"Gears Up!
Off the travel topic…well this one’s about a mode of transportation so I guess its fair game.
Back in November Eva and I bought bikes, cycles not motorcycles. The most I’d ever spent on a bike till this point was somewhere south of $200, after spending roughly double that on my new bike I vowed to take care of it. Taking care of my bike really translates to riding it more often, gently when possible, avoiding muddy paths, and wiping it down once a week. The price I paid for this bike I could’ve had an IPad, and instead of looking like a dork on the streets of Tempe, I could’ve been one of the cool kids hanging out at Starbucks playing “Angry Birds” while pretending to work. However here I am, an IPad less proud owner of a Hybrid Street Bike.
Truthfully owning and taking care of a bike is kind of fun, with technology these days we lose our inherent “handyman” skills. It’s been a while since I’ve shopped at Ikea, but the thrill of assembling something from a crappy set of instructions is almost as fun as assembling bike parts without instructions. I’ve installed, bike lights, racks, bags and last but not least, seat locks. Most of my installations have taken anywhere from 5mins to 30mins based on the type of Allen wrenches I had to locate, its pretty surprising I’ve managed not to hurt myself yet, Bikes have moving parts you know!
"Mr. Fixit"
Getting a bike for me was more about getting back to basics; I wasn’t ready to jump into the world of Auto maintenance or repair, too much at stake there. So with medium level of excitement I jumped head first into household (two bikes) Bike maintenance. Since our Bikes were fairly new, I had not anticipated on delving into anything beyond the basics, installing lights, affixing cute stickers etc. Initially I was gung-ho on setting up shop with all the possible tools, spares we may need on the road if and when disaster struck, but my girlfriend assured me that Bike emergencies such as flat tires don’t happen often and in fact are extinct, relics of olden days when people rode bikes wearing suits. Since my girlfriend is right 97% of the time, I decided to save myself $50 in tool/spare expenses.
My girlfriend also rarely acknowledges the 3% of the time she is wrong. Unfortunately in a matter of two weeks she managed to get two flat tires. The first during our ride to Old Town Scottsdale, about 9 miles from our residence, fortunately a local bike store across the street from where the flat occurred charged $20 for a new tube and installation. It took the guy at the bike store little less than five minutes to take out the front tire, replace the tube, pump it up and put it back on the bike. Not a bad deal for $20 considering it would’ve taken me 30 minutes or so, but it was a missed opportunity for me to get my hands truly dirty working on the bike.
Unfortunately for my girlfriend’s bike, my hands did not remain clean when she got her second flat, about ½ mile from our residence. The second flat was on the rear tire, where all the gears and the mumbo jumbo are; this was the engine of the bike! I proceeded with caution, took apart the tire, checked the tube for obvious puncture producing felons, nails, needles, glass, etc. The tube looked clean but we decided it was better to replace it with a thick new thorn resistant tube. Though my girlfriend may be right 97% of the time, she green lit me to purchase enough tools to open a bike shop. Two hours and a hundred dollars later, her bike was back to looking normal. Unfortunately her bike was not quite normal, the gears were having problems settling, so today it’s in a bike shop getting its annual tune up 8 months early! In retrospect I should’ve just gotten an IPad!
"Tire setup"
*Pics taken on day of repair, thus the lack in variety.
