CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

Confessions of a Cycle Commuter

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  1. wingpig
    Member

    I thought I would check out what was causing last night's homeward journey's skipping noise in my lowest gear.

    Not had that happen before.
    Fortunately I already have a spare sitting in the clipboard, awaiting the spring.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  2. steveo
    Member

    Hard to tell, but have you broke the cassette?

    Posted 8 years ago #
  3. amir
    Member

    Wow! I am tempted to call the NSPCB

    Posted 8 years ago #
  4. wingpig
    Member

    The cassette has broken, but it wasn't me. A chunk is missing where there should be three more teeth. One year and three weeks, it lasted, since this bike was first put together. I shall have to increase my AWESOME POWER points on my top trumps card.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  5. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Not really a confession, but a shopping.

    Colleague at work from another office told me that her boss has become something of a recent cycling convert and is cycling to work, but has gone down the route of full-on Mamil stereotype with the flashest lycra and carbon that an upper-middle manager's salary can buy. Well I suppose how he spends his money is his own business so long as he cycles to work, right?

    Except he's also taken a leaf out of David Cameron's book and has a car follow him to work (driven by Mrs Upper Middle Manager) to drop off his suit and shirt each day... And no, she doesn't work in the same office and happened to be driving there anyway.

    So many wrongs it doesn't make a right.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  6. I think his wife needs to tell him where to stick his suit and shirt*

    *in a pannier, obviously.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  7. geordiefatbloke
    Member

    @wingpig I've had that happen before. Big clunk, slipping chain, bit of cog on the floor.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  8. paddyirish
    Member

    Completed a longish ride to Glasgow at the weekend and was on the train coming back to Edinburgh when I heard a loud bang. Looked around couldn't see what caused it and went back to looking at my photos.

    When I got off at Inverkeithing I noticed what said loud bang was- my rear tyre was flat as a pancake- the inner tube had exploded on the train - perhaps warm sun through train window had caused it to pop.

    Cue unscheduled inner tube replacement before the final few km home...

    Posted 8 years ago #
  9. gembo
    Member

    Could the boss guy not leave his suit at work on a coat hanger on a nail on his door? I leave my suit in the communal clothes hanging space, seems to work fine. Shirts I take in the pannier. Though if he is on carbon road bike he has no pannier. So could leave shirts at work too if he had room. Maybe he has no door to hang things on?

    Posted 8 years ago #
  10. Snowy
    Member

    Chain broke one mile from work this morning, so a little extra exercise à pied. It was an odd break though - one side of a link had peeled off sideways and wedged itself in the rear derailleur. It was well hidden and it took me a couple of minutes to work out why the chain wouldn't move!

    Posted 8 years ago #
  11. gembo
    Member

    Snowy, the other day we met a long way from our usual canal spots. Had you changed route?

    Posted 8 years ago #
  12. Arellcat
    Moderator

    My Brompton has been making an odd sound for the last couple of days. It's like a tyre rubbing on a mudguard, but is in time with the revolutions of each crank, and goes away if I stop pedalling.

    Pushing my bike a little bit today I noticed that there was now a clinking noise from the front end, and discovered that my front wheel was wobbly.

    Turns out I've ridden the last 15 miles, and been topping 25mph, with front axle nuts that were only finger tight!

    Posted 8 years ago #
  13. wee folding bike
    Member

    The wee tabbed washer things should hold it more or less in place.

    I've never had a nutted axle do that but the SuperLight front wheel skewer was loose once. It was the click from the front wheel tipped me off to it too.

    Could the rubbing sound be your feet or trousering?

    Posted 8 years ago #
  14. wingpig
    Member

    When I was leaning over to chalk some PoP notices this morning I thought that the droplets falling under my non-writing arm were coming from my armpit. Turned out that it was my not-quite-sealed water bottle, in the side pocket of my bag.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  15. dougal
    Member

    I'm currently smuggling what sounds like a family of mice around Edinburgh in my drive train. Today's confession is that I'm happy to commute but maintenance is something that's done by other people.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  16. chdot
    Admin

    "maintenance is something that's done by other people"

    Even chain oiling?

