Sun break

Claire Petersky said:

After 27 days of continuous rain, they said maybe Sunday would be
only "sun with occasional showers". With that in mind, my husband and
I took off yesterday for our inguaral training ride for 2006. We're
planning to use the tandem for STP and RSVP, and although we've both
done these rides on singles, this would be our first time on the
tandem.
Believe it or not, not only did it not rain on the ride, we had
patches of blue sky. It was a little chilly, but not too cold.

The biggest problem was getting the tandem into the small chain ring
while under load. David got it in once without me being prepared for
it, and my foot spun around so fast it put strain on my bum ankle. I
don't know how that could have been prevented, as he announced the
gear change before, but it was taking a long time to drop down into
that gear. The next time we had an unsuccessful change into that
small chain ring, we had to stop the bike. I tried to manually pull
the chain into the right spot, and then it got jammed in some weird
way, such that it took two of us and a tool to pull it out and then
on the little ring successfully. The third time it wasn't going in,
we decided to be more coordinated. David called out "dig" and we both
pushed down hard, and then "drop" and we both backed off, and then
the chain just neatly fell into place.
Maybe I should find the tandem mailing list so I can learn some more
of these techniques, so we don't have to invent them ourselves.

Have you tried the ol' thumb adjust? Literally just press the derailleur
cage inwards, fairly firmly. Usually works for me.

Ham-fisted Bill

In article <[email hidden]>,

Sorni said:

Have you tried the ol' thumb adjust? Literally just press the derailleur
cage inwards, fairly firmly. Usually works for me.

There have been times when I've successfully resorted to
just giving it a little kick with my heel. Which is
fairly easy to do when using toeclips and loose-ish straps.

I rather don't like sticking my hand near a moving chain
(or wheel, for that matter) without watching where stuff is.

cheers,
Tom

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Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Sorni said:

Have you tried the ol' thumb adjust? Literally just press the
derailleur cage inwards, fairly firmly. Usually works for me.

Quoted message said:

There have been times when I've successfully resorted to
just giving it a little kick with my heel. Which is
fairly easy to do when using toeclips and loose-ish straps.

Yup. Done that, too.

Quoted message said:

I rather don't like sticking my hand near a moving chain
(or wheel, for that matter) without watching where stuff is.

LOL. No, I meant getting off the bike and /adjusting/ the front derailleur!
(I learned this sophisticated method when I first started mountain biking,
and would get the dreaded "drrrrrrrrr" going up a steep hill as the chain
stayed on the middle ring after the cage had popped in to the small ring
position.)

Bill "get off, press in, get on, ride away" S.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Sorni said:

Quoted message said:

I rather don't like sticking my hand near a moving chain
(or wheel, for that matter) without watching where stuff is.

LOL. No, I meant getting off the bike and /adjusting/ the front derailleur!

Ahhh. I stand corrected.

cheers,
Tom

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-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca