Fifty Plus (50+) - Comedy of Errors (Warning: Long Post!)

Like any good comedy, this has a very happy ending, and even a moral to the story.

I wake up this morning filled with undeserved confidence in my biking repair/maintenance skills, and decide to attack the issue of reversing my stem to raise my handlebars on the new hybrid. How hard can it be, I ask myself. And, I have a book of bicycle maintenance with Lots of Pictures, as well, so...I get myself a fresh cup of coffee, make sure I have my reading glasses handy, and go to work.

First thing, I have no repair stand. So I placed the bike on the bottom half of my storage rack with the back tire resting on the ground for stability, and start eyeballing the situation. Looks like a no-brainer -- just a couple of places to loosen a screw with my handy-dandy allen wrench. I think to myself how amazed my BF buddies will be when I post how I taught myself to reverse my handlebar stem.

I loosen the bracket holding the handlebar easily enough, and allow the bar to dangle to the backside, still connected to the cables. I then remove the cap on the top of the stem and take out the long screw. Next, I start loosening the two screws holding the stem to the bracket (I hope I'm using terms that are remotely close to correct), when suddenly there is a huge crash, as the front wheel drops out, and then spacers and other things are dropping to the tile floor, rolling this way and that, all in the space of less than a second.

OMG. I have NO idea what all these parts are, let alone where they go and in what order. But I'm going to remain calm, and I am going to remind myself I have the intelligence to puzzle this out -- plus I have a book with Lots of Pictures. I turn to the book after retrieving all of the parts (I hope), and discover there are No Pictures relating to my problem. It's going to be up to me.

So, I soon find myself balancing the wheel with my left hand, putting the spacers down the post with my other hand, trying to find my allen wrench with the other hand, and supporting the left side of the handlebar with my forehead, when suddenly BLAM everything collapses Once Again and I'm back to square one.

Somehow, following a string of expletives and some more coffee, I get back into the same position and get everything sort of in where it looks like it might go, and I tighten up all the screws. Removing the bike from the stand, I discover that the handlebars wobble, the whole thing doesn't look anything like it used to look, and basically I've done Something Wrong so I'm really not even back to Square One.

More expletives. More coffee. More useless fumbling through the book with Lots of Pictures.

I get the idea that the black plastic spacer rings are supposed to be INSIDE the post, but they just won't go. Aha! I have a small mini-sledge hammer. That should do it!!!

More expletives. More coffee. More useless fumbling through the book with Lots of Pictures.

Somehow, I get things sort of back together, at least rideable enough to get to the LBS, when I discover that in the process I've gotten my front brake out of alignment and now it's Screwed Up too. I fiddle with that for a while and can't make heads nor tails of what I'm doing wrong but it keeps coming apart at the quick release section.

More expletives. More coffee. Forget the d*amn book.

Sheepishly, I mount my steed, and peddle down to the LBS and, prepared for a deluge of guffawing, show them the bike and beg for help. Surprisingly, they didn't even smirk. (At least, not while I was there).

They fixed everything, discovered something else I'd screwed up when adjusting my saddle (I had allowed some part to become exposed that is supposed to be inside the post). I bought a computer (CatEye MITY 8) while I was there and they installed that as well. Charged me just $15 labor and the computer was $25.

Now -- why didn't I go there first?????

Oh -- and they pointed out I have two different size tires on the bike -- a 23mm in front, and a 28 in back. I couldn't even tell. Plus I was riding on 60 pounds of air.

So you see why I see myself as a knucklehead?

But the bike is fine, now, the handlebars are higher, the saddle is moved forward, the brakes are adjusted, and I have a computer. All is well with the world. And no, I'm not going to become a bike mechanic any day soon!

PS: The spacers are NOT supposed to fit inside the stem. D'oh!

Like any good comedy, this has a very happy ending, and even a moral to the story.

They fixed everything, discovered something else I'd screwed up when adjusting my saddle (I had allowed some part to become exposed that is supposed to be inside the post). I bought a computer (CatEye MITY 8) while I was there and they installed that as well. Charged me just $15 labor and the computer was $25.

Now -- why didn't I go there first?????

Oh -- and they pointed out I have two different size tires on the bike -- a 23mm in front, and a 28 in back. I couldn't even tell. Plus I was riding on 60 pounds of air.

So you see why I see myself as a knucklehead?

But the bike is fine, now, the handlebars are higher, the saddle is moved forward, the brakes are adjusted, and I have a computer. All is well with the world. And no, I'm not going to become a bike mechanic any day soon!

PS: The spacers are NOT supposed to fit inside the stem. D'oh!

