The journey to the dark side

[Absent Husband]

Hi all,

Well, I did it. I went into Rebel & bought a BBB spoke key... My first
'bike repair/tuning' widget I've ever purchased (not counting tubes &
levers...)

Can I stop once I start doing minor truing adjustments to my wheel.
Will my wife come down to the shed one night, and find me bathed in
degreaser, bike parts all over the place, gently stroking a skewer...??

Once I start minor mechanicals, will I be able to walk past other
people's bikes without saying, "I just noticed your rear derailleur
cable needs tightening..."

Absent Husband (who can't believe how excited he is about a $9 spoke
key...)

[Marty]

Absent Husband wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Well, I did it. I went into Rebel & bought a BBB spoke key... My first
> 'bike repair/tuning' widget I've ever purchased (not counting tubes &
> levers...)
>
> Can I stop once I start doing minor truing adjustments to my wheel.
> Will my wife come down to the shed one night, and find me bathed in
> degreaser, bike parts all over the place, gently stroking a skewer...??
>

Bike repairs are best done in the kitchen (the sink makes a good
degreaser bath) or in the lounge room in front of the TV where it's nice
and warm.

Marty

> Once I start minor mechanicals, will I be able to walk past other
> people's bikes without saying, "I just noticed your rear derailleur
> cable needs tightening..."
>
> Absent Husband (who can't believe how excited he is about a $9 spoke
> key...)
>

[Peter McCallum]

Marty > wrote:
> Bike repairs are best done in the kitchen (the sink makes a good
> degreaser bath) or in the lounge room in front of the TV where it's nice
> and warm.
>
> Marty

I'll attest to that, but anywhere inside the house is best. When I
shared a house with two other guys and my girlfriend we turned the
dining room into a fully fledged bicycle workshop while she was away on
two weeks holiday. That antique dining table was the perfect height for
setting up a truing jig.

P
--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld AUSTRALIA

[Jay Woo]

Absent Husband wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Well, I did it. I went into Rebel & bought a BBB spoke key... My first
> 'bike repair/tuning' widget I've ever purchased (not counting tubes &
> levers...)

Oooo, you are a much braver man than me. I think I own just about every
other tool to adjust bits of my bike with except a spoke key.... That's
something I actually pay someone else to do. Good luck and welcome to
the world of tinkering. The journey isn't Dark, just greasy:D

[Tamyka Bell]

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005, Absent Husband wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Well, I did it. I went into Rebel & bought a BBB spoke key... My first
> 'bike repair/tuning' widget I've ever purchased (not counting tubes &
> levers...)
>
> Can I stop once I start doing minor truing adjustments to my wheel.
> Will my wife come down to the shed one night, and find me bathed in
> degreaser, bike parts all over the place, gently stroking a skewer...??
>
> Once I start minor mechanicals, will I be able to walk past other
> people's bikes without saying, "I just noticed your rear derailleur
> cable needs tightening..."
>
> Absent Husband (who can't believe how excited he is about a $9 spoke
> key...)

I found that really disturbing, and suddenly find myself less enthused
about riding with this character at o'early hundred tomorrow. AND after
he's been telling me where he'll be carrying his hot water bottle...

The things that boys get up to when the women aren't around, tsk, tsk!

And Abby, you better blog that!

Tam

[Absent Husband]

I just trued my rear wheel.... I am walking around the house with my
chest puffed up with pride!! Unfortunately, there is no one here to
celebrate my awesome achievement, as my wife and children are up in
Caloundra for the week with my sister-in-law (school holidays and all
that...)

Of course, that gives me time to work out how to get these grease and
tyre marks off the kitchen floor...

Absent Husband

[fred_kneeman]

Peter McCallum wrote:
> Marty > wrote:
>
>>Bike repairs are best done in the kitchen (the sink makes a good
>>degreaser bath) or in the lounge room in front of the TV where it's nice
>>and warm.
>>
>>Marty
>
>
> I'll attest to that, but anywhere inside the house is best. When I
> shared a house with two other guys and my girlfriend we turned the
> dining room into a fully fledged bicycle workshop while she was away on
> two weeks holiday. That antique dining table was the perfect height for
> setting up a truing jig.
>
> P
Sometime (actually, lots of times) last century, the house-mates
(actually, lots of houses house-mates) got used to me taking a shower
with my bike after I'd citrus-spray de-greased the various bikes'
drive-trains (and then citrus-spray de-greased myself)...

