Yesterday was a roller coaster of progress and setbacks. I met with my friend Allan yesterday, and we worked together on the final assembly of
The Schwinn Dixie Dreamcycle. It took a few hours, but we actually got the bike fully assembled and even riding! All that was missing was the tank, because it's not finished being painted, and the pedals, because I accidentally left them at home. Even though it was missing the tank and pedals, I was still happy to see this bike that got me into this hobby more than 3 years ago fully assembled and ready to ride! Allan was pretty excited too, especially with that beautiful orange powder it was wearing. I was thrilled to ride this bike for the first time, (even though it may not show in the video, as I was currently in assessment mode.)
Unfortunately, what started out as the sweet taste of victory instantly turned into the painful agony of defeat. After that first test ride, I took it for another spin around the airport... and in less than a minute, all heck literally broke loose. The fork steerer tube
snapped right around where we had repaired it months ago, causing the front wheel to jump ahead of the frame, and causing me to scrape my hands, knees and elbow against the tarmac.
The crash didn't damage the bike too bad. Aside from the fork, most of the damage was cosmetic. I'll want to get a new fork, sandblast and powder coat most of the parts
again, and maybe replace the seat and handlebar grips. I, on the other hand, got banged up worse than I've experienced in a long while. I didn't break anything thankfully, but I'm really sore, especially in the entire length of my right arm.
Left hand got a blister and some road rash, and I'm a bit sore at the wrist too. Thankfully, it's not too bad.
On the other hand, my right hand got scraped really bad on 3 of my fingers, and my wrist, elbow, and even shoulder are all sore and stiff. This is particularly bad, as I write, draw, turn wrenches, and do pretty much everything with that arm/hand. I hate to say it, but because of what happened today, I'm going to need to take a break from working on bikes while I let this heal up.
While it's painful enough to have been injured like this, it's even more painful knowing that my bike was
this close >< to being done, only for it to break before I could really enjoy it. And I wasn't the only one who was seriously bummed out about it. My friend Allan, who helped me fix this bike and helped me put it together was so stoked to see this bike come together, and equally disheartened to see it break in two. Mom and Dad were pretty shocked to hear what happened too. Despite the emotional crush this crash dumped on us, none of us want to give up on this bike. My family wants to see this bike completed, my friend Allan wants to see this bike completed, and I want to see this bike completed. So, whenever I'm in better shape, I'm going to fix up this bike again, probably after I finish my MBBO entry, if I can get back to work on that bike soon. I might even slap my repop chrome Schwinn springer fork on this bike, since the bearings are still greased, and ride it around like that while the bike waits its turn for repairs.
Until then, my plan from this point on is to let my body heal, and to see how everyone else is coming along on their bikes.
