i went to the cafe this morning to see if i could strip the left crank arm off of the trek 720 frame in the basement. unfortunately i was missing a socket wrench so i wasn't able to remove the bolt to get access to the spindle. my next best option was to load the frame in the back of my father's car and wait for him to return to belmont after work. my father convinced me to take the car and that he'd ride the bike home later.

first thing i did when i arrived in belmont was to remove the damaged left crank arm from my trek 800 using the crank puller (park tool CCP-22). i threaded the head of the puller into the crank arm but when i went to turn the handle to push off the crank arm it wouldn't budge. for a while everything was stuck, but after some banging, it loosened up and i was able to unthread the puller. after adding a few drops of triflow and trying again the handle finally budged and with a few simple turns the left crank arm easily came off. i then did the same to the left crank arm of the trek 720; that one came off without any resistance.

i actually brought along the spare left crank arm (in black) from a used crankset. i would've installed that onto my trek 800 but i left my 15mm pedal wrench at home so had no way of attaching a pedal.

from that point it was a simple matter of taking the trek 720 left crank arm (plus pedal) and attaching it to my trek 800. both arms were fortunately the same length (170mm) so there was no incompatibility issues. it's not the prettiest fix but it works. for kicks, i installed the black crank arm onto the trek 720 frame (minus pedal).

i noticed the trek 720 uses a seal bottom bracket as well. i don't know the size, but it appears to be in good condition because it feels solid when i try to rattle the spindle. if i was completely stripping the 720 for parts, i could switch this bottom bracket onto the 800.

the trek 720 also has unusually small chainrings, the largest sprocket having 38 teeth (i could be wrong). there's probably some kind of method to this madness; smaller rings are better for climbing hills.

i finally managed to re-attach the rear derailleur to the trek 720 frame. part of the problem was there was some stripping inside the attachment hole on the frame. but with enough patience and a hex wrench attached to a length of pipe, i managed to put it back on. now all this bike is missing are some 26" wheels.

i may not need to replace my crankset just yet (even though some of the teeth on the chainrings are seriously worn down) but it'd be nice to change out the sealed bottom bracket. the important thing was to find out the spindle length and to do that i had to remove the crankset, both left and right side. having down it earlier, this second time around was much easier. it was still difficult to get an exact measurement and i estimated it to 120mm. a check of bottom bracket sizes revealed no 120mm; the closest are 118mm and 122.5mm. the only way to find out absolutely is to remove the old bracket completely, and to do that i'd need a bottom bracket tool. so i ended up buying one online, hopefully arriving close to the end of next week.

repairing my bike was just a small part of my day's worth of activities: after that i mowed the lawn; scrubbed the bird droppings off of the walkway; and watered the garden. finally by 1:00 i had some rice porridge lunch. my sister with her messed up priority took the dog out for a walk while my mother was busy at home cleaning up for the dinner guests arriving later.

my father forgot that my 2nd aunt and uncle were also invited to dinner and he couldn't give them a ride to belmont via bicycle. so after dropping off half a dozen bags of clothes at the red cloth collection bin behind the mt.auburn street star market, i dropped off the car at the cafe, then rode my father's bike back to belmont.

my 2nd aunt and uncle arrived with my father around 5:30. my other aunt and uncle showed up at 6:00.

around 8:00 my 2nd uncle was complaining he wanted to go home which ended the dinner party. my uncle and uncle gave them a ride back to cambridge. i left soon afterwards as well, riding my fixed-up trek.

when i got home my roommate came out and asked me if my place was available for 2 months between june and july for a visiting astrophysicist colleague. i said sure without giving it some additional thought. it's a woman this time, but the only advantage with that is i don't have to clean up the pee on the bathroom floor everyday. i'm most concerned about the cooking situation. i'm definitely laying down some ground rules (no chinese stir-fry cooking and respect my non-stick cookware).