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Bike building....


Paul made a generous offer. He is loaning me all the parts off his Orbea to build Beverly a road bike. I purchased a frame off Ebay that should do. I looked at a lot of high end frames. They were asking anywhere from $500 to $2000 for carbon frames all the way down to brand name frames. I found this Scattante frame for $105.50. Then the seller agreed to throw in the seat post and collar for an extra $20. That would be half the cost of buying new ones and who can say if Paul's would be the right size. So I am excited about getting all the parts together and building it up. Unlike the Red Tandem, these parts are used so they will need to be cleaned and lubed prior to assembly. But that can be a rainy day project sometime soon. I am expecting it to take a week to get the thing here. Who can say. Then I'll still need cables to finish off the project. If that is all that is left to get it together, I may just purchase them at Bike Links.

Tomorrow, I expect the Ultegra front derailleur to come in. Then I can get the tandem back to shifting normally. It has been a trial but the reason finally came to light. The loud noise I heard that day was the bolt breaking from the derailleur itself. Finally it just came apart. With the replacement on, we should have smooth shifting once again.

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