My week in attempted cyclery

[cwfilmbuff]

So it's mid-May, the weather is (theoretically) getting nicer, and my semester is over. Because I've been making a conscious effort to exercise more (and because there's only so many times one can play through Portal 2), I decided that meant it was time to fix up the bike and get riding.

First, two background notes:

• Last time I took the bike out, late last summer, the left pedal fell off. Several attempts to reattach it were made, but it kept coming loose. Eventually the bike just got put away for the year.
  
• I attempted to get the bike out earlier this year, with the prospect of biking to class when time and weather allowed. Noticing the back tire was low I went to inflate it, and having done so managed to break of the valve when I removed the pump. It was now a permanently flat tire. At this point I didn't have time to change the tube before class, so back onto the rack it went.

Anyway, cut to Monday morning. I got home from work, made sure my front tire was inflated, and wrestled my bike into the back seat of our Civic (not a car designed for transporting bicycles). My thinking was that it had been stowed so long that it was faster and easier to have some professionals tackle the work that needed to be done. So I took it to Performance and told the mechanic that I needed the rear tube replaced, and to check and tighten the pedals because last time I rode the left one fell off. Ten minutes later I had a ready-to-ride bike. But I had also been up almost 30 hours at that point, so I decided sleep was the wiser option.

Tuesday morning I got home from work, stuffed my textbooks into my messenger bag, and set about for riding gear. Helmet, lock, and saddle bag were no problem, but my odometer seems to have gone walkabout. Don't know if it was in Meg's bag or if I just haven't been able to locate a small plastic computer in our cluttered storage shed and/or house. No problem; the bike function on google maps, despite its faults, gives a pretty good estimate of trip mileage, so I can just plug my route in and know about how far I rode. Anyway, loaded up with the few things I needed, I was off on my first ride of the year. By the time I got to campus I was feeling great - I always forget how much I miss cycling over the winter until that first ride reminds me of what I have to look forward to during the summer months. Sold my books back - didn't get a lot but it was more than I'd spent on repairs the previous day so so far the week was coming out ahead - and started back home. About a mile into the return trip my left pedal started wobbling, then fell right off the bike. I was close to the giant downtown REI, where I could have gotten it fixed, but decided Performance was supposed to have fixed the problem yesterday, so they can damn well deal with it today. Lunch and a bus ride later I was back home, wrestling the bike back into the Civic, and returning to Performance. Turns out the part needed to be replaced, and they were unapologetic about not having caught that the day before (when I'd told them the pedal was falling off). Managed to get a small discount on parts and labor, but still paid more than I would have liked in the situation. At that point what was supposed to be an easy one-hour out and back had turned into a frustrating, tiring, and annoying four-hour ordeal. Once again sleep won out over the desire to ride.

Wednesday and Thursday were cold, grey, and rainy. Not ideal bike weather.

So finally today (Friday), I decide to go for it. Pedal shaft Crankarm's been replaced (wrote the wrong name for the part last night), both tires are full, and I'm ready for a ride. 10 miles out to the Old Chicago on Colorado Blvd, where I stop for water (with a side of pizza and beer), then 10 miles back home. Everything's going great until just past downtown on the way home, when the casing on my rear derailleur bursts. So now I can shift up on the back wheel, but not down; once I'm in the highest gear I'm stuck there. This happens, of course, a couple blocks before the steepest uphill of the entire route. Thankfully I made it home relying on my front shifter, but now I'm once again stuck with a not-quite functional bike until I can replace that casing.

My original goal for the year was to work up to at least a metric century by the end of summer. Now it's to complete one ride without something on the bike breaking. I really hope it's an attainable objective.

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Arrrrgh!
Okay first off I'm going to say I'm 90% sure the left crankarm is trashed, because crankarms are softer than pedal spindles, so when the pedal spindle comes out it mangles the crankarm.
That gets pricey. HOWEVER I'd be glad to give you one as I have extra.
They had no business, in MY opinion, trying to retighten it in hopes it would get better. That is just passing the buck.

As regards the cable housing failing, urgh. That's easy to repair if you have the tools, but totally non-trivial otherwise. I'm sorry. If you carry a philips head screwdriver with you -- or, more likely, a multitool -- you can limp home by adjusting the lower derailleur adjustment screw to push the derailleur into a middle-ish gear, and then you have a three-speed (or however many front chainrings you have) with okay-ish variety. Far better choices than being stuck in high gear,
certainly.

Gah and double gah.

[filmbuff.livejournal.com]

They did replace the crankarm when I went back, so at leas that issue is taken care of. But between failing to consider that it might need replacing when I told them the problem on my first visit, and acting like it was no big deal that they hadn't caught an apparently obvious issue when I went back, I'm not going to feel too bad about taking my business elsewhere in the future.

Thankfully when the cable housing failed there was only one big hill to climb, and the remaining three miles home were relatively flat. I'll have to remember the trick with the multitool if it happens again - three gears would have been much more useful than two.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Performance used to be a reasonably good place, but that was 20 years ago when there were just the two stores. (Chapel Hill and Boulder.)
Locally, Wheat Ridge Cyclery has been pretty good, Salvagetti is excellent, and up in Boulder, University Cycles has an excellent rep.

Cable housings do degrade, particularly if they're near something that generates ozone (fridge, water heater, pretty much anything with an electric motor.) It's still a PITA when they go, though.

[filmbuff.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip on Salvagetti. That was quicker and less expensive than I'm used to, and they actually looked at the bike instead of just doing a quick band-aid fix. I'll definitely be going to them at least until we move.