Thanks for the kind comments djb
The guitarist comment relates to G.A.S
(Guitar Acquisition Syndrome), which affects many guitarists. How many guitars do you need = n+1, steel strung, nylon, electric, single cut, double cut, 6,7,12 string etc etc. I think it’s a bit worse than bikes: road, mtb, gravel, touring etc etc… apart from the collectors in both camps of course 😅
Unfortunately (fortunately) I have both interests.
The white, yellow, and red tape are reflective. The other colours are electrical tape to cover up decals both to make the bike look less theft-worthy, but also - in the eyes of this beholder - beautiful.
Yeah, I love my bikes and guitars. I know they’re tools, but I do get emotionally attached to them- They give me so much
gotcha, get it now.
and I certainly agree with your last sentence, feel the same. Things that give us so much enjoyment in life are special, and for me, a bike has been pretty consistently doing that for most of my life.
re the rotor straightening tool-- hey, you'll have it now if you ever need it.
I do highly recommend doing some practicing with it, maybe you could ask at a bike store if they have a bad rotor to try on, if you'd rather not muck about with your perfectly true new rotors.
The finesse thing kinda comes down to putting a certain amount of force into it, and then after it bends back on its own , seeing if the force was sufficient to make a change--so just observe carefully and gradually increase force and or how far you bend the rotor.
I once fell downhill skiing into a mogul dip on top of one of my aluminum ski poles, giving it a pretty good bend, but luckily an even bend, no kinks. I later took the time after lunch to use a wooden telephone pole as a "hard round shape" to very gradually work the bend out, little by little, not overdoing it, and that pole got pretty straight and Ive used it skiing for years since with no issues.
The key thing was just to start slow and with little force, and then increase as needed by increments--just keep this in mind when you first try trueing a brake rotor.
I prefer not to set up my disc brakes with a very very small pad / rotor distance, so this helps if the rotor isn't perfectly true. I prefer a bit of "later engagement" so the meatier part of the lever travel is not right away, I find I have better modulation and finger power--but we're talking not a huge distance of pad to rotor, but I find it also gives a bit more leeway if the rotor isnt perfectly straight.
That said, I do like to keep them pretty true, and you'll see that it isnt that hard to do, especially with a small amount.
Ive never had a big warp, have never hit a tree or whatever with the rotor, and use common sense when transporting a loose wheel in a car or whatever, to avoid the rotor getting bent by an obvious boo boo.