Perfect Weather For Doing Stuff Inside...

New Rim.  Made in America! 

 I had planned on making this a post on me fixing my bike tire...   Because, lately,  I have had so little to write about, I figured I could make something so mundane into a story.  

Old rim,  Broken Spoke!  
The entire Rim has to be replaced!

New Rim Ready!

Well,  Fate stepped in and lended me a hand. My new Bike Rim arrived yesterday. ( Thanks! Mr. Mailman,  for leaving it out by the mailbox, leaning against the posts on the snowbank....Nothing to worry about out there, exposed to the elements and Snowplows...)  I figured I would take a few pics of me taking the old tire, tube, brake rotor  and cassette off and write about how fun it was.  

What was I thinking? 

Brake Rotor off!  Yeah!

I got the tire, tube, and brake off just fine.   But then I had to remove the Cassette. ( Fancy "cyclist" word for the rear bike gears.) I had the special tool you need to take it off.   In fact,  I had just swapped it out with a new one just a few months ago.. when I purchased a new chain. 

However,   Things did not go as planned.   The inner locking nut would not loosen up.   It is meant to be tight so the entire assembly will not fall off while riding, but I think the salt and moisture and temps of this winter have thrown a serious wrench in that design. 

I labored on it for several hours.   I even enlisted Cheryl's assistence,  ( Which should indicate on how desperate I was.)   FINALLY I pulled out all the stops and grabbed a "Cheater Bar" to gain more leverage.  

The Final Results.... Broken!

Cheater bar?  Or BREAKER bar....

The problem with Cheater Bars is that they apply loads of torque and if the nut is never going to move, then something else is going to break.  In this case... the entire rim, spokes, and several gears!  I also broke the plastic chain guard.   New or not,  looks like I will be purchasing a new Cassette before I am able to get this tire back on my bike. 

Simple and Easy!

So... THAT was a disaster.   However,   Cheryl managed to save me today by giving me a new task to attempt.   She had been making cards lately,  and had an idea on how to incorporate some of my embroidery skills. 

I like Cheryl's designs.   They are simple and easy.    Simple and easy are the two best pre-requisites for my embroidery program. Otherwise, I have to go into a Paint Program and clean up all of the edges and margins.  I also have to make sure that all of the colors are a solid primary color, otherwise the embroidery program will think I have an infinite shade variation for every zone.  Yadda, Yadda, yadda...  Lots of Work for me!

So I think it turned out pretty good.   Cheryl was happy.   And I was successful!    I like being the "Hero"  even on the little things.  She has informed me that she has "Many Applications" for my new found talent.   As long as I get to play with the Embroidery Machine,  I'm cool with it. 

Cold weather is here to stay...

As for Mr. Bike.   Looks like the cold weather will not be letting up any time soon.   The roads were only slightly better but it snowed yesterday....  The paths are ice covered and the temps are even colder.   Cheryl says I might  as well put all of my "Bike Desires" in the amazon cart and fix the bike while I have this window of opportunity.  I ordered new derailers, brake cords, chain, chain guards, tools, and, of course, a new cassette. 

How I envision myself after fully
repairing my bicycle. 

 With a little luck, I may be able to make my bike look almost new again!   (Without paying a fortune to the "World of Bike" snobs....) Then again,  The  Self-repairman's skills and competency is  always in question. At least World of Bikes has repairmen who actually  know what they are doing.  But knowledge is power... and Heroes, like me,  need all the power we can get!  Thanks for stopping in.