Here’s a little analogy to kick of Bike Maintenance Post….
The way I feel about this:
The way I feel about this:
Is how my husband feels about this:
My love of my bike, Pearl, is to his love of his car, NoName. (Although I secretly call her Stella).
Sigh. I’m so in love with Pearl. I have enough miles on her now to be fairly comfortable with gear shifting, which was NOT an available option on my childhood Huffy, so it was a brand new art to me. My mind as a pure beginner went something like this as a hill was approaching: “Okay, I see a hill. Time to shift….ehh..high gear? Which lever is that?? Let’s try the little thumb one of the right. Nope, that doesn’t pedal easier. Um, low gear, okay shift over right break lever, ya let’s try that...and now what should I do with the left hand levers?” and before I knew It, my quads would be dead to the world because I’d end up climbing a hill in a completely inadequate gear. Now, as shifting gears is coming a lot more natural to me, I’m able to focus more on the freedom of the road…..soaring down hills, zipping around corners, and pumping my way up hills (without as much lactic acid buildup in the quads).
My weekend rides are my favorite. I carve out a solid AM hour plus to get in at least 15 miles, and cruise along the farmlands in these parts as the sun gains height. Beau. Ti. Ful. I even passed a mama and baby deer this morning (!!!!).
But anyways…now that she’s broken in, I’ve been tinkering around with some maintenance. Not that the bike needs any serious work or repairs since it’s still newish, but with my luck, I’m bound to end up on the side of the road one of these days with a flat or worse. So I started with a “mock flat” in the safety of my own garage, which went something like this: struggled getting the wheel off the frame despite the “quick release” mechanism, could BARELY get the tire off the rim and had to recruit a nearby mechanical friend of Derick’s who happened to be over working on the car, and then I COULD NOT for the life of me get the wheel back on the frame. So to sum it up: almost fail, semi-fail, and fail. Although I did properly deflate and re-inflate the inner tube. Go me. I ended up lugging a one-wheeled bike to the bike shop, rear wheel in hand, and begged for mercy/politely asked them to reinstall the wheel. And POP on it went when the friendly store associate took pity on me and obliged to my request. Let’s just say there has not yet been a “mock flat tire” attempt No. 2.
I was brave enough, however, to attempt some rear and front derailleur adjustments, because due to over tampering during the mock flat trial, they both got messed up somehow. From what I read up on, minor adjustments can be made to these parts with some slight turns of certain knobs, so I followed some diagrams and WALLAH! I am proud to say my rear and front derailleurs are in perfect adjustment.
Sigh. I’m so in love with Pearl. I have enough miles on her now to be fairly comfortable with gear shifting, which was NOT an available option on my childhood Huffy, so it was a brand new art to me. My mind as a pure beginner went something like this as a hill was approaching: “Okay, I see a hill. Time to shift….ehh..high gear? Which lever is that?? Let’s try the little thumb one of the right. Nope, that doesn’t pedal easier. Um, low gear, okay shift over right break lever, ya let’s try that...and now what should I do with the left hand levers?” and before I knew It, my quads would be dead to the world because I’d end up climbing a hill in a completely inadequate gear. Now, as shifting gears is coming a lot more natural to me, I’m able to focus more on the freedom of the road…..soaring down hills, zipping around corners, and pumping my way up hills (without as much lactic acid buildup in the quads).
My weekend rides are my favorite. I carve out a solid AM hour plus to get in at least 15 miles, and cruise along the farmlands in these parts as the sun gains height. Beau. Ti. Ful. I even passed a mama and baby deer this morning (!!!!).
But anyways…now that she’s broken in, I’ve been tinkering around with some maintenance. Not that the bike needs any serious work or repairs since it’s still newish, but with my luck, I’m bound to end up on the side of the road one of these days with a flat or worse. So I started with a “mock flat” in the safety of my own garage, which went something like this: struggled getting the wheel off the frame despite the “quick release” mechanism, could BARELY get the tire off the rim and had to recruit a nearby mechanical friend of Derick’s who happened to be over working on the car, and then I COULD NOT for the life of me get the wheel back on the frame. So to sum it up: almost fail, semi-fail, and fail. Although I did properly deflate and re-inflate the inner tube. Go me. I ended up lugging a one-wheeled bike to the bike shop, rear wheel in hand, and begged for mercy/politely asked them to reinstall the wheel. And POP on it went when the friendly store associate took pity on me and obliged to my request. Let’s just say there has not yet been a “mock flat tire” attempt No. 2.
I was brave enough, however, to attempt some rear and front derailleur adjustments, because due to over tampering during the mock flat trial, they both got messed up somehow. From what I read up on, minor adjustments can be made to these parts with some slight turns of certain knobs, so I followed some diagrams and WALLAH! I am proud to say my rear and front derailleurs are in perfect adjustment.
And I will conclude with a grease-filled slice-o-the-thumb photo, which I sustained during this morning’s ride after my chain fell off (prior to the aforementioned derailleur adjustments of course). This sport ain’t for sissies.