{"id":2143,"date":"2018-03-02T18:45:36","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T23:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/?p=2143"},"modified":"2024-06-17T18:52:32","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T22:52:32","slug":"180302-lifes-maintenance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/180302-lifes-maintenance\/","title":{"rendered":"180302-Life&#8217;s Maintenance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On my last trip (around the Irish Sea), the bearings on my front fork failed. The bicycle became almost unrideable, prompting a layover in Newcastle (Northern Ireland) while the bicycle underwent repairs. The bearing casing came out in little tiny pieces.\u00a0 Since then the bicycle has had a myriad of smaller issues needing repair, and I haven&#8217;t known what I didn&#8217;t know was wrong. Today I uncharacteristically took the bicycle into the shop. On my list were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Replacing a small broken plastic piece in the shifter<\/li>\n<li>Extra play in the right\/front shifter<\/li>\n<li>Stiffness in the shifting in the front and problems with the cable housing<\/li>\n<li>New brake pads (front and back)<\/li>\n<li>Grinding noises coming from the rear axle<\/li>\n<li>Concerns about wear on the rear wheel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I love the wheels on this bicycle (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Performance-Wheelhouse-Shimano-Ultegra-FH-6800\/dp\/B017TGI9CS\/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=irelandbybicy-20&amp;linkCode=w00&amp;linkId=598bf3c2e671cee6ecd9de2aa061e624&amp;creativeASIN=B017TGI9CS\">Mavic Open Pro<\/a>), with no issues since I bought the bicycle back in 2006. I had many problems with the wheels on my previous bicycle (at one point truing my wheels every night!). The Mavics haven&#8217;t even been trued since I got them. I carry spare spokes since cycle tourists often break spokes, but I&#8217;ve never needed them. At least part of that durability can be attributed to my obsession with lightweight gear. However, I&#8217;ve started to notice wear on the rims, and a grinding noise. The grinding noise is likely grit in the bearings, but TWICE before I&#8217;ve pulled a wheel apart to find I&#8217;d broken the axle!\u00a0On my previous bicycle I wore through the rear rim. According to the tech it looks like I&#8217;ve done that again.<\/p>\n<p>I also need a new bicycle saddle. I painfully learned on my last tour that my most recent replacement saddle is NOT the right saddle for me.\u00a0 The previous time that I replaced the saddle I went through a half-dozen before I finally found one I was happy with. For now, I&#8217;ve reinstalled the previous battered saddle, and I gird myself to begin that quest anew.<\/p>\n<p>The other integral cycling component I&#8217;ve struggled to replace are my cycling shoes. My beloved pair of Cannondales I abandoned in Ireland as<a href=\"http:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/gallery\/displayimage.php?album=54&amp;pid=10724#top_display_media\"> a lost cause<\/a>. I&#8217;ve still got the Shimanos I crossed Europe with, but they make my feet hurt at about 80 kilometers (I found myself stuffing toilet paper in the toes).<\/p>\n<p>All of those gear items are very cyclist-specific. Looking over my <a href=\"http:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/gear-list-2018\/\">gear list<\/a>\u00a0I don&#8217;t see much else I need to replace. I will need a few maps, once I figure out exactly where I&#8217;m going this year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On my last trip (around the Irish Sea), the bearings on my front fork failed. The bicycle became almost unrideable, prompting a layover in Newcastle (Northern Ireland) while the bicycle underwent repairs. The bearing casing came out in little tiny pieces.\u00a0 Since then the bicycle has had a myriad of smaller issues needing repair, and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/180302-lifes-maintenance\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;180302-Life&#8217;s Maintenance&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-touring"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2145,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions\/2145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}