A bit more complicated

I'm sure some of you are familiar with the saga of my naff old chain
which was in need of replacement a month or so ago because of an
annoying crunching sound from the sprockets. In addition to that the
rear drum also seized on a trip to Belgium on Saturday.

I took Mr. ER-5 into my usual Bike Shoppe and said, "Good Sir, can you
please provide and fit a new chain and sprocket set, fit new front
brake pads and fix the seized rear brake?" which they most happily did
at no notice whatsoever.

I just came back from picking it and the bloke at the desk greeted me
with, "That crunching and whurring sound wasn't all coming from your
chain and sprockets even though they were badly worn. Have you felt
any odd crunches recently?"

"I did feel a bit of a bump when I'd just arrived back into Dover late
last week but I associated it with the rear brake which I'd hit with a
spanner before getting off the ferry as it had seized"

He went on to explain that the rear wheel bearing unit had collapsed
which caused the bearings to spill out. He said I was very fortunate
not to have had it lock up.

It's all been replaced now and I've got a bill for £144.20 for it all,
which includes the new bearing unit, pads plus the chain and sprocket
set.

All appear to be working fine, but the buggers have splodged up the
front brakes again which are now spongy, but they're not nearly as bad
as they were last time they fucked them up. I'll gaffer-tape the
front lever to the bar while I'm at work tomorrow to see if that
helps. Bleeding the brakes seems to be a simple enough procedure, but
the Haynes manual marks it as "four spanners" which usually translates
into "buy a new bike" if you're me.

 

Cheap at the price, IMHO.

 

BGN wrote

Wot TOG said.

Although it does seem to me you are having more than your fair shares of
issues with the bike. How many miles have yo done on it, in how long?

Theoretically yes.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, BGN amazed us all with this pearl of wisdom:

Indeed.

That doesn't sound too bad, actually.

Or an extra pair of hands.

 

Yep , it would potentially have cost you half that to buy the bits and for
someone without much experience in these matters it'd take a good few hours
work.
Fine if you want to learn how to do these things and have someone with a
clue to help , but not for everyone
--
Alex

Hermes: "We can't afford that! Especially not Zoidberg!"
Zoidberg: "They took away my credit cards!"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk
www.ebayfaq.co.uk

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Dr Zoidberg amazed us all with this pearl of
wisdom:

I don't know, you know. I'd have thought a C&S set on its own would be
close to, if not more than £100.

Anyway, being cold and wet and working on a bike is no fun so it's worth
the extra to get someone else to do it.

Co-incidentally, that's exactly what I'll be doing with my car. £160 I
got quoted for ball-joint and arm, CV boot and rear suspension bushes.

Bargain.

 

13,000 miles since 8th March this year. That's 13,000 miles since the
day I passed my test.

I don't think I've had too many things go wrong with it, most of the
problems are just things that have recurred as I didn't fix it
properly to start off with or had little niggles attached to it.

1) Chain: I tried to adjust it, but That Fucking Bar had a corroded
nut on the rear drum that meant I couldn't make any adjustment until I
filed the nut off, I then adjusted the chain to try to give it a bit
more life. Bike shoppe adjusted chain again when it had its 20,000
mile service. Bike shoppe replaced chain at my request today after
another 3,000 miles went by. If I'd just replaced the chain 5,000
miles ago then it wouldn't have been an issue but I wouldn't have
learned so much in that time either.

2) Choke cable snapped at around 20,000 miles.

3) Rear drum has seized a couple of times, but I can now put that down
to the rear bearing unit collapsing and the generally shit weather.

I can put down most of the other niggles down to throwing it into a
ditch in April.

The bike is used in all weathers and isn't put in a garage at all - it
sits out all day and night in the rain and still starts on the first
go. It's been abused so much in the time it's been in my hands but it
keeps chugging along. It's probably going to be the most reliable
bike I ever own. Even when I buy a replacement I'll keep it to have
some fun on and as a winter hack.

 

On Tue, 20 Dec 2005 19:05:26 +0000,

Quite. I'm more concerned that I carried a pillion 10 miles home on a
motorway with collapsed bearings. I'm beginning to feel that I've
been a bit too fortunate in my 'biking career' so far.

Too many pies.

I didn't obtain a receipt but the price worked out something like:

£88 Chain and sprocket set[1]
£10 Bearing unit
£15 Front pads

+ tax.

[1] I'm not sure what model it is, he said he ordered me the 'better'
one as he knows I do a lot of miles in all weather

 

We might need some extra equipment.

 

It's not a particularly high powered bike , so a cheapie unbranded pattern
parts set wouldn't be too much , but I could be wrong as usual.

Oh yes.
--
Alex

Hermes: "We can't afford that! Especially not Zoidberg!"
Zoidberg: "They took away my credit cards!"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk
www.ebayfaq.co.uk

 

Normally all you need is:

8 or 10 mm spanner
length of tube
empty jam jar, or similar.
twice as much brake fluid as you think you'll need.

Oh, and always buy fresh fluid, stuff that's sat in a half used bottle
for ages seems to end up spongy and it's hardly worth it for saving a
couple of quid.

 

<snip>

Probably they have not done anything wrong at all. The new
brake pads needs to wear together with the disc a short
while before they work and feel right.
The new pads will ride on their highest points and these in turn
will ride on the high points of the disc. This makes the whole
system more elastic than it should be, feeling spongy.

 

OH- explained :

What he said plus - the brakes will not be anywhere near as effective
until they have properly bedded in.

 

Is this why I can bring the brake lever back to the handlebar?

I've got through plenty of brake pads on this bike and I know when
they've been farked.

 

Heh.. you lucky bloke you!

Not bad at all I'd say.

The front brake will feel spongy with new new pads, before they've worn
in. If they don't get better with use, then play about with gaffer tape
and the like.