Merde

So the Jetta went in for new bearings today.  Dammit.

We decided to take an emergency bike ride.  And that really helped.  We went up Minnehaha to Cedar and picked up a few things from Midwest Mountaineering.  Which was pretty cool, we ran into Kevin.  

Shannon found a nice hat and I found some gloves that will be nice when it gets colder out.  Since the car just needed further repairs, I passed on the gloves for now.

But after perusing the sporting goods store, we went to the Town Hall brewery for lunch.  I had two and a half pints of the house stout, and Shannon had the triple and a stout.  To eat, I had the 7 corners burger since we had just been to 7 corners hardware this morning.  We went there looking for locktite which we found, but I also showed Shannon which drills I liked there.  There are two Mikita and one Milwaukee drills I think would be nice.  One of the Mikita drills is pretty small, and only 2 amps, but it also weighs damn near nothing.  And the other two were much much larger, with the second handle and everything.  The burger though, was awesome.  Shannon had the pumpkin soup and brat special which rivaled the burger.

The stout was smooth without being sweet or heavy.  We'll have to go back.

On our way home, we needed to rest a bit.  Mostly, I was having trouble going in a straight line.  But as we were sitting next to someone's bronzed work boots a couple came pushing their bikes by asking for directions to the Hub.  But what they clearly needed was a patch and a pump.  

I had a pump but sadly couldn't find my patch kit anywhere.  So another rider gave us a glueless patch and we put everything back together.  And I told them where they should be going for their bicycle needs.

Changing the water pump on '91 Prelude

Who designs these things?

The advantage of the Honda over a Ford is the commitment to metric.  With 4 sockets it would be pretty straight forward to get through all of the engine.  On the Taurus especially every other bolt was metric or standard.  

Now I have changed a few water pumps on Gimpy the Wonder Taurus, but this Honda made the Taurus look easy.  The head cover had to come off, and the accessory belts.  And the timing belt. And the crankshaft pulley.  And the left engine mount.

Otherwise it was pretty easy to wiggle the pump up in between stuff and onto the block.

BUT we did it.  In one night. With no injuries past cut knuckles.  And actually, doing work with friends in good spirits is always a pleasure.

The trick is in lowering the engine by about an inch.  The pullies, dust covers and pump all fit past the fender much easier.  also a 1 1/2 inch extension might be nice. I picked one up at 7 corners after the fact because it was so dearly missed.  Tools you want to have also: 10mm socket, 10mm box end wrench, 12mm socket, 17mm deep socket, 19mm socket, razor blade, hydraulic jack, blocks, 12in extension, 1 1/2in extension, universal joint, a stout breaker bar, a torque wrench, oven, and a better or at least less cryptic shop manual than the Chilton's because damn.  The oven is to bake pizza, you'll get hungry.  I would strongly suggest buying belts to replace all the belts and radiator hoses, since almost everything needs to come apart anyway.

Bracing

The rear fender doesn't rattle any more!

I made the braces from copper plated plumbing braces, which were not solid copper like the nice people at the hardware store told me they were.  Which made them harder than advertised to drill holes in.

tomorrow will be a quieter ride

Bwahahahahaha

Drills

I hate cordless drills.  I have never used one that I was happy with.  My Dad has a few of them from various manufacturers and the drill I use when he isn't looking is corded.  It just works better.  Something about getting the same torque from beginning to end.  

I'm suspicious of chuckless systems too, but that is a different matter.

I mention this because I am finally replacing the crappy old brake calipers on the Peugeot.  The new ones have better reach I should keep catching the tires and smooth release so I wont bike around with the brakes gripped.

The back fender has been held steady by a zip tie and I figure this would be a perfect opportunity to brace the fender so it doesn't wiggle and clatter so much.  But my drill is cordless, so I have to wait another four hours for the fucking battery to recharge.

RAAAR!

Solving the world's problems

Today’s ride home had its high points and its low points.

The first low was when I couldn’t keep up with two guys crossing the Mendota Bridge. I usually pride myself on being able to keep up with others, and I just couldn’t do it. My excuse is that when I started riding home I pedaled really hard and my thighs were not warmed up yet, and hurt the whole trip after. Weak excuse but that is how I perceived it. As one of my friends named Jim says: “the problem young people have is they don’t know how to pace themselves.”  

my bad.

