Author: Matthew Steinhoff

During my normal Saturday morning ride, I started getting less and less comfortable. Ten or so miles in, my knees felt as though they were going to hit my chin when I was in the drops. What was happening?

Simple answer: my seat was slipping down.

By the time I got off the bike to see what was going on a few miles later, I had lost nearly two inches of the seat post down the tube. Not good but fairly typical of an old, steel bike.

Steel Bikes Go Soft and Stretch with Age

My bike and I both are going soft with age. As you can see from the picture, the top of the frame where the seat post sits is touching. There should be an air gap there when the post is tight. As the frame ages and stretches, you loose the ability to really clamp down on the seat post.

(Also note that the rubbing of the bike bag has worn away at least two layers of paint.)

Might Makes Right — Or, Not

Being a well-prepared cyclist, I had the right size hex wrench in my bag. Until I had a chance to shim out the seat post with a cut-up aluminum soda can, I could just really crank down on the clamp and it would hold this one last time.

My bike had other ideas. It was tired and it wasn’t going to take it anymore. When I give the bolt a half-twist, it shattered and shot nearly eight feet away.

Crap.

I’m fifteen miles from the starting point and my seat is now flush with the frame. This is a six-inch difference from where I would normally ride. Not fun. The nearest bike shop is seven miles. I couldn’t think of anywhere nearby that would have a bolt at eight in the morning.

J-Town Bikes and Ace Hardware to the Rescue

Fortunately, I ran into Richard who works at J-Town Bikes. He biked up into the same Circle-K parking lot as I was sitting. He suggested I try the Ace Hardware store not two blocks away. I never would have known it was there. (Richard also was the one that gave me the soda can idea for the permanent fix.)

Sure enough, the Ace Hardware had a bolt that would work until I could fix the bike for good. The bolt and a hex wrench in the new size cost $2.09 and that included tax.

So, you’d think I’d fix the bike as soon as possible to avoid any additional problems, right? That would be he most responsible thing to do.

Three weeks later, I’m still riding with the temporary bolt and without the seat post shimmed out. It still slides a little over the course of a 30-mile ride.

I’m writing today in the hopes that with this public admission that I’ll guilt myself into doing the right thing and getting the bike fixed before this weekend.

Check in with me Monday.

—Matt

My new, used 2001 Bianchi Talladega is an awesome bike and a huge step up from my frankensteined Trek 7300.

First, a few words about the Trek 7300. I bought it in 1998 shortly after moving to Orlando. I didn't know anyone in town and figured that with an empty social calendar I could get some exercise. I stopped by the local bike shop (Bike Works, MetroWest location) and told them what I wanted — a low-end road bike. When they told me that would cost $800, I asked them what they had for $500. That brought me to the Trek 7300. I swapped out the straight bars for drop bars and rode it for the next ten years. After eight years, the head tube cracked and Trek replaced the frame (under warranty) with a Trek 7700 frame. I even managed to do a century on the bike.

Still, it was a beast of a bike. Naked, it weighed in at 22 pounds. Add in the lights, rack, generator hub, ham radio, MP3 player with handlebar-mounted speakers and whatnot and it must be 40 pounds. My fault, I know. Still, heavy and slow. It was no road bike.

I had never seriously considered upgrading since all the bikes I lusted after were more than $2,000 and I really had no excuse to spend money on a bike that I rode ostensibly for exercise.

That was, until my (now favorite) Uncle Mark borrowed a full carbon bike for the Tour of Rural Southern Vistas (TOSRV). After tearing up the road on a bike that was lighter than air, he was hooked. Not too long after he got home, he bought a 2008 Trek Madone 5.5. Good for him and better for me. The fine Italian road bike on which he had put more than 25,000 miles, a 2001 Bianchi Talladega, was put out to pasture. (Read about Mark's Bike in his own words.)

After weeks of negotiation, begging, whining and small unmarked bills, Uncle Mark put the bike in a box and it showed up at my office. Continue reading “2001 Bianchi Talladega — My New, Used Bike”