I just want to talk bikes for a little bit. Threads with subjects are great and all, but so is talking shop. And we are about to hit a spate of cold weather here in SW Michigan and I am a little morose after a few days of Pretend Spring. I did get 25 miles in today and Monday, but now I want to talk shop.
I don’t know what you all have been up to, but I have been fighting with and fidgeting with my bikes. Recently, I went through a great stem swap where I changed over most of my bikes to Faceplater stems. I even put one on my college boys’ big old Clem with Bosco bars. I even used my new torque wrench, and…the bars slipped! So now I have new Albatross bars and stem and shims because Riv believes this 31.8 clamp will grip 25.4 bars better. I have little experience with shims. And what I have learned about them is that they will set you to cussing. You want the bars centered, but then the shims slink out of their spot. When you want to nudge them just a bit, they have bitten into the center of the Albatross bar and you must find a way to knock them loose. Then the whole bar moves and you have to re-center and line up the gaps in shim/clamp. When you knock the shims loose a few times you realize there are metal shavings on your fingers, which means you are damaging stuff. And every time you decide to adjust the position you have to fight with the shims AND loosen and re-tighten 4 bolts with your torque wrench. I have emailed 2 people about this, badgering them to check my work and say it’s safe. I made peace with the shims being a millimeter uneven because at least the bars are centered. Then I went to wash the metal shavings off my hands. Shims. In short, I hate them. During the Great Stem Swap of ‘25, I managed to drop a hex wrench. I heard the ping of it striking the top tube of my raspberry Platypus on its way down. Ah, my first real paint chip, and right in a place I’ll see every day. Tonight, I painted that chip with nail polish I found in a close color match. It’s passable, but sad. I turned my attention to the mermaid Platypus, which I have no good excuse to have anymore, and noticed the rear tire is flat again. This is because on Monday, I decided I would top off the sealant, and could not be bothered to put the bike in the stand. The clamp on the stand needs more seatpost and I didn’t want to raise my saddle. So I did it with the bike on the kickstand and was never able to recover the seal between rim and tire. I have gotten by with this in the past. Got cocky and have now been brought low. Every week, and you can set your watch by it, I do the walk of shame into the shop. I fling open their door, the cowbell rings, and I announce, “Guys! A terrible thing has happened!” I will go there again tomorrow because a terrible thing has happened - that seal did not hold and we are back to flat tire and dripping sealant. They are sick of me at this point but they are Michiganders, good folk through and through, and they do not let on. Meanwhile, Charlie. I’ve been running away with Charlie on club rides. High winds have really cramped our style. Charlie and I are on a learning curve. I try and find out if the sounds he’s making are benign or malignant. There was a screeching pedal (a terrible thing that happened!) that my shop addressed. But now there is ghost shifting and something whirring when I stand to climb and toss my weight on the drive side of the bike. Charlie had been denied his accoutrements because I tried to make him Pure Road Bike and keep his accessories minimal. We failed miserably and I’ve junked up the bars just like Charlie’s a Platypus. The final piece, his German mirror, arrived today. I still don’t know if Charlie is any faster than a Platypus. Nothing is fast in these winds. We are out there shredding our thighs, trying to brave winds and get fit for the season with Charlie and his junked-up non-aero bars. What have you all been up to? Are you having the same struggles? Who else is wanting to throw up their hands and just talk shop? Leah -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/5175834e-31c3-4cea-87cb-37ee34020bdan%40googlegroups.com.
