What kept me busy last week :)
I repaired a friends bicycle (^-^) It’s a Japanese bicycle I have no idea how it got to Hamburg but it is quite interesting to work on :3
Another friend of mine got it from some neighbours but never used it and gave it to my friend. Due to not being used for quite a long time all the grease that had been used on this bicycle had hardened (°_°;) So I disassembled it completely and put new grease into the bearings :) Now its not squeaky anymore :)
I also added a new bell because the old one broke when I tried to use it, a taillight and new tubes fort he tires (the tyres were fine :) The tubes were broken because the valve stem got ripped out of the tubes :| <=don’t ask me why or how because I don’t know…
In Germany having a taillight and a bell is mandatory on all bicycles. Oddly enough Japanese bicycles often don’t feature a taillight…
Working on this bicycle was a lot of fun because everything was easily accessible and serviceable as well as featuring nice touches like cavities to hold nuts while your tightening them eliminating the need to hold them with another spanner :) I cannot remember working on such a cheap bicycle that had so many nice touches on it :)
I won’t lie it is quite rusty and far from being anything special but to me it will remember memorable for being the first Japanese bicycle I disassembled and reassembled :D I rode it around a bit to make sure everything was working well and then rode it about 1,2 km to the train station my friend wanted to pick it up at :)
Due to the small size of the wheels the brakes are entirely adequate :) It is also surprisingly comfy to ride :3 because the weight is so far back the hands don’t get shocked too badly and the suspension in the back soaks up most bumps keeping your bottom nicely seated :) I wouldn’t want to ride it for any distance longer than 5 km but it would be a great bike to run your errands :)
I had been looking for a good new bell and have been checking out amazon and various bicycle stores to find one and stumbled across this one in a shop in Hamburg :) I really like these, they are loud, don’t rattle and long lasting :) The mechanism is interesting too as the weight of the hammer is pulling on the arm and bending it striking the bell and almost immediately returning to its resting position which lets the bell ring loud and clear and prevents the rattle of most other bells that I find quite annoying. Plus the 2 part clamp makes it easy to adjust to different handle bars and to mount on those :)
The taillight is an affordable one :) I used to have one that cost more than double of this one but it ate batteries and was not as visible as this one… I remember how a bicycle mechanic recommended me the ones by this brand in 2009 and It really made a big difference while riding my bicycle as most other drivers suddenly held a more adequate distance while overtaking :) It is very visible, bright, doesn’t eat batteries and it is quite affordable which makes it easily my favourite taillight :) Installing a dynamo driven taillight didn’t seem like a desirable option to me as routing a wire to the back of the bike would have been kind of annoying on a folding bicycle (it’s not impossible though :) as well as this bicycle missing any mounting points for a taillight. So I decided that this was the most desirable option.
My friend didn’t appreciate it too much though… I mean I get that she’s on a tight budget and this is why I went through the trouble of really going through everything on her bike lest other parts would have been damaged very soon and would have caused her to spend even more money on it or to throw it out which would have made me kind of sad as I’ve taken a liking to this small and honest bicycle. I did buy cheap tubes with the only luxury being the bell (which I would have been willing to give a discount on) so I really didn’t spend any more than I absolutely needed to get a good solution. I even repaired the Dynamo to get around installing a new one as well as cleaning the contacts inside the lamp to get everything working without having to spend anything. It is kind of hurtful if you try to negotiate the price someone is charging if he is only charging for the materials as this only leaves the option of cutting into your own pocket and leaving the impression that the only person profiting from this encounter is the one whose stuff you repaired.
Anyway I enjoyed working on it, taking photos of it, analysing it and riding it around (^-^)
I wish everyone a great new week with sweet dreams and friends who appreciate your efforts (^-^)/
P.S. the Japanese name for folding bicycles is 折りたたみ自転車
