Sunday, June 8, 2008

Gitane Does Something Useful

No big rides this weekend. Sunday afternoon I realized no rides at all this weekend, and elected to ride to Freddie's (grocery) rather than drive. It is quite close, and the amount of shopping was well within the capacity of my grocery pannier.

And then I thought... I should ride the Gitane! See how it does riding a bit further than two blocks. See how I do riding a bit further than two blocks with downtube shifters. See if the gearing will allow climbing the hills back to the house, too.

I did this in normal everyday clothing, too. Well, except for the helmet and gloves.

Aside from the fenders still not quite properly adjusted, we both did well. I didn't drop the chain anywhere, and managed to get the friction shifters to land on cogs with no problem. So, yeah, I could start using it for a commute bike, perhaps.

Except the headset and steering feel a little weird. I'll have to look into that.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"I did this in normal everyday clothing..."

THAT's the spirit!

= )