A New Lease of Life

I am back :)

My Iron Horse has been given a new lease of life :)
I overcame the temptation to buy a new bicycle, thanks to my favourite bike shop guy. Yes, I trust him with the life of my bike :) He is a wonderful guy. I asked him if he could help me put together a carbon fibre mountain bike and his immediate response was, "No point lah…..it is very expensive." He then gave me a piece of advice which will forever be etched in my brain. He said, "It is all in the wheels. Get a good wheel set and you will not be disappointed." I immediately saw the analogy with my other hobby - photography. The advise I always give to novice photographers starting out to build a camera system is "Buy the best lenses you can afford. Lenses last a lifetime. Camera bodies get obsolete within a year!"
Anyway, back to my bike. It is now decked with brand new Fulcrum Red Metal 3 wheels and disc brakes. She rides like a charm. I have taken her out for a couple of rides and she rides like the wind. As a bonus, my wheels now come with disc brakes. I use one of those iPhone apps to track my rides and on one of the routes, I averaged 0.5 km/h faster than my normal pace. It may not seem a big number in absolute terms but it feels a lot faster :) The mind is a powerful but strange thing :p

Fulcrum Red Metal 3

Park Connectors of Singapore, beware….I'm back !

A Time Gone By

The "Kickapoo" Factory

Along Serangoon Road sits a building which has been around since I was a kid. It is the former National Aerated Water Co Ltd factory. I have driven past this factory countless times and each time, I tell myself that I should bring my camera and shoot some photos for posterity, before it is torn down and lost forever. Some folks may view this as an eye-sore but to me, it adds character to the area. I know it is a matter of time before it is torn down and becomes just another condominium.
I never visited the factory in its hey day but recall buying Kickapoo (aka Joy Juice) from my school canteen. It cost $0.25 a bottle. It was a simpler time and this drink brought a lot of joy :) Yes, I was easily pleased as a kid.

"Joy Juice"

There are still clues that this was the home of Kickapoo. If you look carefully at the photo below, you will see a washed out "Kickapoo" decal on one of the windows.

Can you see the Kickapoo decal on the window?

How I wished I was able to get into the factory to take some photos. That would have been really neat. Being a law-abiding citizen, I kept on the right side of the fence but but still managed to take some photos to share. Enjoy :)

Is that an awesome looking pump or what?

It does not say "No Entry"

I guess that means "Do Not Enter"

A bird made a home on the roof

A view from another angle

Look at the design above the door. This was from an era when there was no air conditioning :)

This padlock stands guard, day and night, rain or shine

Closer shot of the frontage

Soon, it was time to call it a day. As the sun receded behind the horizon, my stomach reminded me that it was time for dinner - my third favourite meal of the day :)

Thank you, Kickapoo factory for the memories. You remind me of a simpler time - when we were not rich, but we were happy. We had enough. 

I wish you enough :)

Sunset

End of the Road

To part or not to part?

I brought my trusty "iron horse" to have its wheels checked by my favourite bicycle shop guy because it seemed to wobble at high speeds ( I am sure it is not because of my weight :p). After aligning the tyres, he looked me in the eye and said, "Your wheel bearings are going……you have probably about 6 months."
Those words seemed surreal. I looked at him in disbelief and said, "How can that be? She still rides well……still rolls very fast and smooth." He told me the parts could not be changed as the wheel hub was already out of production. I would need to change the whole wheel set. That day, I left a bicycle shop a sad person. This is unusual as I usually leave happy, mostly because I usually buy something new from the shop each time I am there. Yes, I think my friendly bicycle shop guy likes me that way too. Hahaha.
This encounter was about 3 months ago. I have not been back to the shop since but have been giving a lot of thought to whether I should just change the wheel set or change the whole bike.
This bicycle holds wonderful memories. It started out as my son's bicycle when he was a teenager back in 2004 and over the years, as my son moved on to a road bike, this bicycle was abandoned and left to rust. About 5 years ago, I decided to do some off road riding and sent this bicycle for a complete overhaul. It cost a tidy sum but the bike was given a new lease of life. It has seen its fair share of off-road tracks over the years - Bukit Timah, Pulau Ubin and Tampines. Then the inevitable happened. I became too old for off road biking and decided to take to the urban jungle. This time, it was I who abandoned "iron horse" for a carbon fibre road bike. She was sleek, fast and responsive. After several close shaves on the road, I decided to give up my road bike and I once again looked to "iron horse". After changing the tyres from the knobbly off road type to slicks, she was good to go. I took her out to torment the park connectors of Singapore. She still rides like a charm.
She has her quirks. For example, when I need to change my  gear up, I need to flick the gear lever twice. I do not have this problem when I change down. She has her geriatric quirks but that's character :)
I must admit that one of the factors which contributed to my mixed feelings about this bike is the anticipation that I could get a full carbon fibre replacement. Maybe she will go faster and will definitely be lighter. There are many choices out there. Admittedly, I have been looking around abit but have not found the right one. It looks like "iron horse" has left very big shoes for my next bike to fill.
To part or not to part…..that is the question :)