Bike mechanic

... wanted.  I have some strong girlie tendencies when it comes to approaching all things mechanical, or indeed skillful.  Last night saw me sitting on the sofa with various bits of bike scattered around me as well as some random props such as track pump and superfluous tyre levers.  My spacial awareness is so appalling that with the bike upside down I simply cannot work out which way to put directional tyres onto wheels, and much flipping of the bike took place to try to get it right.  Oh, and I was lied to by a colleague at work who suggested that the sidewall of the tyres would have a simple arrow advising me of the directionality (is that even a word?).  But nonetheless, somehow wasting a perfectly good inner tube I managed to upgrade both tyres to something that actually has tread and this morning they remain fully inflated.  Win.

Feeling encouraged by the seemingly successful upgrading of tyres I felt inclined to check out the gear cabling and at least investigate whether I could possibly without the aid of the phone a friend option or the RTFM option persuade the bike that the inner ring was indeed an option, a desirable option.  OK, it took me a while, and I did some stupid things but it does look now as though with minimal persuasion it will go into inner ring and indeed all other rings, and without that curious I'm slightly out of alignment rattle.  The girl did good.  One day I might even work out how to get the brake pads aligned properly.  But not today.

A latecomer really to the world of cycling, it never fails to amaze me how some of the basics others take for granted are a Wow, it works like that experience for me.  Spent  last night's journey home tentatively experimenting with Stuff Wot I Read in a  Book.  My brain in disbelief that corners, in fact, could or possibly should be taken with the bike being the thing that does the leaning while the body stays more or less vertical.  This is terrifying.  With the bike at an angle, the bruising possibilities seem to depend on a crazy tyre / road contact point which, if I think about it ... well, actually, best not to think about it.  I've always been a lean my body into the bends person.  So gentle baby steps, and I keep on stepping forwards, but at least it's in the sunshine right now!

Could get into this commuting malarky.  Plans to get back on it Friday, and some optimistic soul which evidence suggests must have been a pre Christmas me seems to already have stacked the locker at work with clean underwear and work tops.  Who was that woman?

Main Mechanic

I find mechanical issues frustrating.  There's an angry woman inside my head doesn't really understand why I don't already have the mental tool kit to handle the simple thing called bike mechanics.  Something missing perhaps in my upbringing, those lessons in fine tuning gears were as missing as were the lessons on applying make up and using hair straighteners.

So, it was really quite a feat for me to take the brave step of purchasing new tyres and new inner tubes for the Trek Hybrid commuter bike.  The bike is possibly 8 years old, maybe a little more, and is indeed on its original set of tyres, although inner tubes have come and gone as needs and punctures dictate.  The bike started to feel a little sloppy in handling like the road and bike and indeed tyre and wheel were looking to part company, and although some of this can be attributed to lack of air in tyres, it did seem reasonable to look at a replacement programme. 

Is there something in a man's head which makes replacement of tyres a really simple job of just going to shop, picking them off the shelf, taking home and fitting to bike?  For me, not so much.  For me it's a carefully considered research, using online reviews, and finally posting on message forums to gather in thoughts and opinions.  Only after a matter of days am I in a position to purchase.  Then of course I need to find the best price.  Finally the new tyres and new inner tubes arrive.  Now, being a self declared numpty as far as mechanical aptitude is concerned, I have from somewhere deep in my brain dredged up some information about rubber deteriorating over time; hence the new inner tube decision.

I was going to fit them myself.  Of course I was.  But as there happened to be a bloke in the house itching to get his Christmas present Leatherman out it was a no brainer to make it a joint effort.  The joy of this is that I could offer helpful criticism.  Lots of helpful criticism.  And sound pompous.  Oh, you really want to start work taking off the tyre at the same place as the valve. etc. etc. etc. Surprised I didn't get a Leatherman inserted somewhere quite painful.

Tyres fitted, and then we read the instructions.  How much pressure?  Wow.  The tyres are as tight as a botox forehead.  Amazing, and I can feel every piece of gravel on the road.  The front mudguard however on yesterday's trial run is rubbing against the tyre which pre-empts possible future disaster of creating hole in tyre and of course adding to the resistance which frankly I don't need.  Lots of frustrating attempts to adjust mudguard, all kinds of tools out (no hammer though), and eventually I just remove the damned mudguard.  It is summer, after all.

Tyre aid

So, having  had the hybrid bike for 8 - 10 years now, and given the increased amount of use it's getting, maybe, methinks, it's time to treat it (and me) to some new tyres.  It's on the original tyres and I can't fail to notice the fact that although there's a trace of tread, they are now pretty much slicks.  Sometimes cornering can be a little interesting with a weird sensation that the bike and tyre are attempting to part company.  Besides which, my mum bought new tyres, and if she's getting new playthings so am I.

