My Beautiful New Bike

Today, I finished putting this beauty together.

I used an old Cannondale aluminum road bike frame. The crankset, derailleurs, shifters, peddles, stem, headset, seat, and seat post are from an old Raleigh that one of the chainstays was cracked. The handlebars are a used pair of flat bars from the shop. The fork is original to the Cannondale frame. The brake levers, chain, wheels, and tires are all new.

Cannondale frame.

First, I tried to burn the paint off of the frame with a propane torch, but that did not work as you can see in this video.

Since I was unable to burn off the paint, I decided to sand it all off with sixty grit sandpaper. When I was done sanding, I took the fork home and used paint stripper to remove the gray paint from it. Since the fork is made of steel, I used black Rust-Oleum Automotive Enamel gloss spray paint to paint it. 

I continued to sand the bare aluminum with finer and finer sandpaper up to 500 grit and gave it a final cleaning with Bar Keeper's Friend.

Frame after sanding.

After all the cleaning was done, Rocky installed the bottom bracket and crankset from the old Raleigh. Carl and I installed the derailleurs, shifters, brakes, and associated cables. Today, Daniel, Rocky and I got everything finalized, and I paid for the parts.

It turned out that the aluminum color with black are a very nice color combination. I also like that I do not have to shift it as much as my Fuji hybrid that I have been riding for the past several several months. It is also a lot lighter as I can grab it with one hand and carry it up the city steps in Morningside on my way to the shop instead of wrestling the Fuji with both hands. I think it is very beautiful and am starting to become emotionally attached to it.

A very beautiful bike it is!

The Steps of Morningside.

Pittsburgh has the most public staircases of any city in the United States. The original purpose of these steps was so that factory workers could walk from their home up on the hill to their job in the river valley. As the steel mills closed and more people had cars, many of these staircases have developed cracks in their steps and weed start growing from the cracks and encroach on the public right of way. Today, I took some photographs of four staircases in Morningside.

Adelphia St.

Looking up the Adelphia St. Steps.

These well-maintained wooden steps actually serve as the street that the two houses at the top are on. Take note of the street sign on the telephone pole at the bottom.

looking down the Adelphia St. Steps.

Houses located on the steps.

Martha St.

Oh, do these steps come in handy. The Martha St. steps start out as a jumpwalk on the northern edge of Martha St. at Morningside Ave. Upon crossing Duffield St., the road disappears, but the steps continue up the hill to El Paso St. in Stanton Heights where the road reappears. Martha St. continues one more block to Trinity St. These steps link northeastern Stanton Heights with Morningside and provide pedestrian access to bus service on Jancey St. and Chislett St. as well as the Morningside business bistrict.

 

 

 

 

Near the bottom of the Martha St. steps.

Looking across Duffield St.

 

 

Looking down the steps.

Gallatin St.

The Gallatin St. steps provide residents near Witherspoon St. access to bus stops located on Baker St. The steps also provide lower Morningside residents pedestrian access to the Morningside business district.

Bottom of Gallatin St. steps showing a bus stop.

Top of Gallatin St. Steps at Witherspoon St.

Jancey St.

Looking across the Allegheny River into Sharpsburg.

This house is only accessible from the Jancey St. steps.

Just restored another Schwinn

Before 

This Schwinn took a while as I had to do some major cleaning on the wheels and other bare metal parts. Once the wheels were clean, I used Scrubbing Bubbles to clean as much dirt off of the frame. This bike did not have brake cables or levers, so I had to install them myself. I replaced the tires and the derailleur  cable housings so they matched the housings on the brake cable. After it was reassembled, Carl and I adjusted the derailleurs so that the shifting worked properly. Today, I took it for a ride. It was a bit awkward riding such a tall bike, but I managed to get some good pictures of it.

After

Massive cleaning project

Over the last week, I was working on this rusty Schwinn. I was able to remove most of the rust using various methods. First, I made a paste from Bar Keeper's Friend and water and applied it to the rims and spokes. after some scrubbing, I wiped it off with a rag and rinsed it with a solution of Dawn dish soap and water. I also tried CLR on the chain rings to remove most of the rust. As a last resort, I sanded off the really stubborn rust before using CLR and a Scotch Bright pad to remove the remaining rust and shine things up a little.

I cleaned the entire bike including the drive train, wheels, and tires using Scrubbing Bubbles before re-assembling the bike. Finally, after pumping up the tires, I gave the entire bike a wipe down with wax trying to avoid the rims. Here are some before and after photographs.

Before:

After:

Antique traffic lights

I have noticed that the old traffic lights in Pittsburgh are being phased out and replaced with the ultra-modren, black traffic lights that are found throughout the suburbs. Here is an example of one of the old traffic lights that is still operating at the intersection of Butler St. and McCandless Ave.in Lawrenceville. Take note of the curved gantry that the signal hangs from. and the yellow graffiti-covered controller box on the pole that also used to hold up the overhead cables for the streetcars that used to operate along Butler St.

