derailleur adjustment & road debris.

sunday, october 22nd, 2023.

My bicycle has certainly been keeping me busy this week. My chain was grinding on the side of my front derailleur, so I wound up tuning the derailleur following some instructions on YouTube yesterday morning.

The adjustment itself probably took me an hour and a half. I'd done this before when the bike was a lot newer, but both I and the bicycle were rusty this go round. I don't have a fancy bike stand, but I do have a microphone stand that I was able to rig up to do the job along with some bungee cord to keep it in place. The bike wobbled a bit while I worked on it, but the microphone stand did the job admirably, especially considering that $0 is significantly cheaper than the hundred-odd dollars a proper bike stand would cost me!

I rode the newly-tuned bike up and down the hills in my neighborhood, testing out the full range of gear combinations and everything seems to be happy and grind-free. Pleased as punch about that!

Alas, the exercise made me realize that my drivetrain needs some serious TLC. If you zoom into the picture (ignoring the fact that the bike needs a degreasing and clean-up), you'll see what I saw while doing the derailleur tuning: the crankset and derailleur mounts are covered in rust. I stripped the heads of the limiter adjustment screws and had to use needle-nose pliers to even turn them! I think the bike will last me a while longer, but I'll probably need to rebuild the drivetrain sooner than later.

I've honestly no idea if the bike frame will be able to handle a drivetrain rebuild or even how long the bike can last without it. The fellow who tuned up my bike indicated that he thought the bike was in good shape and would last for some time to come, so maybe I'm overthinking things. At any rate, the bike is back up and running for now.

If this rust is mostly cosmetic, I'll be perfectly A-OK with that. It's like the theft-deterrent system on the Chameleon XLE, one of my favorite SNL skits! 😅

a tour of road maintenance jurisdictions.

I caught yet another nail in my rear tire on the ride to work Monday morning. These Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires can't seem to contend with the debris I regularly encounter. To be fair, a nail this size would probably puncture the hardiest of truck tires.

Our city recently released a smartphone app to keep in touch with current events, report issues, and all that jazz. I'm real excited to see them be a little more proactive in staying in touch with the citizenry. I used the app to request street sweeping of the highway I keep hitting debris on. After a few days, the director of stormwater compliance got back with me:

Dear [chötrin],

Your request has been resolved with the resolution:

Mr. [chötrin],

Thank you for using our government outreach system. My apologies for the delayed response, but I wanted to gather the correct information before responding. [The highway you encountered the debris on] is a road under the Georgia Department of Transportation jurisdiction. I was able to locate a phone number and email address for you to report your concern to them.

Please see information below:

Phone #: GA DOT (478) 988-7151

Email: saferoadsD3@dot.ga.gov

If it is an emergency or in the actual road contact the 24/7 phone line at GA 511.

The email system works well and will give you a record of your request.

I hope this information is helpful and please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

So— no city street sweepers will be cleaning up the debris that keeps puncturing my tires, but I thanked him just the same for getting me the contact details of someone who can get that debris cleaned up.

An email to the Georgia Department of Transportation was quickly responded to, so I am hopeful that someone will swing by to get rid of the broken glass, nails, and other poky things that keep giving me so much trouble.

is it all worth it?

I've gotta say— I'm really feeling a lot like the dad from Calvin and Hobbes these days. Not mad about it, though. His dad is #goals for sure.

Maybe I'm a masochist, but I'm really enjoying all this DIY bike commuting stuff! Even if I were to fully rebuild this bike's drivetrain or get a second bike for backup, the whole enchilada is significantly cheaper than car maintenance can be. Plus, you know, I'm getting a lot of good exercise, learning about how bicycles work, and not burning a bunch of gasoline in the process.

It's getting colder and darker as autumn sets in on its way towards winter, so I've gotten myself a pair of full-length bike gloves to keep my fingers warm and I'm eyeing some nicer LED bicycle lights so I can keep myself seen on the road. I don't want to surprise anyone while I'm out there riding in the dark!

I suppose that's all for now— I'm all ready to go for another week of bicycle commuting to work!

Until next time, be well. :)