The other kind of gear-head
Oct. 29th, 2007 11:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterYesterday I went over to the bike co-op and learned how to mess with my front derailleur. It was quite fun.
There's a simple joy in understanding how something works, and getting it to work just right. My derailleur had been ever so slightly out of whack--at first, it was rubbing against the chain when I had the bike in the highest gear in front, producing an irksome grinding noise. I had someone at the bike shop tweak it by adjusting the upper limit screw just a touch (for those who know what that is), but that mostly succeeded in getting the chain to jump off the gear about half of the time I shifted into the highest gear, which is pretty much every single time I get moving from a dead stop. Pretty annoying. As of this morning, following further tweaking and voodoo, it appears to be working just right, which is no mean feat.
Now, whenever I hear bikers ride past with squeaky chains or odd clanking noises or with uncomfortable, precarious postures, I'm ever so slightly troubled. Riding a poorly functioning bike is awkward and inefficient at best, and dangerous at worst. And there's so much pleasure to be had in a well-made, well-functioning thing that's built and maintained to last.
I guess that's true of a lot of things, not just bicycles.
There's a simple joy in understanding how something works, and getting it to work just right. My derailleur had been ever so slightly out of whack--at first, it was rubbing against the chain when I had the bike in the highest gear in front, producing an irksome grinding noise. I had someone at the bike shop tweak it by adjusting the upper limit screw just a touch (for those who know what that is), but that mostly succeeded in getting the chain to jump off the gear about half of the time I shifted into the highest gear, which is pretty much every single time I get moving from a dead stop. Pretty annoying. As of this morning, following further tweaking and voodoo, it appears to be working just right, which is no mean feat.
Now, whenever I hear bikers ride past with squeaky chains or odd clanking noises or with uncomfortable, precarious postures, I'm ever so slightly troubled. Riding a poorly functioning bike is awkward and inefficient at best, and dangerous at worst. And there's so much pleasure to be had in a well-made, well-functioning thing that's built and maintained to last.
I guess that's true of a lot of things, not just bicycles.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-29 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-29 11:34 pm (UTC)I'd have to see you ride your bike to know for sure--but here are the things that seem to be most important:
Your legs should be *almost* (but not quite) straight when at the bottom of a pedal stroke
You should feel comfortable over the handlebars--not too stretched out or bunched up. Really, a lot of it gets down to how comfortable you feel. And it's hard to tell without trying out a few different bikes to see what feels right.
Controlling the bike's steering also shouldn't be too hard to do.