This has pretty much been my reality for the past while. As usual, I meant to do a pile of bike maintenance over the winter but never got a round tuit. But now I’m enjoying getting all my bikes clean and into shape. So far 2 of my bikes plus Robin’s bike are in reasonable shape and one is just ridable but still needs serious work.
The really good part is after years of working on bikes, I finally got a work stand. I don’t know what’s taken me so long – everything’s so much more pleasant now.
And if you’re in Montréal and reading this, feel free to bring your bike by for minor repairs or cleaning. I’ll do the work if you keep me and Aslan company, or I can show you how to do it.
Bikes are always an excellent idea.. but I thought you said you couldn’t ride a normal bike because of balance or something???
Where exactly is work? I’m personally a fan of riding in traffic but I realize it feels more dangerous (or even impossibly scary) to many people. If you’re one of them, the de Maisonneuve bike path is a reasonable route to downtown – let me know where you need to go and I’ll come up with a specific suggestion.
hey jody! I miss you and our bikes fixings!
good news about the stand. :-)
ride around the mountain for me a few times? :-)
Consider it done!
yes yes yes! my old bike is feeling sad an abandoned somewhere in the Concordia ghetto… it needs some serious attention when I get it back (which should be very soon if I want to get it back at all)
OK, let me know when you do!
I think I’ll need to take you up on that for trueing my road bike wheels, and variously figuring out WTF is up with it.
Meanwhile, indestructible bike remains indestructible.
I’ve had a truing stand for years and I’m not afraid to use it!
WTF _is_ up with your road bike apart from the front derailleur being silly? Whatever the case, I can take a look. So far I’m free on Saturday afternoon until about 16:00 as well as most of Sunday. But I should really go for a ride during at least one of these times – is your road bike at least rideable?
There’s not actually all that much wrong with it. The big question mark is whether my frame is bent, or if my rear wheel is just insane. The brakes are all loosey-goosey, but that’s just because the wheels are horribly untrue. That might be it, actually. The front derailleur is an annoyance, but I don’t know if there’s much to be done about it. Note that I have no idea what I’m doing with a truing stand.
I’m pretty sure it’s still rideable, anyway – it finished up RAMROD with no problems, and I must have been riding it after that. I haven’t checked this year though, as I’ve been out of town most of the month.
As for timing, my parents are coming into town on Sunday, so I’d only have Saturday available. I’d be up for either riding or fixing then, as you see fit.
Oh, _I_ know what to do with a truing stand. Don’t worry :)
I don’t have any of the tools for checking frame alignment, but I’ve seen instructions on checking alignment with string that look like they’d be easy to follow. Is your frame still under warranty? There’s no way to fix an aluminum frame but they should send you a new one if it is misaligned.
As for specific plans, let’s discuss those in the email with Dave.
You’ve got two major options. You can either take the Maisonneuve bike path over to Atwater or thereabouts, and then head down to the Lachine bike path which will take you to your office, or you could take Maisonneuve all the way to downtown, then ride down Peel or Beaver Hall/McGill or something to get to your work.
If it were me, I’d probably prefer the first one, as the Lachine bike path is very nice, though it depends when you want to tackle the hill that’s somewhat unavoidably involved.
Oh! I was just thinking in the past days that my bike needs a tiny teeny bit of maintenance before I can start using it. Mainly, the tires must need air. And I don’t have the equipment. Would you teach me a thing or two? I’d like to start to be a bit more knowledgeable bike-wise.
I didn’t even know you had a bike.. yay! Well like I just told Peter, I’m free on Saturday afternoon until about 16:00 as well as most of Sunday, apart from whenever I decide to go riding. Or later in the week / next weekend works too.
Sometime during the week? Is there an evening that suits you better? Or even an afternoon… I am flexible!
This week is shaping up to be pretty busy. But I might have time on Thursday evening or Friday afternoon. I’ll ping you on IRC or by email when I figure things out…