37 mins!

Well I did it. Made it to work today in 37 mins.

Beer can shim!

So I'm not waiting a another week to get back on my bike. I will have to make adjustments and get it in final working order tomorrow as I ran out of daylight this evening. 

Beer can shim!

Thanks to http://www.instructables.com/id/Front-Derailleur-Shim-from-Aluminum-Can/ for giving me the idea.

Customer service at its finest (NOT)

So I called Huffy customer support this morning and explained to them their error. Frankly I'm not too thrilled with their customer service. The people are not very friendly and did not even offer an apology for sending me the incorrect part. In fact when I explained that my tube diameter is 28.6mm and they shipped me a derailleur with a clamp size of 31.8mm her response was, "you just can't make it fit?". After explaining that this was not possible (you think a bike company would know something about bikes), she agreed to send me a new part (hopefully the right one this time). I asked how long would it take to receive the part, as I had already waited a week to get the last shipment. She replied "I'll mail it today" in a rather condescending and irritated tone of voice. Come on Huffy you screwed up and sent me the wrong parts after I gave you the serial number from the bottom of my bike. I waited patiently for this incorrect part to show up, the least you could do is overnight me the correct part.

Houston we have a problem!

Ok so Huffy screwed up and sent me a derailleur with a wrong clamp size. I need a 28.6mm but they sent me a 31.8mm. Now I have to wait till tomorrow morning to call customer service and complain then what wait another week for the part to get here. I'm pissed to say the least!

Just an observation

 Before I got into cycling, I did a lot of research about bike purchases. I weighed the pros and cons of purchasing of a higher quality, higher cost bike from a local bike shop(LBS) vs a cheaper bike from a chain department store like WalMart. Most everyone on the internet forums will point you right to your LBS. I went to a local shop hoping to find a good used bike. The shop owner was nice but said he didn't have anything used, although I could see a rack or two of obviously used bikes in the shop. I have the feeling he really wanted to sell me something new. The shop I visited sold some very nice Fuji bikes and I must say If I had the money I would have got one, but a starting cost of $400 was just not in my budget.

 I saw the Huffy Savannah at my local WalMart, I went home and did a bit of research. I had owned a Huffy many years ago as a kid and I can say it was quite a good bike. I found a few good reviews from people who hand purchased this model. So I got two of them one for me and one for my wife. Also note that my kids all have WalMart specials.

 If you are on a budget and can't afford  a bike shop bike, go to your local big box store and see what they have, go back home or hit up your smartphone and look for reviews of those specific models. I will admit that some of the big box brands are total crap. But some like Huffy are not that bad and you have to remember the forums are full of local bike shop owners, who in my opinion have a bit of an elitist attitude. The frame on my huffy appears good the problem is the quality of the drive train components. On mine the shifters and rear derailleur are made by Shimano. These are entry level low end Shimano but are still ok. The original front derailleur was made by Falcon. Falcon is a Taiwanese company that makes knock off of Shimano components. The part Huffy sent me under warranty is Shimano. In my opinion after comparing the two parts the Shimano appears to be of slightly better quality, however I'm no expert. 

 It is my opinion the worst thing about getting a bike from a store like Walmart vs a local shop is the assembly quality. I just don't think the assembly personnel put in the required effort to make sure the bike is assembled the best it can be. So if your going cheep review it and if you buy it just assemble it yourself.

Repair work update #1

So I got a few minutes today to start the repair work. I've removed the chain and rear wheel. I cleaned the chain, rear derailleur and freewheel. The freewheel seems to be in good condition, perhaps the chain slippage after removing the front derailleur was caused by a misalignment or too much gunk build up on the chain. I took some pics of before I started the process. 

Bike parts are here!

Just got a text from my wife letting me know my parts have arrived. I'm glad they are here, I've missed riding my bike. I just wish they would have got here on Friday so I could have worked on the bike this weekend. Is gonna be hard to find the time to get the repairs made during the week.

[UPDATE]

Ride pics

Just a few pics from me and my youngest son ride last weekend, enjoy.

Well crap!

So today was supposed to be my first commute to work on my bike. Apparently the petrol gods decided they didn't like that idea. Yesterday morning me and my youngest son had a good 3.5 mile ride. After having a great lunch my oldest son decided to join us. We got about a half mile from the house and I started having trouble shifting my front derailleur onto the largest chain ring. Its not 100% clear to me what happened but in any case I believe the chain came off the large ring while shifting and bent my front derailleur to hell and back. I walked the bike back home and started working on it but the day just kept getting worse and worse. Finally after taking the chain apart, getting the broken derailleur off  and getting things reassembled I had myself a six speed bike. However I've got some chain slippage now that requires me to figure out how to fix. It was to late in the evening to continue working on it. At least this morning when I called Huffy to get replacement parts I got some good news. They are replacing my front derailleur and chain for free under warranty! Perhaps I can get some time to get it working as a six speed tonight and ride tomorrow.

Test run results

So like I said in my last post, I forget to update this sometimes, guess it defeats the point of blogging if you don't actually blog. Well I'll post this now although it should have been posted 21 days ago. On Sept 2 I did a test run from my home to my work. Its just a bit over six miles one way. I completed the journey in 45 mins, I was proud of myself. Here are some picks from the adventure.

Enterprise City Limits

Intersection before the office

I made it!

Oh the pain of it all

So I'm up to my usual blog activity, which means I haven't posted anything in a while. I've been doing good on the bike averaging about five miles a day of riding, except for the past week. Last Friday I had the day off from work and ended up throwing out my back go figure. So after a week of rest I got back on my bike yesterday and had an amazing time. I did 4.6 miles in 30mins, I was very proud and very tired.

So today I got the rest of the stuff I need to start cycling to work. I'll be getting the bike ready this weekend for its first week of getting my ass from home to work. I'll try to update the blog and post some pics! 

So I'm tired of being a fat ass!

For the last few, lets say ten years or so, I've been on a declining fitness trend. I'm a computer guy and I sit for long periods of time. I've tried on numerous occasions to do something about my weight gain, but it usually just ends up in me not giving a damn. Then there was this lovely game I became quite fond of called World of Warcraft. Lets just say that didn't help any as that just caused me to sit around even more. Four years after being infected by WoW I finally kicked the habit, regrettably I was even more out of shape now than ever.

So whats different this time you ask? I've tried and failed before right? Well at 5'7" and 230lbs my size 38 pants were revolting against me. I had become an uncomfortable mess, with the lack of energy and constant lethargy, I finally gave a damn.

So I've been walking and a few days ago I got myself a bicycle.