yulquen redux
my bike was stripped last year; they took the stem, rear wheel (which i built, tensioned, and trued all by myself), seatpost, and seat. when i saw the bike next, the handlebars were dangling from the brake housing.
two days later i bought a republic bike which is not bad but is still not the same and also weighs four pounds more and is harder to pedal. i’ve used it since. what was left of my bike, my real actual bike, the one that i love really ridiculously dearly for it being a material possession, sat on the floor of my apartment.
over the past two weeks i bought replacement parts, which are not the same parts (except for the seat) and do not feel like the same parts but still suffice in making the bike feel like the bike, which is very good.
yesterday i put all the parts onto the bike except for the brake cables and housing.
today i installed brake cables and housing; removed the bottom bracket lockring that refused to stay on and was a small, subtle pain in my ass for a year; tightened my rear cog onto the hub; tensioned the rear hub; and rode eight blocks to sultan’s market.
i had no preparation for how good that mile ride would feel, for aforementioned reasons of this being my bike and it feeling perfectly sized to me and handling precisely how i expect a bike to handle now. it was so god damned fantastic that i should just give up on further description on this here tumblr. when i arrived at sultan’s, though, a dude was unclipping his bike from the rack, and told me:
“man, it’s so good to get riding again.”
indeed, dude. indeed.
