T
Tom Anderson
Guest
Well bugger me,
Bike's broken again.
A couple of weeks ago, my chain decided to jump off my big sprocket into
my spokes, and then wrap itself around my mech in an immobile and
all-but-inextricable way, bringing me rapidly to a dead halt; it did this
as i was coming down Pancras Road, in the middle of King's Cross,
surrounded by taxis, which was nice (the lights ahead were red, luckily).
I managed to pry it out and get it back on the cogs; when i rode off, i
found that the gears had gone mad, and wouldn't stay put one one ring for
more than a turn of the cranks. Guided by the lovely Park Tool website, i
readjusted all the screws on the derailer, and everything was working fine
again. Well, actually, i'd left the L screw in a position where i couldn't
get into bottom, but my bottom is unnecessarily low anyway, so i'd left it
like that for the time being.
Now, presumably, the chain jumping incident was because my L screw was
previously too loose; furtherly presumably, that's because it had been set
that way; and finally presumably, this had happened when i'd taken the
bike for its three-month-post-purchase service at Decathlon. Grr.
Anyway, i'd fixed it, so i wasn't worried.
This morning, it unfixed itself again: as i rode off to work, i heard an
entertaining tinkling sound from the rear wheel, which turned out to be a
broken spoke flapping about and playing my wheel like a rotary
glockenspiel. On inspection, i saw that the break was down near the hub,
at the same distance at which the chain got jammed. This is conjecture,
but i think the chain jamming on the spokes bent one, which subsequently
broke.
So, the bike's now in the LBS, waiting for a real mechanic to fit a new
spoke. Once again, i live and learn.
So here's the public service announcement:
Kids! Have you been involved in a chain-jumping-into-spokes related
incident? If so, check your spokes for damage!
Tell you what, here's another:
DON'T GET YOUR BIKE SERVICED AT DECATHLON!
Incidentally, how hard is it to fit a spoke, and what tools do you need?
The LBS guy reckoned it needed something a bit specialist, which i didn't
have, so i left it for them to do, but wonder if i should have bought
whatever tool i needed and done it myself. I presume it involves a certain
amount of re-trueing, which is not something i feel skilful enough to fo.
tom
--
We discovered in Nature's work a pattern of sloppiness, indifference to
basic scholarly standards, and flagrant errors so numerous they completely
invalidated the results. -- Encyclopaedia Britannica
Bike's broken again.
A couple of weeks ago, my chain decided to jump off my big sprocket into
my spokes, and then wrap itself around my mech in an immobile and
all-but-inextricable way, bringing me rapidly to a dead halt; it did this
as i was coming down Pancras Road, in the middle of King's Cross,
surrounded by taxis, which was nice (the lights ahead were red, luckily).
I managed to pry it out and get it back on the cogs; when i rode off, i
found that the gears had gone mad, and wouldn't stay put one one ring for
more than a turn of the cranks. Guided by the lovely Park Tool website, i
readjusted all the screws on the derailer, and everything was working fine
again. Well, actually, i'd left the L screw in a position where i couldn't
get into bottom, but my bottom is unnecessarily low anyway, so i'd left it
like that for the time being.
Now, presumably, the chain jumping incident was because my L screw was
previously too loose; furtherly presumably, that's because it had been set
that way; and finally presumably, this had happened when i'd taken the
bike for its three-month-post-purchase service at Decathlon. Grr.
Anyway, i'd fixed it, so i wasn't worried.
This morning, it unfixed itself again: as i rode off to work, i heard an
entertaining tinkling sound from the rear wheel, which turned out to be a
broken spoke flapping about and playing my wheel like a rotary
glockenspiel. On inspection, i saw that the break was down near the hub,
at the same distance at which the chain got jammed. This is conjecture,
but i think the chain jamming on the spokes bent one, which subsequently
broke.
So, the bike's now in the LBS, waiting for a real mechanic to fit a new
spoke. Once again, i live and learn.
So here's the public service announcement:
Kids! Have you been involved in a chain-jumping-into-spokes related
incident? If so, check your spokes for damage!
Tell you what, here's another:
DON'T GET YOUR BIKE SERVICED AT DECATHLON!
Incidentally, how hard is it to fit a spoke, and what tools do you need?
The LBS guy reckoned it needed something a bit specialist, which i didn't
have, so i left it for them to do, but wonder if i should have bought
whatever tool i needed and done it myself. I presume it involves a certain
amount of re-trueing, which is not something i feel skilful enough to fo.
tom
--
We discovered in Nature's work a pattern of sloppiness, indifference to
basic scholarly standards, and flagrant errors so numerous they completely
invalidated the results. -- Encyclopaedia Britannica