This dried pickle impaled on a plastic fork had been sitting on the desk in the workshop for an unknown length of time when I got to work on Wednesday. It remained there until some time Thursday morning.
This first-generation Rapidfire shifter seemed to be suffering from the congealed-grease condition we call "earwax." If you look closely, you will see that it also harbored some sort of mud-encased insect larva or pupa and some debris that might have come from another insect on which it had fed. Unfortunately, I don't think it was an earwig. That would have been too appropriate.
This dried pickle impaled on a plastic fork had been sitting on the desk in the workshop for an unknown length of time when I got to work on Wednesday. It remained there until some time Thursday morning.
This first-generation Rapidfire shifter seemed to be suffering from the congealed-grease condition we call "earwax." If you look closely, you will see that it also harbored some sort of mud-encased insect larva or pupa and some debris that might have come from another insect on which it had fed. Unfortunately, I don't think it was an earwig. That would have been too appropriate.
Might amuse you. I was out taking photographs of cycling in my local borough (don't ask), when I asked a boy (12? 13?) if I could take his picture. He agreed, but his rear tyre was deflated. He asked if he could borrow a pump. One look showed that would be useless - the valve stem was canted over 45 degrees - so I offered to have a look. I didn't have a spanner and he didn't have QR, but I thought I'd try for him. So I got him to hold the rear while I applied the tyre levers. Ah. here's your problem - looks like you've got two tubes here. No, wait. Ah. One tube, about 10" too large and the valve stem doesn't fit through the hole in the wheel. Who did this for you? Your dad? why don't you take it back to him....
ReplyDelete;-)
Did you know that inner tubes used to be a long sausage you stuffed into the tire (or tyre) casing? If t didn't quite reach you had a soft spot. If it was too long you had a bunched-up bit where it overlapped. This idea from the dawn of pneumatic tires was revived as a hot new idea in the MTB boom of the 1990s as a quick fix for trailside flats if one wanted to fix it without removing the rear wheel. So this whole idea of tubes that "fit" is just modern foofooraw.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, we add $20 and hour to our labor rate if the customer tried to fix it first. ;-)
the dried pickle looks like it belongs in the above litter box.
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