Fun fact: I got a new bike

* Now there is a simple page with me gushing about how much I love it.

diff --git a/Bicycle 2012.muse b/Bicycle 2012.muse
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+#title Clinton's New Bike
+
+* The Wishlist
+
+After my old frame broke, I thought about what I wanted in a new
+bike.
+
+ - Mechanical disc brakes (ease of maintenance mostly)
+ - Lugged steel frame (why not?)
+ - Indexed shifters
+ - Rear rack mounts (without horrible hacks required) and maybe mounts
+   for a front rack too (nice for multi-day treks)
+ - Front and rear fender mounts (again, without horrible hacks)
+ - No suspension (extra annoying maintenance and pain with things like
+   fenders)
+
+I was willing to lose the disc brakes for the fender and rack mounts.
+
+* A Whole Lot of Money Later
+
+I searched high and low and found a few bikes that *almost* had what I
+wanted... Unfortunately the bike I want doesn't exist for under $1200
+which is a *wee bit* much for my liking. Months of searching in vain on
+Craigslist for anything less expensive failed, and I gave up on the
+dream of my ideal bike.
+
+Instead, I got a [[http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/town/fitness/fx/7_3_fx_disc/][2012 Trek 7.3 FX Disc]] for the low low price of $720 +
+a painful bit of sales tax. A few hundred more than I had wanted to
+spend, but it *did* meet all of my wishlist except for the frame.
+
+[[img/photos/bicycle/2012-01-01/new-bike-with-fenders.jpg][Everyone loves new toys]]
+
+I promptly ordered a replacement battery for my Dual Cross 300 (at
+this point, I can wholeheartedly recommend [[http://cygolite.com][Cygolite]]'s stuff -- the
+head light outlasted the battery pack **and** the bike I got it for!), SKS
+fenders, and thought about [[http://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FREXP][new rack]] (but ended up reusing my old rack
+for now). As of January 1, 2012 I am ridiculously out of shape and
+barely able to go anywhere, but I'm hoping in a few weeks my entire
+body will stop hurting after a few hill climbs.
+
+** Fender Installation
+
+It is a well known fact that SKS packages their fenders with
+instructions designed to deceive and punish half-men who read them. Of
+course, I tried reading them despite not really needing to (and,
+indeed, ended up led astray). After spending ages getting the new stay
+ends on (which I ended up having to remove from the front later) the
+real fun started.
+
+The rear fender, I am happy to report, went on without a hitch. The
+caliper-side braze-on was positioned such that I didn't even have to
+cut or re-route the stay like on my old
+mountain-biked-turned-commuting-rig.
+
+The front fender, on the other hand, was a bit of a pain. The SKS
+fenders do **not** come with the M6 bolt needed for mounting the fender to
+the crown (riddle me this: why the hell is that an M6 bolt when every
+other bolt on the bike is M5?). I'm guessing because most bikes have a
+brake bolt you can piggy back on (then again, the kit comes with
+about five extra bolts that have seemingly no use on any bike...).
+
+A trek to Home Despot proved fruitless; a trek to the other super
+chain also yielded disappointing results. Both only carried plain
+steel metric bolts... I hacked it for a while until I could hop down
+to the bike shop to get a proper stainless steel bolt.
+
+That challenge overcome, even more fun was to be had with the
+caliper-side stay. [1] The lower stay had to go directly through the
+caliper. I found a [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/seditiouscanary/3358079803/][few]] different [[http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-609665.html][solutions]], neither of which I ended
+up using.
+
+I accidentally found the front fender I was never able to mount on my
+MTB and ... *phew* breathing room! Having two spare stays made it easier
+to experiment and eventually I found that cutting the the lower stay
+arm and mounting the stay to the upper rack eyelet was the easiest
+solution. This does require not using the newfangled integrated end
+caps (luckily I had the caps from the old set) because the insertion
+angle of the caliper-side stay isn't quite straight.
+
+[[img/photos/bicycle/2012-01-01/caliper-side-fender-stay.jpg][Caliper-side fender stay]]
+
+After two days of cursing at my bike success was mine.
+
+
+[1] Actually, I hacked the crown bolt mount using a smaller bolt and a
+     nut first, and then solved the stay issue... followed by despair
+     and pain as I discovered the front of the fender hit the tire. It
+     seemed like this was because of the weird stay mount hack (the fender
+     was under a bit of tension) and I wasted quite a bit of time
+     adjusting the stays only to realize ... the fender wasn't flush
+     against the crown. D'oh.
+

diff --git a/Bicycle.muse b/Bicycle.muse
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--- a/Bicycle.muse
+++ b/Bicycle.muse
@@ -2,11 +2,13 @@
 
 * [[Bicycle Routes]]
 
-* [[My Bicycle]]
+* [[Bicycle 2012][My New Bicycle]]
+
+* [[My Bicycle][My Old Bicycle]]
 
 * [[http://journal.unknownlamer.org/tag/bicycle][Bicycling Journal Entries]]
 
-I write about various bicycle related things in my journal.
+; I write about various bicycle related things in my journal.
 
 
 ; * Why I Do Not, and Shall Never Again, Own a Car

diff --git a/My Bicycle.muse b/My Bicycle.muse
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--- a/My Bicycle.muse
+++ b/My Bicycle.muse
@@ -136,6 +136,12 @@ destination I chained my bike and noticed one of the chainstays looked
 a bit odd; fate would have it that the chainstay had fractured. And so
 my first Aluminum Steed was laid to rest. Rest in Peace dear friend.
 
+* A New Star Rises
+
+After months of being a bit broke (bikes are ... expensive) and then
+trying to scrounge up a used bike on Craigslist for a few months, I
+caved and got a [[Bicycle 2012][new bike]].
+
 Footnotes: 
 [1] It turns out that I was underestimating the bond; as of late
      September 2010 the reflective tape has only minorly peeled around

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