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Wednesday, August 15, 2007
It's all about the words.... my fender has been riding against the tire on the right side. So I asked the folks on last Tuesday's "day off ride with the Tuesday morning tour" ride to tell me how to think about it so I could fix it. Sure enough, Cliff was able to look at it, think about it, and point out that there's a nut attaching the fender on both sides of hte wheel, and it's on an adjustable-length thingy that attaches.
Add to mechanical verbal repertoire: Inquire of self whilst examining mechanical obect: are there any nuts and bolts here, and what do they do? Could they change something besides tightness?
In this case, by lengthening one side and shortening the other, it creates a curve and therefore guides the fender to go in that direction. It's like those auxin hormones in plants which are the reason they curve to grow towards the sun. (This is so cool!!!) You send a little more growth hormone to the shady side of the plant, and it grows longer. Jes' like slackin' off on one oar... if one side grows more than the other, the plant isn't straight. It curves towards teh short side.
This, I know, will not amaze most of you. To the linear mind, it's a marvelous harmony.
Okay, now to fix that silly flat on the Red GIant. It's not really totally flat... so fi this doesn't work I can pump it up and ride fast :) I might have even on purpose remembered the tip about putting the tire on with the label above the valve stem becuase then you don't have to *mark* it to say "okay, where in the tube is the damage... let me check the tyre especially closely there." Oops, this is the red, not the Gazelle, it's a tire. Good ol' German Conti's... but this one perhaps ready to trade in for a hard case :)
Add to mechanical verbal repertoire: Inquire of self whilst examining mechanical obect: are there any nuts and bolts here, and what do they do? Could they change something besides tightness?
In this case, by lengthening one side and shortening the other, it creates a curve and therefore guides the fender to go in that direction. It's like those auxin hormones in plants which are the reason they curve to grow towards the sun. (This is so cool!!!) You send a little more growth hormone to the shady side of the plant, and it grows longer. Jes' like slackin' off on one oar... if one side grows more than the other, the plant isn't straight. It curves towards teh short side.
This, I know, will not amaze most of you. To the linear mind, it's a marvelous harmony.
Okay, now to fix that silly flat on the Red GIant. It's not really totally flat... so fi this doesn't work I can pump it up and ride fast :) I might have even on purpose remembered the tip about putting the tire on with the label above the valve stem becuase then you don't have to *mark* it to say "okay, where in the tube is the damage... let me check the tyre especially closely there." Oops, this is the red, not the Gazelle, it's a tire. Good ol' German Conti's... but this one perhaps ready to trade in for a hard case :)
