Sylvia the Linus Dutchi and her changes Part 1

We got Sylvia on February 24, 2014 after searching for the right bicycle for me for a long time.When we were looking I had a few requirements. It had to be strong enough to carry stuff; it needed a low step through for my knee; it had to be small enough to fit me (I'm a very spritely 5'1"-3" tall. It depends on who measures me and my shoes at the time.) It had to feel right. I didn't want black; most of the bikes around here are black and I wanted a blue bike. Good thing I was flexible on the color!

I rode so many different bikes I almost gave up. I rode Treks, Giants, Birias, Raleighs, Specialized, Schwinns, a Montgomery Ward bike, and other assorted Craigslist contraptions. I rode old ones and new ones. I was beginning to think I would never find the right one for me. Then we heard about this little tiny shop that had just opened up, Transit Cycles. The owner let me take a spin on a black Linus Dutchi and it felt good and I could get on easily and just go, but I hated the grips and the brakes sucked. . Of course, me being me, I had to keep looking.

A few days later we went back and I tried out Sylvia. I didn't like seat or her grips, but the fit felt even better than the black one had. Plus she wasn't black. Duncan was willing to trade the rear rack for a front one and trade out the grips for some black foam ones so we put the deposit down and left her to be adjusted. Two days later the small size is available in blue. Oh well, she was already mine.

A week later we went to get her. On the final test ride to make sure she fit and was adjusted properly I found an old drum set. Her front rack carried home the little drum with no problem and that sealed the deal. She could carry stuff and she liked it!

The oldest picture I could find.

After a few months of riding I really hated the saddle (it pinched and not in a good way!) and my dear husband got me my Brooks. It's a B67s and has been the most comfortable saddle I've ever sat on. Now that it has some miles on it, it just keeps getting better and better. 

After about 4 months I had destroyed the rubber in the pedals she came with. Linus was really nice and offered to replace them, but I said no thanks. I tried some other rubber block pedals, but in less than 2 months they had cracked and were falling apart. I think the weather here just destroys the rubber and I hate plastic pedals. I did some research and ended up getting these bear trap pedals in green. They are nice and wide for my feet and they grip my shoes nicely. The only downside is that they really hurt if they hit you. Someday I hope to have rubber pedals that don't fall apart so fast, but until then these ones rock.

In this configuration she took me to work and on many adventures. Then I outgrew her 3 speeds and we got new wheels with bigger gears from my husband for Christmas. That's when the party really started.

To be continued.......

Sylvia is in the shop

Sylvia is in the shop getting her new wheels installed. For Christmas my wonderful husband ordered me wheels that have everything. Hub dynamo, roller brakes, and an 8 speed hub. They arrived yesterday and I was super excited.
I've been spinning out in the third gear for a while now and the higher gears will make me faster and more comfortable. The roller brakes will mean I can stop in less than 15 feet so they're important too. But I want more gears. Please?
After the fun day of destruction I'd had I was ready for something good. I had broken 2 needles on my sewing machine, a 1950 Singer 66 treadle. I then broke the new electric Heavy Duty Singer (it now won't stitch and makes a lovely ratcheting sound) we have trying to sew more bedding for Rory. Now I have to hand sew it and I want a better thimble!
Opening the giant box that came all the way from Germany it was Christmas again! The solid feel of the wheels as I took them out, the shine of the new hubs, it was a truly beautiful moment. I flipped Sylvia upside down and gently flattened and removed her back wheel. I was so excited!

One of my favorite days.

When we tried to put the back wheel on it wouldn't fit; it was about 1/2" to wide for her drop outs. I almost cried, I even stomped my feet a bit. This was just the type of day I'd been having. It was tempting to just grab a 2x4 and spread her myself, but cooler heads prevailed and we took her to Ajo Bikes. After all, this was a job for the professionals!
Once there they warned me that it could damage her to be widened so much and maybe I should just  get a new bike. I don't want a new bike, I want to keep messing with poor Sylvia until she's perfect. Besides, after all the changes we've already made she's really close to being the most perfect and practical bike for me. After getting these better wheels installed the only thing left is better tires, and I already know which ones I want.
They were impressed with the wheels we brought in and the fact that we had all the pieces ready to go. I told them to do it they could and they gave me the number of an excellent welder in case something goes wrong. That made me sweat, but we left her there anyway.
I really hope she comes through ok, it's only 7mm on each side so everything I can find says it will be fine as long as the welds are solid and they reinforce them before they start. My husband keeps telling me that they know what they are doing, so I'm trying not to worry. They will call me when she's done, probably on Monday.
Meanwhile I'm essentially vehicle less until I get her back. I didn't drive my car while working at PetSmart and the battery is dead. At least I still have my feet!

