http://frankenbike.net/ They're all over - four major Texas cities, but also in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Portland and Las Vegas. A monthly meet and flea market to keep old bikes rolling, buy and sell parts and frames and hats and tee-shirts, make friends, show off. And if you can't think of a better plan, a good destination ride. My buddy and I headed that way yesterday morning. Very close to 15 miles one-way from his house, through downtown, into the near southside. We were already downtown, twenty blocks away, when my left-side crank arm exploded leaving a stoplight.
<http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/700c/aP1207649.jpg> It was a progressive crack (fatigue), growing from the horizontal corners of the square taper, grew through to the back of the arm, and through 70% of the total cross section before busting at that stoplight. <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/700c/aP1207650.jpg> There was a bike shop across the street, but it was closed. There was another bike shop 20 blocks backtrack, and still another 10 blocks south. We tried half-pedaling another block, but I discovered I couldn't keep it all together without a place to put my left foot. So we were biathletes and walked the 20 blocks south to Frankenbike. I know you've seen this photo, but my old Raleigh has become a legend at Frankenbike. Each of the vendors there knew me from my bike, and they all wanted to chat. <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/700c/aP1170017.jpg> Some guys rode up on really nice road bikes, but I don't think they got it. Overheard them describing everything they saw as junk. One man's trash, etc. I found a lonely left side crank arm, paid 5 bucks, my buddy bought a London Fog raincoat and stuffed it in my rando bag, we stopped for Mexican food, and pedaled the 15 miles back to my buddy's house. Wouldn't even have known there was a problem. Saved by Frankenbike. This morning, brought in the right side to work - where I took the quick copystand photos. I dye-penetrant inspected the square tapers in the right-side crank and found it to be crack-free. Awesome. I love my half-steps and bailout, and had paid $130 for the complete crankset on ebay. (it's about $650 to assemble a new one from Boulder). I found this on ebay for a new right-side crank arm http://www.ebay.com/itm/251411727848 Happy camper. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
