Mind you, the number provided on the customs
form only tracks the package until it leaves the U.S., so beyond that, who
knows what happens to a shipment. This is exactly what I pointed out to eBay
when I questioned why they took the funds out of my Paypal account to reimburse
the seller! The person on the line kept saying that I didn’t provide any
additional information, and we went in circles with me responding that unless
the buyer pays the insane price for international Priority Mail, THERE IS NO TRACKING
on a first-class package!
Incredibly, the day after I made the call to
complain about eBay’s policy, the package was returned to my mailbox with an “insufficient
address” message attached. The fault was completely with the buyer, who didn’t
provide me with the correct information. In hindsight, I don’t know why I
bothered, but one more eBay call netted only another frustrating circle of
tracking remarks and responses. What more information did eBay need that this
wasn’t my fault? The package had the date I sent it, as well as the notice that the address
was insufficient, and a record of the (mis)information supplied by the customer could be found via a link on my Paypal page.
I found it ridiculous that, despite thousands of
positive eBay transactions in my history, these money-grubbers were worried
about the fees on this single item. Sure, I was glad to have the brakes back in
my possession, so at least I wouldn’t be out that money, but eBay still
had me losing the $28 on shipping to China!
I
would absolutely love to tell eBay to take a long walk off a short pier, but really,
what alternative do I have to get a reasonable return on the bicycle parts I buy
and sell? With all the anti-trust laws in place, I find it incredible that no
one has stepped up to challenge this obvious online auction monopoly.
I am glad that, by the time December rolled
around, that I was left with only a small number of miles to complete my goal
of 5000 for the year, because the way the weather has been, I would have had to
ride in wet and/or cold misery, or just quit on the plan completely! We
have been able to avoid ice and snow, but there has been a pattern of rain or
brutal cold wind that have really left maybe one out of every five days
even slightly pleasant.
It was funny (well, that is probably the
wrong word in retrospect) that the 20-mile route I did one morning last week, which
ended up officially completing my 5000 total, included the view of a dead body
under the Gay Street Bridge in Phoenixville! I’m not sure if the person under
the tarp had taken a leap or if something hinky had been going on overnight,
but I was quite surprised to make the turn off of the little truss bridge over French Creek and
see a couple police cars there and officers picking through the surrounding weeds for any
type of evidence. I immediately accelerated away from the area and certainly
didn’t take a more than a glance at the tarp-covered scene!
The weather didn’t cooperate with the annual
Cycle Tech Ride with Santa, either, and I was particularly disappointed, because I had a good number of folks lined up
for the event. We’re going to try again Sunday evening but with only a handful
of us this time – still better than doing it alone, I guess!
The Vitus 992 build with my friend Brendan
was going really well, and with some plans later in the afternoon, he was glad
to see that it wasn’t even noon when we had everything done but the cables.
This blog’s title should give you an idea how that process went, but we found
that the top tube lacked any type of guide for its internal routing. Previously I’ve dealt
with this issue with reasonable success, and Brendan has heard/read
about my past experiences, so initially we weren’t too concerned.
Unfortunately, it seemed the previous owner had
(we think) sprayed some of that foam insulation into the top tube – perhaps in
an attempt to dampen vibration noise? I was able to push a section of housing
through so that we could knock material loose and blow/vacuum it out. I could slide
the housing through the tube but couldn’t get it to the exit port on the other
end.
We spent over an hour vainly trying to feed
the cable through with various methods that had worked for me before. First,
since the frame is aluminum, we tried a high-powered magnet, attempting to
guide the cable to the opposite hole, but the material still left in the tube kept
snagging the wire and impeding our progress. We then tried the vacuum and thread,
but again the snag problem, and the thread would just keep doubling up on
itself and tangle up in the middle of the top
tube.
We eventually took the Vitus over to
Bikesport, where we had some great conversation, since the guys have seen many
of Brendan’s bicycles in the past, and it was nice for them to put faces with names. Nick
used a tool that is essentially a combination of cables with small magnets on
each end which attract/attach to each other when inserted at opposite ends of the
tube and then can be pulled through. I have to get myself some of them!
He left a small section of black housing
inside, then gave me a tiny tool which you can screw into the housing liner of
the existing cable. The replacement housing is then screwed onto the other end
of the tool, and you gently pull everything through the top tube – very cool!
I guess I’ll choose to take a positive spin
on all these negative experiences: I’m not in the poorhouse, I have my health
and I’ve learned a few more techniques to use in my shop.
Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
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