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lurker wrote: Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:30 pm new-to me raleigh 12-speed "502" no, not a model #, that's the steel alloy the tubes are made of. missing some parts - left crank & pedal, brake lever, front caliper, seat is trashed but appears to be a mostly-complete made-in Taiwan mid-80s road bike by raleigh USA. paid a neighbor $80, probably way more than it's worth. will try to fix it up. will report. in retrospect i had no good reason to buy it, maybe i'll find some kid to donate it to. first job, find and interpret the serial #. i think that's it under the crank. i've never owned a raleigh before. we'll see which i like better, this or my ancient peugeot. pics tomorrow.

That's like the Concord I found on the street. One rim was unsalvageable the other a maybe. Tubes, tires and wheel liners shot, all the cables needed replacement. Toughest was the Dia-Compe pre-cut short lifter cable--on MAFACs one end is a lockdown. Also needed new brake pads, of course. Rides nicely now.

You'll probably have to completely replace the crank set and new pedals, etc. Frankly, you were generous to give ANYTHING for it, given what it's missing.
My complete and totally BIASED opinion is that you won't like the Raleigh anywhere nearly as much as the Peugeot.

Oh boy! After seeing those pics you've got your work cut out! Looks like it's missing the left shifter as well. And the chain is not salvageable, nor are the cables. I don't know if the derailleur can be saved--maybe, but probably not its rollers. Better get a bike stand--makes working on them SO much easier!

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lurker wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 4:33 pm it's something to keep me busy for a while. retirement is hell, i tell you. this may be a taller frame, i notice the peugeot is a little small.

Sept 31st (KIDDING!) will mark 10 years since my wife pushed me to "retire". That implies I don't still work. I do, I just don't get paid to work anymore!

Yeah, it will keep you busy. Does look like a larger frame. Hope the wheels are good and you don't have to re-spoke them! You should plan on pulling the hubs, bottom bracket, and probably the steering head bearings apart and servicing them. I use a tub of Bel-Ray water-resistant grease that I've had for at least 40 years. I use a nifty gauge I got at H-F to true the wheels. Tedious, but necessary.

Still healing from my fall.
The knee is a problem because I can't wear the brace I need for the torn medial meniscus--the road rash makes it too painful. And the left hand still feels like I have a stress fracture there. So I can't yet ride. I see the doctor Friday.
I didn't go to the ER or an urgent care center--instead I went straight to an ortho who specializes in hands and wrists. He asked if I had been to either and I said no, it seemed to make more sense to go straight to the specialist....Cuts and scrapes heal, but bones, tendons, and ligaments need an expert.

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YankeeTarheel wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 8:39 am Still healing from my fall.
The knee is a problem because I can't wear the brace I need for the torn medial meniscus--the road rash makes it too painful. And the left hand still feels like I have a stress fracture there. So I can't yet ride. I see the doctor Friday.
I didn't go to the ER or an urgent care center--instead I went straight to an ortho who specializes in hands and wrists. He asked if I had been to either and I said no, it seemed to make more sense to go straight to the specialist....Cuts and scrapes heal, but bones, tendons, and ligaments need an expert.

Getting old really is a bitch.

I've reached the point where it is only really bad if I cough, sneeze or try to overdo reaching.

lurker wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 9:31 am what caused your fall?

Dumb. There's a paved path around the town's fountain that's in the middle of a pond--very pretty-- and I went off the path onto the grass to let some pedestrians stay on the path. When I went to get on it again, I hit the edging at too shallow an angle and the front wheel instantly went parallel to it--and I did a face plant. Cut my chin in a couple of places, road rash on my left knee, cuts and scrapes in a bunch of places.
But the worst is my left hand. The scrapes on the outside of my left little finger were deep enough to make my wife go woozy. And, of course, whatever damage I've done to the inside of the hand and wrist.

Getting old and being long past the use-by date on joints etc really can sometimes suck.

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lurker wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 11:06 amouch.

Yeah, but I've had worse, like when I fell off the motorcycle 17 years go.

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lurker wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 11:20 am motorcycles, yeah. mine laid me up for a couple of days. i was lucky, i walked (limped) away.

6 weeks in a splint that looked like half of a rocket jump suit control, then a total of 6 mo P/T.
Luckily, no surgery needed.

YankeeTarheel wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 11:01 am

lurker wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 9:31 am what caused your fall?

Dumb. There's a paved path around the town's fountain that's in the middle of a pond--very pretty-- and I went off the path onto the grass to let some pedestrians stay on the path. When I went to get on it again, I hit the edging at too shallow an angle and the front wheel instantly went parallel to it--and I did a face plant.

Ouch! That fall type is a serious thing! I'm hoping for a solid and rapid recovery from your injuries.

