Changing gears
Aug. 1st, 2020 05:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrThe story you are about to hear is true. Some of the names have been changed, because I had a really bad retail experience, and need to vent. Sorry.
I finished glazing early Friday, as it happens. Checked my list of leftover-on-the-shelves pots from last spring, I realized I had nearly thirty dinner plates, and a similar amount of bowls already glazed. So I did a handful of each, and a dozen dessert plates, and called it good. Still planning to load on Sunday, so I get a whole day off, to do nothing!
Except my bike broke down Friday night, riding down to the bank to deposit some checks. So bright and early this morning, I go flip it over to see what's wrong.
It's a trike, actually, a one-speed Schwinn Meridian I bought second-hand off Craigslist a good five or six years ago. It's a workhorse, ridden to BiMart, the Post Office, up to the farm stands on River Road, sometimes even down to Farmers Market or Club Mud.
Lately, it's been throwing the chain(s)--there's two, the main one going from the pedals to a transfer hub, and a smaller one, connecting that axle to the gear on the rear wheel axle. The main chain is a little loose, and sometimes will slip off the gears, but it's usually easy (if a bit greasy) to fix. When the rear chain comes off, it's more of a problem.
You see, the rear gear wanders. It's supposed to be held tight by set screws, but they don't always do the job, and if it gets out of line with the transfer gear, terrible things happen. Well, the chain pops off, so there's no forward action from the pedals; worse, the rear brakes don't work, as they're on the transfer axle as well.
So this morning, I decided to get to the bottom of it, and quickly discovered that one of the set screws had sheared off entirely, and the other had threads worn down. Nothing in my miscellaneous hardware boxes fit, so I pocketed the broken one, with locking nut and its broken end. Wanting to support independent businesses, hopped in my car to drive down to Nearby Small Bike Shop. Got there at 9:30 am to find that, due to COVID, they don't open until 11 am on Saturdays.
So I drive home again, go pick two quarts of blackberries in the backyard, and spend the rest of the morning baking a blackberry pie.
Drive back to Nearby Bike Shop at 11:30, show them the part, and try to describe where it goes on the trike. After some confusion--they don't say "sprockets," they say "gears." Who knew?--it turns out that they don't service Schwinns, don't have any parts. (I got a vague whiff of snobbishness, though I may have imagined it.) You could order it online! they say, Somebody they knew got a replacement axle under warranty online just recently! I sigh and say I really wanted to get it fixed now; I don't want to wait on the internet for a really simple part. So they tell me to go to Eugene Fastener; they've got the widest variety of screws, bolts, whatever; they have a $5 minimum order, but surely they can find my set screw. One of them even follows me out to my car, talking about warranties and service, but I explain that I bought the bike secondhand (while thinking Will you stop being unhelpful? inside my head).
I drive down to EugFast, and don't even pull into their lot, because I can see the big signs, on the front window and the side entrance: Wholesale Only. Sigh.
So I do what I should have done at 9:30--drove out to Jerrys.
Jerrys is a local hardware big-box chain--think Lowes or Home Depot, but with a soul. They've always been tremendously helpful to me; they're where I went when I wired in my first kiln, and when I rewired for my second. A plumbing department guy once spent twenty minutes with me finding the perfect 50¢ part I needed to stop my hose bib from leaking.
The guy in hardware and fastenings was on his cell talking to a customer, but paused to page someone else to help me. A young woman named Crimson soon appeared, listened to my story, and took the screw and nut. Bike parts are usually metric, she says, It's a good thing you brought the nut as well. Let's check. She takes both to the sample board, then to the metric bins, and in less than a minute, had a screw that threaded perfectly. Bought four of them for $2.24. Drove home, fixed the rear gear (sprocket, dammit!) in about five minutes, four of which were taken up measuring, to be sure I had it centered properly.
Which is when I notice that one of the links on the chain was bent sideways, another broken entirely. I got out my bike tools kit, with extra links, and remembered that the last time I'd worked on a chain, I'd managed to break my bike chain splitter. No problem, right? BiMart has bike tools and accessories, so does Fred Meyer. They're both just a quick jaunt down River Road.
Neither one had them. Both had replacement chains. Neither had a way to actually put them on a bike.
I really didn't want to go back to Unhelpful Nearby Bike Shop. Denise Googled for other shops, while I searched online for the tool itself. And whaddya know? Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart both said they sold them, and they're about the same distance as Bike Shop, although in a different direction. After a brief break for lunch, I drove over. (All the while feeling guilty, as these are just the kind of short trips I usually bike to.) Turns out Dick's doesn't have them in stock either, so I trudge across the parking lot to Walmart.
I hate going into Walmart in normal times--dislike their labor policies, dislike the way they leverage their buying power, dislike their politics. Going in during a pandemic? Terrifying.
They seem to be making at least some attempt at traffic management, at least at entrance and exits. Masks are generally in evidence, or face shields. I do a lot of dodging of other people, looking for sporting goods, from whence the two guys sorting stock point me to the bike section. Where they had not one, but two different styles of chain tools. I paid a buck extra for the heavier-grade model (the $7.95 was the same style I'd already broken).
At home, I removed the chain, ran it through my ultrasonic parts cleaner, replaced the broken links, put it back on the bike and closed the last link. Replaced chain on gears, and while I was at it, loosened bolts and adjusted the length of the drive train so the chains don't droop anymore.
Made my long-overdue trip to the bank; everything seemed fine, although I might have to fiddle with the rear brake cable--moving the axle back may be causing it to tug on the brake a bit.
Got home and found another check in the mailbox.
