priorities (v.3)

Ahh a slow sunday.
There are so many things I need to do,
Might as well start at the bottom of the list.
Was this even on the list?

1990 bridgestone MB-3
badly modded 8-speed

I had found some cool Specialized S cranks at a bike swap,
and thinking it was an upgrade,
threw them on the old bike.

bad alignment

I also had found a clean sealed bearing bottom bracket,
a much needed upgrade to the worn ball bearing unit.
Fortunately this was the correct size cause it was so smooth.

swap meet bottom bracket

It's amazing the price difference retail vs bike swap meet.
I think this was $5.
Anyway,
as soon as it was installed,
it was obvious something wasn't right.
The chain alignment was all off,
and the front derailleur wouldn't reach the outer ring.

Instead of fixing it,
I figured why not make a hipster bike,
and only run the rear derailler.
Well it worked okay,
and I'd do a cheater finger-shift if I needed to shift the crank gears,
but the alignment on the big ring was always off.

crank removal tool

In the meantime,
I lost the crank removal tool,
so even when I wanted to fix it I was SOL.
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Joe Strummer - Musket Waltz - (Walker soundtrack)

Wow,
I thought this was just a chill sunday morning song,
but the video I found matched the revolutionary theme the song originated from.
We got it easy up here that's for sure.

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After that mexico trip last week,
it was about time to make it right.
Not that I took it on that trip,
but it may have if it worked right.
Time to buy the tool.

deore vs S

Side by side,
it is obvious why the Specialized cranks wouldn't work.
If you look at the original Deore cranks,
you can see that they spider down so the rings are closer to the centerline of the bike.
Glad I didn't toss the oldies.

One of the big selling points of Bridestone was the "Q-Factor".

Bridgestone Bicycle Catalogue 1991-13

Basically it's the distance between the pedals left to right.
The guys at Bridgestone were more road bike oriented,
so the tighter the distance the better.

I screwed up and didn't measure the distance when the S cranks were installed,
but it didn't feel right,
kinda like riding a bagger harley using those forward controls that shoot air up yer crack,
or riding one of those floating tricycle boats in the  bay.

1990 bridgestone mb-3
24-speed

I rode it in a small circle around the yard,
good as new.
Didn't even ride it around the block cause I didn't want to put shoes on.
Besides I should be pulling the engine back out of the 40.
Where's that list?

TP