The one thing that all cyclists have to suffer – apart from a visit from the aforementioned P-fairy – is some mechanical of some kind.
No matter how strong or robust your bike is, eventually there will be something that you or your bike mechanic will have to fix.
One of the most annoying and persistent issues is the indexing of the gears. Not indexed properly you could end up being able to go to the shops and back by the time the gear had decided to change. The problem is that it is extremely fiddly. Tiny little movement clockwise and the gearing moves better up through the gears but wait, now there is a lag shifting downwards. So tiny little movement anti-clockwise and success, you can now shift downwards. But hang on, aren’t you back where you started with shifting upwards….
Argh!
Once you put out the fire, you go through the movements again, turning this way and that until mysteriously the shifting is smooth in both directions even though you suspect the indexing screw was in exactly the same place it was before you started turning the bloody thing.
But that is a regular maintenance issue. On my first bike, the mechanical was somewhat extreme. The Specialized Hybrid had a hole in one of the chain stays – that’s the parts of the bike that the rear wheel and cassette attaches to. I had missed it, three bike mechanics had missed it and it was only when I went into another shop for an unrelated issue that this was found.
Bike two had an even more annoying problem. Within a month, one of the rear wheel spokes broke. Then another, then another. Asking around, there was a suspicion that the shop that sold it to me hadn’t properly tensioned the spokes but the shop wasn’t having it despite much discussions with them.
Bike three, a Specialized Diverge was amazing. Despite the mechanical disc brakes, it was tough, fast and fun and put up with the daily commute without issue…well until we went into a Vauxhall Corsa that cut across us. >B(
Bike four was a Whyte Sussex. A skitterish ride, its main problem was its Hy-Rd disc brakes. These used cable to activate the hydraulic brakes but had a terrible habit of seizing up – a habit that apparently doesn’t happen with the latest versions and it is a bike that I have to strip down and rebuild when I have the time and money.
Bike five is the Cube, still waiting its rear derailleur – the bit that changes gears on the back – so for the last few training rides have been with my current commuter, the Merlin Axe.
However, last weekend the winter’s commute had payback on me when the bolt that holds the disc pads in place had gunked up and any attempt to unscrew it ended up mashing the head. Eventually freed, I had missed the weekend’s opportunity for a training ride.
Which is why I ended up shooting out of work and heading up the back of Boxhill, down the side then joining the Ride London route through Leatherhead to home suitably equipped on the commuter bike and a rucksack on the back.
Not exactly mimicking the journey for Ride London but fortunately not a mechanical to be had on that evening run home.
Training ride: 8
Distance: 22.7 miles
Average speed: 14.6mph
Elevation: 1,235ft
Distance so far: 244.2 miles
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