Hang on to your wrenches Ladies!

[LBTC]

What a great thing to be learning such independence! Way to go!

I have to admit, I'm very happy that DH likes to do the tinkering on all the bikes, and leave nearly all of the maintenance including cleaning & lubricating, to him. He's much more particular than I am, and just knows exactly what to do. I'm lucky that way.

That said, a good ten years ago I went out on my first ladies mountain bike ride with about 6 other girls, most of us very new to riding. Before we even reached the trail, I had helped one of the other riders fix chain suck on her bike. Funny thing about those old Rocky Mountain bikes - they had a cute little anti-chain suck device that actually made chain suck harder to get rid of. Having experienced it myself, I knew which wrench to use and got her away in just a few minutes. Later, on the same ride, way in the trees, I came across a rider who'd had a mechanical failure. After a few moments we realized that her rear deraileur had exploded all over the trail. I somehow managed to figure out how to put it together, run the chain through, and she was able to finish the ride. Of course, I was able to refer to my own bike to make sure I did it reasonably right.

One of the ladies actually told me I could have a future as a bike mechanic. You know, when DH is making plumber money and I don't have to bring in the big bucks anymore, maybe I'll do that! haha. Naw, I think I'll stick to photography.

I do always ride with tools no matter how short the ride is. And, over time, have learned to have a few odd things in the tool pack, the oddest one I carry is zip ties. You just never know when you'll need them.

oh, and we have the Park Tool stand. DH likes it a lot, but would rather have the one with the folding legs so it could be more easily tranpsorted to races, etc. We've seen a couple of versions of the inexpensive "suspended" bike stands and found them limited - hard to take suspension and hard to spin the wheels is what DH noticed. Heck, we were visiting friends - I was having a martini with Dawna in the other room!

Way to go ladies! Hugs and proud independent butterflies,
~T~

[HillSlugger]

Absolute cheapest repair stand, that works great for most (but not all) things, is to use the beams in your unfinished basement to hang the bike from the ceiling. You can use rope or webbing with hooks or heavy rubber shock cords. Here's an example.

Deb,
How'd this project end up?

[DebW]

Deb,
How'd this project end up?

Do you mean the 3-speed? I managed to remove the adjustable and fixed BB cups by heating with a torch. I treated the bare frame with rust remover internally and externally. It's ready to go back together as soon as I get some time. Then I'll rebuild the 3-speed hub and replace both rusty rims. I need to pay a visit to Harris Cyclery for parts. I've decided to rebuild with the frame as-is (bent fork, one bent seat stay) and see if it rides OK.