Why I Love Chain Reaction

Yesterday, Sister School went to help the Farmer with her garden – they culled out some of the baby radishes (and brought the greens back for dinner – yea!) – while I struck north, as mentioned in my last post, to Chain Reaction.

My mission was to find an upgraded set of brakes for Hush, since her old brakes are just, well, old, and I’m tired of rehauling them (which they badly needed) with new washers and grease.  They are so old in fact that they were almost entirely non hex-key.  I figured new brakes would be in order, both for field repair issues and for improved stopping.  I also decided to go with a new wider set of brake levers (perhaps with shifters) if I could swing something like that.  I’ve had trouble before since Hush is cleared for 27” wheels and the newer brakes often don’t reach down far enough. 

While in Chain Reaction, I picked up said brakes (Shimano 105s) some 105 levers, and, for the heck of it, a new bottom cassette kit (looked practically untouched in it’s box – someone probably just bought the wrong size, never got around to returning it then donated it to the shop), and, again, for the heck of it, a light-weight, ergonomic set of handlebars (Cinelli).  The cost was about the same for what I paid today for a new box of handlebar tape.  Yep.  Sure the parts are used, but if you know what you’re doing you can spot good-used from bad-used.   Too bad people just never replace headsets with fancier models the way they do with brakes. 

When I got home (after planting a veggie garden in Takoma at the Law School Palace with SS and the Farmer) I thought I’d put on the new brakes and levers, but wait on the handlebars just for a bit.  Or something like that.  Anyway,  I wasn’t intending to completely replace the handlebars also, yet that’s what I ended up doing.  When I looked at the handlebars, I was shocked.  They were the originals, of course, but what shocked me was how much rust there was (and how unobtrusively it resided) under the handlebar tape.  It wasn’t just flash rust, it was eating deeply into the metal.   I put a lot of stress on the handlebars when I climb, and thus I have a vivid image of those handlebars snapping off on me sometime over the next year or so.  Needless to say, I’m glad I took the time to make a small overhaul of Hush. 

My next project is getting Lumina back on the road again.  She has bottom bracket issues, and I’m thinking of transferring the slightly used bracket from Hush to L, followed by putting my new/used bracket set on Hush.   During the summer, I expect I’ll ride Hush more, reserving Lumina for the rain, variety, and winter riding. 

I do have to get Lumina to the PDs office, where I am working with AI – I’ve been lightly pestering him to try out a fixed gear for some time now.  It’s a minor mission but all in a very good cause.