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Bicycle Work
Jul. 10th, 2018 07:37 amMore dumb bike problems. I tried to put the spare saddle on my bike, but the clampy-bolty-thing (Isn't that the techncial term?) that holds the saddle in place was too stripped to hold in place well. I realized this about half-way to work and had an uncomfortable rest of the trip as I tried to position my center of mass to keep the seat usable without tipping too far forward to support me or far enough back to cause pain in delicate areas.
That was Friday. On Saturday I went to the local bike co-op, the Recyclery, to buy a new seat post (mine has built in suspension which is shot and, therefore, has lots of left/right wiggle) and saddle and clampy-bolty-thing. I realized I wasn't sure about what size seat post I needed and I'd have to come back during shop hours for help with that, so I just bought an old saddle that had a clampy-bolty-thing still attached. I put it on my bike.
On Monday, I rode to work, making a few stops along the first few miles to make saddle adjustments. Then, trying to keep it from tipping too much, I stripped the clampy-bolty-thing's threads and suddenly I had the same problem as before. I made it to work, and, determined to ride home at the end of the day instead of taking my bike on rush hour trains, I found that if I turned the seat around entirely backwards and rode that way it was at least usable.
Yesterday, I bought a vernier caliper from the local Ace Hardware and set about measuring the seat post. I soon realized that I had no idea how to read a vernier caliper correctly and that the instructions, which I'd thought would be straight-forward, did not help at all. I went through a bunch of 'how-to' write-ups online which weren't much more helpful until I finally found something that went more in depth on theory of operation. Knowing that, I was able to figure out just what the how-to write-ups were getting at, and that the design is really very clever! I love classic elegant mathematical tools! (And after all that, I realized that the old seat post had its outside diameter stamped on it and I could have bought one from the Recyclery. At least I could double-check my measurement.)
So I ordered a new seat post yesterday, complete with a different kind of clampy-bolty-thing that is like the one on my *other* bike up in Kenosha and which, I think, is much less prone that that kind of failure. Hopefully it will arrive this week. I'll probably have to cut it shorter because it's much longer than mine, but that's fine. I have a hacksaw and know how to use it.
That was Friday. On Saturday I went to the local bike co-op, the Recyclery, to buy a new seat post (mine has built in suspension which is shot and, therefore, has lots of left/right wiggle) and saddle and clampy-bolty-thing. I realized I wasn't sure about what size seat post I needed and I'd have to come back during shop hours for help with that, so I just bought an old saddle that had a clampy-bolty-thing still attached. I put it on my bike.
On Monday, I rode to work, making a few stops along the first few miles to make saddle adjustments. Then, trying to keep it from tipping too much, I stripped the clampy-bolty-thing's threads and suddenly I had the same problem as before. I made it to work, and, determined to ride home at the end of the day instead of taking my bike on rush hour trains, I found that if I turned the seat around entirely backwards and rode that way it was at least usable.
Yesterday, I bought a vernier caliper from the local Ace Hardware and set about measuring the seat post. I soon realized that I had no idea how to read a vernier caliper correctly and that the instructions, which I'd thought would be straight-forward, did not help at all. I went through a bunch of 'how-to' write-ups online which weren't much more helpful until I finally found something that went more in depth on theory of operation. Knowing that, I was able to figure out just what the how-to write-ups were getting at, and that the design is really very clever! I love classic elegant mathematical tools! (And after all that, I realized that the old seat post had its outside diameter stamped on it and I could have bought one from the Recyclery. At least I could double-check my measurement.)
So I ordered a new seat post yesterday, complete with a different kind of clampy-bolty-thing that is like the one on my *other* bike up in Kenosha and which, I think, is much less prone that that kind of failure. Hopefully it will arrive this week. I'll probably have to cut it shorter because it's much longer than mine, but that's fine. I have a hacksaw and know how to use it.
