A big grimy handshake and virtual beers to the crew at Bicycle Kitchen, who gave me a taste of community bike culture, as well as patient, expert advice and the use of exotic tools I'd never buy for myself.
I helped load-out all the frames from the shop onto the sidewalk as they opened yesterday. I also helped remove a balky set of pedals for one customer and almost pulped one of my fingertips by smashing it into the frame when the seized pedal bolt suddenly snapped loose (I'll be losing that fingernail pretty soon) but she was extremely grateful.
And then I performed what amounts to scary, never-tried-it-before open-heart surgery on my own bike (entire chainset swap - cassette, front rings, bottom bracket and cranks) in about two hours - and didn't destroy the frame doing it ...
This was an absolute kick, and couldn't have happened without the help of a couple of great mechanics who were moving too fast from one project to the next for me to catch their names and thank 'em properly.
I'd seen all the b.la guys rave about the Kitchen, but I didn't fully grok the coolness of the operation until I realized what was happening at the stand next to mine:
A guy walked in with a stripped '70s Motobecane frame, slapped $60 worth of used parts onto it with help from a couple of cooks, and rode out 90 minutes later on a fully functional bike.
Brilliance. Or, as Shane Nickerson might vlog, HAWESOME.
Posted by: Mack_Reed on Sunday, February 12, 2006 - 09:07 PM
