Bike!

I fixed my bike today. ^_^
All by myself. ^_^

And did it by removing 2 parts. ^_^

So here is the story:

I got this bike from a guy off of Craigslist who was selling it for $80, which after my research, is pretty cheap in this area. He was advertising it as a Miyata Street Runner hybrid, which intrigued me. Turns out, the bike may have originally started as a Miyata hybrid, but it had seen the shop and the replacement of several parts. In essence, only the frame was Miyata. But, as a non-bike enthusiast who just wants something cheap to ride to work, I paid him $60 and took it off his hands. It was in good condition for it's age.

Unfortunately, 1 month later and the thing breaks. Not terribly, though. I decided to take a stab at mech work. ^_^

As i found out through tinkering, The problem was that my rear-bike wheel had snapped slightly off it's hinge, causing it to run against the frame, making it impossible to move the bike anywhere. Pushing the back wheel back on its hinge and tightening the screws seemed to solve this for the most part, but I noticed that the wheel still touched the frame slightly. Hence why I mentioned the bike shop replacement parts. These wheels were not hybrid wheels and were too thick for the space between the frame's bars.

So I removed these metal brackets in the hinge whose sole purpose seemed to be to push the wheel forward (if I have removed something vital, someone tell me!). There was no significant effect to the gears or breaks, so tightened everything up. That whirring noise I used to hear when riding? Apparently that was the back wheel brushing up against the frame. No more noise anymore. ^_^

Unfortunately, it still takes me some effort to ride long distance. I blame my fitness level. :P


- ^_^