zip ties and hose clamps keep it together.

The great thing about having a bike is getting it all fixed up and I have previously blogged about some of the work I have done on my bike.

Here are some before and after photos of my Schwinn with new (more like old) accessories.

The way my bike looked when I purchased it (ignore the scary uninviting porch)

with a new seat, some fenders and a basket...

now, the bike's got a vintage Schwinn messenger seat, a headlight mounted to the fender and a back rack.

I got this seat from eBay. Schwinn no longer makes these seats so I got this one for about $40. It is surprisingly so much more comfortable than the previous seat I installed.

The back rack I got from someone for $10 at a rat bike rodeo and it wasn't meant for my bike so I didn't think I could ever make it work to fit. Thanks to a crafty friend, zip ties and hose clamps did the trick!

So I have to give credit where credit is due and that is to my friend MT. He did most of the hard work on this bike because it involved using a drill. Besides, why do the work when someone else can do it for you -- (half) kidding.

Here's a bike he built. I stole this photo from Facebook and can you believe how easy Facebook makes it for you to steal photos? I just discovered the "download" button today.

P.S. I just finished my fifth week of counting calories and exercising at least one hour per day. I don't remember what kettle chips taste like anymore. Kettle chips are my favorite, which is why I have stayed away from them. So far, the progress has been good. I have lost 9 lbs., which is the rate of about 1.8 lbs. per week. When I hit the 10 lbs mark, I'm going to shop to celebrate and maybe enjoy a small bag of kettle chips.