Corrective measures
I dropped by Towner’s on Tuesday morning to see if Peter could fix whatever it was I’d screwed-up on my rear dérailleur. He was happy to have a break from putting together new bikes. The new Giant he was assembling at the time was a beautiful coppery color. It didn’t instill bike lust, but if I was in the market, it’s a color I’d consider.
It took him a while to figure out what I’d done, then undo it and finally do it properly. (Basically, there was too much slack in the cable.) Along the way he found that the dérailleur hanger was bent just a bit (I’d probably banged it on something while locking up) and he replaced the cable and cable sheaths.
He explained everything as he went along. In the end he offered to teach me to wrench myself. “You can come over to my house sometime,” he said. “We’ll take your bike completely apart and put it back together again.” Nice offer. I’m not sure if I’m quite ready to that, but if it turns out I can afford to build a new bike in the spring, I just may as him to help me with that.
In any event, the bike shifts like a dream now. Even better, I think, that when it was new.
