![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Chili's and recent bike issues
Sep. 24th, 2007 08:57 pmAte at Chili's - had a nice cajun steak with fries and potatoes. Didn't beat the cheesesteak I had in the airport. And I think that was cheaper overall too. Alas.
A few days ago, I started hearing odd squeaking noises from my pedals. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be the ball bearing inside the crank. Then I noticed that the crank itself was getting rather loose - as in, I could rock the pedals back and forth, in a direction perpendicular to the way the bike travels. This was... somewhat disturbing. Since I have the cheap crap-bikes, it's only held on with a nut and a washer, and a rather odd-looking piece of metal that's shaped kind of like a really flattened funnel. I grabbed a large adjustable wrench from the IEEE lab (yay, the IEEE fees kinda.. almost... somewhat paid off? Meh, 'cept I don't keep said tools, and while I got access last semester, I didn't use the room at all) and unscrewed the bolt (it turns the not-normal way, btw. So Righty-Loosy, Lefty-Tighty) and looked inside. Found grease-covered ball bearings set in a donut that had holes for the bearings. Ick.
Anyways, tightened things up, and it worked pretty well for about a day and a half. Then the symptoms came back, worse than before. :P And it also vibrated madly, which made for an odd pedaling experience - almost as if I was pedaling a massage chair thing. Or standing on a large engine. Gave up, took the abandoned silver bike (missing the front wheel, and the back wheel was deflated) in the courtyard of our apartment building, and moved my seat, break pads, wheels, and pedals over to the silver bike frame.
So it rides pretty smoothly now. But I can't bike without using my hands - it has an annoying tendency to lean towards the left. T.T Annoying, grr.....
A few days ago, I started hearing odd squeaking noises from my pedals. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be the ball bearing inside the crank. Then I noticed that the crank itself was getting rather loose - as in, I could rock the pedals back and forth, in a direction perpendicular to the way the bike travels. This was... somewhat disturbing. Since I have the cheap crap-bikes, it's only held on with a nut and a washer, and a rather odd-looking piece of metal that's shaped kind of like a really flattened funnel. I grabbed a large adjustable wrench from the IEEE lab (yay, the IEEE fees kinda.. almost... somewhat paid off? Meh, 'cept I don't keep said tools, and while I got access last semester, I didn't use the room at all) and unscrewed the bolt (it turns the not-normal way, btw. So Righty-Loosy, Lefty-Tighty) and looked inside. Found grease-covered ball bearings set in a donut that had holes for the bearings. Ick.
Anyways, tightened things up, and it worked pretty well for about a day and a half. Then the symptoms came back, worse than before. :P And it also vibrated madly, which made for an odd pedaling experience - almost as if I was pedaling a massage chair thing. Or standing on a large engine. Gave up, took the abandoned silver bike (missing the front wheel, and the back wheel was deflated) in the courtyard of our apartment building, and moved my seat, break pads, wheels, and pedals over to the silver bike frame.
So it rides pretty smoothly now. But I can't bike without using my hands - it has an annoying tendency to lean towards the left. T.T Annoying, grr.....
