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Out of Commission

12.14.2014 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

I haven’t gotten in a lot of biking lately. Not only have I been caught up in the end of the semester crunch at the university, but my road bike has been acting up.

A week ago, I found myself unable to shift from the small chainring to the big one. I had to abandon a ride and get home, although that was the same ride where I discovered the broken spoke. I finally got the bike into the shop on Wednesday, where the mechanic listened to my shifting complaint and examined the bike. The chain is okay, since it’s fairly new. But he didn’t like the look of the big chainring.

“You’re missing the little pin that grabs the chain so it can move onto the big ring,” he said. “You’re going to need a new chainring.”

He thought he could get one into the shop the next day. But that didn’t happen, and I didn’t pick up the bike until Friday afternoon, after getting home from some Christmas shopping. Because of the lateness of the afternoon, I was unable to get the bike out for a shakedown cruise.

Saturday was mountain biking day, as we headed for a mountain bike park more than 60 miles from home. The ride was great fun, and although my friend Maggie and I took the “beginner” ride with an experienced leader, we agreed it provided plenty of challenges for us, and was just the ticket.

We figured that Sunday would be a recovery ride day on the road bikes. On the way over to the meetup place, I noticed that shifting to the big ring wasn’t as smooth as I’d like, but at least it worked. I liked the sound of a silent bike again.

We broke away from the main group several miles into the ride, and pointed ourselves toward the Veloway to do some slow laps. But as I pedaled along, I felt a snap.

The errant shift cable.
The errant shift cable.

The shift cable for the rear cassette broke away from the shifter. I was stuck in the smallest rear cog, and while I could pedal, it wasn’t going to be easy. I parted ways with Maggie and limped home.

After parking the bike in the garage, and showering and changing, I went back out to get a picture of the problem. And there it was — the rear tire had gone flat. First flat on the tire since I bought it last summer. Fixing the flat will be no problem, but the bike goes back to the mechanic this week — and I hope the shift cable can be repaired without me having to buy a whole new shifter.

In the meantime, I’m back to mountain biking for awhile.

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Categories // Equipment, Maintenance Tags // bike maintenance, flat tire, shifters

The Wife and the Mountain Bike

09.09.2014 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

I came home from work today to find my mountain bike standing on the garage floor. This is unusual, because it normally hangs from hooks in the garage ceiling.

“Did you go for a mountain bike ride today?” I asked my wife.

“I did!” she replied.

Her own bike was over at our local bike mechanic, getting an overhaul.

“And did you take it down by yourself?” I asked. “That isn’t easy.”

“No,” she said, “it’s not.”

“How was your ride?” I asked. “Say, compared to last week, when you took it out.”

“You know, it was a lot tougher,” she said. “Those gears just didn’t want to shift.”

I’ve been meaning to run the mountain bike in to my mechanic for awhile now. It won’t shift into the lower gears on the rear, and it won’t shift from the middle ring to the small ring up front. But while she thought her trouble today was about the shifters, I suspected it was something else.

“When you took it out last week, I pumped up the tires beforehand,” I said. “I knew you would ride only on streets, so I gave you 60 pounds pressure. But I didn’t know you were riding today, and when I took the bike out Friday, I deflated the tires so I could ride the singletrack. They’ve only got about 35 pounds in them, maybe less.”

“Ah, that explains it,” she said. “When was was coming back up the hill by the supermarket, it felt like I was being pulled backward.”

I got an email from the mechanic today that her bike was ready, and after supper, I went over to pick it up. In the meantime, I dropped off the mountain bike. The next time she rides it, it’ll shift smoothly.

Although now that she has her own bike back, I’ll bet she won’t ride the mountain bike anytime soon.

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Categories // Bikes, Maintenance Tags // bike maintenance, mountain bike

But Sometimes, You Can Handle it Yourself

09.04.2014 by Ray Niekamp // 1 Comment

Huh? The headline refers to a post earlier this week, when I gave up on a repair and decided to take my bike to our club mechanic. Sure enough, he did the repair in his driveway in about five minutes. Total cost: $5 for his labor, $3 for a new brake cable. A bargain, I thought.

But guest poster Don Blount is more adventurous than I. He chimes in with his own view on doing your own work.

BlountOnBikingThe latest Bikenoob post got my attention. I changed the shifters and brakes on my bike a few weeks weeks ago. I had Shimano 105 shifters that earlier this summer a mechanic had pointed out were in need of replacement. This was not an imminent need but something that could wait until winter. And then I came across a sale at Probikekit, the Internet retailer, for Shimano 105 shifters with internal cable routing.The cost was about $160, or about 55 percent off regular price. I consulted with a bike mechanic who confirmed it was a good deal and urged me to buy them.

And I did. I also bought some bar tape.

Well, I had the shifters for about a week. The mechanic said to bring the parts and the bike by his shop and he could install. The only problem was his shop was closed on Sunday and Monday and I literally had no time to get my bike there during the week.

So I decided to take the job on myself.

I measured where the old shifters rested on the handlebars and removed one.

I started the install of its replacement and hit the same roadblock as you on how to remove one of the existing cables. I could not find this step anywhere in the instructions. So I scoured the Internet. It took me a bit but I eventually found instructions on how to remove that blasted cable — a small screw removes a panel and then after that panel is removed the old cable comes out and the new cable can be routed in.

Of course that would not be the only roadblock I encountered.

I discovered the front brake was moving oddly. It was loose. That more than likely explained a grabbing action and squealing I was getting from it. The decision to replace it was easy as it broke in my hand as I removed a fastener. Fortunately, I had an old brake set on hand and used one of those until I could get a replacement.

I have had this new set up of shifters and brakes for a few weeks now. They work fine, although when I get a chance I would like to take it to a bike shop to have my work checked.

A moral to this story would be to review the directions beforehand, decide if you can actually do the job. In my case, I had removed shifters and installed brakes. But I had never changed cables.

Also, take your time as you work and keep in mind that the Internet can be a font of information full of videos and instructions on a number of jobs.

And keep a good bike mechanic on speed dial in case you get in over your head and need a professional to finish the job.


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Categories // guest post, Maintenance Tags // bike maintenance, Blount, guest post

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