I was able to remove the cut seatpost clamp on the Motobecane with a needle-nose vise grip and patience. I’ve gotten one of the pedals off but the other is stuck.
I trued my rear wheel on the Bianchi, just enough to get my rear brakes installed correctly without rubbing. I did this by plucking each spoke. As long as you remember that the left and right spokes are different tensions, you can find the “flat” spoke and tighten it. This pulled out my big warp enough to install the brakes…which as I found have less throw on the back than they do on the front. Even so, they work better now.
Tomorrow I leave for the Beach, but I feel like I’ve made a good amount of progress with my bikes so far. When I return, I’m going to get the other pedal off the Motobecane, remove the old brake cable, and order some parts to start reassembling the bike. Magdalen’s bike also needs a bit more work, but hopefully nothing drastic.
