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04-30-01, 09:13 AM
... from me.
I ride hundreds of miles per week and am a good bike tech. However, I'm sloppy, and when it falls apart, it falls apart all over the place.
Exhibit A. I was very excited about my new skinny tires that I put on my classic Italian road bike. I just hummed along the smooth bike path. About 15 miles into it, I my cranks felt "shaky". I looked down and realized that the bottom bracket that I installed a year ago was coming undone.
An Italian bottom bracket fixed cup threads in clockwise, so you have to tighten it unbelievably tight. Otherwise, the bearings will unscrew it when pedaling. I remember a year ago saying, "it's tight enough". I also remember blowing off looking at it earlier this year. Now 15 miles from home, I'm finger-tightening the thing every mile.
Exhibit B. Those skinny tires need skinny rims. I was making up time by riding the streets, tired of turning the fixed cup every mile. Two miles off the path, I'm flat from a snake bite puncture in the rear.
Redemption. It could have been worse if I had not stopped to help a couple fix with their kid's "add-a-bike". Without that opprotunity to help someone, I surely would have snapped a brake cable or something stupid. I made it home in time for Sunday dinner.
I ride hundreds of miles per week and am a good bike tech. However, I'm sloppy, and when it falls apart, it falls apart all over the place.
Exhibit A. I was very excited about my new skinny tires that I put on my classic Italian road bike. I just hummed along the smooth bike path. About 15 miles into it, I my cranks felt "shaky". I looked down and realized that the bottom bracket that I installed a year ago was coming undone.
An Italian bottom bracket fixed cup threads in clockwise, so you have to tighten it unbelievably tight. Otherwise, the bearings will unscrew it when pedaling. I remember a year ago saying, "it's tight enough". I also remember blowing off looking at it earlier this year. Now 15 miles from home, I'm finger-tightening the thing every mile.
Exhibit B. Those skinny tires need skinny rims. I was making up time by riding the streets, tired of turning the fixed cup every mile. Two miles off the path, I'm flat from a snake bite puncture in the rear.
Redemption. It could have been worse if I had not stopped to help a couple fix with their kid's "add-a-bike". Without that opprotunity to help someone, I surely would have snapped a brake cable or something stupid. I made it home in time for Sunday dinner.