Hang on to your wrenches Ladies!

[hanhster]

Thanks Deb! Does that thing swing around a lot when you work on the bike like that?

[DebW]

Thanks Deb! Does that thing swing around a lot when you work on the bike like that?

Not if you put your body through the bike frame. Actually, depends on what you're doing and how you suspend the bike. If you use stretchy shock cord the bike will gyrate wildly when you pedal it, so avoid stretchy stuff. But the thick rubber shock cords are good, as is webbing. When I worked in a shop in 1973, our only work places were with chains hanging from the ceiling. You do have to be careful not to scratch paint or damage a saddle with the straps or hooks. An expensive stand is more solid support and more versatile, but the hanging method is perfectly adequate for anything other than fork or headset removal.

Another minimalist option is something like the Topeak Flash stand which holds the rear wheel off the ground for gear tune-ups. But you can't true the front wheel.

[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~