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8/30/2011

Tinkerer's Damn


I don't usually get to tinker much. I work. I write. I take and process pictures. And on rare days, I even paint. But not a lot of tinkering with stuff. No woodworking - even though I do know how. No working on cars anymore, even though I graduated from Greer Technical Institute (Automotive) with an offer to come back and teach. There's just too much else to do and no where near enough time to do it as it is.

The bicycle represents the opportunity to tinker, a bit. I have new tires for Roscoe (the bike's name). I have a noseless saddle for Roscoe, as well - something that looks like this. See? No nose. Protect the Family Jewels. Ride No Nose!!!

Anyway.

It's this seat thing. Damn.

It seems that over the years the way we Americans used to build bikes has given way to the way the rest of the world builds bikes - probably because there are no more truly 'American' bike manufacturers. Anyway. Americans used to put the saddle (or seat) on a saddle post of much smaller diameter than that used on bikes today. There's enough difference in sizes that it's just about impossible to use an American seat post (of that vintage - the 1960's) to support a seat made today. Like the Noseless Saddle.

So my tinkering, today, has gone for naught. And that's frustrating.

Tomorrow, however, I will conquer. I am going to cut off the small end of the seat post (the 'American' end) and stuff that end down the tube in the frame that the seat post goes in. And I WILL mount my Noseless Saddle. And ride.

Ndinombethe.

5 comments:

Jientje said...

I LOVE how you gave your bike a name!
I've never seen such a saddle on a bike before, I can imagine it is more comfortable, yes.

PattiKen said...

The last time I rode a bike, I found that the problem was not so much how the bike's seat had changed as there was with how much my seat had changed...

Grandmother Mary said...

It looks comfortable, let me know how it feels. My Dad was a tinkerer as is my husband. Tinkerers unite!

Tara R. said...

I need one of those noseless seats. Standard bike seats aren't kind to the ladies either.

Big Mark 243 said...

Since the saddle is all I have known, I am pretty much used to it being 'uncomfortable' and would worry about falling of the front of one of those seats... that is really taking it back to the 1890's...