Brigadelle in the shop
Nov. 15th, 2008 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
roadrunnertwiceI know I've been all on about the motorbike lately, but I also still have (and love) a bicycle, and this was the weekend I broke down and took the poor thing to the shop. Something in the neighborhood of the back wheel hub was making a really nasty crunching noise when I put load on the pedals, and—separated from my beloved Greasepit and my slightly less beloved Hub Co-Op Self-Service—I didn't have the tools to bust the fucker up and diagnose shit. And then I replaced the chain and the noise got about five times worse, so I took it to OlyBikes (my Olympia bikeshop since forever, based [I think] on the recommendation of the late Chris Stewart) to get it looked at.
Anyway, the twenty- or thirty-year-old Suntour freewheel on the thing (which had all the gears but the smallest stripped off, and it looked pretty crazy, I tell you what) was LE MORT, and (surprise!) they didn't have any dismembered old-ass ten-speed numbers to replace it with. Sooooo the wheel had to be re-dished.
(Dishing is, um, I could draw you a diagram? Basically, when you have a big cluster of sprockets to deal with, the spokes on one side form a much shallower cone than on the other side. If you switch to a freewheel that doesn't stick out so far, you need to re-adjust the tension of the spokes on each side if you want the sprocket to end up directly in the chain line, which is a must if you're using a chain that's not meant to be run through a derailer, which is what you do when you're running a single-speed. Bike repair can get complicated, have I ever mentioned that?)
So anyway, it was just as well I took it to the shop, because even given the tools, I absolutely lack the skill and wherewithal to re-dish a wheel. (If you want to level that skill family, you have to do this build-a-whole-wheel-from-scratch quest first, and I haven't bothered to get a party together yet.) The shop did good, and not only is the wheel functional and resistance-free again, but it's also a whole lot more attractive:
Sharp, right?
This also changed the gearing a bit, since single-speed freewheels can't handle sprockets with fewer than 16 teeth. (The old Suntour was capped with a 14-toother.) Honestly, I think I kind of like it; I might swap the chainwheel eventually, but right now, I really like being able to dash off faster from a stoplight and climb hills a bit more easily. And my spinning technique could use some work anyhow.
Anyway, the twenty- or thirty-year-old Suntour freewheel on the thing (which had all the gears but the smallest stripped off, and it looked pretty crazy, I tell you what) was LE MORT, and (surprise!) they didn't have any dismembered old-ass ten-speed numbers to replace it with. Sooooo the wheel had to be re-dished.
(Dishing is, um, I could draw you a diagram? Basically, when you have a big cluster of sprockets to deal with, the spokes on one side form a much shallower cone than on the other side. If you switch to a freewheel that doesn't stick out so far, you need to re-adjust the tension of the spokes on each side if you want the sprocket to end up directly in the chain line, which is a must if you're using a chain that's not meant to be run through a derailer, which is what you do when you're running a single-speed. Bike repair can get complicated, have I ever mentioned that?)
So anyway, it was just as well I took it to the shop, because even given the tools, I absolutely lack the skill and wherewithal to re-dish a wheel. (If you want to level that skill family, you have to do this build-a-whole-wheel-from-scratch quest first, and I haven't bothered to get a party together yet.) The shop did good, and not only is the wheel functional and resistance-free again, but it's also a whole lot more attractive:
Sharp, right?
This also changed the gearing a bit, since single-speed freewheels can't handle sprockets with fewer than 16 teeth. (The old Suntour was capped with a 14-toother.) Honestly, I think I kind of like it; I might swap the chainwheel eventually, but right now, I really like being able to dash off faster from a stoplight and climb hills a bit more easily. And my spinning technique could use some work anyhow.