Gaah! My poor baby!
So when your bike lock has this nifty little latch that keeps it from falling off the bike, getting caught in the frame and mangling the derailleur, remember kids... always, and I do mean always, use that latch.
I forgot to latch the lock in, it fell off, and now my derailler is bent outwards so it's about 3.2 gears off where it should be. Then, when I was trying to find a gear where it might be manageable to limp home at 10kph, I got the bright idea to shift up to the top gear and, wouldn't you know, the chain got jammed. I thought I might be able to bend the derailleur back into shape, so I stopped near the Stone Road Mall. I was wearing a white button-up shirt on top of a black sleeveless shirt, so I took off the white one to keep it from getting dirty and got to work.
It turns out the derailleur's bent at the hefty metal piece (hefty as in a steel plate about 1cm thick) that attaches it to the frame. There's considerable metal fatigue where it's bent, so if this happens again it would probably just snap off. I managed to bend it a bit, to about 1.7 gears off. Then I realized the chain was still jammed, and jammed tight too; the only way to get it unjammed without tools covered my hands with grease.
Only after my hands were a lovely shade of black did I remember that my shirt was lying there on the ground. I wiped my hands in the grass to make them only a pink-black colour, used my relatively-clean pinky-fingers to pick it up and drape it over my handlebars, went to the mall and washed my hands. I must have been quite a sight: me wearing a black sleeveless shirt, white shirt over my shoulder, carrying a helmet with hands covered in grease.
I did do my good deed for the day... as I was unlocking my bike to limp home, noticed a woman with maybe a Ukrainian accent checking a map, so I asked her if she's trying to find someplace, then directed her to Edinburgh and Speedvale.
I'd at least need a clamp and worktable to fix this myself, so I'm going to have to go into a bike shop on Tuesday. Hopefully they can bend it back into shape, otherwise I'm going to have to drop $50 or more on a new derailleur. Just what I needed.
I forgot to latch the lock in, it fell off, and now my derailler is bent outwards so it's about 3.2 gears off where it should be. Then, when I was trying to find a gear where it might be manageable to limp home at 10kph, I got the bright idea to shift up to the top gear and, wouldn't you know, the chain got jammed. I thought I might be able to bend the derailleur back into shape, so I stopped near the Stone Road Mall. I was wearing a white button-up shirt on top of a black sleeveless shirt, so I took off the white one to keep it from getting dirty and got to work.
It turns out the derailleur's bent at the hefty metal piece (hefty as in a steel plate about 1cm thick) that attaches it to the frame. There's considerable metal fatigue where it's bent, so if this happens again it would probably just snap off. I managed to bend it a bit, to about 1.7 gears off. Then I realized the chain was still jammed, and jammed tight too; the only way to get it unjammed without tools covered my hands with grease.
Only after my hands were a lovely shade of black did I remember that my shirt was lying there on the ground. I wiped my hands in the grass to make them only a pink-black colour, used my relatively-clean pinky-fingers to pick it up and drape it over my handlebars, went to the mall and washed my hands. I must have been quite a sight: me wearing a black sleeveless shirt, white shirt over my shoulder, carrying a helmet with hands covered in grease.
I did do my good deed for the day... as I was unlocking my bike to limp home, noticed a woman with maybe a Ukrainian accent checking a map, so I asked her if she's trying to find someplace, then directed her to Edinburgh and Speedvale.
I'd at least need a clamp and worktable to fix this myself, so I'm going to have to go into a bike shop on Tuesday. Hopefully they can bend it back into shape, otherwise I'm going to have to drop $50 or more on a new derailleur. Just what I needed.