I have had a constant flow of repair work through my shop. Some of the customer interaction has been frustrating, with a few folks lacking understanding when I mention their job might take a few days. I am a one-person outfit, and quite simply there are sometimes other customers in the queue. I have pointed out that if they went to a regular shop, they could be looking at weeks until their bicycles are returned, instead of a few days with me, but I guess there are just some people who feel entitled to special treatment.
Most of my customers are very understanding about other repair/tune-up jobs that I may have ahead of theirs. Many of these folks have sought me out precisely because of the backup they’ve witnessed at shops, with the hope that I can squeeze them in. They are friendly, stress that they are in no hurry and end up being very appreciative of my work.
During a little lull in my schedule, my brother-in-law Jay brought over a couple of second-hand mountain bikes that he had purchased for his eight-year-old daughter, Hazel. You may be thinking “How many bicycles does a kid need?” Certainly the answer isn’t the same as it would be for other cyclists, the famous n+1 formula, where n equals “how many bicycles I have right now”.
Hazel had been riding the original two-wheeler on which she learned to pedal. She was getting pretty tall and started to look rather silly on that tiny machine with 20” wheels. Jay was looking for something that would fit her better and found (what he thought were) two good deals. His new plan was to keep one at home and leave the other down at the shore house.
The GT was the cooler-looking mountain bike, with brighter colors, more contemporary geometry and a sleek 1x drivetrain. The Giant MTB was a fairly standard product, but as it turned out, had significant issues. I immediately noticed the protective cage on the derailleur had been bent inward and was interfering with the shifting. I then discovered the bent cage was only evidence of a major hit the bike had taken, and the derailleur hanger was twisted inward at a 45-degree angle.
In the photo below, the top yellow arrow is pointing at the bend in the hanger. I also drew two red lines, one showing the direction the hanger should go, parallel to the rear wheel, and the other showing the current angle of the derailleur mounting bolt. Those lines should be perpendicular
It also seemed someone may have tried to compensate for that damage by bending the derailleur pulley cage (bottom yellow arrow) to a position more parallel with the rear wheel. Needless to say, the bicycle wasn’t shifting properly, and unfortunately the frame was aluminum, so using the simple strategy of bending the hanger out could end up damaging the frame completely.
Jay hadn’t paid a lot of money for the Giant, so he decided to roll the dice and hope the hanger wouldn’t snap off if he used my Park Tool hanger alignment gauge. We were lucky, and the hanger remained intact while straightened it out. I then set out to disassemble the rear derailleur so that I could flatten out its pulley cage. The table-mounted vise and my set of toothless-jaw pliers did the trick nearly perfectly, and the Giant bicycle now had pretty reasonable shifting once again. Really, how many mountains is Hazel going to find down in Stone Harbor anyway?
Jay hadn’t paid a lot of money for the Giant, so he decided to roll the dice and hope the hanger wouldn’t snap off if he used my Park Tool hanger alignment gauge. We were lucky, and the hanger remained intact while straightened it out. I then set out to disassemble the rear derailleur so that I could flatten out its pulley cage. The table-mounted vise and my set of toothless-jaw pliers did the trick nearly perfectly, and the Giant bicycle now had pretty reasonable shifting once again. Really, how many mountains is Hazel going to find down in Stone Harbor anyway?
I have been riding a lot of miles lately – nothing too adventurous, but I have tweaked a lot of my regular routes that now seem on the short side. No, they weren’t actually “short”, but now that I’m in the habit of doing 40-50 miles rides, some of the 20- to 30- mile loops I did just a decade or so ago seem to go by quickly, and I just don’t feel like I’m getting as much out of them physically. It also seems that it takes longer for me to warm up/shake out prior fatigue, but I also feel stronger later in rides, which is a good trade-off, I guess.
Sue and I took a relaxing spin along the banks of the Delaware River last week, starting at Canal Park, just north of New Hope, PA. The west side’s Delaware Canal towpath varies in quality, as it has had flooding problems over the years and has had sections that required repairs. The path can go from a scoured rocky surface to smooth, crushed cinder to packed dirt single-track in less than a mile. We found that the riverside scenery and the way the route weaves around canal locks and under old road bridges spanning the waterway makes the trip interesting.
There is a crazy mixture of architecture among the riverside houses - simple summer fishing cottages (often on stilts for flood protection), craftsman-style bungalows, “modern” Mies van der Rohe structures and even massive Italianesque villas!
After about thirteen miles, we reached Tinicum Park, where the canal veers away a from the river for a few miles. We left the towpath for a short stint on Route 32 so that we could cross over the Delaware on the bridge to Frenchtown, New Jersey. We had plans to stop for ice cream somewhere along the way, but Sue confessed that she didn’t feel she had “earned it” yet, so we decided to hold off until later.
Along the east side of the river is a wonderful packed cinder surface which would have been perfect had there not been any rain for over week. It was quite a dusty ride! Although the route is officially the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park, it is actually built on the roadbed of the former Belvidere Delaware Railroad (part of the Pennsylvania RR system) that paralleled the canal to Trenton.
There are more small towns along the Jersey side of the river, so we were encountering far more walkers and joggers on our return leg. However, the trail is wide and well-maintained most of the way, so there is plenty of room for passing. After pedaling onto a stretch of canal towpath into Lambertville, we ducked off the trail to reach the Owowcow Creamery on Union Street. Sue had a waffle cone of blueberry lemon, and I had a cup of coconut almond chocolate chip!
A couple of blocks down the trail was the bridge back over the Delaware into downtown New Hope. Sue has never been into the type of window shopping that attracts so many folks here, and other than catching a glimpse of the trains at the New Hope and Ivyland tourist railroad, there are plenty of other places I’d rather be. We found our way to the narrow, dusty towpath and finished up the last mile or so back to our car.
Sue and I took a relaxing spin along the banks of the Delaware River last week, starting at Canal Park, just north of New Hope, PA. The west side’s Delaware Canal towpath varies in quality, as it has had flooding problems over the years and has had sections that required repairs. The path can go from a scoured rocky surface to smooth, crushed cinder to packed dirt single-track in less than a mile. We found that the riverside scenery and the way the route weaves around canal locks and under old road bridges spanning the waterway makes the trip interesting.
There is a crazy mixture of architecture among the riverside houses - simple summer fishing cottages (often on stilts for flood protection), craftsman-style bungalows, “modern” Mies van der Rohe structures and even massive Italianesque villas!
After about thirteen miles, we reached Tinicum Park, where the canal veers away a from the river for a few miles. We left the towpath for a short stint on Route 32 so that we could cross over the Delaware on the bridge to Frenchtown, New Jersey. We had plans to stop for ice cream somewhere along the way, but Sue confessed that she didn’t feel she had “earned it” yet, so we decided to hold off until later.
Along the east side of the river is a wonderful packed cinder surface which would have been perfect had there not been any rain for over week. It was quite a dusty ride! Although the route is officially the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park, it is actually built on the roadbed of the former Belvidere Delaware Railroad (part of the Pennsylvania RR system) that paralleled the canal to Trenton.
A couple of blocks down the trail was the bridge back over the Delaware into downtown New Hope. Sue has never been into the type of window shopping that attracts so many folks here, and other than catching a glimpse of the trains at the New Hope and Ivyland tourist railroad, there are plenty of other places I’d rather be. We found our way to the narrow, dusty towpath and finished up the last mile or so back to our car.
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