Getting A Bike Ready to Ride to Work

High gas prices are a form of financial oppression. So I am getting my old bike ready to ride to work from now on. It is an old huffy that I bought a few years ago at Toys R Us, for about sixty five dollars, doubtless it would cost more today.

Only one nut to install the break on my bike

The first thing is to check the old thing out, and looking it over it doesn't need much attention; just pump up the tires, and put on new breaks. The nice thing about a bicycle is you can give it a break job for pocket change which is what I did.

I went to the local bike shop called race pace bicycles and bought two pair of brake pads. I thought they would laugh me out of the store when I confessed I wanted parts for a Huffy, but no, their customer service and cashier treated me as if I rode the Rose Royce of bicycles.  I will be back there for sure.

Taking off the old brakes was simply turning a screw each. The cables needed to be adjusted for the newer thicker brake pads but that was just a matter of ten minutes of turning a screw and a knob by the brake arm.

An old milk crate give my bike cargo carrying abilities  

I have an old milk crate that I strapped to the rack with some cable ties so I can carry my lunch and a clean change of clothes for when I get to work. I am a cashier at a grocery store and I like my customers I don't want to drive them away with stinky clothing.

I have a bike lock but it is very light and doesn't look very secure. Target had a nice collection of cable locks that have master lock as the manufacturer. Master lock is a name I recognize so I paid the twelve bucks.

With pumped up tires I am ready to ride to work. It is only 8 miles over rolling hills.