stephennielson.com

So Tomi and I have had iBook G4′s for the past four years. Today we decided to go down to the Apple Store to get a new mouse for our iMac (yes, the venerable Mighty Mouse scroll wheel finally ate it). We walked in the front door and started looking at the iPads when an old friend and his wife happened to bump into us. After guiding them through selecting a new MacBook, Tomi and I wandered back over to the iPads.

Now we had no intention of buying an iPad. In fact, I kind of thought that the iPad was a joke. Really just a big iPod touch, nothing more. Well we played with them for a bit and discussed how we used our current laptops, which was basically as Internet terminals.

After little debate (I had no say. It was all Tomi I swear) we decided not to get an iPad… But rather to get two iPad’s. If you include my iPhone, the iPads make seven Apple computers in the house. Yes, we are Apple whores.

So what are my first impressions of it? Well, as you can imagine, I am typing this post on it right now. The keyboard is just like a big iPhone one. But it surprisingly easy to type with two hands. Being used to a nice full sized keyboard, you make a few mistakes, but not nearly as many as I would have expected. The interface is just a big iPhone interface, which means it is really easy to navigate. The only thing I have to complain about is that my iPhone is hacked, the iPad is not (yet) so I lack some of the functionality that I have become accustom too.

So far the iPad is pretty cool. The main reason that we decided to get them was that the way we used our iBooks was so limited that the iPad was a fairly cheap and clean way to upgrade to some newer technology. I am disappointed that I can’t easily connect to my server, but I’m sure that I will find a way soon enough.

Look for future updates on my life with iPad (and pictures) in the future!

While I was building Tomi a bike I realized that this would mean that I needed a bike too. Tomi would want to ride to the store together, the park, ect. Unlike Tomi’s bike, I didn’t need to go searching for one, I knew what one I would fix up. My Dad’s 1962 Raleigh Sprite:

As you can see from the above picture, it had been sitting for awhile. Probably 12 years or more. A little history on the bike is that my Dad got this in 1962 when he was 13 years old. It is a 10 speed using a Campagnolo Gran Sport friction derailer system. It has a 22.5 inch frame, which is a little short for me, but not bad. The saddle is a Lycett B15 Sparrow.

I remember my Dad riding it with my sister, Mom and I when I was a kid. Of course, once I got my drivers license, bike riding was out. So the bike languished at first in the garage, then in the old playhouse in the backyard. Once I knew I needed a bike, this is the first one that popped in my head. Not only because of my long standing mantra of never buying new vehicle’s, but also for the history.

There was nothing mechanically wrong with the bike, it just needed a really good cleaning and a tune up. So I set myself upon it, the results of which will be detailed in pictures later. I really wanted to keep the bike as original as possible, but a few things had to be swapped. First were the consumables. Tires, brake pads, handle bar grips. The tires I replaced with Continental Ultra Sport’s, the pads with Shimano R50t’s and white Bontrager handlebar wraps to match the original brake cable housings. I was lucky enough to be able to recover the brake cable housings, which I was afraid would be too brittle.

I wavered back and forth on whether or not to try and restore the extremely rusty original wheels. Finally I decided to just replace them when new steel ones. A consequence of this decision was that I needed to get the five speed free wheel gear cluster off the old wheel. I was unable to and none of the bike shops I took it to could either, even resulting in one shop rounding off their tool! So I had to get a new gear cluster, which was disappointing.

To clean the bike I striped it down to just the frame and crank. I went over the whole thing with Brake Kleen and got all the dirt and grime off of it. And there was a lot! It took two whole cans of Brake Kleen. Next I used rubbing compound on all the chrome and polished the frame. Finally I waxed everything. Doesn’t sound like too hard of a task, but it took me a couple of days to really get it good and clean. The results speak for themselves though.

The saddle was another item that I wondered if I should replace. It was 50 years old, dry and cracking. I went online to see if I could find a replacement, only to find that Lycett had been bought out by Brooks decades ago and a replacement Brooks saddle of the same design was nearly $300! Even good used ones on eBay fetch over $100. That was a bit out of my budget. So I spent a few hours really rubbing in saddle soap on both the top and bottom and polishing the rails. The result is a very supple saddle. I’m not sure how comfortable it is, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

It was a very enjoyable experience to bring the bike back to something of it’s former glory. So now, onto the pictures!

Cleaned and ready to ride!

Really cool, and shiny, badge on the fork.