| Re: My 'Bent Is Starting to Annoy Me
Get a real bike and more people can fix it!!!
Prisoner at War wrote:
> Okay, so I've been putting through my HP Velo SMGTe through all kinds
> of conditions around town for almost a year now. After all the
> potholes, rain, mud, grit, heat and cold I finally managed to really
> **** it up Sunday. A chainring got bent slightly, and eventually the
> chain itself broke and messed up some drivetrain components in the
> process!
>
> I only wonder how folks manage to take this model 'bent on them Third
> World tours if I'm having issues with it from simply riding around
> town! From the beginning the rear air shock suddenly stopped working.
> In another two weeks I managed to shred the top teflon tube somehow.
> Then the front disc brake rotor became permanently warped. Then the
> back ones. Did I mention the rear mudguard cracking in two? Sunday,
> about the whole drivetrain came undone: broken chain, a bent chainring,
> the idler spring clamp kaputt. Interestingly, the Thracian wheelset
> has held up just fine, AFAIK.
>
> Good God, but this is starting to be like dealing with your PC: "now
> what???" comes to mind more and more. And this seems to me
> recumbency's fatal flaw preventing it from wider adoptation: it's too
> ****ing complicated! And I can't believe how many of the nuts and
> bolts on my SMGTe do not seem to be off-the-shelf stuff you can get at
> a hardware store. Also, there should be a re-assembly instruction
> sheet for owners included with the bikes, since not all LBSes know or
> care about servicing 'bents.
>
> Recumbents are fun when they work, but mine is finally going to make a
> grease-monkey out of me! The HP Velo SMGTe is still the most
> comfortable 'bent around, but it requires a lot of attention, not like
> my other bikes which I just ride and take to the shop maybe once or
> twice a year. So far, I think I've spent $250 getting my 'bent
> serviced and refitted in one way or another. JFC!!
>
> I've now almost completely disassembled my 'bent, so as to clean out
> all the grit and grime and reinstall the chain, etc. Damn, this is
> going to be some education in bike mechanics! I'm really learning the
> hard way...on my own. I'm kind of looking forward to it, out of
> curiosity. Just wish I had the space to lay things down properly and
> leave them around.
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