Catalyzt
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
Well, I seem to be lingering at that "know just enough to be dangerous" point in this sport.
Funny combination of circumstances. I have a client who does some extreme / high-risk skiing and other sports, and was thinking of walking them through some safety planning. Just got back from skiing myself, and wound up doing a deep dive into the psychology of extreme sports, which led me to reading about Shane McConkey and how he died: An equipment failure during a BASE jump / ski & wingsuit stunt. (And an incredibly stupid failure, IMHO-- he was using older bindings that failed to release.)
Then I thought, "Well, better practice what I preach. All my ski gear was checked out carefully, and I was going to wait until the academic year was over before taking the bike into the shop-- or even fix the slow leak in the rear tire myself-- but I've got a free afternoon, why not ride the bike to the shop and walk the 2.5 miles home?" I already managed to put off taking it to the shop about six months by doing my own derailleur adjustment and troubleshooting a few other issues, probably saved myself $100 bucks or so, and something didn't sound quite right somewhere between my seat and the back of the bike. Didn't seem to be anything dangerous, but why not have a pro tell me what that weird sound was? (
When the mechanic picked up the bike, his face turned white. The main bolt for the suspension was so loose it was held in place only by friction, gravity, and dumb luck. In fact, I had checked it a few months ago... but it spun freely when I turned it, so I figured that was how it was supposed to be. Absolutely not! You need to have an allen wrench on both sides to get it tight! The mechanic then showed me which bolts have to be checked-- there were one or two I'd missed, though they were fine.
I also need a different kind of seat post for my CF seat, will put up a separate post seeking recommendations. Less urgent, we've got it torqued down just right for now.
Anyway, just a reminder to all as the weather warms up: If something doesn't feel quite right, and you're not exactly sure what the problem is, just take the bike in to the LBS.
Funny to think that if it hadn't been for my mechanic, for my client, or for Shane... I really might have let that go another few months. That probably wouldn't have worked out well.
Funny combination of circumstances. I have a client who does some extreme / high-risk skiing and other sports, and was thinking of walking them through some safety planning. Just got back from skiing myself, and wound up doing a deep dive into the psychology of extreme sports, which led me to reading about Shane McConkey and how he died: An equipment failure during a BASE jump / ski & wingsuit stunt. (And an incredibly stupid failure, IMHO-- he was using older bindings that failed to release.)
Then I thought, "Well, better practice what I preach. All my ski gear was checked out carefully, and I was going to wait until the academic year was over before taking the bike into the shop-- or even fix the slow leak in the rear tire myself-- but I've got a free afternoon, why not ride the bike to the shop and walk the 2.5 miles home?" I already managed to put off taking it to the shop about six months by doing my own derailleur adjustment and troubleshooting a few other issues, probably saved myself $100 bucks or so, and something didn't sound quite right somewhere between my seat and the back of the bike. Didn't seem to be anything dangerous, but why not have a pro tell me what that weird sound was? (
When the mechanic picked up the bike, his face turned white. The main bolt for the suspension was so loose it was held in place only by friction, gravity, and dumb luck. In fact, I had checked it a few months ago... but it spun freely when I turned it, so I figured that was how it was supposed to be. Absolutely not! You need to have an allen wrench on both sides to get it tight! The mechanic then showed me which bolts have to be checked-- there were one or two I'd missed, though they were fine.
I also need a different kind of seat post for my CF seat, will put up a separate post seeking recommendations. Less urgent, we've got it torqued down just right for now.
Anyway, just a reminder to all as the weather warms up: If something doesn't feel quite right, and you're not exactly sure what the problem is, just take the bike in to the LBS.
Funny to think that if it hadn't been for my mechanic, for my client, or for Shane... I really might have let that go another few months. That probably wouldn't have worked out well.
