Being a biker trains you to really do a lot of repairs yourself

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines
October 15, 2017

Being a biker trains you to be a Mr. Handyman.  Kasi if you have everything that goes wrong with your bike to be done by the mechanic, you are in for a lot of abala and expenses.  Sometimes all you need is patience, focus, pair of pliers, allen wrench (hex) and a little understanding of mechanics of the bike.

Today:   I fixed the following on my bike:

1.  Tightened the cables for the front and rear derailleur of the Sava MTB and the Bianchi road bike
2.  Removed the grating sound of the rear derailleur of the Bianchi (a little 1/4 turn of the low screw of the RD)
3.  Adjusted the cables of the Sava MTB so that it can shift to the biggest rear sprocket (34)
4.  Put loctite on the crank tensioner bolt so that it wont fall off again (as it has several times)

I also washed the bikes and removed the grime from the chain ring and the sprocket.

In the house I was the handyman, the DIY guy:

1.  I replaced the LED bulb outside the house on the western side;
2.  Replaced the bulb of the lighting fixture inside the house

Robust repair of Campy front derailleur

Wheels of Happiness

Angono, Rizal  Philippines
June 1, 2015

                         It looks like its an electrical prong

Yesterday  I used the Fuji bike with Campy groupset.  Twice, the chain was derailed:  one before Cardona Iglesia and another after descending at Namay.  I was even trying to catch up with Richard and Ariel.  (VM passed me at the last derailment)  The culprit - the repair on the front derailleur using fiberglass broke down and so the chain was jumping.

So after going back via the Cardona diversion (strengthening ride) , I put all my efforts into having the front derailleur repaired. I found copper prongs of an broken down socket which needs little cutting and drilling.  I used snip to trim the excess metal and scissor to enlarge the hole.  It took some time to enlarge the hole so that the attaching screw will fit.

I now have a robust repair (vs the old  fiberglass repair which set me back by hundreds of pesos and which was pretty fragile).   So sometimes, relying on others to repair your bike may not be a good idea after all.

Really cleaning your derailleurs can do wonders for its smart operations

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines   | March 7, 2015.



The front derailleur of my SARS bike (it is part of the Ultegra groupset before it was outmoded with the latest model) was malfunctioning,  It would not downshift to 39 once I clicked the smaller/downshift paddle.  I checked the STI and its cables and nothing was wrong with it.

I checked the front derailleur;  it was grimy and had some sand particles on it.   I sprayed WD 40 to no avail.

Thus I had to disassemble this, remove from the bike and had small watch screwdriver to remove the sand and soil wedged between the pivot of the shifter.   I had to repeat this 3x.  True enough, some grit is preventing the free movement of the derailleur.

I assembled the derailleur again and this time, it shifted efficiently.  I thought the derailleur was a goner.

A faulty gear changer/loose chain can be dangerous

Wheels of Happiness

VM told me and he was able to talk to Ado that the reason for the crash in Antipolo, somewhere in one way lanes,when we were in Caliraya was a faulty derailleur that caused his chain to wrap around the rear wheel that caused a sudden stop that caused him to crash.

I think this happened to me at km 52 near the Baras Tanay boundary. The reason here was chain breakage that pulled the rear pulley away and oh yes, I too stopped suddenly.  The good thing was the place where the accident happened was going uphill so the speed was not great.

But I was nearly rear ended by bikers from Binangonan.

So guys watch for those chains  -  check if they are loose, check the nuts, cables of your derailleur, if some of them are coming off...

Maintain your bike well....Ingat....