I love making these videos, but I need to get my hat hair under control before the next time I film. For the third episode of this series, I wanted to take a look at mountain bikes instead of BMX bikes. In general, I feel like all bikes have tons of potential so cyclists shouldn't ignore the used market. Used bikes are the perfect way to experiment with bike repair/tuning on a budget. Working on bikes is like cooking, I think they're both important life skills that are too often overlooked. Part of my job is selling new bikes, but I still want to encourage everyone to at least play with a used bike or two before thinking about investing in an expensive new bike. Even experienced cyclists with top shelf bikes can learn a lot about bikes in general by taking apart an old used bike. Most of the tools are standard kit for the average tool box (Metric hex keys, torx keys, ratchets, wrenches, etc), and the few specialty tools you could need are well worth the investment if you consider yourself a cyclist. The Pajamis started life for me in 2017 as an old, beat up $200 used bike. It was perfectly capable of everything I wanted it to do, and it didn't need any new parts to run. I replaced things when they broke, and Dan did some major upgrades when he took it over and I got my 29er. The Pajamis went from mechanical brakes and a 3x9 drivetrain to pretty much what you see in this video, including the dropper post, 1x10 drivetrain, and Rockshox Pike fork. Avy added the Avid Juicy Carbon brakes, we fitted it to him, and now he's set to take on a year or two of trails before he can't resist a new bike. This bike has given us a ton for our dollar. After all is said and done, we've spent about what it would cost to buy a new bike that is similar to the original spec of the Jamis Durango. A new mountain bike with a 3x9 drive train from a bigger brand will cost about $700CAD or so, and that's all we've spent between three people to create the Pajamis. What we have now is a bike with a modern drivetrain, modern features, and fancy materials, and a similarly spec'd new bike could cost as much as $1500CAD or so (again, depending on brand, dealer, and other factors). And it's converted those three people (myself included) to mountain bikes! Seems to me like it's almost paid for itself.
Thursday, 7 February 2019
Project: Used Bikes episode 3 - The Cat's Pajamis
I love making these videos, but I need to get my hat hair under control before the next time I film. For the third episode of this series, I wanted to take a look at mountain bikes instead of BMX bikes. In general, I feel like all bikes have tons of potential so cyclists shouldn't ignore the used market. Used bikes are the perfect way to experiment with bike repair/tuning on a budget. Working on bikes is like cooking, I think they're both important life skills that are too often overlooked. Part of my job is selling new bikes, but I still want to encourage everyone to at least play with a used bike or two before thinking about investing in an expensive new bike. Even experienced cyclists with top shelf bikes can learn a lot about bikes in general by taking apart an old used bike. Most of the tools are standard kit for the average tool box (Metric hex keys, torx keys, ratchets, wrenches, etc), and the few specialty tools you could need are well worth the investment if you consider yourself a cyclist. The Pajamis started life for me in 2017 as an old, beat up $200 used bike. It was perfectly capable of everything I wanted it to do, and it didn't need any new parts to run. I replaced things when they broke, and Dan did some major upgrades when he took it over and I got my 29er. The Pajamis went from mechanical brakes and a 3x9 drivetrain to pretty much what you see in this video, including the dropper post, 1x10 drivetrain, and Rockshox Pike fork. Avy added the Avid Juicy Carbon brakes, we fitted it to him, and now he's set to take on a year or two of trails before he can't resist a new bike. This bike has given us a ton for our dollar. After all is said and done, we've spent about what it would cost to buy a new bike that is similar to the original spec of the Jamis Durango. A new mountain bike with a 3x9 drive train from a bigger brand will cost about $700CAD or so, and that's all we've spent between three people to create the Pajamis. What we have now is a bike with a modern drivetrain, modern features, and fancy materials, and a similarly spec'd new bike could cost as much as $1500CAD or so (again, depending on brand, dealer, and other factors). And it's converted those three people (myself included) to mountain bikes! Seems to me like it's almost paid for itself.
Thursday, 3 January 2019
Project: Used Bikes - Ep. 2 - Returning the favor
This episode features the Tillsonburg Titillator, the Orange Animal himself, Jonathan Macdonald!
While my main inspiration for this series is still Motortrend's Roadkill show, I want to do it a little differently. Almost everything they do on Roadkill falls under the "do not try at home" category, but I want my videos to encourage people to try working on their own bikes. I love the idea of reviving old vehicles, whether that's cars or bikes, and I love seeing non-profit shops in Toronto like Bike Pirates and Charlie's FreeWheels using donated and damaged bikes to build the cycling community. Bikes are not just transportation for them, they're a tool for opening up new doors and learning new skills. Mississauga's cycling community seems to work a little differently, and even most Mississauga commuters choose to buy new, brand name bikes. I want to use these videos to encourage cyclists here to take a look at the used market, not just as a source for new bikes, but also as an opportunity to experiment and test, and to better understand bicycles and cycling in general.
In this episode of Project: Used Bikes, I finish my current build and return the favor to Jonathan by rebuilding his old bike. It's been around and has seen some rough days, so this time I'm building it to last Jonathan as long as he wants it to. It's built on a budget but uses brand name parts (except for a few small things here and there) and matches his car and general orange aesthetic. All the project bikes I buy are between $100 and $200, and new beginner level BMX bikes retail for around $400 or so. So for the price of a fairly cheap new bike, we've got two fairly high end bikes that will last ages. After filming this, Jonathan took his bike home and I sold the Subrosa to a guy who was SUPER stoked on it. I literally doubled my money on the old green project bike while still setting Jonathan up with good build and we have a good frame to build up later. I'm filming episode 3 at the time of uploading this episode. Unlike the first two, episode 3 will be about mountain bikes. I talked about the Jamis and Rocky Mountain mtb's that we play with in my "Defense of Cheap Bikes" video, but now I'm going to show all the details that make the 10+ year old Jamis keep up with a 2017 Rocky Mountain.