New Bike!

Well, it’s a used new bike. The bike I had before belonged to my brother, who had also gotten it second hand. It’s this classic Schwinn Madison bike (56cm), which was way too big for me. Even though I had already modified the stem of the handlebars and lowered the seat as much as possible, the frame was just too big. I’m forced to lean forward into the handlebars and tilt my neck up in an awkward fashion so I end up with back pain after riding it for more than 20 miles. But it’s a real beauty and I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on it from random strangers!

We figured it was time to get serious about getting me a better fitting bike because Erik and I planned a bike camping trip to Santa Barbara. That was my first bike trip AND we brought Maddie! Check out the recap post of that bike trip here! To find a bike, we made an appointment at Adopt-a-Bike, LA’s top spot to buy second-hand bikes that have been fixed and undergone professional maintenance and sold at decent prices. Jose, the guy who runs this shop, is very personable and does a great job with his bikes.

I ended up going with this Centurion Accordo RS road bike at 50cm. I was able to have Jose adjust the bike to my measurements and give it a spin around the neighborhood before deciding to commit. There were still some adjustments to make, so Erik and I will be taking it to our local Bikerowave to do our own maintenance.

Erik bought me new brakes since the old one was rusty and hard to grab.

Then we started unraveling the tape, replaced the brakes and tape in black, plus installed a missing spoke on the front wheel.

All of this took under 2 hours, though at a later time we will need to transfer the rack from one of Erik’s bike for the time being and upgrade the lights. Here is what my bike looked like on the Santa Barbara biking trip!

Overall, I like my new bike and can’t wait to take it on more bike trips. I want to fit a rack so that I can start carrying commuter bags! Thanks for reading 🙂

xx Sam