The second low came just as I was coming up along the exit from 55 to Hiawatha. I was being passed by a polite guy on a red lugged Trek and a small sparrow flushed out of the shadows missed him and hit my front spokes with a “BONG!”

I think I killed it....

I don’t know....

So I entered Minnehaha Park not feeling so good. I felt slow, dehydrated, and like I had just run over a song bird.

But then a chance to redeem myself!

A person in distress! Pushing her rusting yellow Schwinn Collegiate with a flat rear tire.

“Do you need a pump, patch, or a tire?” I ask pulling up. She wasn’t sure. So I triied putting air in. No good. So I call Shannon’s phone tell it I’ll be 15-20 minutes late. The nice thing about dealing with older bikes regularly is that you come prepared for working on older bikes. The back wheel was held in place by a 17mm bolt. I happen to carry a 17mm socket. It took but a moment to pull the wheel and then the tire off, and another to find the tear. Less than 15 minutes to patch and reassemble the wheel. The tire was old and the rubber was starting to crack apart so I pumped the tire up to 60 psi not the 90 it prescribed.

We hopped onto our bikes and headed our separate ways. I had new energy, becasue I had been of some use.

If you are reading this, your bike needs new tires. they can be had cheaply, two for as little as 20 bucks or so, but you’ll be happier for it. Patch kits are nice and also cheap. And a crescent wrench can solve a lot of the world’s problems.

I finished off the evening with a nice Barley Wine style ale with some delicious chicken tacos Shannon made. I’m feeling pretty good about the day as a whole.

the things they carried

Two years ago I was given a tool wedge for Christmas.  And I carry it always.  On You Just Don't Want To there was recently a post about what a commuter must have, and while I certainly haven't been commuting long enough to have anything approaching authority on what a commuter should carry, I do have opinions on what tools a cyclist should carry.

Everything.

Specifically everything necessary to repair the bike in the event of the worst.

In my tool wedge, in addition to the multitool which is awesome and the handfull of other handy tools it came with; I carry a 1/4 drive ratchet for 8mm, 10mm, 11mm, 12mm, 13mm, 14mm, 15mm, and 1/2in sockets and a 6" crescent wrench for good measure (the 14 and 15 actually are 3/8" drive sockets for which I carry an adaptor).  This is because between Sir Walter and Frenchie I have at least one bolt to deal with in each size.  For example: Sir Walter doesn't have quick release on the back wheel and guess what size bolt it is...thats right 15mm.

I also carry a few spare parts. Like a spare bolt for locking the seat post.  Guess why.

I'm not really trying to set any land speed records so I don't mind the extra weight (923g or the exact same as 26oz of water in a 1l nalgene bottle.  (yes I just weighed them on the digital kitchen scale for this post and I knew I was a dork)).  

more assembly required

I forgot the camera at my folks, so pictures tomorrow.

The brakes were a pain in the ass.  Compared to the front derailleur though, they were a walk in the park on a moderate and sunny day.

This is because it was missing. Somehow I missed that...and then the SBR lacked a front one that fit. So I tried to make one fit with a nylon shim which worked at first.  And then every time I changed gears, the derailleur would wriggle down the tube.  Till it hung up on the large chainring and went crazy wonky.

After two hours of fighting with that we called it a night.

This has been a weekend of discoveries though:

1.  I really like some of these wicking shirts.  I haven't bought anything nike since middle-school till the shirt I am wearing right now, and it was cool and comfortable all day long.

2. I might like canti brakes.  I've defended the old sidepull brakes forever, but the cantilevered brakes were easy to adjust. And move on more axis than my brakes on Frenchie.

3. With the addition of a tin snips to cut cables and housing, I had all the tools I needed in my tool wedge.

hickory switch

We switched from the Kenda 161 tires.  A while back I mentioned the 1 3/8" tires on our bikes.  There are more aggressive treads, but the Kenda's are inexpensive and came in our size.  Studded Nokians are hard to find in 27 x 1 3/8".  

Now that spring has sprung a little, we don't need the added traction so we've switched back to smoother road tires.  I've been on the same set of 27x1 1/4" Continentals for a couple years now.  And I notice the clearance around the fenders is better.  

what drives me nuts is changing the back tire.  I hate hate hate fussing with it.  Some day I'll have one of those swanky clamps which will make it easier to do bike maintenance, but till then I wrestle with the bike on the floor.