Well, as mentioned before, the magnet for Kelly’s Specialized odometer is missing (and might not have worked with the thick Rickshaw spokes anyway) and I was not liking the defeat. Well, for under $10 including tax from Walmart on a Sunday, I now have an odometer. It is on and installed. A similar Bell brand odometer was $15 at Fred Meyer. This 12 function Schwinn SW500NM was a lot cheaper.

Installation was cake. Zip ties (included) hold everything on the handlebars and front fork. The cable makes things a bit uglier, but oh well, I get data now. The unit seems reasonably well made and the instructions were reasonable. Some of the other cheap odometer units (commonly called a “cycle computer”) on the market have little magnets designed to clip onto standard spokes only. The Rickshaw doesn’t have standard spokes… …they’re nutty huge. Thankfully, the Schwinn has support for standard spokes and flat spokes. Though the spokes are hardly flat, they do work in the wider flat spokes side of the magnet assembly. I just put it on there and hand tightened it down.

They have a table in the manual for calibrating the SW500NM for different sizes of wheels. I first calibrated the Schwinn to what I thought was the closest description of my wheels. That was off by between 4% and 5%. After some calculating and some trial runs in relation to what the 1999 Dodge Caravan said was half a mile, I came up with a wheel value of 2044. It seems really close.

Now that I have an cycle computer on the Rickshaw, I’ll know mileage, speeds, and time of day. The clock will likely prove handy. Wouldn’t have minded having a clock yesterday. Totally worth the $10.

The odometer’s packaging had a Schwinn logo sticker on the plastic and I had some fun with that too. There was no name badge on the Rickshaw, but now there’s a Schwinn sticker up there.

I’d like have something else up there, but that sticker made me giggle and it’s better than nothing.

Rickshaw:
The Rickshaw has had the right rear wheel on it for a while now, but the canopy hasn’t received the final fitting yet. I went to find the odometer in the garage and the wheel sensor is gone. Uuugh!

Training:
I thought it might be fun to have a different training ride for a while. So, I’m borrowing Joe’s Giant Simple Single. It looks 95%+ like the factory picture shown. I am a fan of this bike. A great bike for lots of people: comfy, nice ride geometry, reasonable style (needs fenders). If you’re looking for first cruiser, look at the Giant Simple Single.

I took the Giant for a training ride to Lucky Peak Dam (the bottom) on Saturday night. A nice ride, somewhere over 20 miles. The Giant made it way easier than taking the Schwinn. It is geared lower, it rolls faster, and it is lighter. The ride isn’t as comfy (seat, no springer front fork) but not bad, certainly nicer than the average bike.

The first of the season’s mechanical upgrades has been completed. I got my wheel back from Bikes2Boards today. The wheel wasn’t right when I got the Rickshaw new off ebay and I may have made it worse when hitting a speed bump while sprinting to the 2006 Tour de Fat (or maybe not). Thanks to Bikes2Boards the wheel has finally be trued. We haven’t mounted it on the Rickshaw yet. I should call Joe and let him know it is back.

Bikes2Boards is my favorite bike shop in town hands down. They love bikes and are fearless to fix whatever comes in. I don’t roll average stuff, so I typically get an interesting look with whatever I bring in. This time the question was “Where did you get that?” as the Rickshaw wheel with the odd cast iron hub was being looked over. “Ebay” I said.

I also drove the 2007 Tour de Boise route today (one way) so I could show Kelly what I was hoping to finish. It should be an interesting challenge if I make it. I can ride the route on my Schwinn Classic Cruiser fine, and have, but Rickshaw is another level of demanding. To finish, I’ll need some upgrades, as will the Rickshaw. I think it can be done, but will it? Not a gimmie.