Below is a series of posts that I had no where else to put, most current on top.
---- Ruby Running lights, need to replace bulbs ---
Click on a pic twice to see it big.....
I got some cheap'o's from JC Whitney and mounted them to my foot pegs, cheap but works... My ? is, how do I change the light bulb? I have 3 "divots" and you can see one, it looks to me like the outer light cover is pressed into the rear housing and it needs to be popped off, but before I do it and #$&*!)*! it up, any secrets????!!!
Front view, click on the pic twice to see the lens crack....
---- end running lights section -------
---------- Dad New Cannondale F5 Section ---------------
Below is a blog of a gorgeous ride! At the end... be very aware! GBG lack of clothes... The Cranky dude and my old bike "Silver"! RIP!
http://dadfunrides.blogspot.com/2010/03/san-jose-arc-bernal-19-mi-loop.html
OK, my Cranky machine had 30K on it.... Last one made 35K IIRC, but that's a joke! GBG Remember????????? Oh look, there goes a squirrel......
The old bike, Silver, needed new: 2 rims, 2 tires, chain, cluster, 2 brakes, derailer, shifters... not worth the cost! Quite honestly, the new bike cost less than repairs would have!!! 'cause that's what I told the wife! GBG ... and it's true! Would'a been > $600!
I've always wanted a Cannondale, like Red... looked at Craigslist and saw a new '09, barely ridden for about $500 under new... be still my heart!!!! The guy lived 6 miles from me... beat feet to Credit union, take out... $400 bucks!!! YES!!!!!!!! It was legit and I even gave him 20 bucks extra! He wanted 500 and I offered 400....
Meet Big Red!!! (sorry Stewey!!! GBG) Cannondale F5 - 27 speed, disk brakes, variable adjust / lock out shock, you basic Cranky Machine!!! GBG Yes, I stole it... but the guy said the rear gears needed adjusting... heck... piecea cake, eh? #$&(%#$%&# it had adjustments I've never seen and no way to research...On to Wheel Away, my favorite bike shop and they are a Cannondale dealer... (and the bike was bought there) Take it in for an adjustment and asked for a handle bar riser... I had already moved my 3" stem riser over... Pick it up the next day!!!
...next day.... got to talkin' to the guy there tellin' him I'm gonna move my rack over... he said... can't.. The disk brakes... it won't work.. you COULD make it work but YOU got your work cut out for you... Geez.... New rear rack! (hey, the old one was dirty... sigh) And of course my old carry rack bungees were worn out... new ones!!!
Hey, need fenders, grabbed a pair... you can't use them... the disk brakes and the fork doesn't have any mounting... sigh Had to buy a plastic pieca "stuff"!!! (@%(&$
Well, it had Presta tubes, and I don't like adapters, and the rims had not been drilled and of course no Mr Toughie's!!! The guy says "hey, we can do it for a couple bucks"!!! So I get them to mount the rack, front fender, handle bar riser, new Schrader tubes, Mr Toughie's, drill the rims.... hey, I'm NOT in a hurry! &(#$%#($%
Oh, it only had one water bottle cage... can't have that!!! Put one on!!! &$(%$&%(^ ( the old ones were dirty.. sigh)
Oh, did I say it had disk brakes? Well we need a spare set of pads, eh!!! So @($%&#$( later and $230 $&%@(&@#$%_ bucks I get out of there...
Done, eh!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!! Hysterically laughing!!!!!!!! &(%$@&(%$($
... so NOW ALL I have to do is move: toe clips, pump, computer (and reprogram it!!!), flanger bell, bar ends, the new seat was trash... move the seat, seat carry pouch back to old seat! ... adjust everything... sigh. I'm glad I think this is my last bike!!! Should take me well over 100K, and by then I should be on a rocking chair by the keg! I'm almost at 76K, so maybe I have a chance!
Maybe a stationary recumbent bike... GBG Now they have two kinds, an USS and ASS!!! Under Seat Steering and Above Seat Steering! I think I like ASS! GBG
WHEW!!!!!!!!!! Lookin' good for maiden voyage! Am I done? Any scoot rider will tell you that there are three things that are trash on a new ride, seat - fixed, and tires.. these monsters gotta go and hand grips!! And I need a suspension seat post, that's my solution to a hard tail!
