I found an old Apollo 12 speed in the bushes by St. Cuthbert's church.

Abandoned.

How can I tell?

Two flat tires (one with the valve stem ripped out), a REALLY bent back wheel, and the brake lever bent inward to indicate the bike had been picked up and dropped again several times.

Spotted it while on a grocery run with the kids. Brought it home.

That back wheel has been the most difficult part of the project thus far. I've just (re)built my first wheel!

With a steel rim, once you release the spoke tension, the rim will assume the classic "taco" shape. An aluminum rim, however, will hold its shape and cannot be bent straight while under tension.

So I had to dismount the rim off the hub. Whacked the heck out of it with a mallet (among other things) to get it more-or-less straight, then had to re-assemble the wheel. First time ever.

Turned out pretty good. Wheel now rolls straight, but it's not "round" enough; I have to re-do the tension in a couple of points because there the rim is off centre to the hub.

Did I mention that I made an improvised wheel truing jig? No? Well, money is rather tight right now, so dropping 150$ on a wheel truing stand like this is out of the question. A little Googling found a plan from one of Sheldon Brown's devotees to rig up an old fork as an impromptu wheel stand. What can I say? It works! Remember the random act of kindness from a recent post? Uh-huh, guess which fork I used?

Ok, that covers the bike shop; what else is there?

Work:

Lotsa overtime. Am working Monday for 55$ per hour. If not for the money, I wouldn't bother...

I mean, I don't like being there when I DO have to be there...

Colin.

Is Ok, thanks. He's got an inhaler now. A precaution, as the MD's still can't tell us whether or not his attack was some kind of fluke.

Now he's bugging me to feed him a late dinner...so I will have to sign off now.