| They're always oppressing me |
[Nov. 17th, 2008|02:56 pm] |
The bike shop called to tell me they managed to un-pretzel my frame. I actually had help breaking it for a change. I was walking past Lee behind him in the parking lot and he started walking backwards and tripped over my bike. He bent up my wheel badly. Enough so that I had to bang it against the curb to straighten it enough to ride.
I didn't realize till this morning, partway to work that it was the *frame* that was bent.
I turned around and went home at that point, called my boss and told her I would work from home Friday.
The truly sad part is we were all stone sober, just hanging around in the QFC waiting for people to finish up.
My rear triangle looked a bit like this:
That's why Ben (who was trying to help me fix it) kept muttering about my wheel dish being off. The frame is off, not the wheel. But we couldn't see it in the dark.
The thing that gave me a chuckle was what the bike shop said when they called to tell me my bike was done.
Mechanic: "You know the rear wheel is unsafe, the braking surface is totally concave."
Me: "No no no, I've got 1.8mm of rim left, that's at least 0.8mm more than minimum safety margin.[1]"
I did end up assuring her that I had decided to swap the rim regardless. Between Lee falling on it, the fact that it has had a lot of braking surface worn off and other things, it's probably time to change it. It doesn't hurt I have a spare rim to hand to do it with, so I don't even have to go buy anything.
[1] Yes, I actually have a caliper just for this. |
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| I can laugh because I am not yet dead |
[Aug. 6th, 2008|05:37 am] |
I find myself singing "Always look at the bright side of life" from Life of Brian a lot lately. And you know what? It really does help. |
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| A bike for Sunny days |
[May. 9th, 2008|11:46 am] |
Well, my commuter bike frame getting broken inspired me to get my Sunny day bike fixed up last week. I've been stockpiling parts for it for a while, so it was relatively quick to build up.
( Pretty pictures after the cut )
I talked to the shop that has my old frame (Recycled Cycles in the University District). They've left some messages with Surly, but they haven't actually talked to them about it. So my bike is still languishing in their shop. And I've got this bag sitting on my desk at home full of all the parts I took off the frame.
I'm just glad it broke during the summer so I'm not missing my dedicated all weather/bad weather bike in the rainy season. Well, and that I didn't bother overhauling the headset and bottom bracket right before the frame broke. Procrastination saves the day again! |
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| Another day, another broken bicycle frame |
[Apr. 25th, 2008|08:15 am] |
Last month I had wheel problems, this month it looks like frame problems are on the agenda.
I broke my Crosscheck frame again in pretty much the exact same location (on my way home from work). I didn't have time to finish putting my sunny day bike together from pieces, so I dragged my fixed gear out of the shed to ride to work this morning.
I really should just shell out for a sturdier frame. |
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| Did somebody bring an ark? |
[Dec. 5th, 2007|11:32 am] |
For those elsewhere, Seattle has had a lot of rain in a short amount of time recently.
Monday afternoon, T reported water coming into the basement from an unknown source[1]. I came home and spelled T for a while on the shopvac[2]. After a few abortive forays with the drywall jab saw, I found the source. They had put a bathroom into the basement [3], and it was coming out of a hole in the floor ( ? french drain ? ) that had been walled the fuck up behind drywall.
Sucking the water out of there was much much more effective. Our neighbors reported similar problems. I'm going to cut a slightly neater (and larger) hole in the wall and add a little access door.
God, the previous owners were lazy assholes.
[1] Other than the obvious one of *outside* that is. We weren't sure if it was busted pipe or what.
[2] I'm really really glad I had that on hand.
[3] Doing the previous owners normal craptastic job. |
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| The Road to Recovery |
[Jul. 25th, 2007|05:13 am] |
Well, I'm about 94.44% recovered from my recent injuries. A scar on ny chin is the only visible reminder of the accident currently. Although I do still have some swelling, but it's only really noticeable to me or if you see my profile right.
I've resolved to pay better fucking attention to what I'm doing in the future. Especially on poorly lit trails that have unpredictable debris on them.
Also, I picked up a ridiculous new light for my bike. I'll post a review a little later. My only comment right now is that I wish someone made decent fork mount brackets. This last one broke in less than 24 hours. They appear to be made out of cheese pot metal.
Edit: Oh, and when I went to the Maxilo-Facial doctor, I talked to him about my non-responsiveness to the hydro/oxycodone family. He said next time to ask for Darvocet instead. Evidently people who are non-responsive to one, generally do well with the other. So next time I need pain medication (which hopefully won't be for a long time) I'll ask for that. |
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| Ow! That smarts! or Faceplant: The Hurtening |
[Jun. 24th, 2007|09:43 am] |
I went out on a bike ride with some friends to Issaquah Thursday. We went to a restaurant and had some food and what-not. Afterwards about half of us went to a park and the other half split off to ride directly back to Seattle. We hung about for a little bit and chit-chatted on the beach and admired the moonlight over the lake on the shortest night of the year.
After an hour or so we decided to also head back and got back on our bikes. As we were riding (not fast) down the paved trail back to the road, I completely lost control of my bike. I'm guessing I hit a nice round branch or bottle or something [0]. I went down with no warning and did a face plant.
I landed on my chin quite nicely. My friends pulled out a first aid kit and taped some gauze over my injuries and gave me some Advils. Given we were about 20 miles from my home, they called a cab, tried to keep me warm and cheered up.
I got home, dropped off all my things and told my SO I was headed to the ER. After that was the longest night at the ER I've ever spent. Stitches internally in my chin, another layer of stitches on top of that, stitches inside my bottom lip [1]. No concussion, no fractured jaw bones, etc.
