Bike Project: The battle of good/fast/cheap

(I’m going to stop numbering these. I know what order I wrote them in.)

If you ever work around any type of construction you’ll hear the phrase, “Fast, Good or Cheap. Pick two.” My tendency has always been Good + Fast. The result is that I get expensive results quickly. Getting fast results can be good, but sometimes I pay too much. Or my desire for speed prevents me from doing all the necessary research.

With this bike I’m trying to pick Good + Cheap. I don’t need the bike right away, and I don’t have a ton of money. Good + Cheap is the way to go. But my brain is trying its hardest to push me back to my Good + Fast tendencies.

The first fork I got was cheap, true. But I picked it up too quickly, before doing the research. So that was $10 wasted. In response, I went out and got a new fork. It’s nice, but way more money than I wanted to spend. It may end up being the most expensive part on the bike.

So, a couple of dumb moves on my part. But at least the fork is sorted.

I pulled the cranks, chain ring and bottom bracket off the frame. Well, mostly. There’s still one cup that held the bottom bracket in place. It’s quite stuck and I need to borrow a bigger wrench to remove it. Still, it was time to start sanding.

Sanding definitely qualifies as Cheap, and it’s certainly not Fast, so it must be Good, right? After about 90 minutes of sanding, I have maybe 1/3rd of the paint off. It’ll get trickier as I have to start working in the nooks & crannies. I do have an electric palm sander that I’ll put to use once I get some paper for it.

Project Totals:
Days: 6
Total: $145 (yikes!)