    Perhaps best to check when/where the Bike Station is having a Dr. Bike!

    Posted 8 years ago #
  17. Min
    Member

    Nothing wrong at all with not wanting to do the maintenance. Not everyone wants to spend their spare time bike fettling. Cycling is more accessible if someone else can do the boring stuff.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  18. dougal
    Member

    Yeah I know how to do it but doing it is a different story - even oiling the chain.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  19. wingpig
    Member

    The squeaking is the throat-clearing. The elbow in the kidneys occurs when links start to seize and clatter volubly through the jockey wheels.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  20. Fortunately this happened a couple of crank turns into starting off from a junction (and not one particular spot near the end of my commute where I see if I can sprint up a slight rise after the ride in, and regularly find myself out of the saddle, really banging on the pedals, leaning right forward); as well as only a mile from the house, with half of that downhill, so I could freewheel most of the way back to swap bikes.

    Untitled by Anthony Robson, on Flickr

    Posted 8 years ago #
  21. twinspark
    Member

    What does Wilmington's Cow score on the awesomeness scale for that breakage?

    Posted 8 years ago #
  22. 14Westfield
    Member

    Wow not seen that before..

    Posted 8 years ago #
  23. fimm
    Member

    Yikes....

    Posted 8 years ago #
  24. I've done a spindle on a pedal before (and have the video of me falling off in traffic as a result on YouTube in all of its glory), but those were Crank Bros and that's only to be expected....

    This probably explains the creaking. Though that bike has so many creaks and groans that I'd not filtered it out to something new. Crank is about 2 years old, I presume there was a little crack that let water in or something, which then contributed to a gradual weakening. There's a dark little semicircle inside the break that I need to look at properly when I get home.

    Posted 8 years ago #
  25. wingpig
    Member

    Eurp. I'm currently ignoring several creaks and tinkles because I think I know they're from a combination of my well-past-it clipless/caged pedals and the interaction between the mudguard and rack stays. Best have a check...

    Posted 8 years ago #
  26. ivangrozni
    Member

    Everyday when I get home I usually entertain myself before dismounting by trying to track-stand outside my garage.

    Yesterday I unclipped the wrong foot as I felt my balance going. Cue a slow motion fall to the clipped-in side which I was helpless to prevent. Still not sure if any of the neighbours witnessed by pathetic attempts - although it is land of the twitching blinds so no doubt someone did.

    Posted 7 years ago #
  27. Rob
    Member

    @ivangrozni Nothing quite like that helpless feeling as you wait for impact.

    For myself - my cleats are worn out and need replaced. So much that on my way home my left foot came out of the pedal.

    I wonder if the van driver behind noticed what must've looked like a musical style kick up and out. Clip back in, carry on, hope noone saw.

    Posted 7 years ago #
  28. wingpig
    Member

    One day last week I didn't check that the milk I'd put in my relatively new bag wasn't incorrectly-sealed at the top, resulting in a suspicious cold drip on my right elbow where it touched the bottom corner of the bag as I was unlocking. Fortunately, as a relatively new bag, there weren't too many compacted receipts at the bottom and not too many things to have to scrape out before it could be washed.

    Posted 7 years ago #
  29. The Boy
    Member

    was getting my clean clothes out of my bags at college before showering the other morning and realised why they were so much lighter than usual. Had to pop along to TK Maxx and buy myself some clothes, which made for a novel excuse when i turned up late for class.

    Posted 7 years ago #
  30. paddyirish
    Member

    Proud of myself that I remembered to take my towel home last Thursday ahead of a drying room clearout.

    Less proud that I forgot to bring in a replacement on Tuesday after a long weekend away.

    A long stand in the shower, a hanky and a hanky sized cloth were all I could summon to dry myself on one of the most humid days of the year...

    Can't remember if, upon my return home last night, I greeted my family before or after racing to get a towel out of the cupboard.

    Posted 7 years ago #

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