If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Or a New Rivet Saddle...

The Rivet Imogene test saddle arrived a week ago.  I've been waiting on this saddle for probably a year.  Of course, I had tweaked my back and wasn't doing any wrenching at the moment...

Fast forward to today.  Swapping saddles is expected to be a relatively easy operation.  Put the bike in the stand.  Removed the saddlebag, Carradice Bagman, and spare tire.  Measured from stem to back of saddle, and top of saddle to bottom bracket, so I could reproduce the placement.  Removed the existing saddle.

Rough-installed the new saddle, getting the height and setback as close as possible - the Rivet is taller and a bit shorter than the Selle Italia Diva.  Took the bike off the stand to get the tilt set.

And that is where the "fun" started.  I'd get a tilt setting, crank down the bolt, and ride up the driveway.  No matter how tightly I cranked the bolt, the seat would tip back.  After a few go-arounds with this, I removed the saddle, and dissassembled the seatpost, a Nitto Dynamic 626.  After poking at it a bit, it seemed that the tilt adjustment was frozen.  There was a piece that looked like it should slide, but it wasn't moving.  A little Tri-flow, a big screwdriver and a rubber mallet were called into service, and I gently knocked it loose.  Lots of wiping, regreasing, and reassembly, and I again had a functioning seatpost.

A few more tweaks of the tilt and tightness (and trips up and down the driveway), and I called it good.  Time to reinstall the rear luggage.



Got the Bagman and Barley back on, and happened to look at the bottom of the Barley bag.  The straps didn't look right, because they were hanging on by a couple of threads (!!!)



Located the Speedy Stitcher Awl (I've repaired bike luggage before!), and removed the bag.  Emptied the bag (wait, no spare brake cable!  Fetch one from the parts stash!).  Vacuumed it out.



Repaired the straps.



And FINALLY, after all that, reinstalled the bag and spare tire.

Longish ride soon to test it out.

Navigating through Beaverton - UPDATED August 2017

I live right outside the border of Beaverton, Oregon, and do much of my errands by bicycle or on foot.  East/west travel is a bit tedious.  No matter which road one chooses north of TV Hwy, one either gets on a rather major road passing large local employers (swoosh!), passes through a heavily trafficked shopping center (bad things happen there), and otherwise end up having to turn because the road doesn't go through,  because there's a shopping center, a creek, or just because.

And then there's Millikan Way.  It started out as a street bordering the southern edge of the (now much diminished) Tektronix Industrial Park, between Hocken and Murray.  All the roads around and through Tektronix are named after famous physicists.  Over the years, it was extended to Hall Blvd to the east, and, to the west it went out to the Tualatin Hills Nature Park, and then turned south to intersect with TV Hwy and join SW 160th.

It doesn't have much traffic, and is a fairly straightforward way to ride east and west just north of TV Hwy.  Did I mention that TV Hwy is a stroad; not much fun to ride along?

Metro just opened a really nice path along Hall Creek, between SW 117th and SW 114th.   You'd think there would be a connection, but Millikan Way dead-ends east of Hall.  So there's an unfortunate gap in the route.

One can (and there is a very definite desire path) cut across to SW Lombard from the east end of SW Millikan.  There will finally be a road extending Millikan to Lombard, but the project dates are unknown.  UPDATE: Aug 2017 - the desire path is now PAVED.  With WAYFINDING SIGNS.

Then, from SW Lombard, one can cross the street and cut through the Transit Center, over a bridge, and into a shopping center with well-behaved traffic.  I take the path continuing straight through to SW 117th.

And there we find another gap.  The path along Hall Creek is right there across the street.  But there is no crosswalk and no curb cuts on either side of SW 117th.  Fortunately, another lightly trafficked crossing, and a fun ride (with pauses to watch the ducks) through to SW 114th.



At this point, the route really does come to an end.  I typically turn left, and then right on SW Center, so as to cross over Hwy 217 and head home.

Places of interest along the route:
Falk Hardware (Millikan and Cedar Hills) - my favorite hardware store.  I need a fastener, they've got it!
Edge Coffee and Cafe Yumm (Millikan west of SW Murray, north side)  Cafe Yumm.  Nuff said.
Beaverton Bike Gallery (Millikan just east of SW Hall) My LBS.
Portland Clinic - not that I like going there, but it is great that my doctors are so close.
Bogza Coffee in The Round
Tualatin Hills Nature Park
Joann's Fabric, Marinepolis Sushiland, Jim and Patty's Coffee
many useful small businesses south of Millikan and north of TV Hwy, like the Batteries Plus, Tom's Pancake House and the Brickyard Tavern