Longer Legs - maybe

It has been cold. Well, cold for California. Chilly, damp, gray mornings, or the last couple of days, clear frosty mornings. I don't like to ride in the cold. I have a pair of leggings that I bought 15 years ago. I wore them often when I was commuting by bike, but haven't had them on in two years at least. This week I've been jogging, either on the street or driving to the gym and jogging on the treadmill, which is terminally boring even with an iPod loaded with podcasts (Skeptic's Guide, Geologic, Security Now ... my jogging companions.)

But the bike—when I finally get back on it—should be better. Last week when the rain started, I did what I said I'd do the first rainy spell. I took the back wheel off the bike (no easy job) and took it up to the local bike shop service department along with the 11-32 freehub.

Wait. The back story is that when I was restoring the bike, I assumed that when I motorized it, it would still be using the same rear cluster, so I ordered the new front chain rings in about 10% smaller sizes than the old. But then it turned out that the BionX hub only supports a freewheel not a modern freehub, and further, that the freewheel BionX supplied was an 8-speed with a smallest gear of 14 teeth.

I described this back in June, noting that I had managed to obtain a freewheel with 11-32 gearing. But I hadn't installed it.

The reason I didn't install it is that I couldn't. I tried at one point to get the existing freewheel off, but they are notoriously difficult and I couldn't manage it. (The freewheel threads onto the hub, or in this case onto the motor casing, in such a direction that your pedaling torque tightens it.) Then I took the bike back to Joe Robinson for another reason and asked him to try to replace it. He returned it saying he had not been able to get the thing off either.

There matters rested for a couple of months, but the setup wasn't satisfactory; on a downhill I couldn't spin past 30mph, maybe 31. I used to be able to pedal past 40mph on a suitable slope.

So, OK, on this rainy day I removed the wheel and took it and the new freewheel up to the bike store and at the service counter I started saying, I want to replace this, the guy who sold it to me couldn't get it off. Before I'd finished that sentence, the mechanic, without a word, picked up the wheel and walked away to the back of the shop, where he slapped a tool into a vise, dropped the wheel on it, gave a mighty heave, and spun the freewheel off. He was back at the counter in less than a minute. He dabbed a little grease onto the threads, spun the new freewheel into place, and said, "OK?"

OK, indeed. I took it home and reinstalled the wheel, and the bike's been sitting in the garage since, waiting for better weather or more motivation.