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its not been a bad week so far.
Well lets contextualise that, the weather has been really, well grey, damp and blustery, other than that the week has gone pretty much to plan.
Monday was planned as bike fixing day, three jobs to do, sort out the headset bearings, replace a couple of brake blocks and the biggy, sort out the new back wheel. The bearings are a quite straightforward job - except you have to dismantle half the bike to do it! Disconnect the front brake, remove the handlebars, mudguard and wheel, only then can you undo the bearings to drop out the fork.
Given they hadn't been touched since the bike was built in @ 2002, they were in remarkable condition, all present at least, it was actually a partial failure of the lower bearing cage that was the issue. New balls replaced the old in the top cage and the lower got a full set of new loose balls, hopefully they wont need attention again for quite a while. It didn't take long to reassemble things and the cartridge brake blocks were a quick job too.
I grabbed some lunch and the new wheel arrived, yay! Strip off the cassette and rubberwear, a bit of cleaning then check the trueness of the new wheel - it wasn't bad but a few tweaks in the wheel jig and it was well under 0.5mm sideways and pretty much 100% round. Tyre and cassette fitted, drop into the bike, job done! Now I just need some weather, its looking yeuk until later in the week!
The day was rounded out with a trip to the shops.
The forecast for Tuesday wasn't very bike ride friendly so instead I set off for a walk, not before I made a start on a new Gaby chapter. I managed to stay dry but the blustery wind confirmed my decision to delay returning to two wheels.
And so to today. I caught Bev's bus to the hardware store then walked back, again staying largely dry despite a forecast of heavy rain. All the walking has taken me to almost 98km for January, one walk to the shops, probably tomorrow, and i'll complete the 100km challenge in just 3 weeks! I'll crack on with the writing when I finish here.
Being Wednesday, todays feature length Gaby posting is from book 3, The Visitors. After all the excitement in Harrogate, Drew's life gets some unexpected excitement as the whole exchange programme take a trip to Leeds, first to the Armouries and then a bonus afternoon at the Leeds Festival. What can possibly go wrong, you'll need to read Festival to find out.
https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/88500/gaby-book-3-vis...
And so here we are, looking at the forecast it'll be Friday before the bike rolls out, a full week without riding, by choice rather than enforced by injury or weather.
Celebrate the new Presidents arrival in the Oval Office then tune in on Sunday for more Maddy news!
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid
Comments
Bike tinkering
I love tinkering with bikes aswell.
I have just converted my work/commuter bike to disc brakes due to getting fed up with replacing the brake blocks once a month from the grim/salt on the roads.
As for your Gabby stories, they are the best ones on this site.
Thank you
for that ringing endorsement!
I'm not a bike tinkerer - that would be my mate, I do maintenance / replacement, if it i'n't broke, don't fix it and if its broke, fit new, I've earnt my crust for over 30 years as a bike mechanic / salesperson, tinkerers were usually nice people but poor customers!
You think you have reduced brake pad wear - you haven't, you've just moved the issue. Disc pads can wear out just as quickly, largely because they are doing more work for the same result (its simple physics, bigger disc, more braking moment). And not only that, they are more difficult to check for wear so they often get forgotten until they, and of course the brake, are no longer doing their job.
Not sure quite how you've managed such a conversion but be aware that the braking forces with discs are different to rim systems, the front fork in particular needs to be over engineered and wheel fixing systems need particular attention. Good luck and stay safe.
Madeline Anafrid Bell