So I got the brakes fixed on my sweet little Jake yesterday. I went back to Recycle-A-Bicycle in DUMBO. And as there is really no place to kill time as they fix your bike. I just stood there watching the mechanic work on my bike. I noticed that he cleaned the rims before adjusting and replacing the brakes. Novel idea!! I did not think of that in terms of having the brakes work more effectively, much less keeping Jake looking as close to new as he can look.

The brake pads in the back were changed, but not the front ones. He swore up and down again that the pads in the front were still good, but I gave him the look like just-change-them!! I explained the accident, and for some ungodly reason, he didn’t seem that phased about it. Really. Usually I get the look all the time: Awww!! Accident? You poor dear!! Does it still hurt? This guy was like, “Oh…..that sucks.” Yeah dude, it does suck, now change my pads!! They didn’t have another new pair to put in the front so all he did was adjust the tightness.

Which brings me to my next conundrum.

It seems there is some weird design flaw on the braking system vs. wheel equation. If the brakes are adjusted to the proper tension, you can’t get your quick release wheel off!! So I guess those that design the bikes don’t live in a city like, oh, I don’t know……NEW YORK, where you can turn your head for a nanosecond, and parts thereof or the entire bike itself is gone. So that just totally confirms it for me. I have to change the brakes often so that I can brake properly, but yet still keep the front brake tension loose enough to chain up my bike with the front wheel chained to the body. I bet there are other braking systems that could work for the cyclocross and I will look into that.

Also, remember I mentioned that my derailleur hanger was bent and I could not shift down to the bottom two gears? Well, first, I got Jake to shift down to the next to last gear. How? I hit this ginormous pothole on the street one day and dude, it fixed my derailleur!! I could then shift down to the next to last gear. I think that may be the first time a pothole has some usefulness!! So carry on I did, pedaling downhill on a gear that gave no resistance and I kept telling myself that I had to get it fixed. The problem is, I was told that I’d have to go back to the original store I purchased the bike in order to get the proper hanger. And my bike store is all the way down in Bay Ridge. I haven’t had much time to get all the way down there, although I really should to check out what’s new in the store. Anyway, so this morning when coming out of the elevator of my building, I looked down and saw how the mechanics knew to point out the derailleur hanger–it really did look bent. I don’t know why I didn’t notice before, but I noticed this morning. The mechanics at Recycle (two of them) told me that you can’t just simply bend it back to make it work again. But I know my baby. I looked at that hanger for a second or three, set the bike down, bent the hanger back out and when I got out onto the street….voila!! With a little patience, I could shift back down to my bottom gear!! Do I know my baby or do I know my baby? It’s as if Jake hath sprung from mine own body…..

Unfortunately the street that I power down in the morning is under construction, so I stayed on the sidewalk. I do not recommend riding on the sidewalk because of course, there are people walking, but also it’s kind of illegal here in the city. But I like to weave in and out of obstacles and since my brakes are spakin’ new, I rode on the sidewalk.

Also when you ride close to people and brush right past them, they have little mini heart attacks. I swear–try it if you don’t believe me. But only if you are a seasoned rider my dear….

I also wouldn’t recommend trying to bend back your own bent hanger. You could probably do worse damage if you don’t know what you’re doing. Not that I really do, but I had a feeling that it might work and I went with my instinct.

I am glad that I have this running record of the work that I am putting into maintaining Jake. But now I am starting to realise that maintaining a bike you ride every day takes as much maintenance as a car you drive every day. It’s all moving parts that need to keep moving. And they break down constantly. However, it is far less cheaper to maintain a bike than a car. But if you have a nice bike……

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