Bike repair

October 4th, 2009

I undertook two repairs this weekend that seemed like they were going to be pretty hard:

  1. Fixing a broken spoke
  2. Replacing a frayed rear derailer cable

Turns out neither was overly complicated, and there are some great resources online. The howto’s on this site were really helpful for info on how to remove my rear cassette. This site was also useful for fixing the wobble I had in my wheel. And of course, BicycleTutor.com had a great video on replacing the cable in grip shifters which I have on my bike.

Some advice though: when you need a new spoke, take the broken one off of the wheel so that when you go into the store they can find the correct replacement. Also, talk to the bike techs, not the sales people. Oh, and apparently Lemon scented dusting spray does wonders on bike frames! Just make sure to keep it off of the parts that should have grease on them. My bike now has a fresh lemony scent!

Pineapples!

September 26th, 2009

After reading this article on planting pineapple tops, I decided to give it a try. I know the weather is getting cooler but I noticed the tops really needed to be repotted. Since I don’t live in Hawaii, I’m doubtful I’ll ever see any fruit but you never know!

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Note, that unlike in the article I used regular potting soil and some old yogurt tubs with holes in the bottom to start the tops. Now they are in the soil mixture suggested in the article.

China, take 2

August 28th, 2009

It’s been 24 hours since I got home from my 12 day adventure back to China. This trip was fantastic as was Taiwan trip in July.
My main conclusions from this trip:

  1. Get out of Beijing! While Beijing is a interesting city, there are so many other fantastic cities in China.
  2. Contact solution, even though considered a medicine still is subject to bottle size limits when traveling within China.
  3. Anything is possible, but nothing is easy in China.

The photos are up here:

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