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thisnewdayBecause I was supposed to drive my son to one of his twice-weekly visits with his little daughter at the mall today, I set my alarm for 6 AM. Then, as might've been predicted, I woke up at 3 AM and couldn't get back to sleep.
Finally, I decided to get up for awhile but, instead of going upstairs to the computer, as I usually do, I went down to the basement to contemplate the DIY bike repair which I'd started the night before.
For several weeks, now, I've been getting a disturbing vibration, from somewhere in the lower area of the frame, which gets progressively worse as the load at the pedals is increased during my mag trainer routine.
At first, I wanted to blame the mag trainer because, well, I hadn't noticed any problem with the bike out on the road. But because I wasn't anxious to tear into something that I had no mechanical knowledge of--and was still having just a l-i-i-i-tle doubt about my diagnosis--I'd just been living with it.
The thing is, I was 99 and 44/100ths percent sure I was dealing with a bearing problem but just wasn't sure about WHERE.
One thing I did learn, as an auto mechanic, was that bearing noises increase under load--duh--and are also intensified by the direction of the load.
So what I really had to determine was where the load was being increased as I shifted through the gears.
The load at the magnetic resistance unit would only increase if I increased my work load by setting its control to a higher level. Which I'd decided not to do, opting instead to increase the work load at the pedals by shifting through the bicycle's gears, as I would out on the road.
(Except on the road, you're decreasing your load with the gears. Counterintuitive, I know, but that's how it works on a mag trainer.)
Anyway, the place where THAT load would be exerted, transmitted, whatever, would be at the pedals, through the Bottom Bracket Bearings. On the bike.
Which I hadn't wanted to believe could possibly be bad after only 800 miles on dry pavement and, more recently, indoors on the mag trainer. But there it was, and it was getting worse.
A few months back, I had rescued a bucket of Park brand bicycle tools from the house in the city. And a while after that had set about sorting them, wire brushing the corrosion, etc.
So now I'd gotten them out and hoped that they'd still work on this much newer bike. They were, after all, some 30 years old, had been quite expensive back then, and would NOT have gotten cheaper in their latest iteration.
(The thing is, a bottom bracket bearing replacement is not something you're gonna be able to do without specialized tools--not without wrecking the bike or yourself or both.)
Luckily my ancient tools fit and so, when I went into the city to pick up my son, I stopped by the Mello Velo Bike Shop which had my parts in stock.
While I was there, they warned me about a couple of places in the disassembly process where I might have a problem and, out of deeply-felt concern for my well-being, mentioned that if I did have a problem that I could always bring it into the shop.
I thanked them for their concern and then headed home, intending to stop at the Home Depot for some PVC "cheaters"--improvised extensions for tool handles on which you need to exert a crap-ton of torque--because I'd already encountered one of the problems that they'd mentioned.
Then, because I was suddenly inspired by how much I'd be saving by doing the job myself and because the box containing the new bearing set gave some VERY SPECIFIC torque specifications that had to be met, I decided that I absolutely MUST buy a new torque wrench as well.
Because, after all, the warning printed on the box clearly stated that the entire bike might otherwise disintegrate, initiating a nuclear chain reaction which would end life as we know it. And we wouldn't want THAT on our conscience, would we?
Absolutely not! So it made perfect sense, at that moment, to avert imminent disaster for the low, low, on-sale price of $60. (I WILL, of course, stipulate that my new torque wrench is to be buried with me in the event that, you know, someone in Hell needs a bicycle fixed.)
Anyway, while I was in the city--having made the trip a bit early to accommodate my stop at the bike shop--my son called to say that because of the overnight snowfall his visitation had been canceled. And so, as I said, I headed back, got my cheaters at HD, and, after arriving at home, successfully completed the disassembly.
I may even start reassembly tonight but it is late and tomorrow IS another day.
Provided, of course, that I'm not summoned, overnight, to that place of NO annual snowfall for an emergency bike repair...
