Meet Betty
Meet my new best friend, Betty. I bought Betty today from a junkie by Junkie Bridge for €13. Bargain! €15 is the going rate for a junkie bike, but I was given the top tip that a hit costs €12 so we agreed on €13. That way my junkie friend can also have a beer for breakfast.
I was hoping to christen her the Beast but she is not beastly enough so I think Betty suits her. The features that attracted me to Betty were the new big comfy saddle, hardly worn tyres and a fully functioning rear hub brake. Note there are no brake levers - you have to pedal backwards to stop!
I gained a certain odd pleasure about cleaning up Betty, especially fixing the bell. I seem to remember as a kid once repairing a bell on one of my first bikes. The rear mudguard also rubbed against the tyre so I developed a complex zip tie solution to solve it. My engineering degree does come in useful sometimes!
As you can see from the bell, this bike was once a rental bike so I made the following modifications to ensure Betty became unique:
1, Removed of the far from beastly front windscreen
2, Switching the grips to my old Kona grips for some street cred ;-)
3, The addition of Gaffa tape to cover the bell logo
4, Removal of the front light - the baguette wrapper was not really illuminating anything!
I hope to remain in partnership with Betty for my whole time in the Netherlands. I will be disappointed if she becomes another junkies hit :-(
I was hoping to christen her the Beast but she is not beastly enough so I think Betty suits her. The features that attracted me to Betty were the new big comfy saddle, hardly worn tyres and a fully functioning rear hub brake. Note there are no brake levers - you have to pedal backwards to stop!
I gained a certain odd pleasure about cleaning up Betty, especially fixing the bell. I seem to remember as a kid once repairing a bell on one of my first bikes. The rear mudguard also rubbed against the tyre so I developed a complex zip tie solution to solve it. My engineering degree does come in useful sometimes!
As you can see from the bell, this bike was once a rental bike so I made the following modifications to ensure Betty became unique:
1, Removed of the far from beastly front windscreen
2, Switching the grips to my old Kona grips for some street cred ;-)
3, The addition of Gaffa tape to cover the bell logo
4, Removal of the front light - the baguette wrapper was not really illuminating anything!
I hope to remain in partnership with Betty for my whole time in the Netherlands. I will be disappointed if she becomes another junkies hit :-(
posted by Malcolm at
2:50 pm
3 Comments:
Hi Mal. Just picked up your blog address from your email. I have to post a comment back about Betty. That is just too cute for words! So what happened to the Miffy windsheild? I reckon it would be a sweet addition to my communter bike. Give the London bus driver who try and kill me daily, something to smile at/or aim for.
It's been a long time since I said hi and the days of Winchside. Since we last spoke David has proposed so The Wedding of 2006 is shortly to take place. Then he is whisking me off for a new life in Boston, USA. I may or may not grace IBM over there will my skills - depends on if they will have me.
Anyway, glad you're "living the dream".
Best Wishes
Lyndsey
Cobb soon to be Henderson
By
Anonymous, at 2/10/06 10:07
ebay the windscreen. it'll match all the other crap you've managed to sell....
By
Anonymous, at 2/10/06 21:42
I blatently want to see some Betty off road / big air action :)
By
Anonymous, at 11/10/06 17:50
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