 Sometimes, the signals are just hanging from the wires that power them as these signals below. They are located at the same intersection as in the previous photograph.

One thing to note is the lack of dedicated pedestrian signals.

I think an effort should be made to preserve any of these traffic lights that are still functioning as of today. It is possible to retrofit the old signals with LED light bulbs and new controllers like those used with the SURTRAC system used in other East End neighborhoods. New pedestrian signals and buttons should be used to replace the smaller 3-way signals pointed at the crosswalks.

Atwood Station

There is a new bus station in town, Atwood Station. This bus stop previously known as 5th Ave. Opposite Atwood St. is located in Oakland and is one of the busiest in the entire system. Despite it being very busy, it had absolutely no amenities other than the plain blue "BUS STOP" sign marked with the bus routes which service it. The station now includes a large shelter with benches, a Connect Card vending machine, bike racks, as well as a transit map with schedules.

Two more kid's bikes

Even though I find children to be annoying, I will still work on their bikes. I believe it is important to get children to learn to ride as early as possible because they should grow up to be independent adults who can get themselves to their place of employment while they get exercise and have less of an impact on the environment. Riding a bike has to start at some point.

I cleaned these bikes and removed the front brake if they had one. After I cleaned them, I checked the tires and replaced them if necessary.

I think this is a cute bike for a cute little girl. I was skeptical of replacing the front tire with an orange one, but it worked out nice.

I cleaned and waxed this little cutie as well.

Impediments to pedestrian travel

In and around Pittsburgh, there are many signs forbidding pedestrians from crossing intersections. Some of these signs are justified while others can make pedestrian travel difficult if not impossible.

The signs on Butler St. at 57th St. I believe is justified for safety purposes. The sign prohibit pedestrians from crossing Butler St. where buildings obstruct motorists' views. It is a minor inconvenience, but not a major problem.

Butler St. at 57th St.

The signs on Black St at Chislett St. is not justified. They can make travel to the bus stop on Black St. opposite Chislett St. require crossing Chislett St. prior to crossing Black St. to reach the other side of this T intersection. The most inconvenient of them all is on Negley Ave. at Baum Blvd. Pedestrians are prohibited from crossing Negley Ave. on the northern side of the intersection. Due to this, walking from the Shell gasoline station that is in the picture to the Aldi grocery store behind me on Baum Blvd. requires crossing the four lanes of Baum Blvd. twice. I can see that it is dangerous to cross because of the angle of the intersection. This intersection should have an exclusive pedestrian interval just like there is one block south at Center Ave.

Black St at Chislett St.

Euclid Ave. at Penn Ave.

Main St. at 18th St.

 

 

 

Negley Ave. at Baum Blvd.

Here is a place where I think some of these signs should be placed, but they do not exist.

Liberty Ave. at 40th St.

At this intersection, most of the traffic turns left from 40th St. which is behind the camera. Prohibiting crossing here and making pedestrians cross on the right side would dramatically increase pedestrian safety as very little traffic proceeds straight or turns right.

More Bikes

Since I started late yesterday, I will make a longer post today. The next few bikes contain mostly original parts.

This Sears Free Spirit which was built by Schwinn is my second favorite after the Schwinn Thrasher.

Sears Free Spirit C. 1970s

This beautiful bicycle has thick, heavy, stainless steel rims and was built to last forever. I polished all of the stainless steel including the handlebars, rack, fender supportsn and rims. I washed everything really well before reassembling the rack and femders. I cleaned the tires, and waxed the entire bike except for the rims, brakes, and drivetrain. Unfortunately, It can still use some work in repairing, or replacing the hub in the rear wheel.

The next bike is a Specialized Hotrock(?) I have before and after pictures. take notice of the handlebars and wheels.

Before

Before

After

After

What a difference, leaning, polishing, and waxing can make an old. worn-out bike look like new!

Volunteer work at Kraynick's

I have been doing some work on refurbishing old donated bikes and cleaning them up. The first bike I restored was the Schwinn Thrasher shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1:  Schwinn Thrasher single-speed conversion with BMX Handlebars.

I was inspired to do this as an old BMX bike turned up in the pile of donations. I started cleaning the old bike and noticed that there were no brakes. After I notice the brakes were missing, I asked Rocky, the owner what should be done. He said I could do a build so I took the handlebars and crank set off of the BMX bike. Prior to working on the BMX bike, I was polishing stainless steel using aluminum foil and degreaser. Since the Schwinn has a large amount of stainless steel, I removed the handlebars, Derailleurs, crank set, bottom bracket, and cassette. after these parts were removed, I polished the frame and wheels using the aluminum foil method. Next, I installed the BMX crank set and handlebars, a single speed sprocket onto the rear wheel, and re-installed the tires and filled them with air. I installed the brake levers from the Schwinn onto the BMX handlebars and installed a new cable on the rear brake because the original cable was too short. I reused the old rear cable for the front brake.

After installing the wheels and chain, as well re-assembling everything, I sprayed wax onto the frame, seat, and tires.

Here is a video of me riding it.