The RocBike Cruiser and Me! (Comments: 3)

Towards the end of last year, Joey picked up a red cruiser off of Craigslist on behalf of a Mr. Jason Crane. At that point, Jason had already split town, but Joey said he’d hold it for Jason. Jason’s actual interest in picking up the bike has been in question, so Joey dubbed the bike “The RocBike Cruiser” for the time being.

Next it was Joey’s turn to split town, and friend-to-RocBike Brian was holding the cruiser for Jason. He’s doing a bit of relocation of his own this weekend though — and thankfully staying in town, but he figured if I took the RocBike cruiser off his hands, I would be a great help.

Brian drops off the bike — thanks, dude! 

I was more than happy to take the cruiser – I’ve been eyeing it since I first saw Joey riding it around on the Wednesday cruises.

OK, can I get this fixed up in time to use it for the day? 

The cruiser itself is a real beauty, but it had always had a bit of a problem. The seat post was slightly loose, but the bolt could not be tightened or loosened because its head was round. And although it’s still ridable with a loose, low seat, it’s not comfortable, and what’s the point of cruising if you can’t cruise comfortably?

Do you notice the pliers? They may be hard to see – it’s a bit of an optical illusion. 

Brian dropped the cruiser off about 20 minutes before I planned to leave for a day of errands and direct action, but I still decided to give fixing it my best shot. I grabbed a wrench and some needle-nose pliers. At first I tried to use the pliers to grab on to the head, but I soon found that strategy completely useless, and instead tried wedging the pliers between the bolt and the bike. A little bit of effort and the bolt came right off! I popped a quick release skewer on in the bolt’s place and could
then raise the seat to a comfortable height.

That other bike is owned and operated by a fellow named Mike. 

I took the RocBike Cruiser to all sorts of places today, including a couple banks, a music store, a fur protest, and a hot dog restaurant. It rides very well, though I was yearning for some lower gears as I headed up hill, or something a little stronger than a coaster brake as I headed downhill. It’s a bit squeaky but Joey says I should just apply some tri-flow to the squeaky bits and see what that does.

The Cruiser handles pretty well one-handed. 

Until Jason reclaims it, I’m excited to see what I can do with the cruiser. It might make a fine bike for commuting, though it would really need a nicer seat and some fancy baskets to be something I’d be able to use daily. I’m thinking about strapping a Down Low Glow to it and offering it as a Wednesday night cruiser ride, whenever we decide to get those going again. Brian recommended some steel wool on the chrome to shine it right up.

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