"Oooookay... why?", I asked her.
Sadie informed me that she had gone for the past 23 years not understanding the workings of her own gears, shifters, chain, AND derailleurs and that she felt it was high time she learned.
"Great!", I said and signed us up. Fortunately there was a special 2 for 1 special - the human is $20, the bike is free.
Arriving at Bikeworks South (my second visit here), we were greeted by Keith - our instructor - and 5 other students. If you ever want to take a bike repair course, these are the ones to take. They are affordable, in depth, and the instructor is fantastic.
Sadie quickly hopped onto a bike stand while the humans made introductions.
This was a 3 hour course complete with front & rear derailleur history & functional repair information. Keith (alter ego: Bicycle Repair Man) of Raving Bike Fiend is insanely knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful (except when he is busy breaking your bike!).
After the history lesson on derailleurs was done, we moved on to "How to Tune Your Derailleurs" with a splash of "Cable House Replacement" thrown in when it was determined that the derailleur cable, on the mountain bike we were learning on, was worn and preventing proper shifting.
Next up: Bicycle Repair Man breaks our bikes! I think that is known as "repairs in reverse" The point being to take a functioning derailleur and cause it not to function properly so that it could be fixed - how fun! Keith went from bike to bike, loosening cables, adjusting derailleurs, etc so that we could tune our own bikes. Sadie giggled as her rear derailleur wire was disconnected (it tickled) but sat fairly still as I attempted to reconnect it, adjust the tension, and get her gears changing smoothly. I got a bit perplexed when I had Sadie all back together again but her gears weren't changing smoothly. I'd click the gear shifts while turning the pedals but nothing was happening. Sadie sat on the bike rack, humming to herself, fully aware that I had forgotten to let out the tension before re-connecting the wire. A quick reminder from BRM and I was on my way to disconnecting, letting out the tension, reconnecting, and re-turning Sadie's rear derailleur. Perfect, she was switching gears like a dream. Now on to the front.
Sadie's front derailleur tends to ride a bit high above the gears, allowing for her chain to hop off to the outside of the gears - a trick she performed beautifully on the last 5 km of The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer last summer. I was not amused. Now, the trick with the front derailleur is to get it lined up parallel with the gears and adjust it so that at each shift, the chain barely kisses the derailleur. Sadie's chain was snuggled up close to the front derailleur and dancing on it as I pedaled. No wonder she makes such a racket! A few turns of the screws and her derailleur was neatly in place, no dancing allowed. Once everything was in place and Sadie was shifting cleanly, I can honestly say I felt quite proud. It isn't nearly as hard as I had imagined, tuning up your own bike! Now if I can find a decent bike stand for my garage...
See the rest of the class pictures here.
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