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thisnewdayFinally took the bike into the Mello Velo bike shop today. I say "finally" because there's been a noise/vibration that's grown in volume and duration over the past several weeks to the point where I could no longer ignore it.
I'd had something similar, the winter before this one, and couldn't remember what we'd finally decided was the source of it. What I DID remember was finding out that I had bad wheel bearings in the rear and being told that THAT could be due to locking the rear axle into the training stand too tightly.
So I was preparing myself for the worst, even though I was very sure that THIS winter I'd been super careful when I locked the bike into the trainer.
The shop was hella busy when I got there around noon--dude told me they had 40-50 bikes waiting for service--but he wheeled it into the shop area and put it up on a repair stand.
Before that, he'd spun the wheel and turned the crank a couple of times and said he didn't hear any bearing noise or feel any looseness in the crank. I hadn't either, but I've learned not to take any comfort until I have a definative answer.
He turned the crank a few times while it was in the stand and then motioned me back behind the counter. Had me put my hand on the bare part of the handle bar, while he continued to turn the crank, and asked if that was what I'd been feeling.
I said it was. (Back when this problem first started, it was just a little vibration in the pedals--now you can feel it in the handle bars. Which just proves the old mechanic's adage that shit never fixes itself, it just gets worse.)
Then he pulls out a weird-looking gauge, that I'd never seen before, and does something with the chain. Finally he says, look at this.
When a chain is new, there's this much distance between the link pins. When it's pretty well broken in, there's this much. When it's worn out, there's this much. Yours is beyond that.
So, not bragging, but in less that a year's time I had worn out the brand new chain that had been installed the previous spring. Along with the $40 rear tire that I'd gotten at about the same time.
But, with 40-50 customers in line ahead of me, I made an appointment--or, rather, got my name in the queue for an appointment--and took the bike home.
I did buy the tire because it's a French import, that they don't have many of in stock, and he was afraid that if they just put it aside it might not be there by the time I came in for my appointment. (Plus, I suspect, he needed something in the cash register to show for the time he'd taken from the work at hand to talk with me.)
So tire, chain, and possibly rear cassette--which was new when the chain was--as well as a possible front chain ring. That, plus my twice-yearly tuneup. Guess I may hold off on the Rock Shox suspension fork I was thinking about getting this year.
But at least I can tell my grandson that he doesn't need to worry when I borrow his bike, to ride while mine is in the shop.
Because locking it into the trainer won't cause any problems. And outdoor riding will have long-since started by the the time I finally need to borrow his...
LPK
Dreamwidth
3.21.2022
I'd had something similar, the winter before this one, and couldn't remember what we'd finally decided was the source of it. What I DID remember was finding out that I had bad wheel bearings in the rear and being told that THAT could be due to locking the rear axle into the training stand too tightly.
So I was preparing myself for the worst, even though I was very sure that THIS winter I'd been super careful when I locked the bike into the trainer.
The shop was hella busy when I got there around noon--dude told me they had 40-50 bikes waiting for service--but he wheeled it into the shop area and put it up on a repair stand.
Before that, he'd spun the wheel and turned the crank a couple of times and said he didn't hear any bearing noise or feel any looseness in the crank. I hadn't either, but I've learned not to take any comfort until I have a definative answer.
He turned the crank a few times while it was in the stand and then motioned me back behind the counter. Had me put my hand on the bare part of the handle bar, while he continued to turn the crank, and asked if that was what I'd been feeling.
I said it was. (Back when this problem first started, it was just a little vibration in the pedals--now you can feel it in the handle bars. Which just proves the old mechanic's adage that shit never fixes itself, it just gets worse.)
Then he pulls out a weird-looking gauge, that I'd never seen before, and does something with the chain. Finally he says, look at this.
When a chain is new, there's this much distance between the link pins. When it's pretty well broken in, there's this much. When it's worn out, there's this much. Yours is beyond that.
So, not bragging, but in less that a year's time I had worn out the brand new chain that had been installed the previous spring. Along with the $40 rear tire that I'd gotten at about the same time.
But, with 40-50 customers in line ahead of me, I made an appointment--or, rather, got my name in the queue for an appointment--and took the bike home.
I did buy the tire because it's a French import, that they don't have many of in stock, and he was afraid that if they just put it aside it might not be there by the time I came in for my appointment. (Plus, I suspect, he needed something in the cash register to show for the time he'd taken from the work at hand to talk with me.)
So tire, chain, and possibly rear cassette--which was new when the chain was--as well as a possible front chain ring. That, plus my twice-yearly tuneup. Guess I may hold off on the Rock Shox suspension fork I was thinking about getting this year.
But at least I can tell my grandson that he doesn't need to worry when I borrow his bike, to ride while mine is in the shop.
Because locking it into the trainer won't cause any problems. And outdoor riding will have long-since started by the the time I finally need to borrow his...
LPK
Dreamwidth
3.21.2022
