The Bike of Doom

Three weeks makes a big difference in the Spring.  The snow is gone.  The SC1800’s bonds literally melted away.  I brought it inside and gave it a little TLC.  Brakes and derailers needed a little work.  The BOD has been parked outside for over two full years, 50% of that time covered in snow, or frozen in ice.  It responded remarkably well to some lubrication and adjustment.  Both tires needed air.  Note that the odometer is still working.  That’s some kind of miracle.  Temperatures were in the minus 40 range for about a month this winter, and the last.  I can’t believe the tiny little battery in the odometer still has juice in it.

This year’s first ride was practical.  I mapped out a route to school.  23 Km round trip.  I’ll start doing that on Monday.  Felt good to be back on the bod.  Took a couple of pics.  This is Omand’s Creek, at the point I crossed every day on my old commute.  Spring flooding has left the bridge underwater.   The river walkway is completely submerged.  Don’t know when that will appear.  But I worked out a reasonably nice route along Wolesley, across the Assiniboine River, down Wellington Crescent, over the Maryland Bridge, through The Gates, along Westminster, across Osborne, down Assinniboine, through the Forks, down Riverside Drive, then into the Exchange District where the UW off-campus building is located.  Should take me about 30 minutes each way, without sweating too much.

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SuperCycle SC1800 Toolbox

BOD on Holiday — August 4th — 33 Km

Department Store Bike horror story

As recent posts may have led you to believe, I’m working through the urge to put the SC-1800 back on the road.  The big problem at this point is the icy tomb in which it is encased.   The hardened steel Master Lock with massive chain is just one of the barriers to beginning this cycling season.  The lock is frozen.  After three days of efforts to open it, I finally caved and squirted a generous dose of WD40 into the keyhole.  Half an hour later, with some strong language encouragement, it finally popped.

Unfortunately, the covering of snow you can see in the photos in the last post is only camouflage for the deeper, harder, apparently impenetrable layer of ice in which the bike’s wheels are currently embedded.

Enough for one day.  Tomorrow, the shovel comes out.

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Other POS bikes on the road

Repairs complete, Bike of Doom road-worthy again

946 Km. - Just checking in

The Bike of Doom has been resting for some time now. Some might consider this an ignominious fate for such a worthy beast, others might relish the thought of a well deserved plague of rust. You know who you are. In any event, cycling season has not yet arrived in Winnipeg. These photos were taken this morning.

Interesting note: the odometer is working! The bike has been stored outside for two years, in all weather, including a reasonably long stretch of near -40 temperatures this winter, and the cheap $8 odometer is still working.

This could be a sign of the apocalypse.

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SC1800 out of ice, on the road

Bike of Doom warms to winter thaw - 3384 Km

I received this recently from Shane Costantino, the proud owner and rider of a vintage 1989 SuperCycle. I wish I shared the “zero repairs” experience, but I followed a somewhat different path, particularly with the bottom bracket. The lubricating with 10w-30 motor oil isn’t as crazy as it sounds, at least for cycling through a long season in -40 conditions.

8<============

Steve,

Shane

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Bottom bracket noise

SuperCycle SC1800 Toolbox

Although I often claim that my $99 SC1800 is a reasonably good bike and has done me well, I’m forced to admit that, hey, I may just have been lucky.  I got a good 1,000 Km out of it before it needed any repairs, which is not bad for such a cheap piece of machinery.  Is my experience typical?  Hmm.  Let’s just say “No.”

After expressing an interest in possibly beginning cycling, my daughter’s boyfriend received an SC1800 as a gift from a family friend.  He knew my story and thought the bike might not be bad for piddling around town, commuting and the like.  He picked it up at Canadian Tire, cycled away, and had gone barely 100 yards before the cassette disintegrated.  The gear assembly slipped away from the core of the cassette (which remained attached to the rear wheel hub), spilling micro-steel-balls all over the road.

He took it back to Canadian Tire,  who told him, “Sorry, you can’t return it if it’s broken… we’ll have to send it out for repairs.”

When I heard this, I was a bit angry.  The kid had barely taken three pedal strokes before the machine blew up!  Anyway, to save him the trouble of taking the thing back to Canadian Tire and conceivably being without bike for a month, I made the repair.  The remnant of the cassette was removed with an adjustable pair of pliers.  The hub was in good condition, as was the wheel.  I had a couple of spare cassettes of the right size sitting around, so I installed a new one and had him back on the road in less than 20 minutes.

Three things here.  First, if that had been me, and I’d come back and received that answer, there would have been a scene.  Let’s just say it might have gotten ugly.  I think my money would have been back in my pocket within a minute or two, or I’d be walking out with another bike at the very least.  They bullied my daughter’s boyfriend because he is a quiet guy and didn’t raise a fuss.  Second, to address this before it comes up in comments, if the bike had been bought at a Local Bike Shop, I’m not so sure they would have taken it back, but at least they’d have been able to make the repair on the spot and perhaps throw in some extra equipment for the inconvenience.  Third, despite my enjoyment of the cheapo SC1800, there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s a department store bike, and the almost the cheapest one you can buy, at that.

And the moral of the story is, I guess… you get what you pay for.

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