Gear Heads and Loose Links: The Ukiah Bicycle Kitchen

Jay working on the Terry bike at the UBK

I've loved bikes since I was a kid. I remember my Bridgestone, the bike of my adolescence.  I rode that bike everywhere.  Almost daily, I rode to Patrick's Point and back. I would cruise through the roads of the park, sometimes locking my bike at the top of the stairs and running down to Agate Beach and back.  I delighted to catch up with touring cyclists and talk with them about their adventures.     Long I have dreamed of having my own cycling adventures, beyond mere day trips. Soon, in the next couple years, I will be writing blog posts for our cross-country tour....

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1983, Emily and Bridgestone Sirius

After Bridgestone, I had a grey Shogun, which was an actual touring bike. Shogun met an untimely end coming down the hill into Ferndale.  The year was 1992, and Shogun's demise led to the Red Trek 1100 road bike, which is still my bike.  I can't fathom the number of miles I've put on Trek over the years.  Still going strong, Trek is a great commuter bike for this hammer head.  However, for real touring, I need to upgrade.   I've been dreaming of a Bruce Gordon bike.  These are the bikes that cyclists ride across the steppes of Asia and the savannahs of Africa on, because they can be repaired anywhere with simple tools.  What I'd like to get is the Rock & Road Tour bike, but the custom one, which is built just for me, my measurements, my quirky unique body.  I'll be saving for a while!  

Trek, at the end of the 60-mile Tour of the Unknown Coast in Humboldt, 2012.

Meanwhile, I'm putting a lot of regular miles on Trek.   Recently, I booked it from the horses, up by Mendocino lake, to my ESL class, at the Temple of Ten-thousand Buddhas.   A bit over 9 miles, in traffic, in 39:33.  Not a scorching time, but boy was that fun!  Map here.  I had budgeted 45 minutes, so I was stoked.  

In Ukiah, there is the Ukiah Bicycle Kitchen- the UBK. This is where people cook up bikes.  :)  A place where everyone can go to get help with maintaining their bicycles.  I connected with them through Jay, and the regular work sessions have been such a treat. I get to work on bikes with other people who like to work on bikes. Win!   People donate bicycles to the UBK, and we fix them up to sell, thus raising money to purchase more tools for the kitchen to use.  Besides the work sessions, the UBK is at most Farmer's Markets on Saturdays in Ukiah, where you'll see people young and old bring their bikes with issues. They roll away, smiling again.

At the work sessions,  Jay and I spent many hours working on the infamous "Rose Schwinn" which needed most everything replaced.  It was a beauty of a bike, though, with matching fenders. Many times, during the course of our rehab, we'd wonder if it was worth it. The odd wheel size that needed the odd tire size... the internal rear hub that needed an overhaul... Then everyone would gather around, oogle at its pretty frame, and dig in again. Andrew was so diligent about tracking down parts.  When it was all done, it was one of the first bikes to go at the end of summer sale. 

The Rose Schwinn, ready for sale.

Emily and Jay work on the Rose Schwinn.

More recently, I've been rehabbing a Univega. Started out with new cables for brakes and shifters, new handlebars, then a new chain, but first the freewheel had to be cleaned, and then the derailers, and then the wheel hubs needed to be repacked.   It was then that the bottom bracket seemed rather sticky, and dismantling it revealed big pits in the races, as well as a bent spindle. So, Andrew ordered the bottom bracket after I took measurements and found it in the catalog.  When it arrived, I got to use the torque wrench when putting it back together! So cool.
 

Emily discovers the torque wrench!

 After it was all back in one piece, a trial ride revealed some weirdness with the front forks.  The handlebars were wonky. 

Devin test-drives the Univega.  "Steering feels like a gyroscope!"  Hence the dismantling of the headset.

Pico and Devin took the stem apart, and when I went to put it back together, I noticed a lot of rust and hardened grease on the stem and wedge nut. So I took the whole headset apart, cleaned it, and put it together. Like silk it is!   The only thing the bike needs now is a new seat post and it is good to roll. 

Univega, waiting for a seat post....

Every two weeks or so, I get to head to the UBK, put on a pair of blue gloves, and become a grease monkey for a few hours and hang out with a bunch of bike nuts (the metal kind as well as the human kind). Pretty cool.  

Andrew works with UBK interns at the Farmer's Market.

Pico and Devin working on bikes.

Emily explaining some bike mechanical issue to Pico....