I finished glazing early Friday, as it happens. Checked my list of leftover-on-the-shelves pots from last spring, I realized I had nearly thirty dinner plates, and a similar amount of bowls already glazed. So I did a handful of each, and a dozen dessert plates, and called it good. Still planning to load on Sunday, so I get a whole day off, to do nothing!
Except my bike broke down Friday night, riding down to the bank to deposit some checks. So bright and early this morning, I go flip it over to see what's wrong.
It's a trike, actually, a one-speed Schwinn Meridian I bought second-hand off Craigslist a good five or six years ago. It's a workhorse, ridden to BiMart, the Post Office, up to the farm stands on River Road, sometimes even down to Farmers Market or Club Mud.
Lately, it's been throwing the chain(s)--there's two, the main one going from the pedals to a transfer hub, and a smaller one, connecting that axle to the gear on the rear wheel axle. The main chain is a little loose, and sometimes will slip off the gears, but it's usually easy (if a bit greasy) to fix. When the rear chain comes off, it's more of a problem.
You see, the rear gear wanders. It's supposed to be held tight by set screws, but they don't always do the job, and if it gets out of line with the transfer gear, terrible things happen. Well, the chain pops off, so there's no forward action from the pedals; worse, the rear brakes don't work, as they're on the transfer axle as well.
So this morning, I decided to get to the bottom of it, and quickly discovered that one of the set screws had sheared off entirely, and the other had threads worn down. Nothing in my miscellaneous hardware boxes fit, so I pocketed the broken one, with locking nut and its broken end. Wanting to support independent businesses, hopped in my car to drive down to Nearby Small Bike Shop. Got there at 9:30 am to find that, due to COVID, they don't open until 11 am on Saturdays.
So I drive home again, go pick two quarts of blackberries in the backyard, and spend the rest of the morning baking a blackberry pie.
Drive back to Nearby Bike Shop at 11:30, show them the part, and try to describe where it goes on the trike. After some confusion--they don't say "sprockets," they say "gears." Who knew?--it turns out that they don't service Schwinns, don't have any parts. (I got a vague whiff of snobbishness, though I may have imagined it.) You could order it online! they say, Somebody they knew got a replacement axle under warranty online just recently! I sigh and say I really wanted to get it fixed now; I don't want to wait on the internet for a really simple part. So they tell me to go to Eugene Fastener; they've got the widest variety of screws, bolts, whatever; they have a $5 minimum order, but surely they can find my set screw. One of them even follows me out to my car, talking about warranties and service, but I explain that I bought the bike secondhand (while thinking Will you stop being unhelpful? inside my head).
I drive down to EugFast, and don't even pull into their lot, because I can see the big signs, on the front window and the side entrance: Wholesale Only. Sigh.
So I do what I should have done at 9:30--drove out to Jerrys.
Jerrys is a local hardware big-box chain--think Lowes or Home Depot, but with a soul. They've always been tremendously helpful to me; they're where I went when I wired in my first kiln, and when I rewired for my second. A plumbing department guy once spent twenty minutes with me finding the perfect 50¢ part I needed to stop my hose bib from leaking.
The guy in hardware and fastenings was on his cell talking to a customer, but paused to page someone else to help me. A young woman named Crimson soon appeared, listened to my story, and took the screw and nut. Bike parts are usually metric, she says, It's a good thing you brought the nut as well. Let's check. She takes both to the sample board, then to the metric bins, and in less than a minute, had a screw that threaded perfectly. Bought four of them for $2.24. Drove home, fixed the rear gear (sprocket, dammit!) in about five minutes, four of which were taken up measuring, to be sure I had it centered properly.
Which is when I notice that one of the links on the chain was bent sideways, another broken entirely. I got out my bike tools kit, with extra links, and remembered that the last time I'd worked on a chain, I'd managed to break my bike chain splitter. No problem, right? BiMart has bike tools and accessories, so does Fred Meyer. They're both just a quick jaunt down River Road.
Neither one had them. Both had replacement chains. Neither had a way to actually put them on a bike.
I really didn't want to go back to Unhelpful Nearby Bike Shop. Denise Googled for other shops, while I searched online for the tool itself. And whaddya know? Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart both said they sold them, and they're about the same distance as Bike Shop, although in a different direction. After a brief break for lunch, I drove over. (All the while feeling guilty, as these are just the kind of short trips I usually bike to.) Turns out Dick's doesn't have them in stock either, so I trudge across the parking lot to Walmart.
I hate going into Walmart in normal times--dislike their labor policies, dislike the way they leverage their buying power, dislike their politics. Going in during a pandemic? Terrifying.
They seem to be making at least some attempt at traffic management, at least at entrance and exits. Masks are generally in evidence, or face shields. I do a lot of dodging of other people, looking for sporting goods, from whence the two guys sorting stock point me to the bike section. Where they had not one, but two different styles of chain tools. I paid a buck extra for the heavier-grade model (the $7.95 was the same style I'd already broken).
At home, I removed the chain, ran it through my ultrasonic parts cleaner, replaced the broken links, put it back on the bike and closed the last link. Replaced chain on gears, and while I was at it, loosened bolts and adjusted the length of the drive train so the chains don't droop anymore.
Made my long-overdue trip to the bank; everything seemed fine, although I might have to fiddle with the rear brake cable--moving the axle back may be causing it to tug on the brake a bit.
Got home and found another check in the mailbox.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 03:53 pm (UTC)And Jerry's is just special. I don't know how they train their floor staff, but damn, they do it well.
no subject
Date: 2020-08-02 04:09 pm (UTC)The answer at Jerry's, based on conversations I've had with Pat Farr, who used to manage the place, is real investment in staff. I rarely vote Republican but I used to vote for Pat because I thought he treated his staff well.