plan: replacing bike levers

I’ve been pretty excited for a while to get a vintage roadbike and I finally bought one in Seattle off Craigslist for $60 cash. I’ll attach a photo sometime, but the bike is in fair condition with just a slight bit of rust. The most enjoyable yet concerning features are the downtube shifters and the fact that I can’t really grip/reach the break levers.

Downtube gear shifters are RETRO. Together with drinking Seattle cold brew, using downtube shifters feels really hipster. Unfortunately, these shifters are slightly less convenient because of where they are located on the bike: down on the frame rather than where the hands sit on the handlebars. I’m glad they work because I’m not sure it’s possible to bike Seattle without multi-speed bikes…

The best part about this bike are its almost unreachable break levers. And this would be totally okay if it weren’t for the Seattle streets. As I walked to work the first day from Capitol Hill to Downtown, I discovered to my surprise that Seattle has streets that roll up and down. They are reminiscent of San Francisco’s to a lesser degree. As someone trying to ride a vintage bike with downtube shifters, it’s daunting enough to think about going uphill on varying inclines. But as someone trying to ride a vintage bike with unreachable break levers, downhill sounds just FANTASTIC. So here’s the upcoming weekend project. I spent about about $11 on a new set of break cables and housing, and another $16 on break levers which arrive tomorrow. I’m going to manually install responsive break levers. Photos to come.