Behemoth's Steering Finally Fixed

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

I'm glad I gave Bethie
the benefit of the doubt and didn't terminate our relationship before
allowing her this simple test.

I'm glad you did too, it looks like a lovely machine for your needs.

That's actually the first time I've heard of a headset being too
/tight/. Too loose on a fast downhill, well, I've Been There, Done
That, Changed the Trousers... ;-)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

In article <[email hidden]>,=20
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Well, I got her back from her contr=F4le technique with her dealer in the
16th arrondissement on Friday.
=20
He said there was nothing wrong with her, brakes perfect, shifter fine
etc.
=20
But the horrendous jiggle on startup that has made pedalling Behemoth
such an issue for the past six months turned out to be due to a trifling
too-tight headset. The ball bearings couldn't roll properly, he said. He
just had to loosen the headset screw by a quarter turn and Bethie has
gone from being Demon Bike to Bike of my Dreams as she was meant to be.
=20
Award to Jean-Pierre Jacquot for having been the first to suggest that
this might be the origin of the problem, way back in January.
Unfortunately I was too inexperienced to be able to test for it myself.
And thanks to everyone else who has been so infinitely patient and
hand-holding through my never-ending complaints. I'm glad I gave Bethie
the benefit of the doubt and didn't terminate our relationship before
allowing her this simple test.
=20
Looking forward to a whole new biking experience.

That's wonderful news, Elisa! I would never have thought a tight=20
headset might cause that kind of problems.

--=20
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the=20
newsgroups if possible).

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

Well, I got her back from her contrôle technique with her dealer in the
16th arrondissement on Friday.

Excellent. I hope you two have many happy miles together.

Incidentally, is the machine's name homage to "The Master and Margarita" by
Mikhail Bulkagov? In light of the steering problems, the image of an
outsize, wicked cat seems quite appropriate, while the biblical references
don't.

Regards,

-david

David Nutter said:

Incidentally, is the machine's name homage to "The Master and Margarita" by
Mikhail Bulkagov? In light of the steering problems, the image of an
outsize, wicked cat seems quite appropriate, while the biblical references
don't.

I wasn't thinking of Bulgakov in particular, just of a huge, lumbering, diabolical
thing. Behemoth apparently means "monster" in Hebrew - some say it may actually
mean "hippopotamus", which isn't inappropriate given our combined weights. And of
course it is one of the names of Satan. But when she's being good she gets
nicknamed to Beth, like the gentlest sister in Little Women. And then I'm Elisa,
so I suppose us two together can be ElisaBeth.

EFR
Ile de France

Peter Clinch said:

That's actually the first time I've heard of a headset being too
/tight/.

I'll add one to that. My old headset in the road bike had gone digital. Each
little ball sat in its own dimple so the handlebars turned through a series
of click-stops.

Definitely not a nice ride and I could no longer ride no-hands. Loosening it
helped but brought a slew of other problems.

Swapped it for a Stronglight A9 and it has been fine ever since.

...d

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
[...]

:: But the horrendous jiggle on startup that has made pedalling Behemoth
:: such an issue for the past six months turned out to be due to a
:: trifling too-tight headset. The ball bearings couldn't roll
:: properly, he said. He just had to loosen the headset screw by a
:: quarter turn and Bethie has gone from being Demon Bike to Bike of my
:: Dreams as she was meant to be.

[...]

::
:: Looking forward to a whole new biking experience.
::

Good news!

in message <[email hidden]>, Elisa Francesca

Roselli (') said:

Well, I got her back from her contrôle technique with her dealer in
the 16th arrondissement on Friday.

He said there was nothing wrong with her, brakes perfect, shifter fine
etc.

But the horrendous jiggle on startup that has made pedalling Behemoth
such an issue for the past six months turned out to be due to a
trifling too-tight headset. The ball bearings couldn't roll properly,
he said.

So, a happy ending! I'm very glad to have been wrong.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; It appears that /dev/null is a conforming XSL processor.

David Nutter said:

Incidentally, is the machine's name homage to "The Master and Margarita" by
Mikhail Bulkagov? In light of the steering problems, the image of an
outsize, wicked cat seems quite appropriate,

My favourite book, and favourite character 🙂
--

"Bob"

'The people have spoken, the [censored]'

Email address is spam trapped.
To reply directly remove the beverage.

Call me Bob [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

David Nutter said:

Incidentally, is the machine's name homage to "The Master and Margarita" by
Mikhail Bulkagov? In light of the steering problems, the image of an
outsize, wicked cat seems quite appropriate,

My favourite book, and favourite character 🙂

Swinging from the chandelier, in a fire-fight with the police, neither
party hitting the other. One of the funniest books I've read in a long
time.

Jon

In article <[email hidden]>,

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

But the horrendous jiggle on startup that has made pedalling Behemoth
such an issue for the past six months turned out to be due to a trifling
too-tight headset. The ball bearings couldn't roll properly, he said. He
just had to loosen the headset screw by a quarter turn and Bethie has
gone from being Demon Bike to Bike of my Dreams as she was meant to be.

Well, I'm glad you got that fixed, and can now enjoy Bethie
in all her free-spirited splendour.

Quoted message said:

Award to Jean-Pierre Jacquot for having been the first to suggest that
this might be the origin of the problem, way back in January.
Unfortunately I was too inexperienced to be able to test for it myself.

