You want me to work on your bike???
Um, if I were you, I would take it to one of the local shops instead.
Classic Cycling Mechanic Moment #1:
One year, I was trying to clean the inside of my front hub. I took the skewer out, looked inside through the hub, and it was filthy. So, being the brilliant cycling mind that I am, I decided to take a rag and thread it through the hub to clean all the dirt out. Suddenly, I noticed that one end of the rag got stuck inside the hub(remember now, I'm only 14 at the time). Instead of pulling it back out, I tried to jam the rest of the small rag through to force the other end out. You guessed it - that little rag got jammed inside the hub.....no way to get to it. Thanks to my bike racer/smarter older brother, he told me to put a few drops of bleach in there and wait a few hours. Sure enough, the bleach ate right through the rag and out it came. Lesson learned? Try not to be a dork when you work on your bike.
Classic Cycling Mechanic Moment #2:
Using a crank puller to try to take the Shimano cranks off of my 1988 Stumpjumper mountain bike, I noticed I was having quite a bit of trouble getting them loose. So, I started using a hammer on the crank puller until it started moving. Great! Finally, that thing is coming loose - good deal. So, round and round the crank puller went.......until it got to the end.....at which point, I looked down and my crank's threads were wrapped completely around the puller. Well, guess I won't be removing those cranks for awhile. Lesson learned? Maybe photography would be a better choice for you instead of working on your bikes. Yeah, right.
Classic Cycling Mechanic Moment #3:
Cracked chainstay on your steel 1982 Colnago?? It's cracked completely in half?? Oh, no problem.....you can keep riding it. Just use electrical tape to tape it back together....and a little Super Glue would probably help too. Genius. Just genius. Lesson learned? Don't use electrical tape or Super Glue to repair a cracked steel frame - unless you like landing on your face during a ride.
Classic Cycling Mechanic Moment #1:
One year, I was trying to clean the inside of my front hub. I took the skewer out, looked inside through the hub, and it was filthy. So, being the brilliant cycling mind that I am, I decided to take a rag and thread it through the hub to clean all the dirt out. Suddenly, I noticed that one end of the rag got stuck inside the hub(remember now, I'm only 14 at the time). Instead of pulling it back out, I tried to jam the rest of the small rag through to force the other end out. You guessed it - that little rag got jammed inside the hub.....no way to get to it. Thanks to my bike racer/smarter older brother, he told me to put a few drops of bleach in there and wait a few hours. Sure enough, the bleach ate right through the rag and out it came. Lesson learned? Try not to be a dork when you work on your bike.
Classic Cycling Mechanic Moment #2:
Using a crank puller to try to take the Shimano cranks off of my 1988 Stumpjumper mountain bike, I noticed I was having quite a bit of trouble getting them loose. So, I started using a hammer on the crank puller until it started moving. Great! Finally, that thing is coming loose - good deal. So, round and round the crank puller went.......until it got to the end.....at which point, I looked down and my crank's threads were wrapped completely around the puller. Well, guess I won't be removing those cranks for awhile. Lesson learned? Maybe photography would be a better choice for you instead of working on your bikes. Yeah, right.
Classic Cycling Mechanic Moment #3:
Cracked chainstay on your steel 1982 Colnago?? It's cracked completely in half?? Oh, no problem.....you can keep riding it. Just use electrical tape to tape it back together....and a little Super Glue would probably help too. Genius. Just genius. Lesson learned? Don't use electrical tape or Super Glue to repair a cracked steel frame - unless you like landing on your face during a ride.
posted by Chico Cyclist at 2:28 PM
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