Cycling stories.
Posted: April 26th, 2024, 1:29 pm
Once a month I volunteer for a local "Repair cafe" where a mixed bunch of local people offer their time for free to fix stuff people bring in that otherwise might just be thrown away. I am the bicycle repairman and when no bikes are brought in, I am often called on to fix other things. I have fixed wheelchairs, typewriters, sewing machines, suitcases, table lamps and various other odd and sods.
It keeps me off the streets, I get to meet some interesting people and the homemade cakes are excellent!
Last week a lovely old couple in their eighties came in with her old Raleigh Misty ( so named because of a pun on the mixte frame). Let's call them David and Sheila. He stood there pleasantly smiling while she told me what was wrong with the bike. Apparently it had not been changing gear properly and the rear wheel had about six broken spokes where the rear derailleur had been dragged into it. I could see that it definitely needed a new derailleur and probably a new back wheel.
She told me that she had bought the bike new in 1970 after she had moved to Winchester since her previous bike, a Hercules with three Sturmey Archer hub gears was not great at getting up the steep hills in the city. She had had that bike since aged 11 in 1940! The Raleigh was the third bike she had ever owned, her first bike was at six years old and lasted her until aged 11.
She had asked a local shop about repairing the Raleigh but they said it would not be economical to fix at as least £200 worth of work was needed to make it roadworthy again. The repair cafe was her final option for saving her trusty old steed. She said David had maintained the bike over the years but recently his mental state had prevented him from continuing with it. I looked across to him and I could now see the dementia that I had not noticed at first.
I told them that it needed at least a new rear wheel and rear derailleur mech. I could see the brakes were in good condition though as apparently that was the last job that David had completed on the bike. All other parts of the bike were also in good mechanical order, a testament to the quality of Raleigh's output from their Nottingham factory over 50 years ago.
Unfortunately this was beyond the scope of what could be done at the repair cafe but I said if they left the bike with me I would see what I could do and I would just charge them for any new parts that were required. I told them I could do it for probably about £50.
I took the bike home, spent an afternoon pulling out broken spokes, replacing them and truing the back wheel, I replaced the rear derailleur with a similar old mech from the 1980s that I had in my parts box. I had to order new tyres and tubes since on closer inspection the old ones were perished and cracked and unsafe. Fortunately repairing the rear wheel allowed me to provide the new tyres and tubes and still deliver a perfectly fixed bike to Sheila within budget.
I delivered it yesterday afternoon, David had gone to bed since they had just come back from a long trip to Edinburgh for the funeral of their brother in law. She showed me the order of service with a picture of him in his 20s standing astride his racing bike, he was a keen competitive cyclist. Outside on the drive was a 1980's Toyota Hiace campervan that had taken them all across Europe on many happy cycling holidays but would no longer be driven by either of them.
She was so delighted to have her bike back in working order and I told her that she should call me if it required anything doing in future. I noticed before I left that I had forgotten to cut the rear mech cable to length so I returned this morning to finish the job. David was up and he was so grateful for the help I had provided for his wife , he was beaming when he opened the door.
I snipped the cable to length, popped on the protective nipple to stop it fraying and bade them farewell. I felt a warm glow from helping them out while also feeling slightly melancholy at the thought of such a delightful couple reaching the end of their full lives together, I hope it doesn't get too unpleasant for them from now.
It keeps me off the streets, I get to meet some interesting people and the homemade cakes are excellent!
Last week a lovely old couple in their eighties came in with her old Raleigh Misty ( so named because of a pun on the mixte frame). Let's call them David and Sheila. He stood there pleasantly smiling while she told me what was wrong with the bike. Apparently it had not been changing gear properly and the rear wheel had about six broken spokes where the rear derailleur had been dragged into it. I could see that it definitely needed a new derailleur and probably a new back wheel.
She told me that she had bought the bike new in 1970 after she had moved to Winchester since her previous bike, a Hercules with three Sturmey Archer hub gears was not great at getting up the steep hills in the city. She had had that bike since aged 11 in 1940! The Raleigh was the third bike she had ever owned, her first bike was at six years old and lasted her until aged 11.
She had asked a local shop about repairing the Raleigh but they said it would not be economical to fix at as least £200 worth of work was needed to make it roadworthy again. The repair cafe was her final option for saving her trusty old steed. She said David had maintained the bike over the years but recently his mental state had prevented him from continuing with it. I looked across to him and I could now see the dementia that I had not noticed at first.
I told them that it needed at least a new rear wheel and rear derailleur mech. I could see the brakes were in good condition though as apparently that was the last job that David had completed on the bike. All other parts of the bike were also in good mechanical order, a testament to the quality of Raleigh's output from their Nottingham factory over 50 years ago.
Unfortunately this was beyond the scope of what could be done at the repair cafe but I said if they left the bike with me I would see what I could do and I would just charge them for any new parts that were required. I told them I could do it for probably about £50.
I took the bike home, spent an afternoon pulling out broken spokes, replacing them and truing the back wheel, I replaced the rear derailleur with a similar old mech from the 1980s that I had in my parts box. I had to order new tyres and tubes since on closer inspection the old ones were perished and cracked and unsafe. Fortunately repairing the rear wheel allowed me to provide the new tyres and tubes and still deliver a perfectly fixed bike to Sheila within budget.
I delivered it yesterday afternoon, David had gone to bed since they had just come back from a long trip to Edinburgh for the funeral of their brother in law. She showed me the order of service with a picture of him in his 20s standing astride his racing bike, he was a keen competitive cyclist. Outside on the drive was a 1980's Toyota Hiace campervan that had taken them all across Europe on many happy cycling holidays but would no longer be driven by either of them.
She was so delighted to have her bike back in working order and I told her that she should call me if it required anything doing in future. I noticed before I left that I had forgotten to cut the rear mech cable to length so I returned this morning to finish the job. David was up and he was so grateful for the help I had provided for his wife , he was beaming when he opened the door.
I snipped the cable to length, popped on the protective nipple to stop it fraying and bade them farewell. I felt a warm glow from helping them out while also feeling slightly melancholy at the thought of such a delightful couple reaching the end of their full lives together, I hope it doesn't get too unpleasant for them from now.