The chain-breaking tool is the Big One, Absent H. It's all down-hill
(soaking your derailleur bits, your chain and your cassette in
citrus-cleaner, removing + scrubbing your front rings and front
derailleur, and so on) from there...

xxx
p

[cfsmtb]

fred_kneeman Wrote:
> Sometime (actually, lots of times) last century, the house-mate
> (actually, lots of houses house-mates) got used to me taking a showe
> with my bike after I'd citrus-spray de-greased the various bikes'
> drive-trains (and then citrus-spray de-greased myself)...
>
> The chain-breaking tool is the Big One, Absent H. It's all down-hill
> (soaking your derailleur bits, your chain and your cassette in
> citrus-cleaner, removing + scrubbing your front rings and front
> derailleur, and so on) from there...
>
> xxx
> p

Hmm, I went out with one of your ex-housemates (in a previous life). H
never mentioned anything about you actually *showering* with yr bike
More grumbles about grubby-ing up buckets & cleaning rags. Crikey, an
I thought i was a bike fiend. :eek

--
cfsmtb

[TimC]

On 2005-06-22, Absent Husband (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> I just trued my rear wheel.... I am walking around the house with my
> chest puffed up with pride!! Unfortunately, there is no one here to
> celebrate my awesome achievement, as my wife and children are up in
> Caloundra for the week with my sister-in-law (school holidays and all
> that...)

Heh. First you go really fast solo around a crit circuit, then you
manage to true a wheel. I feel so inadequate :)

--
TimC
Disclaimer: Due to feline interference, this post may contain typographical
errors.

[aeek]

Absent Husband Wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Well, I did it. I went into Rebel & bought a BBB spoke key... My first
> 'bike repair/tuning' widget I've ever purchased (not counting tubes &
> levers...)
>

The title had me thinking you'd bought an urban 4WD, or did you mea
dealing with Rebel.
You cannot mean doing bike maintenance!

Aeek 'just removed dead airzound level' bike maintaine

--
aeek

[Tamyka Bell]

cfsmtb wrote:
>
> fred_kneeman Wrote:
> > Sometime (actually, lots of times) last century, the house-mates
> > (actually, lots of houses house-mates) got used to me taking a shower
> > with my bike after I'd citrus-spray de-greased the various bikes'
> > drive-trains (and then citrus-spray de-greased myself)...
> >
> > The chain-breaking tool is the Big One, Absent H. It's all down-hill
> > (soaking your derailleur bits, your chain and your cassette in
> > citrus-cleaner, removing + scrubbing your front rings and front
> > derailleur, and so on) from there...
> >
> > xxx
> > p
>
> Hmm, I went out with one of your ex-housemates (in a previous life). He
> never mentioned anything about you actually *showering* with yr bike.
> More grumbles about grubby-ing up buckets & cleaning rags. Crikey, and
> I thought i was a bike fiend. :eek:
>
> --
> cfsmtb

I've showered with my rifle, but never with my bike. I reckon LotteBum
would say the same.

Tam

[Tamyka Bell]

TimC wrote:
>
> On 2005-06-22, Absent Husband (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> > I just trued my rear wheel.... I am walking around the house with my
> > chest puffed up with pride!! Unfortunately, there is no one here to
> > celebrate my awesome achievement, as my wife and children are up in
> > Caloundra for the week with my sister-in-law (school holidays and all
> > that...)
>
> Heh. First you go really fast solo around a crit circuit, then you
> manage to true a wheel. I feel so inadequate :)

He only trued his wheel because he knew that way I'd be too scared to
wheelsuck, so I'd sit in front.

Tam

PS you're an optimist! That's not appropriate for a PhD student!