LPK
Dreamwidth
1.20.2021
Finally, I decided to get up for awhile but, instead of going upstairs to the computer, as I usually do, I went down to the basement to contemplate the DIY bike repair which I'd started the night before.
For several weeks, now, I've been getting a disturbing vibration, from somewhere in the lower area of the frame, which gets progressively worse as the load at the pedals is increased during my mag trainer routine.
At first, I wanted to blame the mag trainer because, well, I hadn't noticed any problem with the bike out on the road. But because I wasn't anxious to tear into something that I had no mechanical knowledge of--and was still having just a l-i-i-i-tle doubt about my diagnosis--I'd just been living with it.
The thing is, I was 99 and 44/100ths percent sure I was dealing with a bearing problem but just wasn't sure about WHERE.
One thing I did learn, as an auto mechanic, was that bearing noises increase under load--duh--and are also intensified by the direction of the load.
So what I really had to determine was where the load was being increased as I shifted through the gears.
The load at the magnetic resistance unit would only increase if I increased my work load by setting its control to a higher level. Which I'd decided not to do, opting instead to increase the work load at the pedals by shifting through the bicycle's gears, as I would out on the road.
(Except on the road, you're decreasing your load with the gears. Counterintuitive, I know, but that's how it works on a mag trainer.)
Anyway, the place where THAT load would be exerted, transmitted, whatever, would be at the pedals, through the Bottom Bracket Bearings. On the bike.
Which I hadn't wanted to believe could possibly be bad after only 800 miles on dry pavement and, more recently, indoors on the mag trainer. But there it was, and it was getting worse.
A few months back, I had rescued a bucket of Park brand bicycle tools from the house in the city. And a while after that had set about sorting them, wire brushing the corrosion, etc.
So now I'd gotten them out and hoped that they'd still work on this much newer bike. They were, after all, some 30 years old, had been quite expensive back then, and would NOT have gotten cheaper in their latest iteration.
(The thing is, a bottom bracket bearing replacement is not something you're gonna be able to do without specialized tools--not without wrecking the bike or yourself or both.)
Luckily my ancient tools fit and so, when I went into the city to pick up my son, I stopped by the Mello Velo Bike Shop which had my parts in stock.
While I was there, they warned me about a couple of places in the disassembly process where I might have a problem and, out of deeply-felt concern for my well-being, mentioned that if I did have a problem that I could always bring it into the shop.
I thanked them for their concern and then headed home, intending to stop at the Home Depot for some PVC "cheaters"--improvised extensions for tool handles on which you need to exert a crap-ton of torque--because I'd already encountered one of the problems that they'd mentioned.
Then, because I was suddenly inspired by how much I'd be saving by doing the job myself and because the box containing the new bearing set gave some VERY SPECIFIC torque specifications that had to be met, I decided that I absolutely MUST buy a new torque wrench as well.
Because, after all, the warning printed on the box clearly stated that the entire bike might otherwise disintegrate, initiating a nuclear chain reaction which would end life as we know it. And we wouldn't want THAT on our conscience, would we?
Absolutely not! So it made perfect sense, at that moment, to avert imminent disaster for the low, low, on-sale price of $60. (I WILL, of course, stipulate that my new torque wrench is to be buried with me in the event that, you know, someone in Hell needs a bicycle fixed.)
Anyway, while I was in the city--having made the trip a bit early to accommodate my stop at the bike shop--my son called to say that because of the overnight snowfall his visitation had been canceled. And so, as I said, I headed back, got my cheaters at HD, and, after arriving at home, successfully completed the disassembly.
I may even start reassembly tonight but it is late and tomorrow IS another day.
Provided, of course, that I'm not summoned, overnight, to that place of NO annual snowfall for an emergency bike repair...
LPK
Dreamwidth
1.20.2021
no subject
Date: 2021-01-21 04:09 pm (UTC)I consequence, I always get a bit nervous when you go several days withoyut posting.
no subject
Date: 2021-01-21 04:26 pm (UTC)I know it's partly inherent in the times we're living in but also because we come to genuinely value the lives that are shared with us here.
I hope you're well and safe and keeping warm...