Surely by now you are impressed with my abilities to fix bikes.
But after replacing the tire, my mechanical ineptitude was displayed as I put my bike on the rack of my car, and then proceeded to drive it down to the bike shop for it's annual service.
I've been having some issues shifting and not hitting a couple gears. Despite my best attempts to adjust the cable and high / low limits, I couldn't figure out what the issue was. Apparently, as the real bike mechanic informed me, the derailleur cable was broken / frayed. As the cable routing on my road bike is internal, I do at least feel somewhat justified in having this repair done at the shop.
Would I prefer to work on my own bike?
Would I prefer to quit my current job for a life of riding and fixing bikes?
Would I prefer to fix my bike over finishing work on the upstairs bathroom, or insulating the fan vent duct in the attic, or fixing the garage door, etc?
Would you prefer it if I didn't ask so many questions?
Most of the time I think the answer is yes to all of the above. But sometimes the professional bike mechanics just do it better than I would. And maybe I wouldn't ride as much if I didn't have anywhere to go. And if I didn't have other house projects to do, or a family to care for, I would probably spend an unhealthy amount of time married to my bike(s).
And now, with all that said, my bike is ready to be picked up, and I expect to update you in the coming days with details of unrivaled speed and precision shifting.
But I know what you are asking yourself now, what were you doing while all this was going on?
Well, I did find a few hours last weekend to work on my commuting rig. My commuter is a Trek 7.2 fx with a rack and fenders. This has been my daily commuter now for the past 4-5 years. I'm sure at some point I'll post some pictures, but right now I've got nothing.
Prior to last weekend, here was the status / condition of my bike: the rear brakes were worn and out of commission (but who needs brakes, right?). This also didn't matter because the rear wheel was out of true, so I basically had disconnected the rear brakes. Shifting was slow. And the front brakes made an awful squeaking / squealing noise.
So here is what happened:
Step 1 - I acquired one of these handy tools for $9 at my local bike shop and got to work truing my rear wheel:
Note: As a guide, my wife bought me this book a while back and this has been a helpful encyclopedia for all things cycling:
Now, back to Step 1. Early in the process I discovered two (2) broken spokes. Without having any replacement spokes, I decided to go without. If anyone actually read this blog, I'm sure they would inform me that this is a terrible idea; however, I continued on with reckless disregard for the now missing spokes. It took me a while, but this was actually pretty interesting, and after 15-30 minutes I had a rear wheel that rolled mostly true. Given the added challenge of truing a wheel with two (2) broken spokes, I thought it was impressive.
Step 2 - now that the wheel is trued, was to reconnect and tighten the rear brakes. Again, the proper fix would be to replace the brake pads, but I could still see the wear line on the pads, so I left them and simply adjusted the brake cable adjuster and voila, the rear wheel AND brakes were back in working condition.
Step 3 - was to tighten up the derailleur cable. And while it's not perfect, I didn't prove to be totally inept, and the shifting is much better.
So I am now pleased to report that my commuter can move forward, shift, and stop. Pretty cool.
Finally, I feel compelled to share, or admit to, the items I left undone as of right now. The front brake noise did not get investigated. Here are my top two excuses: 1) I rarely use the front brakes, especially now that the rear brakes are in working order and 2) it can be a useful "bell" or "horn" in case of emergency.
Further, I seriously contemplated washing my bike. As bad as I am about cleaning my road bike every so often, I am even worse about cleaning my commuter. It has probably been cleaned about 2 times...and I'm not just talking about this past year. In fact, I don't think I cleaned this bike at all last year. It tends to get neglected. So again, I spent an hour or two out tinkering with the bike and then failed to wash the frame or clean the drivetrain...
Maybe next time...
Clay
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