My Friday came back from Eugene last week. I’d actually been told it was going to take two weeks because their fabricator was out sick and then, the next day, got the shipping notice. The reason appears to be the fact that they didn’t repair the stud. Instead the replaced the entire rear triangle. That means I really have a brand new frame, or an almost new frame as the main beam did get to go across Iowa.
The hardest part of shipping my bike back was finding a box that could hold it and not cost me a lot in extra shipping costs. It was just a couple of inches to big for most the standard sort of boxes I could find and I finally had to build my own:
Yep, it’s an old, old computer box I’ve had around for way too long. It looks like I was right to hold on to it. It had nice thick cardboard and handled being cut down and reassembled quite well.
In fact it handled it so well that that the Bike Friday folks shipped it back to me when they returned my frame. I’d actually been hoping for one of their nice boxes, and they are nice, but it seems mine was just fine. Considering they didn’t charge me a dime for the repair, or the prior own, I’m definitely okay with their reusing my box. Indeed I’m really okay with their reusing my reused box in any case. I’d brag about being green, but being cheap is often just as good and had the same results.
As for my Friday, I spent the weekend rebuilding it. I replaced the rear brake, derailleur, chain, and cables (again), but other everything else was in good enough shape to go back on. I do have a new cassette but since I couldn’t find a new chainring locally I decided I’d hole off and replace them both at the same time. Neither really needs replacement immediately, though I’m seeing some wear on the chainring, so I should be fine while I dredge up an appropriate replacement.
Aloha!
Slower, cheaper, less useful…