Fix it

[Shed]

Actually something did need doing, I've been procrastinating. Also I needed to order a file.

If the congregation will turn back to the Old Testament Book of Sheldon, the chapter called Derailerless Bicycle Drivetrains, the verses about Kludges:

It is also possible to grind or file a flat on each end of the axle to allow a bit more adjustment.

Fortunately I had an old wheel to practice on, as it's not easy getting both sides flat at exactly the same spot. In fact I didn't quite manage it either time. Even so, it worked! To my surprise. Doesn't take much to make a big difference.

Unfortunately no pics, so technically none of this happened.

[Gerardus Mercator]

Had to call emergency services after a roadside fix gone wrong.

The seatpost has been slipping. I tightened it to the limit of tightenability before my ride, then marked the post with tape to see if it kept going down. It did. 

It then struck me that this is likely because I'd temporarily swapped posts with a metal one which has anti-seize on it, which I hadn't wiped off before reinstalling the carbon post.

I had some paper towels in my saddlebag, so I stopped to do that. Unfortunately I broke the bolt in the process of unclenching it. (I actually had a spare clamp as well – but the wrong size!) If it weren't for the saddlebag, too heavy to safely hold or hook on my handlebars, I would've just ridden home out of the saddle. Even walking seemed preferable to a callout, but it's 5 miles, which while hardly a marathon, was too much of a hairshirt approach when there was someone who could be roused from her cozy nest.

. . .

On order: a new clamp, because I can't extract the remainder of the bolt. It rattles around, taunting me. (I considered loctiting it out, but not sure how hold the extraction tool, probably another allen key, to the end of the bolt until it sets. And no, that verb will never catch on.)



Also on the way is a torque wrench which looks like it was made on Blue Peter, but which reviews assure me does indeed mostly work.


Also beats eggs

[Albert Einstein]

Update:

I have some odd gaps – I've never taped bars or tightened a spoke!

Still not in a hurry to mess with spokes. I'll leave that to quantum qualified mechanics.

Actually, if I had a proper workshop – the great outdoors isn't the ideal workspace – I might consider getting into wheels.

[Shed]

Sabbath #2 leans to the right when I ride it no-handed, which of course won't do. I don't know what's causing it, but I know how to fix it. Went to the ironmongers in search of a spacer that might fit neatly in the cradle of the dropout on the right side of the fork. This was an "I'll know it when I see it" mission.



The mission was a failure, but I found success back home in the form of a rear light bracket strap,



which unlike the lawnmower part (even if it had fit in the cup), was easy to cut, yielding a piece that was the right size.



That's not the right size. It's just the version I have a decent picture of. The piece now in use is about half that: enough to fit in the end of the U, but not crowd out the axle. The first time I have a puncture I'll likely lose it in the weeds by the side of the road, so should glue it down. Though as you can see from the length of the strap, there are plenty of spares.

I measured both sides of the fork and can definitely probably say the left is 1mm longer than the right. That may be what's causing the imbalance. Will be testing this theory by trying an old carbon fork, which while it gave years of hands-free service and theoretically could do again, now has bubbly paint near where the tines join the alloy crown, leaving me to wonder if the NHS covers X-rays for bike parts.

Speaking of shorty, I watched this again the other day.

Still the best cycling movie ever made.

[John McAdam]

The test fork test was inconclusive – it wasn't quite the right size or angle or something (I know the wheelbase was slightly off). Fortunately my bodge is continuing to do the trick, though it's admittedly disturbing from this vantage.



Found a brake calliper spacer I'd dropped yesterday. Which was nice.

[Baruch Spinoza]

A rattling sound. Though I strongly feel that the criterion of truth is not sensory, listening to it would truly drive me up a wall. Using my well-honed powers of deduction, I quickly located the culprit:



Raw philosophy wasn't going to fix it. I needed an actual tool.



Preferably the right tool for the job.



The roots of 'Bontrager' are 'bone' and 'trager', which if my Latin isn't too rusty means 'trickster'. This combines to make no sense.



Turn clockwise to tighten. Or counterclockwise. I'm a philosopher, not a mechanic, damnit.

If you turn one way far enough it doesn't become the other way. Remember this.

Note the missing bolt. Hegel would have something to say about that.



Next on the agenda: a search for a matching bolt using Cartesian methods.