All clean
So the Portland is clean, reassembled and has been photographed. I can’t let it get that bad again. Even after degreasing most of it last night, and removing most of the crusty stuff, it still took nearly all day today to scrub, dry, polish, and reassemble.
Then again, I take my time and occasionally become distracted.
Fortunately, my name is short enough I can write it in 111 links. No need for a recumbent or tandem chain!
Like this morning when, after inspecting the chain, I decided to write my name with it. As for its inspection, there’s no rust, no bad-looking links and no measurable wear after nearly 1,400 miles. I suspect that when wear begins, it goes rapidly.
A tale of two Ultegra cassettes. My 12-23 (left) requires a spacer ring in the back. The 16-27 (right) does not. The 12-27 105 cassette that came on the bike also requires a spacer ring.
I was distracted again this afternoon when I discovered I had three cassettes, but only two spacers. This required mucho investigation. Eventually I discovered one of them has a slightly different design and doesn’t need a spacer ring in the back.
Basic bike with no accessories mounted. The gap between the fenders is because I have the fenders mounted to clear the larger snow tires. I was not going to put the studded snow tires on top of the credenza.
Outfitted with the seat wedge bag and lights for group rides.
The only photo without flash that came out halfway decent. Here the Tailrider bag is mounted for commuting.
Ready to commute as above, but with flash.
With the grocery panniers mounted, ready for shopping.
And finally, a close-up of my name decal with the factory ones. They’re from bikenames.com, BTW. And no, the top tube doesn’t arc like that. It’s lens distortion from being very, very close with a very, very wide angle.
And there was lunch, and surfing the web. And cross-threading the rear dérailleur when I put it back on… I was able to get it on in such a way that I could ride the bike to Full Moon Vista and get a new dérailleur hanger installed (and another one for the spare parts bin). The RD was rotated around the vertical axis so it was at an angle to the chain flowing into it at the bottom. This caused distressing noises and the chain jumped a lot.
Speaking of distressed, Chris at Full Moon Vista told me how distressed he was to see yesterday’s pics of the Portland covered with snow and slush. And hanging from its hook slightly disassembled.
Anyway, along the way today, I found I really don’t like Nashbar Bike Bling polish. I tried it as a cheaper alternative to Pedro’s Bike Lust. In the future, I’ll just buy Pedro’s in the larger, more economical size.
Because of lighting, being stressing over the RD hanger, lack of a tripod and such, I didn’t get exactly the photo I was looking for. But the ones I got are all better than the ones I had.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:43 am EST
LOL!
We LOVE customers like Bruce. His mistakes are honest ones and he admits them when they do happen. No JRA’s with Bruce.
YES! I was a little distressed when I saw the pics here and then the same day he bring the bike in for the derailleur hanger. But Bruce does keep his bikes nice and tidy. For all the weather he rides through, I am amazed that he keeps up with it all. We have SOME shop folks that will remain nameless that don’t keep their bikes nearly as nice….
Chris
February 7th, 2008 at 9:05 am EST
Thanks Chris.
And a translation for those not familiar with it:
JRA stands for “just riding along”, as in, “I was just riding along and the bottom bracket exploded in a million pieces.” Generally used to cover up for lack of maintenance, mistakes, abuse, or complete ignorance.