first motor kit from!
