Posts tagged 'biking'

• Roadmaster - April 30, 2007

  I got a call from the bike shop this morning, right after getting in to work. I had left it there yesterday afternoon to get the front derailleur tuned up and the barrel adjuster on the grip shift replaced. Well, the guy on the phone had some good news and bad news. The good news was that he found a barrel adjuster somewhere in the shop, so I wouldn’t have to spend $20 on a whole new grip shift. The bad news was that my middle chainring was so chewed up from years of wear and damage that it was most likely the cause of my shifting troubles yesterday. I gave him the go-ahead to take my $50 favorite dollars for a new one. Luckily, it doesn’t just include a new crankset but also the crank, shift cable, and derailleur so it doesn’t feel like such a waste.

  I took it for a test ride today to try out the new crankset and tires. Of course, the pedals were jumping when I really mashed on them. It didn’t make me want to ride very long, or to accelerate pretty hard. The internet seems to indicate this is a problem with the chain. There’s one link that looks stuck so it won’t bend properly. I’m betting that’s the problem, sinceI really don’t want to spring for yet another new part this week.

• I am an awesome bike mechanic - April 29, 2007

  Back in college, biking was a big part of my everyday activities. I rode to and from class several times a day, went for night and weekend rides with Ted and Ian, and in general just used it for transportation. For a while, our saying was “if it’s not thirty miles, it’s not worth it”. After college, I got lazy and stopped biking. It didn’t help that I was living on the worst road in Atlanta and would have died every single day I got out on the road. Things didn’t improve once I moved to Nashua because I was able to buy a car and didn’t need to bike everywhere anymore.

• That didn't work so well - January 9, 2006

  Well, that sure was a failed experiment. However, it’s a new year so let’s try this again like that means something. The last several months have been pretty crazy at times but since I’m so far behind writing about them and most people already know about everything, I’m just going to ignore talking about it. Ask if you want to know.