Seen while out with my husband. 

Sylvia's New Look

For the Solstice I decided to give Sylvia a bit of bling. My darling husband and I went around and found the best stickers for her. They are all Sticko stickers and most of them are really shiny. Doesn't she look great!

In the break room at work.

The pedals are also fairly new. I love the rubber ones, but after going through 2 pairs I've switched to green bear traps. They really grip, but hurt if they hit me.

The one that started it and my favorite monkey.

Back of the front fender.

Shiny blue dragon.

Rear fender tail.

Yellow dragon to the front.

Monkey balancing bananas!

Fish and butterflies on the seat tube.

My favorite butterfly!

I'm hoping to add more later, but for now she is rocking! Thanks to her I can avoid all the holiday crazyness that is mall parking and I'm am super grateful for that. 

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and stay safe out there!

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Have Fun!

Cyclovia was fun!

This morning my husband and I went to the GABA bike swap meet and Cyclovia. It was a lot of fun and we had a blast. It felt really good to toodle around on Sylvia. We got there early and a lot of it wasn't open yet on the way out, but on the way back it had really picked up steam.

The route.

It's always nice to not have cars around and it's really special when the sun is kind of shining. (It was a cloudy day. Yay!)

Her first sticker.

My husband got me this cool sticker for Sylvia, now when I look down she's grinning back at me. I think it matches perfectly.

Bike swap meet was crowded.

It was hard to get through the bike swap meet, there were a ton of people. Our bikes made it tricky to navigate, but I'm glad we rode in. You can't impulse buy if you can't carry it home; although I might have been able to strap another bike on my rack and my husbands long tail could have carried one easily.

Sylvia and the party bike.

I'm not sure how it works, but this looked cool.

Fruit smile

One of the volunteers was making fruit smiles and I had to get a pic. It looks like me! I was really grateful they were passing out fruit and granola bars at the end of the route. I forgot breakfast. (Ok, I was just to impatient to leave.) It hit the spot! I also got 2 free bush seedlings and a new bike route map, plus, lots more stickers.

It's cardboard!

There were these neat sculptures made of cardboard. This one reminded me of Davy Jones from Pirates. Then my husband told me what it was. Let's see if you can guess.

It's a walrus!

Not the same statue as the one above. I liked this one too.

A bike plane thing!

The snake bridge

To get to and from downtown you have go through a snake. I love this bridge!

It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again. Now it's back to figuring out my cover so I can publish. Wish me luck!

I made Skirt Guards

I was looking for skirt guards that would work on Sylvia but all I could find were solid type ones so I decided to make my own. It took me a week to figure out the pattern, but in the end I did it! They are a beautiful sparkling black mesh.

Before installation.

I didn't want to drill holes in her fenders to keep them on so I made it so they tie on over the fender. I forgot to make the chain guard side smaller so there is a bit of bunching, but I think it looks good.

A nice mesh to keep your clothes safe.

Since the yarn is cotton I'm not sure how long this set will last. It will give me time to work out a better pattern for the next set. I really love the way the shiny ribbon sparkles in the sun, it's an added bit of bling to my super practical bicycle.
I also made myself a snood that I am loving from the left over yarn and it's super comfortable, but that'a a post for another day.

They go great under my Wald baskets.

This weekends adventures

On Saturday we decided to go shopping by bike and it worked out great! My husband got me this sweet cooler backpack at Home Depot so now I can carry cold stuff without the melt. The amazing thing is that it fits in all my baskets so it's multi-use. It also matches Sylvia perfectly and came with two six packs of my favorite beverage!
We also hit the Red Wing store for some leather care stuff and Safeway for ice cream and produce. I keep getting amazed by how much she can carry. When will I learn she's magic? It was so much fun that we have decided to do all of our 5 mile shopping by bike together. In that area is Safeway, Walmart, Home Depot, Target, Petsmart, and a ton of other places. I wish there were more local type places though.

It can hold 2 gallons of ice cream and 2 mini watermelons!

I love these benches by the park. They're made with old train wheels.

On Sunday we rode downtown to check out Cyclovia. It's a twice a year thing where they close some streets traffic; peds and bikes can roam around freely. It was definitely an experience! The Netherlands we are not; but I had fun. Tucson cyclists are a lot like Tucson drivers, oblivious to whats going on around them. There were a lot of sudden stops and people would just step out right in front of you with out looking. I almost ran over a lady carrying a small dog, but I missed them.