Apparently the days of my youth where you simply went to the Local Bike Shop (back then Bob Addy's cycles, Charter Place, Watford) and bought the only tyres they sold in the size you wanted and slapped them on your bike are gone.  Now, not only have the LBSs disappeared, but they have been replaced on the high street with somewhat more specialist dealers who offer choice and words like "performance" have crept into the tyre market.  Evans, for example, a lovely place where I can spend hours looking at shiny gadgets and studying different kinds of oil is a bewildering blokey place with too much choice and too little information.

When it comes down to it, I thought I knew what I wanted from a tyre.  Tread and robustness were priorities.  Research then in the burgeoning online shops such as Wiggle and ChainReactionCycles then demonstrated to me that I needed to be considering other factors.  Apparently.  Customer reviews were suggesting some tyres were "hard to fit".  Not something I ever thought to be a consideration.  Surely a tyre the right size and three tyre levers used appropriately was a recipe for a trouble free fitting.  Apparently not.  Then there were folding tyres, tyres for winter and tyres for summer (again, Ehh?). 

Not wishing to embarrass myself by seeking commuter bike old burd advice on a cycling website I naturally deviated to the UK Climbing website where there is a friendly helpful section for eager outdoor types who also like to cycle.  The choices are now narrowing down.  Schwalbe Marathons may well be purchased.  Hope they are easy to fit.

Sitting comfortably?

I've been niggling on about the discomfort of the mountain bike sitting position for a while, and have discussed with ... well, anyone who will listen but without taking an awful lot of action.  Last weekend once again the end of a day on the MTB and once circulation returned to my nether regions I was having issues yet again.  Really predictable as I had done nothing to change my situation since my last moaning attack on this subject.

So, this week I did something about it.  I spoke to yet more people, and as a result, three second hand saddles appeared on my desk as if by miracle for trial, sale or return.  Ball now being in my court, I had to knuckle down and make sure I did the necessary exploration to make sure I got the thing right.  Being mid week this meant to test the things properly I needed to manufacture some MTB rides pretty quickly.  Decision made.  Use the MTB to cycle to work - a sense of weirdness in itself.

With relief and allen key the original saddle with all its pain was removed from the bike, and the first trial saddle put in place.  I had chosen of the options I had been given the Selle Italia for first trial based on the simple logic that to me it looked more like the shape of my bum than the others.  Did the home to work journey in, and ouch.  Either I'm lopsided or the saddle is lopsided or it just plain doesn't fit.  Ditched that one with no great ceremony in a lunchtime sneak visit to the work bike store.  Next saddle up was there purely on looks.  It was a thing of beauty, even matched the bike in its whiteness.  The Pro Logo.  Cycled home on it, mmm, not bad.  Cycled to work on it again and home on it again.  Finally, I have the saddle, and yes, I'm sitting comfortably.

Blazing saddles

There are times when I feel my developmental level as a bike rider is somewhere around that of an 8 year old.  I just don't get saddles, bike positioning and how to make the two work together.  Mostly luck has got me through, and I have had some remarkably comfortable rides.  I note my current hybrid has a Bontrager comfy girls saddle with quite a wide rear end (as have I), and that my previous Decathlon MTB had a f'i'zi'k (I have been generous with the apostrophes here) saddle which was skinny and not padded but also never gave my bottom any cause for concerns.  The current MTB is mortifyingly painful.  A Boardman women's specific saddle in the most impractical white.  It is hard, narrow and I suspect the front end is angled slightly upwards.  I tend to be forced into a sitting position where my front bits are under pressure from the hard pointy end rather than sitting comfortably with my saddle bones on the saddle.

I have no idea how to change things to make it right.  Do I need to move the handlebars forwards so my reach is perhaps more similar to my hybrid?  Do I need a new saddle, and if so, how do I chose one, what if the next one, after lots of pennies have been parted with is equally uncomfortable.  Maybe I need to adjust the position and angle of the current one which would, I note, require me investing in an additional allen key or perhaps one of those fancy gadgets with a bewildering array of tools for the would be mechanic.  Toyed with switching the saddle from the hybrid onto the Boardman in a moment of experimentation but realised the saddle is too wide to work for mountain biking as getting my arse over the back wheel would mean some odd frog like position to get my legs either side of the saddle.  Not simple.

With all these things chasing round my mind I took the opportunity this weekend to take a seat on my mum's bike.  She is 67 years old and travels everywhere on her steed which comes equipped with a rear pannier and a rear rack bag and a basket on the front.  It is a proud upright beastie.  It has, though, an amazing saddle.  Sat on it, and every time I moved, it popped, it swayed, it bounced like a bucking bronco.  Further examination revealed a zebeddee type spring from saddle to bike enabling any shock to be absorbed through ... well, I'm not sure.  It was a revelation, and if my mum can manage with that, then maybe, just maybe I'm being a little too fussy.