Increasingly concerned about the slow response time of my bicycle brakes and after nearly ramming
into a parked car, I took Myrtille to the Local Bicycle Shop for a general check-up. My problem is
my inexperience. She is my first ever bike, I only started riding a few months ago, and I never know
whether my discomfort is due to a bike fault or my bad riding.
The young man at the shop did indeed report a problem with the brakes. They were not worn out but
completely misregulated - he said I was heading straight into a wall. He checked the derailleur too,
finding it slightly misaligned. I have been able to change gear without too much hassle but about
one time in twenty the chain pops off. Most interestingly, he said the tires were very flat, and
pumped them up to the usually required pressure.
To my delight, I found Myrtille far more stable on the road today than I have ever known her. I have
been reporting my sense of instability at higher speeds in another thread, which has given rise to a
very impressive debate about the physics of gyroscopes, as one knight after another enters the joust
to prove that my perception is against the laws of the Created Universe. Well, it turns out there
was a whole other parameter in the picture - flaccid tires wobbling all over the place, the faster
the wobblier.
Obvious to you, but not to me. There's a first time to everything. Many years ago, knowing nothing
about photography, I bought an Olympus SLR which should have been the camera of my lifetime. I
couldn't get a single decent picture out of it, but of course that was just because I was stupid. I
only cottoned on to the fact that the instrument itself was a total lemon, with a shutter that
answered to no-one, when it was past guarantee and cost a fortune to repair. Newbies don't know
enough to know when they re in the right.
There's something else I have learned: An instrument is not necessarily in good use-condition
just because it is brand new and shiny. Bikes in cycling shops are like animals in pet shops -
unloved, treated only as well as is minimally consistent with their economic status as a
commodity, they wait forlornly for a human to adopt them and complete their destiny. I suppose an
experienced cyclist with a new bike spends the whole first day checking it over and regulating
everything, just as a computer nerdess like myself will spend a good week on the installation and
tweaking of a new machine. But newbies should be aware, especially if they buy their cycles in
places of mass consumption like mall shops (as opposed to small cycling businesses run by
passionately committed experts) that they will need to line up a knowledgeable person to help
them get their bike on the road.
My two centimes. Cheers,
Elisa Roselli Paris, France