What I lack in skill and knowledge I make up for with stupidity and perserverance. I rehabbed my bikes recently. On the legendary Trek 7600, I finally retired the softride suspension stem. They haven't made them for years, but I was quite fond of mine. Being an old bike, I had to get a quill-threadless stem converter. Then put a new stem on. And ended my ill-advised cork-tape-on-straight-handlebars experiment with some new grips. Also put some schwalbe ultra marathon++ tires of uninstallibility on (eventually), after getting tired of flatting out on broken glass on the towpaths. They seem like they will outlast the heat death of the universe, which is good because they were nearly impossible to put on. I may just buy new wheels if I want to put cross tires on for some rides.
I also dusted off the road bike frame, not used in anger in the past 6 years. I had put a mtb crankset on the front in Switzerland, to gear it down to accomodate my feebleness in the mountains (climbing is all about power/weight ratio, and gosh is my ratio low). I decided to reinstall the original campagnolo cranks, chainrings, and bottom bracket, but could not get the old cranks off. I'd gone with an isis bottom bracket with the mtb cranks. Unlike the campy bottom bracket, onto which you which you tighten the cranks to a specific torque setting, the isis interface has a positive stop, so torque is a guide but you keep tightening until you hit the stop, regardless. Isis was a clever design, actually. But I managed to essentially friction-weld the whole thing into a solid metal unit. So I took the boys out and we bought an angle grinder. Oh yes. The angle grinder. (I've found that now I'm constantly trying to come up with excuses to use it.) So we had a lot of fun with it. Nothing (much) caught on fire in the kitchen. And the cranks came off.
 |
| campy parts, ready for install, once we're done with the angle grinder |
 |
| pre angle-grinder: this filed-down coin didn't help, but at least I didn't break my crank-pullers |
 |
| the road bike, reassembled |
 |
| suspension stem, RIP |
 |
| the front end is a lot lighter and more responsive now |
 |
| the bike room |
2 comments:
"tires of uninstallibility" - LOL!
Didja wear safety glasses when grinding, to set a good example? =)
I have a dremel tool with cut-off wheels that I've used much more often than I ever originally thought I would. Grinders are good stuff - very versatile.
I think setting a bad example was the order of the day. (Actually, IIRC, we did all get safety goggles!)
Post a Comment