Another shot....About to take off... it's been raining, sigh... but we have a bit of clearing!!! What could go wrong... sigh
Big Red and I got trashed!!! It rained like hell!!! I kept thinking I could make it around the cell... got hung up at a long light, and the joke and rain were on Big Red and I! Soaked!Had my rain gear FWIW, the water ran down my legs into my shoes... squish... squish... We had an appropriate maiden voyage!! She lives!!! Whoo Whoo!!!!! GBG
... the daughter Amy says... gee, does that mean I get your old rack???!! I said yup! She said thanks! So while it was raining... take it off my old bike.. nothing is easy, eh?
Well the old bike fenders I could not use had a long screw that I could not move over, out comes the junk screw collection... SUCCESS! Have everything.. go to put it on.
Amy's bike... reflector in the way... """@&@ ...did I say the old bike was a 27.5 wheel base and Amy's is a 26??? ....and needed a "bit of adjusting???!!!" Had to fab a new bracket for reflector??!! Hey!!!! Got 'er done!!!! and had a lot of fun!!!
Amy has a new / old rack! The only thing on the old bike worth using is the fenders... RIP Silver!!!!
-------------------- update 04/17 ---------------------------
Well, it is a hard tail, I like to fix that with a suspension seat post. Got a Promax for about $40 delivered to the house, and boy what a difference! Takes the hit out of bumps! Went on a ride and enjoyed it! Noticed my back tire was wiggling... 2 rear wheel broke spokes!!! Did NOT enjoy it! $(%(&#$%(&_#$%
Rear tires, the spokes that break are next to the drive gear cluster, so you have to remove it to change the spokes.... &(@%&(@
This is due to the power delivery on that side and the design of the rim which puts more stress on the right (while sitting on the bike) side of the bike, where the gears are.... so it's a double stress hit!!! So off to the bike shop to get a dozen spokes... #$*)%#)$%*! sigh... + GBG
Well, now the "end"? of the upgrade... got some new Michelin 1.75" city hard pack off road tires.. got a deal, got 2 shipped to the house for 40 bucks... ride test today... WOW I got an extra gear out of 'um and I was flyin'!!! The ones that came with the bike... I can't describe how bad there were! They were slugs! Unbelievable! It rode like a completely different bike! Think I'm done?! Whew!!!!
----------END Dad New Cannondale F5 Section ---------
-------------- Junk Power Supply Section ---------------------
Pics are from top to bottom....
Ted Werman, one of our retired old farts, gave me a power supply he had laying around, mine is on the fritz, does funny stuff..
Should be 1/2 hour job, taking your time and cleaning the chassis out...
Har! #$%&#!(%&#$(%#&$
So I get the little carry around vacuum out and I want to take the input pipe and put on the output and use it as a blower.... I THOUGHT it did that... well, before I broke it gave up the idea and got out my brush, the fat one I carried in my CE tool case, and proceeded to vac out the case.....
Well, the crevis tool was cracked / broken... wife had tried to tape it and used black electrical tape.... that stretches... Cut it all off and got out the duct tape.... just started to tape it and the $&*%&%*@#$_ tape ran out...
Got more tape, works good... So I go inside and look at the cables and it is really simple a 24 pin connector and a CPU power connector and I/O power...
So I'm unplugging the drives, have to get some cables out of the way so I could see.... got to the CPU power cable... The #$(&"$#&@$$@& thing is UNDER the ^&%($%@_&@%^ CPU heat sink!!! !&(!#($%!#$(%
OK, I release the lower fan latch and get it out.. Old one out/ new one in... Routing / plugging drives and power cables... all went well... PC booted!!! Whoo Whoo!!!! if was later it woulda been beer time!!!
All the drives there, cd works.... no )$&$@_()%&* sound!!!!
I use the speakers in the monitor, tried an external set, NG $&$#@*(@^&$(^%
Looked at the sound source, Sound Blaster, everything said it was good.... (&(&@$%^((@$ powered off the PC and made sure the SB was seated, powered backup and magically it all worked...
I hate Bill Gates!!!! I'm up on my new Antec supply... If weight is any measure of quality, the Antec is 4 times as good as my old one, it was MUCH heaver!
Well, I was curious about the drastic difference in weight, so out comes the screw driver... There was hardly anything in the &"! *_%*$ thing/
We HAVE to have a shot from all sides.....
I held it up to the light and could see thru it! That's why I wanted inside....
Upper right, it said it had a 450W output... I don't know how they calc'd that but it was a no-name pieca junk! Caused me untold hours of system not running right! $@%&(#@#% &#$%(& Fingers crossed... Cranky
---------- End of Junk Power Supply Section -----------------
