Just Riding

Haven't bad much in the way of adventure recently. Doin about 150 miles/week in recreational riding. Enjoyed a ride out 180 last week. Before most people were awake, I'd already done a 100 mile run.

Couple of pictures from recent rides.

Upper lake mary

If you gotta wait at a train, this is the way to do it.

Replacing Nuts and Bolts

On a bike this old, especially a salvaged bike, pieces inevitably fall off once in a while.
Recently, I lost a couple nuts off the exhaust. Also lost the bolts on the rear axle that hold the wheel tension to exactly the right place.

Luckily for me, it seems they were all the same size/type. Metric, wouldn't you know.
M-7x1 45mm, which is surprisingly hard to find. I ended up getting the bolts off ebay, though local shops typically carry the nuts.

Spent a fair amount of time rummaging through the contents of my local hardware store to find the right stuff- bought some extras, and replaced some of the nuts that hadn't fallen off yet, but were clearly rusting to death.

nut was just gone...

Also, I have finally put some actual miles in this bike.

Had to pull over and snap a picture....

At about 23,000 I added oil (it was LOW), did the bolt replacements, clean/oil the chain, adjust chain tension, and checked just about everything. It seems to be doing well! It seems I burned through a lot of oil since I changed it last. Will do a full swap in another 700 miles or so, including the filter.

Still looking at getting a new chain / sprockets. Not sure when I'll end up doing that. I'm kind of nervous about taking it apart to that extent. Not to mention I have no idea what kind of chain/sprockets this bike has, so I'll need to have them off to order them from the shop. Looks like I'll spend a few days off the bike.

It's a labor of love!