Just arriving and it's already busy.

There were thousands of bicyclists out there. I didn't know there were that many bikes in the city, and more kept arriving. In some places it was scary fun!

Lots of cruisers were there.

I loved seeing all the families out with the children. The kids seemed to have the most fun, but you had to go super slow so you didn't run over them. I'm so glad Sylvia is so stable and easy to balance!

Happy families of all types were out and about.

A lot of the tents were set up in the middle of the road so you had trouble getting by at intersections. On the plus side I learned I can rice slower than 2 miles an hour and stay upright. That's a feat! Once I got used to the flow it went smoother and was actually enjoyable. We walked the bikes a lot though.

I would love to see this every day!

There was this really cool Bull Bike. It's made of real bones and the parts of three different bikes! It's really massive. The legs are articulated and move when it's pedaled which is creepy cool.

Ghost Rider?

I think it would be scary to see that come up behind you in your mirror! It does have a nice smile though.

Smile and wave!

 It was definitely to big for me to even try to ride.

She looks so tiny next to the beast!

Towards the end of the route I found this really cool mail box. I love cool mailboxes! It's a little church!

It's all metal!

All in all it was a great weekend filled with fun and new experiences. I can't wait to see what next weekend will be like; we're going to the bike swap meet! 

I hope you all had a great weekend too!

Bike date!

Last night we went to the first Bike Fest bike-in. They were showing "The Goonies" at a little park a few miles from my house. I love that movie and we had to go! I got everything ready well in advance and even packed a picnic diner of cold chicken sandwiches and crackers. We had cookies for with the movie too!

All packed up.

All the lights were charged and on the bikes. The rear Wald baskets were deployed to hold sweaters, blankets, and seating. I love them even though they are a bit of a pain to open. They are super convenient to have.
It was fun packing stuff into Sylvia's baskets and the scary thing is she could hold way more than that. She's a real pack horse!

Niterider and Flea go nicely under the basket.

About halfway there I was struggling a bit with the extra cargo, and I even told poor husband to go ahead of me and I'd catch up. He refused and stayed with me. Then he toldme it looked like my wheel was a bit squishy. The one thing I had forgotten was to check my tires! All tires have a slow deflation factor and it caught up with me.

We made it to the park.

Even with me moving super slow we got there way early. We were the first ones to arrived. After a few minutes more people came and milled about. It was a cute little park and the only downside was no bathrooms. Fortunately there is a church nearby and I used theirs. My husband and I ate our sandwiches while we waited for the show to start.

Mirror image

"Goonies" was better than i remembered. I don't know if it was the cold outside air, the other people laughing and hooting at the screen, or the fact that it was our first bike date ever, but it was great. Even the cold couldn't detract, but I'm glad I found my favorite gloves and took them. Now I want to go and buy the movie so we can watch it again!
The ride home was dark and chilly, but not as scary as I had worried about. I have a fear of my lights suddenly dying, but it didn't happen and it was actually kind of peaceful. I'm thinking there will be more nighttime excursions in our future, especially after I get a dynamo set up.

Best light gloves ever, and they turn into mittens!

West end of the trail

My husband and I went on a fun ride together all the way to the west end of the bike path. It was the first time in years that we have ridden together and he said it was fun. We are definitely going out together again. I can't wait until they expand it and it goes further! I was proud of how my three speed and I could keep up with him! Of course he stayed behind me for most of it.

End of the road... For now.

Our goal was to go and get him a taller stem from B.I.C.A.S. but they were closed and wouldn't be open for hours.

It's a neat place that has all sorts of random bike stuff. Maybe next time we can get it. 

Let me in!

On the way home we found a mysterious door down a flight of steps. I love the bright orange paint and it really set my imagination off! I wonder where it leads...

The door to ?

Got the new pedals and my mirror installed!

My new pedals arrived yesterday and I had to try them out. They aren't as pretty as the originals, but I think they look good. I really like how they are curved instead of straight. The important thing is that they are really grippy and that was the goal. My only complaint is that they smell really strongly of rubber, it's like a giant tire is in the house. Thankfully the smell should fade soon.

                                    

After the pipe fiasco we went to Ajo bikes. I needed a piece so my rear view mirror could be mounted. They are my favorite bike shop, you can always find random small parts that no one else has. Thankfully they had the part and I also got the tiniest patch kit for my hidden bag. Now I can fit even more in there! Yay!