Go The Other Way

Today was an odd day.  It is mid-November here in Michigan and yet the temperature made it into the low 70s/upper 60s, with ample sunshine.  Starting tomorrow, the temperatures are more likely to be upper 30's with rain and/or snow.

The only logical thing to do is to take a bike ride.  That seems obvious.

Gimli is all set up for use on the indoor trainer so Sam the Singlespeed is my "outdoor" bike until next spring.

Where should I go?  How should I get there?  It is entirely possible that I won't ride outdoors again this year, so I thought I should make this ride memorable, in some fashion.  Big mileage was out of the question (not that I didn't want too, mind you).  What if I took a ride where I "Go the Other Way"?

I'm a creature of habit.  Ask Michelle and she will quickly and easily agree.  Sometimes I get stuck in a rut and ride the same basic routes over and over again.  What if I picked my route as I went and went the direction I don't normally go?  What if I took the road less traveled, as they say.

I won't list it out turn by turn, but I managed to have an interesting and satisfying ride where I travelled down roads I had never been on.  I saw some more of the NW side down by Lane Ave, Powers, and Butterworth.  I found where Kenowa ends on the north side of the river.  Pretty cool overall.

Come next year, I will have to do this more.  One of my favorite aspects of cycling is the ability to explore.  The exploration can be on open country roads or within a city like Grand Rapids.  There is always something else to see and paths to find that you never even knew were there.

Plastic Surgery

No, I haven't gone under the knife.

A while back, I got a set of fenders for Sam the Singlespeed (They were purchased at Freewheeler Bike Shop and were made by Planet Bike).  After installing them, I never felt that they fit quite right.  They were a little squee-haw, if you know what I mean.  Earlier in the year, I took them off intending to ride some without them and then put them back on with the goal of less squee-hawness.

Not surprisingly, I just now got around to it.  My working theory was that the fenders were a little too wide to fit under the front brakes, which caused the front tip of the fender to deviate off to one side (that would be the squee-hawness, by the way).  If I cut/nip/forcibly removed some of the fender that contacts the brakes, then I should be all set, right?

Onto the mechanics stand the bike went and out came a plethora of tools.  The fenders went on, got marked and then came off.  With all the delicacy I can muster (which is not much), I managed to remove some material along the edge without making it look like a hack job.

Did it fit better?  Why yes, it did (I know, I was shocked too).  I then noticed two things.  First, the brake arms were still hitting the fender some.  Second, the front lip of the fender was grazing the tire.  Hmmm.

Certainly I need to remove that little bit of material that is still hitting the brake arms!  Back on the stand, mark it again, and another round of cutting/nipping/forcibly removing plastic ensued.

Did it work?  Yes it did!

Sort of.

The brake arms were not contacting the fender anymore but the front lip of the fender was still lightly rubbing the tire.  Crud.

After further thought and introspection, I think that when I originally had the fenders installed, they were really wedged up under the front brakes, which kept the front of the fender off the tire.  The fender was chock full of squee-haw but it wasn't rubbing the tire.

So here's the deal.  Can I put the little bits of plastic back on the fender so it can be sqee-haw again but not rub the tire?  Can you unring a bell?

So what to do now?  I had already hacked away at the fender twice, how bad could it be if I kept going?  If the fender was already ruined, hacking away at it further was not going to hurt.

My next theory was, "If you just nip away at the front edge, maybe you can remove just a little of the leading edge and this will solve the problem.  No one will even be able to notice."

Out came my pair of small nippers, the kind you would use to cut small wires or zip tires.  I very carefully cut away at the fender.  Tiny, little slivers were flying off.  The change to the fender was barely noticeable.  Unfortunately, so was the change in the rubbing on the tire.

I tried it again, just taking off tiny little pieces, constantly telling myself, "Don't take off too much.  Just take a little."

Once again, I gave the wheel a spin aaannnddd...absolutely no change.

Ok, this is getting old.  Time to get out the tin snips.

From this point forward, there was dramatic drop in the level of "delicacy".  My next cut took off about a 1/2 inch of the fender (don't worry, the fender didn't feel a thing).  Spin the wheel.  Better, but not there yet.

I did this about 4 more times until I got it to the point where it wasn't rubbing anymore.  All in all, I probably removed 2 inches of the front edge of the fender.

Is it pretty?  Not really.  Will it prevent road spray?  It's better than no fender but probably not as good as having the full length.  I won't really know until I ride in the rain.

It is probably more important to have the rear fender intact and at its full length.  When I tried to remount the rear one, I found that I needed a longer set of fender stays to keep the fender off of the wheel.  When I originally had them installed, I had the same problem.  I was able to jerry-rig it so that it worked, but it never looked good and it rattled quite a bit.  Luckily, Planet Bike had a set of stays that are about 2.5 cm longer than the ones I have on currently.  For about $4, I can do it right this time.  They are in route.  Once they arrive, I should be all fendered up and ready to roll.

Next year, I plan on getting fenders for Gimli.  If I can find good ones, I might consider re-fendering Sam the Singlespeed.  On the other hand, once I have these set, I may never fiddle with them again.  It is kind of a pain.