One for the “Who’s your mechanic” file

I confess to not keeping up with the maintenance sometimes on the bikes. I pick the one that's working best and ride it. Sometimes I even ignore obvious problems until things go fully south on me.

So, the Big Dummy hasn't been shifting so well lately. I've ridden it anyway. It's perfect for what I need to do around town getting groceries and hauling things like The Boy. Finally, I went to fetch 'er up in the garage and noticed a flat rear tire, so I picked a different bike that day - and the next. Two weeks go by and I really need the Dummy for some projects, so I haul it down to the basement to give it the once-over. I figured out why it was shifting poorly.

Yeah, there's a big chunk missing from the 25 tooth cog. Can't say I saw that coming.

So, I threw the chain into the spokes a few times and had to pull it out like He-Man. I'm a dork. I think this might once have been a proud Dura-Ace 12-27 cassette. I have no idea why I ran it on the Dummy, but there it was. Moral 1: don't use the light bits on your cargo bike. Once I removed the debilitated cassette (whose lockring was decidedly loose - moral 2: keep the bits tight) I saw the rest of the damage.

Yeah, the spokes were all banjaxed and the wheel needs to be rebuilt. I may even have to retire that boss XT hub. Moral 3: shifting the chain into the spokes once is reason enough to have a look under the hood.

The overarching moral: I'm an ass.

Carry on with your day - and check your bolts before you go home.

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Are you cool, man?

This is making the rounds, so we thought we'd better post it right away so we can show how ahead of the curve we are.  Thanks to Wales' most handsome man, Chipps, for sending it to us.

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Homie Photos

Here are some pretty and not-so-pretty pix I shot at Homie.  If you want to see all of them you should click on this link.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/snackeypix/sets/72157622640595545/

After this I had to leave to take the kiddies out trick-a-treatin', so not only did I miss the best part of the day but I also have no photographic evidence of it.  It's certainly better this way.

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Your Entry Must Have A Title

1) It is sometimes my duty to remove my own opinions and emotions and simply share with you things you might find interesting.  With that in mind, please click here to find our Twitter.

2)  Outside Magazine has recently named our venerable Cross Check as one of their favorite commuter bikes.  Neato.   

3) One Elan Viss wrote to me in June saying

4) A while ago I shared a letter from George who had written to report that his old skool brown Steamroller with 1" threaded steerer had been stolen.  Bummer.  Recently George wrote in to update the situation:

"Forgot to give an update on my stolen steamroller last spring - As soon as I was set to order a new creamroller I got a call en route to Moab that my lovely baked bean cycleship had been turned into the fort collins bike coop and my bro snatched it up and brought it home for me. Turns out that maybe I abandoned her in someones yard during an impromptu grassnap slash blackout mission and it was exactly the same as I had left it. even the seat was in the same location with the knog lights still on it!  Anyway, I should take delivery of a lovely beef gravy brown crosscheck this afternoon and I couldn't be more stoked to have a 3rd brown surly in the fleet!"

5) Want to put a kickstand on your Long Haul Trucker, Cross Check, or other bike?  Read this first, the new Spew #20.

6) SurlyDotOrg.  I like it better than our website.

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