The winter bike has been 'done' since 2 weekends ago, and I was kinda waiting for my tires and a rack for it to come in. The tires have been continually backordered, but the rack for it came last night, so I thought 'To hell with it', and put my rack on the bike with the plan to ride it in today, snowtires or not. On a whim, I took it for one last test ride in my garage and, sonofabitch, my chain was skipping. Thinking that I had this fixed already, I cursed somewhat loudly in my echoey garage, took the bike back upstairs, and got the tools back out.
It seems like my sketchy Singulator installation (combined with a lack of proper understanding of the installation instructions) was not keeping tension on the chain. Since I hate reading and like tinkering, I took the Singulator apart to figure out what was up. I learned a lot from doing this, namely two things:
First, I did indeed install the Singulator wrong. The spring was not properly tensioned and was slipping inside the unit, which of course was not causing tension on the chain. And secondly, I need a cone wrench to install it right. Ugh. Yet another specialty tool.
This frustrated me a lot, not because I needed another specialty tool (I should have expected that by now), but because I didnt have the tool at the time, and thus could not finish working on the bike. Sigh... That means that I will be trying to get to a bike shop in the next few days and get this thing on right.
Well, if I ever get to ride this bike, you will be the first to know, and I will post pictures. I did put a few strings of xmas lights on it, so it looks pretty sweet, Im super stoked to ride it.
In the meantime, have a Very Merry Christmas, and as always, ride safe out there!
Sounds like there's more progress. I can't wait to see it.
ReplyDeleteCone wrenches were the first tool that I bought. Even new hubs require adjustments, at times.
I've been riding on some awesome 32mm studded tires made for the streets. I can't wait to get them on snow and ice. I post a review then. For now, they roll pretty sweetly on the dry pavement.