Pleasant commute

[luckytroll]

Took the bicycle to work today. Longish haul (about 26Ks) but very pleasant. The worst part was the uphill bits near Carling, once the wind had picked up. Other bits not so nice was a groundhog that lay dying on the side of the road, its hindquarters crushed by a car.

I am in better spirits today as a result of biking than I have been in for some time. 

The bike is making a slight "chuff chuff" noise which I suspect is a rear wheel bearing in decline. I suspect it will be a long wait to get a mechanic to fix that. But it isnt too bad at present.

I think I will do some work, and then if things go well I will head out early to check out the boat, and then to MEC to get a windbreaker suitable for biking and rain.

My plans for this springs boat work include moving the head up a few inches, to keep it above the waterline. Adding a Y valve for when we are doing the offshore thing. Getting the spreaders to stay in the right places on the shrouds. Sandblast and paint some spots on the keel.

Comments

[moria73.livejournal.com]

26k??
Geez, and here I am proud of myself because I did the approx. 15k to work for the first time today.

[kiwano.livejournal.com]

Bearings in decline tend to have symptoms more long the lines of rattling noises and a shaky ride. Check to see what sort of play the back wheel has (use the front as a basis for comparison) when you try and wiggle it in the frame. If it has noticeable play, then it is the bearings, and you should probably get the hub overhauled (which is a reasonably quick job, so you probably won't have to wait too long to get it done -- alternately, you could buy yourself a set of cone wrenches when you're at MEC, google some instructions, and probably be out about the same amount of money, but have your bike working sooner).

That all said, when I get a "chuff chuff" sort of noise out of the back wheel of my bike, it's usually that the rim (or possibly even the tire) are rubbing against a brake pad because the wheel has gone out of true. If the "chuff chuff" occurs with regular timing while riding at a (nearly) constant speed, this is probably the problem. Properly truing a wheel is slow and tedious (and getting it trued will take longer to book than a hub overhaul, because you need a larger contiguous block of mechanic-time), but you can also get a spoke wrench at MEC (park tool puts out a nice one that has 3 different spoke nipple sizes on the same wrench; that's the one I keep on-hand) and true the wheel just enough to make the problem go away. Then you at least avoid the energy-loss (and potential tire damage) to the "chuff chuff" while waiting for mechanic availability.

Another possibility is that the axle hasn't been adequately secured, and the wheel isn't entirely true, so the out of true spots are rubbing against the frame when they go by it. If this is the case, just loosen up the axle a bit, straighten the wheel back out, and tighten it up better than it had been.