No Bloody Knuckles (Yet)

I borrowed metric allen wrenches from Worker Bee yesterday, so I started assembling my new bike after work. The handlebars are on. The seat is on. The pedals (once I realized that that cardboard rectangle inside the carton was a box of parts, not merely a brace or spacer) are on.

The manual isn't the greatest ever written. It seems like they tried to include assembly instructions for three types of bikes, and I spend more than half my time trying to figure out which one I have. The useful pictures aren't very useful, considering that the text uses words for parts not labeled in the diagrams (or may be called something else, for all I know). The most fun was step #7, which told me to turn the bike right side up after mounting the wheel. The problem is that there was, at no time prior in the manual, any instruction to turn the bike upside down! (Indeed, one couldn't do that and still insert the seat.)

For the time being, I'm stuck at the wheel mounting step. The manual describes how easy it should be, but this portion of the manual is written either for bikes without handbrakes or for bikes whose brakes aren't preassembled. I'm going to have to call Schwinn today and have them talk me through it (as long as it's between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Central time because God forbid that anyone try to assemble his/her bike after work).

By the way, one beer wasn't enough yesterday. I might need two today.