I learned that lesson as a teen--if I veered off the pavement, it was best to stop and lift the bike back on the pavement, or at least have closer to a right angle when getting back on the pavement.

The same basic idea applies to rail crossings. Longitudinal cracks in pavement are just as dangerous. Stormwater grates over by the gutter can be bad, if the slots even come close to aligning with your direction of travel.

BearPaws wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 7:37 am Ouch! That fall type is a serious thing! I'm hoping for a solid and rapid recovery from your injuries.

I learned that lesson as a teen--if I veered off the pavement, it was best to stop and lift the bike back on the pavement, or at least have closer to a right angle when getting back on the pavement.

The same basic idea applies to rail crossings. Longitudinal cracks in pavement are just as dangerous. Stormwater grates over by the gutter can be bad, if the slots even come close to aligning with your direction of travel.

Try riding a friends off-road motorcycle with knobby tires across an egg crate bridge.

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BearPaws wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 7:37 am

YankeeTarheel wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 11:01 am

lurker wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 9:31 am what caused your fall?

Dumb. There's a paved path around the town's fountain that's in the middle of a pond--very pretty-- and I went off the path onto the grass to let some pedestrians stay on the path. When I went to get on it again, I hit the edging at too shallow an angle and the front wheel instantly went parallel to it--and I did a face plant.

Ouch! That fall type is a serious thing! I'm hoping for a solid and rapid recovery from your injuries.

I learned that lesson as a teen--if I veered off the pavement, it was best to stop and lift the bike back on the pavement, or at least have closer to a right angle when getting back on the pavement.

The same basic idea applies to rail crossings. Longitudinal cracks in pavement are just as dangerous. Stormwater grates over by the gutter can be bad, if the slots even come close to aligning with your direction of travel.

Yeah, I know this. I've done it correctly hundreds of times, and with a MTB with a Rock Shock it's not a problem--except this time...I just plain fucked up. Most of the cuts and scrapes are healed or healing up nicely. Just the left hand is still bothering me. It will be X-rayed again on Friday.

lurker wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 3:59 pm have you priced motorcycles lately? just for fun while my "new" van is in the shop, today i priced kawasaki KLR 650s (on/off road bikes) and new ones are 6 or 7k. 10 - 15 yr old used run 4 to 7k, too. i could buy a lot of guns (or a car) for 4-7k.

Not lately. Not seriously looking to replace either my 2004 FJR or my 2002 FZ1.

last week, we ordered a $699 electric bicycle. today it came so i assembled it, which was painful. instructions were rudimentary, unclear, incomplete. included an 8, 10 and 15mm wrench and 4 hex wrenches, luckily i had a 13 and 18mm and phillips screwdriver. had to remove the rear wheel to get the fender on. if you don't already know how to do basic bike assembly, get someone to do it for you. i am exhausted. charging the battery at the moment, but i did loop around the yard once via pedals. it's an adequate low-end chinese bicycle. we'll see about the power mode tomorrow. pics soon.
https://www.ecotric.com/collections/peacedove - the white one.

got to ride it some. on flat or nearly so ground, it zips along pretty well. on an incline it goes up i, but not zippy, this is where pedal assist helps. and on a steep slope it struggles; pedaling definitely needed. all in all, a fun thing, essentially an electric scooter with pedal assist. if i lived in a flat place like 90% of florida, great choice. might be better next time to go with more power, maybe 48 volts. as an entry-level e-bike, i like it.

Class 2 eBike. I have a Class 1--only pedal assist, not an electric scooter at all. But I LOVE it! I've put over 750 miles on it since last October--and the tires are showing definite wear. Assembly was pretty straight-forward--I had assembled a couple of new bikes already. But....I stumbled on the electric connections because there were ZERO instructions on how to do that. I had to dig into the Shimano website for the instructions to retailers about how to make the connections. Even so, I was TERRIFIED that I did them wrong. But it's been fine.

the lack of instructions makes me suspect that this was never intended to be directly accessible to the consumer, and somehow they lost control of it. which is good because we can cut the retailer cost out of the loop, but bad because we're sort of on our own on how to make it work.

lurker wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 4:40 pm the lack of instructions makes me suspect that this was never intended to be directly accessible to the consumer, and somehow they lost control of it. which is good because we can cut the retailer cost out of the loop, but bad because we're sort of on our own on how to make it work.

Yeah, BikesDirect dot com provides only a rudimentary generic assembly instruction manual--the rest you're on your own. But I bought an inexpensive bike repair stand and it's a god-send (this for a devout Agnostic). I've had my old Peugeot UO-8, my Motobecane MTB, a friend's inexpensive but nice Schwinn MTB, the Concord 10 speed I found on the street and restored, my Motobecane eBike, and, currently, a Trek woman's MTB I found discarded with the Concord that's nearly finished, on the stand from time to time.
The two Motos and the Schwinn were all new assemblies.