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13oct2002

I was inspired by Smasher's rebuild of a three-speed Raleigh including a thorough rehab of its Sturmey-Archer hub. (Also, green bike made a lousy beater.)

So I finally started looking through the OTSC I've got sitting around and resurrected one of the four AW-hub three-speeds, a black 1963 girl's-bike Armstrong

(I'm told an Armstrong is a low-end Raleigh). This had a tremendously gronky hub and bottom bracket, but a little oil loosened them right up - wow! In taking off the rear wheel to patch the rear tube, I deadjusted the shifting, so I haven't actually ridden the thing, but I'll have that back right when I get a minute.

27oct2002

I have a minute now but no repair stand - so it's hanging by chains from the shower curtain rod. Okay! It still needs a new rear brake cable and housing, the front brakes are scary grabby, and one of the pedals is wonky-skew, but it's rideable - and I like the gear ratios. The seat is amusing for a block, but it remains to be seen what it's like after a mile. The kickstand came with a loop of string because there's no spring to it, and I've supplemented that with a velcro cinch. It's the new beater, yay! Somebody get this bike a rack.

01nov2002

Okay, the seat is hell on wheels - after 3 miles twice (MIT and back), you'd prefer not to ride it the next day. But the gearing is great (a little high for me for hills and getting going) and the road tires are a relief.

somewhen in here

Rear rack. Misplaced the hardware in some hurry but lashed it on with IT.

08mar2003

This is simply a rideable bike. Sweet. The brakes are pretty iffy in the wet, and the rear brake cable has gone entirely.

25mar2003

Skunked my beater a front basket - adorable!! Turned up and applied the lost rear-rack hardware...

31mar2003

Bah, snapped the indicator spindle once I got home Thu night. Had to ride greeny to the car rental place, ugh. Well, didn't want to leave this cutey out in the weather, anyway.

06may2003

BBS sells indicator spindles for $6. This is back on the road so now Bellwether and I can ride together some. Slow, upstairs, is borrowing this bike this week, so I guess I picked up the Trek 520 just in time.

I need all my velcro cinches, lately, and it just occurred to me that a loop of IT might be just the thing to secure the kickstand with.

09jun2003

So, it turns out even though this has the old sort of rear rack, the fender stays let you hook on panniers. So this is now a tremendously reasonable bike for commuting and garage-saling.

18nov2004

Bellwether fixed the flat in exchange for some repair tutelage. So I was going to ride this to the subway for a week out of town - but the splines on the hacked shimano cassette cog seem to have worn down. Gnarf.