jppe

You did a simple maintenance item on your bike and the lessons learned? I almost didn’t post this after giving Gary so much grief over Presta valves but what the heck. I know how kind and supportive you folks can be. Besides, it’s good for a chuckle and what the heck, maybe someone else can learn from it.

I recently needed to do a thorough cleaning of my bike after riding in snow, salt, rain etc so I spent a couple hours really going over it. I removed the chain and put it in a plastic bottle with a degreaser, let it soak, vigorously shook….repeat a few times etc.

I dumped the bio-degradable degreaser in the grass and rinsed the chain and hung it out to dry. When it was ready to be reinstalled I threaded it over the chain ring and through the rear derailleur. This was the first time I had cleaned this particular chain and it is a different model than I’ve used before. It is a SRAM and uses the quick connect or Power Link instead of a pin to fasten the ends of the chain together-so it’s very easily removed by hand with no tools!!

When I got the ends of the chain together to fasten it, the Power Links were gone!!! Oh no!!!! You mean those things will come off the chain!!!

Uh oh……..I dumped the bottle of stuff in the grass…….now where in the heck was that spot anyway?? Wasn't the dog squatting over that spot after I dumped the stuff out???

Okay, I found them and but just as easily could still be fertilizer in the grass….Needless to say I felt pretty stupid but nobody told me those things came off the chain that easily!!

And my parents paid really good money on me for a 4 year engineering degree, too…….

Digital Gee

I feel a lot better now.

GrannyGear

Up until last month, I'd never soaked a chain in Simple Green-- I've always used mineral based solvents. Thought I'd be "environmental"...ended up being just "mental". Dropped in my 1 month old $40 SRAM chain and let it swim around for 5 or 6 days. Figuring it would be shiny clean, took it out......crusted with rust.

Digital Gee

I'm REALLY feeling better now.

Louis

You found those tiny pieces in the grass? Did you use a metal detector? A large magnet?

Velo Dog

First real repair job I ever tried was repacking a headset. I was so lame I didn't even know what was inside; I just figured I'd take it apart, remember what it looked like and put it back the same way with new grease. Of course the bearings got lost in the grass, and I didn't know if I could buy new balls or had to replace the entire headset (or maybe the whole bike...).

GrannyGear

Here's another one. First time I went to use my HPX frame pump years ago. Of course I'd never read the instructions. Patched a flat a long way from home. But the d*mned pump wouldn't work. Not so cheap piece a junk! Ended up calling my then wife to come get me. Next day a friend laughingly showed me how to twist the pump setting from "x" to "hp". Suddenly it worked fine. Imagine that.

So, Gary....feel much, much better.

Digital Gee

I'm starting to feel so worthy! But don't stop now -- more! more!

GrannyGear

My last post here for the evening although there are more lined up. Reached into my bag for my spare tube after I'd torn the valve stem with over-zealous road pumping. Unrolled it and discovered a schraeder valve I'd somehow bought and gotten mixed in with my presta stuff. So near and yet so far. A passing cyclist some minutes later took pity on me.

stapfam

I learnt many years ago to have a completely clear space under the bike and for about 3 ft all the way round. Then you can find all the little bits of bike that you drop whilst maintaining it. Don't always keep to that rule- but its a long time since a tiny screw fell off the bike and became lost. However- a couple of months ago I was experiencing problems with the rear derailler, so decided to strip and clean the jockey wheels. Took the derailler off and stripped it on the bench. Jockey wheels needed replacing so sorted through the old parts I keep and found two secondhand wheels on a spare and stripped them off. Rebuilt the derailler and put it on the bike. Rebuilt the spare with the damaged wheels and put it away. Had secondthoughts and chucked it in the dustbin instead. Fitting the Repaired derailler, but it did not seem right, almost as bad as before the repair. OK down to the shop for a new one. 2 hours later and a lot of other bits I might need and took the Old derailler off. Something wrong here- I had fitted the old derailler with the damaged wheels and chucked the rebuilt good one.

Chuck5.2_in_CA

see if you would have majored in Physics ( like yours truly ) you could have theoretically cleaned it and and given the kid at the LBS 20 bucks to finish the application!

jppe

Since we are on a roll.........not really bike related though......I had 2 "router guides" as gifts. One of the router guides was an exact match for the model of my router and the other one was a generic that didn't really fit my router. I was having a yard sale and decided to see if I could sell the extra router guide. It was one of the first things sold. However, for some completely unexplainable reason I put out and sold the router guide that matched my router.

Anyone need a router guide????

NOS88

My first repair was replacing the cups and bearings on my bottom bracket. I was so proud of myself for (1) taking on this job; (2) getting the right tools to pull the crank arms and remove the cups; (3) getting step-by-step written directions from the LBS wrench (who I later went to work for). Everything went just the way it should. Except... after all the work was done, I quickly changed my clothes to take it for a ride, jumped on the bike. Put my right foot in and pulled the toe strap tight, and couldn't find the left pedal. I looked down and realized I put the crank arms back on with one at 12 o'clock and the other at 3 o'clock. The worst thing was that I lived in an apartment above the LBS and when I tried to ride the "repaired" bike the wrench was standing in the doorway, laughing and shaking his head.