I Can Fix It

This bike belongs to my pal the Space Cowboy. Over the weekend, I was summoned over to his domicile for my uh mechanical *cough* expertise *cough*. His bike had been in a state of disrepair the whole week, and something needed to be done. Since I had a shitload of tools and he did not, that more than qualified me to help him get his bike back in shape.


After getting the bottom bracket and crankset installed, it was so close to being “ready to ride.” The derailleurs were put into place and adjusted, and it was time for the chain. Since it was a new install, we had to measure the chain without using the old one. The first fit wasn’t so great, so we put a few links back in. I was really worried about this, and recommended that we get another chain. Time was of the essence though, so we opted to use what we both thought would be an unreliable chain. Besides, it wasn’t like we were using state of the art equipment. I even had to use old t-shirts and (I think) clean underwear to wipe the grease off of my hands.


You don’t want to see that shit anyway.



So, after finally getting everything together, it was time for a test ride. Even though it was a mountain bike build, there was no reason whatsoever to test out the new equipment on an actual trail. So, we did the next best thing:


Yeah, that’ll do it.

Did it work? Well, at yesterday’s Winter Series race, it was time to see if our efforts were worth it. As the Space Cowboy’s race took of, I watched nervously. Everything looked fine. As he went around the trail on lap one, there were no issues whatsoever.



I saw him come around the start/finish line, and it made me feel like everything was going to be okay. I quit worrying about that untrustworthy chain. Lap two seemed to be more of the same.



After the race had gone on for a while, he appeared out of nowhere at the start/finish line, with a non-functioning bicycle. It looked like my fears were warranted:



Shit. With my help, he received his very first DNF. He didn’t seem to be too troubled by it though:



I apologized many times, but that didn’t get him back in the race. One of the local bike shop fellers said it was due to shifting under a load, but we both knew better. Next time I’ll let my real mechanic tackle such a monumental task. He’s better equipped for it.



Tune in tomorrow for more mechanical ineptitude (possibly.)