And the Moral is---?


I was just wondering how the bike was coming on asnd whether you had done a century on it yet. Obviously not.

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

Perhaps you should stick to consulting, writing and seminars?

(I doubt the wenches (oops - wrenches) at the LBS would be much interested in getting organizations to function better)

It's getting harder to believe you make your living as a mechanic for American Airlines.

righty tighty, lefty loosey.

righty tighty, lefty loosey.

Well, except for bottom brackets and pedals.

Oh yes, I forgot the moral:

Take the bike to the LBS when you need something fixed. Not everyone's a wrench! Ain't no shame, it's not expensive, and it's even a helluva lot quicker too!

:roflmao:

Oh yes, I forgot the moral:

Take the bike to the LBS when you need something fixed. Not everyone's a wrench! Ain't no shame, it's not expensive, and it's even a helluva lot quicker too!

:roflmao:

My experience has been that the LBS is less expensive, when you count in that they also have to correct my mistakes.

I hate to nit pick. However, I do not see where you adjusted the air pressure above 60 pounds yet. Better check it. :roflmao:

I hate to nit pick. However, I do not see where you adjusted the air pressure above 60 pounds yet. Better check it. :roflmao:

No problemo! They would not let me leave the LBS without pumping it up. And I actually remembered how to do that with presto valves! :D

Heavens, this thread is giving me a major chuckle. Gary, my hats off to you for at least making the attempt! If you don't venture into the unknown the world gets pretty stale pretty quickly. I think it's great that you took a shot at this. You learned a few things today: 1) books with pictures are nice to look at, but may not be the guide you need to actually do something, 2) confidence, coffee, and reading glasses don't do much to help when the pieces start falling all over 3) there is always more to learn than we think, and the classic 4) if something can go wrong it will go wrong.
Every wrench worth paying had to start somewhere, and most of them made mistakes they'd hate to admit, but mistakes they did make. Heck, at least you made your mistakes on your own bike instead of another person's bike. I say, tomorrow go for an overhaul of the bottom bracket!

Those LBS guys aren't all that compassionate. If they smirked every time one of us came in dragging the bike through the front door with one hand and a paper bag full of loose parts with the other.........they would have terminal face wrinkles. They're just being patient and consoling for their own survival.

D*mn.......is that poll thread still going? Make a few changes.

I started giggling when I read

"I then remove the cap on the top of the stem and take out the long screw. "

I thought, Oh-Oh, this can't be good. :D

I'm sure you're not the first customer your LBS has had to rescue from similar circumstances, and it's good that the story has a happy ending.

It reminds me of a sign my mechanic has in his workshop:

Our Rates:

$50/hr to work on your vehicle

$75/hr if you watch

$100/hr if you help


;)

- Wil

I'm sitting in my office at work and am so thankful it's way past quitting time and no one is here. I'd have to explain to them why I was on the internet and laughing so hard.......

Sounds to me like you're ready to start adjusting derailleurs....there ain't nothing to getting rid of that chain rub on your triple.....or adjusting the rear derailleur so it shifts better...after all, you have the manual with all the pictures!!

Reading this thread has made the perfect start to my day!
Thanks Gary.

I was doing some straightening up (vacuuming, dishes, that sort of thing) this morning, and guess what I found on the dining room floor?

Yep -- a spacer (if that's what they're called). The round plastic ring that goes on the stem to put the handlebar a bit higher.

The guy at the LBS who fixed this mess told me I'd missed bringing in a part, and he pulled one from his box of parts. But I could have sworn I'd brought everything in.

Nope -- it was clear across the floor, twelve feet from the scene of the crime. :o

I was doing some straightening up (vacuuming, dishes, that sort of thing) this morning, and guess what I found on the dining room floor?

Yep -- a spacer (if that's what they're called). The round plastic ring that goes on the stem to put the handlebar a bit higher.

The guy at the LBS who fixed this mess told me I'd missed bringing in a part, and he pulled one from his box of parts. But I could have sworn I'd brought everything in.

Nope -- it was clear across the floor, twelve feet from the scene of the crime. :o

Gary -- don't take this wrong, but this only proves that your a MAN. Men are known for not wanting help on ANYTHING until it's either broken by the man or he is finally in tears. They don't ask for directions and certainly don't need to read instructions. If a woman knows she can't do it from the start or even want to attempt it, it's off to the LBS right away. Saves a lot of hassle and headaches. Next time don't try to think like a man, think like a woman and let someone else handle the headaches, it makes life a lot easier and you wouldn't even have to tell anyone. :p