sick of petrol price

[hidepenny]

i got so sick of the neveer end increaseing petrol prices and decided to buy a push bike and ride to work.........................well...........after all it was a dumb and bad decision.......................................

1st start with the push bike, it's shit to ride, although i paid $160 for it
2nd it was bloody cold even though i was very warmed up after 5 mins of riding
3rd never thought it was that FAR!!!!

oh ok here's the story, bought a bike off ebay and came in the door in parts.... .......that was a challenge, took me 2 hrs to fix it all up with the tyres and now the front wheel is having some kinda of metal scratching noise, and i'm sure it's not normal....which means i have to put in extra power to make the thing go.......................

and from my house to work is 17km..........and it took me bloody 1.5 hurs to get to work this moring, and i can't now even think about how i'll get my way back home ......thinking to take train or something


btw anyone here fixes push bikes? ........

[Stereo]

HAHAHA sorry..... this should be under jokes and amusement hehehe

[red_dave]

from my house to work is 17km..........and it took me bloody 1.5 hurs to get to work this moring,

Can I have some of what you were smoking when you decided to embark on this journey???

[mike-s]

Possible options:
Check your brakes aren't missaligned, i'd suggest that one of them is rubbing on the wheel, most common fix is to adjust the "grab" point on the wire cable on the brake lever, often if this is out it cants the brakes to one side or another.

make sure that you aren't having issues with the wheel hub /forks rubbing on the wheel itself.

Other than that, you sure you didn't buy a p.o.s.? kidding, bought a bike from kmart for me and the missus, they are quality build things, but thus far it's been too cold to use, but we'll use 'em in summer

[hidepenny]

yeah i was thinking this shoudl go in to jokes and amusement, but it's not fuunny to me personally and nothing amusing about to me personally, so decided NO that deosnt go there

Check your brakes aren't missaligned, i'd suggest that one of them is rubbing on the wheel, most common fix is to adjust the "grab" point on the wire cable on the brake lever, often if this is out it cants the brakes to one side or another.

yes that's the issue but that bike's got a disc brake kinda setup and don't know how to align...............

damn...........how many times i have to tell myself not to get technical with anything...............

[mike-s]

you know how to adjust a clutch cable don't ya?

[hidepenny]

you know how to adjust a clutch cable don't ya? Wink
_________________

no

[Stereo]

you know how to adjust a clutch cable don't ya? Wink
_________________

no

Usually there is a screw thingee that is attached at the grip that you can turn... you losen it to get a loser cable (and that opens up the brake a bit more)...

[mrmina]

this is pretty fun

[the kid]

it's shit to ride, although i paid $160 for it

Mate for that kind of money its going to be a POS . Dont expect much from it . You can spend twice that amount for a set of headstem bearings .

Get a bike mechanic to check over it and adjust things . At least bicycle servicing is cheap .

[javaman]

I hear you mate. I used to commute 17k myself on a bike. You will eventually build up the stamina. In fact it wasn't the distance that put me off but running nose and blisters on thighs/nuts.

Would wearing those lycra pants fix the problem ?

[Ratmick]

Mate Mate Maaaaate...

I did a bike maintenance course a while back (when my MTB was new), but we didn't cover remote web diagnosis... .

Anyway the noise you hearing, when does it occur? When you push down on the pedals? If so could be a number of things, one of which was covered by Mike in that the front brake pads are touching the disk.

If your bike has very cheap front suspension (i.e. it's an el-cheapo MTB), there's a good chance that the forks are flexing (or one leg is compressing while the other isn't) as you put pressure on the pedals and they are going slightly out of kilter and touching each side of the rim as you pedal. Yoy can get rid of this by buying a fork brace for $20-30. Other problems could be the bearings in the bottom bracket not being lubricated, the cranks being loose or the pedals crap. If the noise if definitely coming from the front the front wheel bearings could be dry (and probably now stuffed ). The are generally loose ball bearings, not sealed units like a motorbike's...

Just for interest's sake, how much does the bike weigh? Most people that buy bikes at the cheap end of the scale don't end up riding them for very long as they rapidly get pissed off pushing the weight around, so you did well riding the 17km . The other thing that happens is that you end up using all these muscles that you haven't ever used in your backside and thighs, and you may have trouble walking tomorrow. That's ok though, the soreness will pass in about a week. Don't be tempted to buy a soft comfy seat though, they are the worst on the arse. You need one that supports the bones in your backside, rather than a pillow.

BTW, $160 is extremely cheap for a pushie .

[mike-s]

man i used to LOVE riding a pushie, just kept at it till i didnt suck at it, then i loved it. If i get a job in the city, hell i might even ride to work on a pushy from time to time... *thinks* ahhh screw that, im not sharing the road with all those fucking maniacs.

[Tones]

Hmmm...17kms and cold weather. Sounds like it was a noble idea to get a bike!! What you need now is to put a small motor in the frame to make the journey more TIME efficient. There are many choices of small motors that would do the job, and then you could see this project as a challenge as to what you can get outta it. Then you might start thinking of GEARING and how much more efficient you can make it if once a speed is attained you can then drop the revs to maintain that speed. Well until you get to a hill and then need the ability to change to a gear that allows the motor to transfer more torque to teh rear wheel. When this has been acomplished you may find that the biek accelerates at quite a speed when given a long enough run up, and if a dwon hill incline is avaliable can help you accelerate to an even faster speed. With this faster speed you may want some more gearing and/or clutch setup so that you can make it even more efficient, and faster. Now you can be really time efficient as long as you dont need to stop in a hurry. In which case the front brake that you are having problems with, would probably be inefficient if it was working as it was deisigned/intended so short circuit things and just upgrade the brakes to probably a hydralic setup to give more feel as well as more power. Now comes a great challenge as you will need bigger tyres to really take advantage of these brakes and to cope with the higher speeds you can now attain. This may require some frame modifications to allow for wider wheels and a good brake set up. Whilst you at the frame you coudl also incorporate some suspension to make the ride a little more comfortable as well as controllable. Now by the time you have reached this stage you will not need to ride to work as you are now retired. Or you could make the change from the start and utilise the expertise of some manufacturers that do all of the work for you and make motorbikes/scooters.

Cheers

[hidepenny]

thx guys, i guess it just wasn't my day at all yesterday the whole furking day!!!

had to ride back home on the bike wel........i had no other choice
1/10th of the way i thought oh jesus fark it, and then pedal slow towards springvale train station and all of a sudden a train stopped at the station and left shit i've missed the train

since i had to wait for another train i got off the bike and started walking

during the porceess of me buying a valid ticket another train stopped and gone!!!!!

shit, i mean how could 2 trains come in 5 mins intervals these days , well i mean i haven't been on a train for nearly 6 years, but i don't think now they run the timetable like they are in singpore!




yup waited another 30mins for the next train got home at 8 when i finished at 6.

could've been home earlier if i rode and saved myself that $2.4


so the final decision was, damn!!! sell the bike !!!!!