So in my last update, I made mention of the new parts. It turns out that the bash guard was causing some of my headache, but not all of it. The 16T gear does not seam not allow the chain to roll over it easily. My chain will pick itself up and then slam back down under heavy torque. So I changed over to the 18T. Let me tell you that a 32x18 gear combo sucks ass on my commute. I feel like I am going no where fast. This gear combo would work good if I was in downtown Seattle and going up and down all the hills everyday. The problem that I face is that my commute if flat. However on the flip side of this problem is that when I tow my trailer with my son, the gear combo works good.
I am still going to get myself a 36T chain ring. And that reminds me. While I was trying to figure out how to fix the bash guard problem, I remembered that I had an older chain guide. I took the bolts out of the chain guide and used then on my crank arm. It worked like a champ. I guess being a pack rat at times does pay off.
I don't know if anybody reads this blog and also reads the Commute by bike site. I was reading on that site about letting those kids ride by themselves. Now my son is not old enough to ride to his school yet. And it has nothing to do with his ability to ride a bike, it has to do with the traffic in this town and that there are maybe 6 of us that commute by bike. When I first started to ride my commute I was 16 miles away. And I would fight everything from throttle happy suv owners to big rigs, buzzing by me on a two lane black top with no shoulders. I have moved now so that my commute is only 6 miles round trip. But I still fight these same kind of people. This town has no respect for anybody that does things different. So I deal with that. When my son turns 7, I will let him ride his bike to school. But I will be there with him. I will do this for two reasons. One is that I want to make sure that he makes it there in one piece. Two is that I am not afraid to put myself in front of that truck or car and make sure that the driver knows I am there. I ride very aggressively due to the environment that I live in. As my son grows and matures and gets the skills he needs to ride better in traffic and knows when to fight and when to back down, then I will let him do it on his own. I feel that age has a part in this but also how well the parents educate their children.
As a father and a cyclist I agree with both sides. I am not sure how I will deal with a situation like that. And it is not to say that I won't. My son lives with me full time and his mother lives in a different state. So would she throw something like this at me. Maybe. So while I agree to a point with the father I also agree with the mother and BF. I do think that there is a way to find middle ground on this one. If I was the mother and BF I would look into morning programs so I could bike with the kids to school and still make it to work on time. Sometimes people just go out of there way to make it hard on others, and I feel that this is what the father in this case is doing. So I say find the middle ground. This is one of those times a fight is not the way to go.
Keep it greasy side down
