if I can do it, why couldn't they?!
So the two older boys have new bikes, and they're great! They're already delightfully dirty from many rides. But I still wanted to fix the other one—the one that the folks at the bike shop said was too old to do anything with. They wouldn't be able to get the part. We figure it'll be nice to have a spare, and we already have someone lined up who might want to borrow it. So after waiting a week to see if the shop would contact us, I ordered what I needed to make the most essential repairs: the shifter cables and housing from Amazon, and the derailleur hanger from deraillerhangers.com. Amazon is Amazon—I wish I didn't have to use it, but it's nice to be able to actually shop for different brands of cable rather than just take whatever the shop has. Derailleurhangers.com is amazing: I placed the order at 7:30 in the morning on Friday, it was in the mail by 12:30, and it got here yesterday (Monday) mid-day. So yesterday evening saw me down in the basement taking the broken parts of the bike off and and putting the new ones on, with nothing but a tiny bit of youtubing to instruct me. And I'll tell you, dear reader, it worked! The bike is now, if not as good as new, at least as good as it was before Harvey broke two parts of it within a couple weeks. It can now shift into all the gears.
It's kind of empowering. I mean, I've always been able to replace a tube or brake pads, and in later life I've moved on to changing worn out brake cables and cassettes, but I've never taken the time to figure out how derailleurs are supposed to go, or how brake or shift levers do their thing. Yesterday's work definitely felt like a step up. And now that we've got new bikes, I guess I should be learning how to keep them in good shape! I'm not saying I want a cable to fail on one of the other bikes soon, but if it does I now have the thirty-dollar cable cutters/crimpers to get everything back the way it should be! (speaking of which, crimping the little metal dealy on the end of the shift cable yesterday was about the most satisfying thing I've experienced all month). I'm already inviting folks to bring their bikes over for tune-ups! All I need now is one of those clampy work stands...
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impressive
Thanks!