Snap 1
The weeks have been passing swiftly of late and I’ve been getting an easy time of it with maintenance issues. Keeping the bike clean has been the sum total of my tasks. You always know it’s only a matter of time though! Listening to the bike and being aware of how it feels can give a clue when something is about to happen.
However, last week I was caught completely unaware on one of my morning commutes. It had been a cracking morning, still and clear, and I was cruising into work. On the outskirts of Edinburgh I was going downhill into a dip. I began powering up the other side and as I neared the top went to shift down to an easier gear. It was then that I heard a “snap” and my gear shifter went limp on me.
Sadly my rear cable had broken, which leaves the rear mech on the smallest cog (the hardest gear). The gear levers I have are prone to doing this (shimano 105) and I think this is the 4th time it’s happened on this bike. There were about 5 miles to go and I had no option other than to continue to work. Why do these things usually happen at the furthest away point on your journey?
As I cycled on my mind started going through all the possible route options available to me, trying to think of one that would avoid any steep hills. Being near the north of Edinburgh at this point I made my way towards the shoreline and joined at Crammond in the NW corner. There is a cracking path that runs along here for a good 2.5 miles, and is lovely and flat as well!
Near the end of this however, I started to get worried about the climb up from the sea level to my office. It’s not especially high or steep, but in my smallest cog it was going to be a massive slog. Stopping at a bench I looked through my tools and came up with a solution to tie myself into an easier gear. I had a bracket on my bars that I sometimes use to attach a pouch for carrying snacks or supplies. Moving this to my seat-post I then pulled the broken cable out of the gear lever and threaded it under the bracket. Using my fingers I pushed the rear mech onto one of the middle cogs, pulled the cable tight and quickly tightened the bracket to keep it secure.
Success! Although still limited to one cog I was now in a much more manageable gear ratio. The ride home in this configuration was decent and kept my mind off the rain that had returned to give me a good soaking. There was a bit of slippage of the cable though and I kept dropping to successively smaller cogs every couple of miles. Around half way home I had to stop and re-tension the cable. A new cable was inserted at home and I’m back to smooth shifting again. 🙂
Snap 2
Again last week on a beautiful morning’s commute. I was going through a car park in the dark and bumped over what must have been a speed bump. The next thing I knew I could hear a clatter behind me and looked round to see my tool bottle rolling into the gutter, with the bottle cage still attached. Not wanting to stop for long I just put it in my rucksack and carried on to work. It was a bit surprising as these cages were attached to the bike when I bought it 4.5 years ago and have never been loose before. Maybe they just wore away enough to loosen up.
Anyway, at the weekend I went to reattach the cage but first had to remove the bolts that had previously been holding it in. The first one came out quite easily but the second was stuck solid. Unfortunately I applied too much pressure and the bolt snapped with half of it still embedded in the frame. There is definitely no way I can get it out myself, has anyone else had success with getting something like this out before?
The cage is attached again using the top bolt, but I don’t think I would trust putting a full bottle in it, especially given the state of some of the roads.
- Magene Radar Tail Light - July 18, 2023
- Remembering - June 23, 2023
- School Run Fun - June 19, 2023
lesoigneur
Roibeard
CycleCommute.CC