Maintenance Issues

Last March when I brought my new bicycle (a Cannondale Synapse 7) home from the REI store in Alderwood, I was so nervous about carrying it on the front rack of the bus that I sat up front and watched it all the way, worrying that it would bounce out of the rack on the freeway. Now some of the newness has worn off and I'm back to taking the philosophical view that bikes are meant to be used and road-worn. When I park in a public bike rack I still try to position it so the glossy black paint doesn't get chipped, but I just touch up the dings with a little model-car paint.

By the time I had ridden 1100 miles, I was beginning to think the chain was wearing, and the middle gears looked a little worn, too. This seemed a bit premature, but then some reviews of this bike had described the drive-train parts as "entry-level". My plan was to just wear them out and then upgrade if I liked the bike, which I do.

REI Co-op usually recommends bringing a new bike in for a tune-up after thirty days, but when I went in to the Bellingham store they wouldn't look at it, said to come back in six months. I'm not sure whether to blame this on the notorious Cannondale marketing restrictions, or on bike mechanics' typical assumption that a middle-aged woman like me doesn't really ride that much.

Anyhow, by the time I had more than 1500 miles on the bike, the rear brake pads were worn out and my chain-checker tool showed the chain needed to be replaced, so I decided to fix it myself. The brakes are easy, I've had lots of practice with that after several years of rainy-season commuting. But I messed up a little with the chain - I measured it against the old one, but when I cut off the extra few inches I must have shifted one link over. The chain came out just a tiny bit too short, so I can't shift to the biggest rear gear and top chain ring. But you never use that gear combination anyway, right? Also, since the middle gears are worn there is a lot of chain-rub and the ride is kind of raspy now. I still plan to just wear the parts out all together, but then I'll probably have to replace them myself because I'll be too embarrassed to go in to the shop and let the REI mechanics see what I've done.