My only real kvetch with the hospital is that they prescribed me hydrocodone. My brother and I are the unlucky 3% of the population that a lot of opiates don't do jack for (I don't even get a tiny buzz or anything). They are pretty much exactly like taking 2 tylenol... because they use tylenol as part of the mix.
I mentioned it to the physician but was too tired to argue with her. I know she thought I was trying to argue for a 'stronger' drug or something. No you silly bint! I was trying to argue for a different drug family.
Bah.
I do have some dental damage. Two teeth are chipped on the edges and I expect (hope) she can just build them back up. The middle one... not so good. I had a Saturdady appointment with the dentist, in which she really helped me out. She's temporarily capped them and laid out what we'll do to fix me up Tuesday morning. It looks a little better and eating is easier.
I <heart> my dentist.
Especially since she does Saturday appointments.
[0] We had lights, but there were a lot of us, and I was chit chatting with the people I was talking to. I'm going to say the main cause of the wreck was inattention on my part. :-(
[1] The Maxilo-facial doctor at First hill Swedish was awesome. The regular ER guy at Cherry Hill Swedish was okay, but they were slow as dirt. |
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| Perserverance or Stupidity? |
[Mar. 5th, 2006|12:41 am] |
Fun: Staying up late putting together a jigsaw puzzle with your mother.
Perserverant: It's mainly muddy blues and greens with no sharp edges. Human hands and faces stick out, and that's about it.
Stupid: It's a used puzzle that while complete, is in a different box than it came in. The same genre, but a totally different picture. |
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| Another day, another broken bicycle part |
[Sep. 28th, 2005|04:04 pm] |
This is just not my week for cycling.
Last Wednesday I broke my handlebars.
Friday, Saturday and Monday I rode my Crosscheck like normal. As I was coming up the last little hill home Tuesday, I stood up to climb it and something was wrong with my bike. I stopped immediately, thinking at first I'd popped multiple spokes, or broken my axle. If only that were so.
I somehow managed to pull/snap my drop-out off of the driveside of my bike. This leaves the stem, crank and actual brake mechanism as the only things on the frame that I haven't had to replace. I'm 99% sure that this is from a crash I had last year. The handlebar probably also got damaged at the same time. I am a little disappointed in the bike shop (Recycled Cycles) that did the repair work at the time, in that they didn't spot either problem. OTOH, it may very well not have been noticeable then.
:-/
( Pictures behind the cut ) |
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| (unprintable exclamations redacted) |
[Aug. 3rd, 2005|07:52 am] |
God I hate Mavic rims. Another fucking spoke pull through. A hand built 36 spoke wheel with less than 3000 miles on it. GGGgrgragggaghhhh! |
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| All roads lead to madness |
[Jul. 25th, 2005|12:50 pm] |
So I finally finished putting my fixie together and went out for a ride around the block. A little weird, kinda fun, and I was really glad I put a front brake on it. So, of course being the masochist I am, I decided to ride up to Dilettante and pick up some Passionfruit parfait. I was doing really well, though I was having some problem on clipping in the left pedal. It's double-sided and I think one side is not working right.
( Random bike content ) |
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| Singlespeed here I come |
[Feb. 3rd, 2005|09:57 am] |
So in a previous entry, I whinged about Shimano chains. Mainly that they stink (literally), and didn't have a convienent link like SRAM's chains do.
Today, about a quarter mile from work, my chain evidently broke partway. Just enough to jam in my derailleur and bend it. Also, somehow at the same time managing to bust *another two* spokes on my rear wheel.
So, if I can manage it, I'll be limping home as a single speed. I joked about that last time.
I hate being prophetic. It's never about good things.
Unfortunately my multi-tool's chain tool is complete shite. It's not long enough to push a pin completely through, which makes me want to kill the designer. So I might have to bus it, or hitch a ride with someone.
Update: I managed to persuade my chain tool to fully push a pin out of the chain by wedging a penny betwixt the chain plate and the end of the tool. So, I now have my chain joined without the derailleur giving me a singlespeed with a 38/15 gearing. Unfortunately the two broken spokes are drive side ones right next to each other. So I don't know if I can fix my wheel well enough to ride home on it.
:(
Update the second: So, I fiddled with my wheel, and I think I can get home on it. I'm going to have to change my route a little to avoid the worst hills, but I should be ok. |
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| Where have all the sprockets gone? |
[Jan. 28th, 2005|10:47 am] |
Ten little, Nine little,
Eight little sprockets.
Seven little, Six little,
Five little sprockets.
Four little, Three little,
Two little, One little sprockets.
One little sprockets left.
So, as if to only add the final punctuation to a crappy day, I had a bike malfunction on the way home. I left work at about midnight, and everything was fine until just about Mercer Island. As I was climbing one of the hills to the bridge, my bike slipped out of gear and I heard a "ping, clang, clang" like something metal dropping to the ground. I thought I had just run over something and continued on my way.
I realized after about a mile that my fifth gear was skipping incredibly badly. I stopped and looked at my rear cluster a lot more closely and realized only about half of the cog was there. Bleah. I shrugged and cycled the rest of the way home.
Of course, I didn't have time to do anything about it this morning. So I limped back in to work with the same wheel in.
I started out with nine cogs. I switched to eight cogs Monday. Yesterday I lost a cog, so I'm down to seven. At this rate, I should down to a singlespeed by the end of February. |
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zuvembi's journal
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