Near Misses

This spring I installed the latest Mac OS (Snow Leopard) and my rather old version of Final Cut (video editing software) did not run well on it. I researched online for a few weeks and was prepared to dish out some money to buy the latest version of Final Cut Pro ($1199). As I was shopping around on eBay and Kijiji and online I decided to take another look at patches for FCP and OS 10.6. And there it was, a simple, free fix saving me over $1000.

In June, I got a flat tire on my road bike. Didn't bother repairing it for a couple weeks because of non-stop rain and then the sunday before the last week of exams I decided to patch a bunch of tubs and clean the rear gears really well. I ended up messing up something inside my rear wheel which I had fixed, and as I put the rear wheel back on I saw that it was rubbing on my frame and brakes. I brought the bike into M.E.C. (who now deals their own bike) on my way to the south end of Calgary and the techs there showed me how my frame was bent and how it was going to be impossible to fix. I should go to Bow Cycle who deals Cannondale and see if they can get me a crash replacement deal on a new frame. That's what I did and when they got back to me I was faced with a $950 frame (simple aluminum road bike frame from Cannondale). I decided to pursue the used bike world on Kijiji and found a great 15-yr-old Specialized bike that suited my purposes. I asked if I could try my wheels on it and my rear wheel was rubbing against this other bike too. I didn't buy the $600 bike. Yesterday I brought my bike and wheel back to Bow Cycle. After trying a good wheel on my "bent" frame, I discovered my frame was just fine. My rear wheel is getting redished toward the drive side and the axle is getting an overhaul: $30.