The antient lore is that a headset should be loose enough to, when
you lift the front of the bike up, let the front wheel & handlebars
easily flop to one side or the other; the headset should be tight
enough that the fork doesn't palpably 'clunk' when, standing beside
the bike, you close the front brake and give the bike a little
shove forward.

Quoted message said:

I'm glad I gave Bethie
the benefit of the doubt and didn't terminate our relationship before
allowing her this simple test.

Many inter-human relationships could benefit from such patience,
forbearance, perseverance and mercy. You're a nice person. So
you deserve a bike that behaves well :-) And you've gained a
deeper intimacy with, and understanding of your Bethie. I guess
that's how bikes become more than mere chattles to their guardians.

Quoted message said:

Looking forward to a whole new biking experience.

Enjoy!

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Powered by FreeBSD
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Quoted message said:

Behemoth apparently means "monster" in Hebrew

"b'hemoth" = "huge beast"

Quoted message said:

some say it may actually mean "hippopotamus"

It's from the Egyptian "p-ehe-mau" = "water ox"

Elisa Francesca Roselli said:

Well, I got her back from her contrôle technique with her dealer in the
16th arrondissement on Friday.

He said there was nothing wrong with her, brakes perfect, shifter fine
etc.

But the horrendous jiggle on startup that has made pedalling Behemoth
such an issue for the past six months turned out to be due to a trifling
too-tight headset. The ball bearings couldn't roll properly, he said. He
just had to loosen the headset screw by a quarter turn and Bethie has
gone from being Demon Bike to Bike of my Dreams as she was meant to be.

Award to Jean-Pierre Jacquot for having been the first to suggest that
this might be the origin of the problem, way back in January.
Unfortunately I was too inexperienced to be able to test for it myself.
And thanks to everyone else who has been so infinitely patient and
hand-holding through my never-ending complaints. I'm glad I gave Bethie
the benefit of the doubt and didn't terminate our relationship before
allowing her this simple test.

Looking forward to a whole new biking experience.

EFR
Ile de France

Congratulations! Another little fix that makes a big difference. I
look forward to your future posts!
Best Regards, Bernie

Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
Elisa Francesca Roselli <[email hidden]> writes:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

But the horrendous jiggle on startup that has made pedalling Behemoth
such an issue for the past six months turned out to be due to a trifling
too-tight headset. The ball bearings couldn't roll properly, he said. He
just had to loosen the headset screw by a quarter turn and Bethie has
gone from being Demon Bike to Bike of my Dreams as she was meant to be.

Quoted message said:

Well, I'm glad you got that fixed, and can now enjoy Bethie
in all her free-spirited splendour.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Award to Jean-Pierre Jacquot for having been the first to suggest that
this might be the origin of the problem, way back in January.
Unfortunately I was too inexperienced to be able to test for it myself.

I once had a similar experience after installing fenders on a bike.
The bike seemed to handle poorly and was difficult to dangerous
to ride no-hands. I had the benefit of knowing it had ridden well
before, though. While futzing with it in puzzlement, I realized
the wheel did not flop freely. The front fender bracket was rubbing
on the lower headset cup. A quick bend with a screwdriver and
the problem was fixed, never to return.

Benjamin Weiner said:

I once had a similar experience after installing fenders on a bike.
The bike seemed to handle poorly and was difficult to dangerous
to ride no-hands. I had the benefit of knowing it had ridden well
before, though. While futzing with it in puzzlement, I realized
the wheel did not flop freely. The front fender bracket was rubbing
on the lower headset cup. A quick bend with a screwdriver and
the problem was fixed, never to return.

That's a common problem when you mount guitars on bikes. ;-)

Stratocasters were they?

--
Michael MacClancy
Random putdown - "He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." -
Forrest Tucker
www.macclancy.demon.co.uk
www.macclancy.co.uk

Call me Bob said:

Quoted message said:

Incidentally, is the machine's name homage to "The Master and Margarita" by
Mikhail Bulkagov? In light of the steering problems, the image of an
outsize, wicked cat seems quite appropriate,

My favourite book, and favourite character 🙂
--

I read _Master_ about 14 years ago and enjoyed it reasonably, but I'm not a
Bulgakov groupie like many. I have a strongly Pagan mystical disposition, and,
however mischievous and subversive, that book remains deeply Christian and
monotheist at heart. A few months later I visited Russia in the last gasps of
Perestroika and discovered a whole _cult_ of _Master_, with underground bars and
discos in the Arbat devoted to adoration of Bulgakov and the popular singer
Vladimir Vissotsky - the defining moments of Russian hip.

EFR
Ile de France

in message <[email hidden]>, Michael

MacClancy (') said:

Benjamin Weiner said:

I once had a similar experience after installing fenders on a bike.
The bike seemed to handle poorly and was difficult to dangerous
to ride no-hands. I had the benefit of knowing it had ridden well
before, though. While futzing with it in puzzlement, I realized
the wheel did not flop freely. The front fender bracket was rubbing
on the lower headset cup. A quick bend with a screwdriver and
the problem was fixed, never to return.

That's a common problem when you mount guitars on bikes. ;-)

Stratocasters were they?

Unfair. 'Twas crossposted to a froup inhabited by Merkins, who know no
better.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Do not sail on uphill water.
- Bill Lee