[Carl Brewer]

On 22 Jun 2005 00:06:50 -0700, "Absent Husband"
> wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>Well, I did it. I went into Rebel & bought a BBB spoke key... My first
>'bike repair/tuning' widget I've ever purchased (not counting tubes &
>levers...)
>
>Can I stop once I start doing minor truing adjustments to my wheel.
>Will my wife come down to the shed one night, and find me bathed in
>degreaser, bike parts all over the place, gently stroking a skewer...??
>
>Once I start minor mechanicals, will I be able to walk past other
>people's bikes without saying, "I just noticed your rear derailleur
>cable needs tightening..."

Not until you've mortgaged your house and children to buy a Prk
wheel truing stand.

[flyingdutch]

Carl Brewer Wrote:
>
> Not until you've mortgaged your house and children to buy a Prk
> wheel truing stand.

you can mortgage children???

why hasnt someone mentioned this before???

i have recently been playing with the notion of floating my eldes
spawn thru an IPO as she has recently been accepted into UniHig
accelerated program and she's only 10!!!
Musta skipped a generation... :rolleyes

--
flyingdutch

[Carl Brewer]

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 10:41:34 +1000, flyingdutch
> wrote:

>
>Carl Brewer Wrote:
>>
>> Not until you've mortgaged your house and children to buy a Prk
>> wheel truing stand.
>
>you can mortgage children???

You have them for some reason, isn't that it? It's
not because you want some excuse to
bolt a trailer onto your bike to tow them up hills?

Next thing, it'll be beards, recumbents and
a campaign to educate the masses on the virtues
of HPVs - highschool geeks and straight-to-school
from school science teachers only need apply.

[flyingdutch]

Carl Brewer Wrote:
>
> You have them for some reason, isn't that it? It's
> not because you want some excuse to
> bolt a trailer onto your bike to tow them up hills?
>
> Next thing, it'll be beards, recumbents and
> a campaign to educate the masses on the virtues
> of HPVs - highschool geeks and straight-to-school
> from school science teachers only need apply.


my reason was so i could get a scalectrix set! :D

and i hereby distance myself form your 2nd para in fear of gettin
runover by a low-slung stereotype..

--
flyingdutch

[Carl Brewer]

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 11:08:05 +1000, flyingdutch
> wrote:


>
>my reason was so i could get a scalectrix set! :D

Not lego?

>and i hereby distance myself form your 2nd para in fear of getting
>runover by a low-slung stereotype...

Bring 'em on! I have acceleration :)

[Graeme]

aeek > wrote in
:

> The title had me thinking you'd bought an urban 4WD, or did you mean
> dealing with Rebel.

I was thinking he'd bought a recumbent. Must be a uk.rec.cycling thing,
recumbent='dark side' hence recumbent vendors are usually referred to as
Darth whoever. There dosn't appear to be many 'bent riders on this group.

Graeme

[flyingdutch]

Carl Brewer Wrote:
>
> Bring 'em on! I have acceleration :)

over something more aero and smaller wheels???

i doubt it, oh sprint coach..

--
flyingdutch

[Carl Brewer]

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 14:01:01 +1000, flyingdutch
> wrote:

>
>Carl Brewer Wrote:
>>
>> Bring 'em on! I have acceleration :)
>
>over something more aero and smaller wheels???
>
>i doubt it, oh sprint coach...

you bet. 'bents don't accelerate well. Aerodynamics
is good for high speed, but the extra mass and lack of
absolute max power means slower acceleration

[Tamyka Bell]

Carl Brewer wrote:
>
> On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 14:01:01 +1000, flyingdutch
> > wrote:
>
> >
> >Carl Brewer Wrote:
> >>
> >> Bring 'em on! I have acceleration :)
> >
> >over something more aero and smaller wheels???
> >
> >i doubt it, oh sprint coach...
>
> you bet. 'bents don't accelerate well. Aerodynamics
> is good for high speed, but the extra mass and lack of
> absolute max power means slower acceleration

Hehehe

"You do not snuggle with Max Power. You strap yourself in and feel the
G's."

Tam

[sydney biker]

Marty wrote: I am a ass
>

that's true you ****EN ASSHOLE