Re: what did you do to your motor bike today?
On my way to work, the 8mm(T8F) engine drive train jumped off the new 72t chainring sprocket. This happened atop a moderate hillside, the biggest obstacle along my daily route. I pulled over onto the sidewalk, wrapped the chain around the big sprocket and motored off to work. This all took less than a minute. I made a mental note to doublecheck this when I arrived home.
I noticed that this larger sprocket greatly improves acceleration in low, medium and top end. In fact, the first three gears wind out very quickly, allowing me to better use the rest of the cassette's gearing. With this new sprocket, it is much easier to ride up the steep ramp at work.
The 72t sprocket was well worth the $10 I paid for it on ebay.
I pulled into the Chevron station and refueled after work. Gas prices are dropping here. At $3.86/gallon, my bike took about $3.30 to fill the four-liter tank. I've been filling my tank every 8-9 days. That amounts to less than $15 a month to commute to work. Compare that to $500 monthly to operate a third vehicle in our family, plus the cost of buying a car.
Traffic was gridlocked for a few blocks before my biggest hill, so I hopped onto the sidewalk and motored along at jogging speed. After that, it was smooth sailing uphill. Top speed on the hill's plateau exceeded 40 mph for a few seconds. This is in a 35 mph zone, which was still too slow to keep up with the cars. Nevertheless, I still claimed the lane and watched the drivers speed away. I guess they're all trying to make up for lost time, before they hit the next slowdown on their way home.
Upon reaching home, I always park under the cool shade tree. There, I wipe down my bike and check everything. I noticed that the pocket bike freewheel on the engine sprocket was loose and wobbly. This could account for the 8mm engine chain jumping off the new sprocket. I have a spare pocket bike freewheel ($12), which I'll install this weekend. I also inspected the frame's bottom bracket. The left-side adjustment looks flush with the frame, but the right side looks like it's sticking out about .060". The adjustment could be loose there. It could also be the fact that the frame took awful beatings from the chain repeatedly falling off and scraping the carp out of it. This all happened until I finally solved the chain jumping problem late last year. When I replace the freewheel, I'll inspect the bottom bracket.
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Honey, it's just a bicycle. and i REALLY need it to excercise, and to ride it to work.(hehe)
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