Went on vacation on a shoppers paradise and stayed for one week; we missed out on several things; we shoud have viewed many blogs

Wheels of Happiness

We went on a vacation on a nearby city, a British now Chinese colony for a week  This was spoiled by 4 typhoons that were left over from the principal.  We had to stay for two days, sans activities for two days  We missed the following (we were handicapped by having an infant with us, so we could not really move around a lot, or go to budget hotel or eating places:)

1.   The HK100 touist coupon upon arrival at HK tourism booth at the HKIA.  That would have been HK$600 = x 7.55 =  P4530.00

2.  We should have done with the FX:

    1.  Exhcanged here at PHL

    2.   Brought in USD and then exchanged for HK$.  Many blogs said you get more this way;

3.  The Octopus which would look cheaper than buying the one day pass,  You get a HK39.00 refund upon departure.

4.  The ride to Victoria peak

5.  The cable car ride;

6.  The parks:   there are several in Kowloon

7.  The street food at Mong Kok and Kowloon

8.  SIM should have been bought from Lazada, rather than HK, and just one.  We could have done with hotspot

9.  We could have gone stayed at Hotel at Citygate (say Novotel) which are cheaper, and gone to Macau at via buses at same place

It is important to researrch prior to a trip and planning done earlier to maximize expenditure

Wrong placement of spacers and loose goat link caused difficulty in shifting

Wheels of Happiness

As I left house this morning I noticed the chain slipping on the cogs. but only for the high (smaller cogs).  The problem disappeared when I shifted to lower (bigger cogs)  And was especially pronounced in 52 chain rings.  So I had to ride at 36t smaller chain ring. 

I examined my cogs when I arrived home and I noticed that spaces between cogs were uneven.  The 2nd and 3rd cogs had wider spaces.  So I examined further and found out that I placed another spacer on the cog that had built in spacer.   So one cog was wider spaced from another and closer  causing the missed shift.   

Disassembled the cogs from the freewheel, reversed the spacer and the problem solved. 

Also saw that the goat link shifted forward and thus the idler pulley was hitting the cogs, and could not even remove and reinstall the rear wheel easily (as it was in the past)  Loosened the goat link and reinstalled this at 90 degrees  Tried the bike today and as good as new

Not all repair jobs are perfect - you have to redo this and you must be patient

Wheels of Happiness

We have experienced that even your best shops and mechanics foul up in the jobs you ordered.  There could be many causes:   wrong part, wrong diagnosis, the parts were reinstalled properly, too tight or too loose tightening.  A part was missed.

You must be patient and humble enough to admit the mistake was made and you have to redo the job.

This happened in my recent attempt to regrease the bearings of the headset.  I am on my third back job.

The goal at the start was to regrease the headset bearings and make it smoother.  I soaked the cage, and the individual bearings.   Cleaned each and every bearing.

However actual use of the bike showed the steering to be binding and abnormal.   I found out one ring at the bottom was missed out    The steering again was not 100%

So a washer was missed at the top bearing, and another one at the bottom.    So I added the missing part, and the binding disappeared.  However, I have not tried yet on actual ride.   

Hmmm that is what you call experience.   And maturity.  Surely, this will not happen again.