June 12, 2023
Garmin Calibration and Bike Modification Ride
Much shopping was done recently with the packing list, and the need came for bike modifications. The latest Montague is excellent as tested on the recent Canada/US trip. The tires are in great shape and the gear shifting ratio is optimal. It has a rear rack already which doubles as a kickstand. Unfortunately it comes with low handlebars and a ridiculously hard seat that often sinks while riding. This just cannot do since it creates a hunched posture. There is also nowhere to store the Garmin, phone, or water bottle while riding along.
The older Montague already has a better setup: raised curved handlebars, soft and very stable seat, and a Garmin holder. The downside is that is has no full rack for hanging panniers.
Ideally then we just transfer some stuff around from bike to bike. But unfortunately it's easier said than done with many mechanics in Shanghai not willing to do such menial work. They can find a reason not to do the above. Sure I could do it myself with a new multi-tool kit but am not the most adept in this, so will try my luck first with the mechanics.
First order of business though was for me to get re-familarized with the Garmin Connect App and calibrate the Garmin Edge 130 plus I had purchased from Canada earlier. This went very well, and the new Motorola phone from Canada was able to sync up easily with the Garmin. There is no way this would have worked on the Huawei phone, even with a VPN.
The good news is that piece of crap Huawei would later end up being trashed in Laos.
Meanwhile, I was also able to calibrate a heart rate monitor I use for fitness classes and have it gather data on bike rides. This will be a perfect addition to the tour. Not only that but I could also sync the rides with Strava and use that to upload maps here. The calibration was a total success!
Next it was time to try my luck with the mechanics. The first part of the operation was to ride the old Montague clear across town to a shop with better service and one that had worked on the bike before. It appears that at school, someone had carelessly moved and dropped my bike from the common parking area. That messed up the derailleurs so I was stuck in low gear for the entire ride. This made for frustrating progress. That and traffic cops were absolutely everywhere so I had to make multiple detours.
I resolved after this never to park my bike in the common school parking lot again.
But all along I was looking forward to the fact I would soon be bike touring out of China and taking a break from all this. It had been over 3 years being stuck here. Way too long to be putting up with all these hassles of which this entry here has barely even scratched the surface. To this day I'll never know how I managed to endure all this.
The old bike was locked to a post overnight. Then the next day, the entire process was repeated with the new bike. Along the way I came up with the following plan:
- Shop for similar soft seat and raised curved handlebars. If they have those at the shop, install them on the new bike directly.
- Fix the derailleur on the old bike, replace the chain, tweak the brakes, and replace the handlebar covers
- If they don't have materials I need for the new bike then transfer them over from the old bike. Also buy something else in the shop for either bike to justify them doing this work.
- Affix a Garmin holder on the new bike
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
With both bikes set in position it was time to see what would happen. The weather was thankfully raining which meant slower business at the shop which meant a chance at better service.
The shop didn't have soft seats or raised handlebars, only the standard uncomfortable stuff. So it was a matter of asking them to switch seats from bike to bike and fix the derailleur on the old bike. They didn't want to change the chain and made an excuse for not doing it. This led me to believe they also wouldn't want to swap the handlebars. After all that would involve tedious work to detach and reattach brake and gear cables etc.. And who wants to do that?
I also figured that the raised handlebars are indeed comfortable on the old bike and in the end they weren't swapped.
Two mechanics got the job done super quickly and it was well within budget. I bought a kickstand for the new bike to justify all the labor as well as they threw in a free Garmin holder. Overall not bad, they did as much work as I expected would get done. Moreoever, the lead mechanic was really impressed with how long I had kept the old Montague going.
Then a new idea emerged: there is a Montague shop in Hong Kong where I got the original bike over 10 years ago and they are likely to have the parts I want. If so, then the new bike is going with me across the border.
But the immediate problem was how to get both bikes home from the shop. The old Montague went first while the new one was locked to a post directly outside the shop. They weren't going to let me keep it inside.
A HIIT class followed soon after that back downtown. After that, it was a taxi ride again to the bike shop in order to pick up the new bike. There was a high school student graduation banquet in the same general area so it made for a convenient plan to ride the bike over there. Unfortunately it was a soaker as the rainy season is now in full swing. But that's just a reality we'll have to get used to all trip, might as well start now.
The new bike was running amazingly well with the changes especially the comfortable seat cover. The handlebars were doable so if worse comes to worse and raised curved ones can't be found then I can live with these. The seat was the main thing.
The logistics ended up working perfectly. There was great food and socializing at the grad banquet midway on the ride home and it culminated a rather good year.
There was only one more snag to overcome: getting on a ferry back across the river. This is always a headache. For decades there have been no bridges that bikes can use and any plans to build them are scuttled. The ferries are fickle and will be canceled in bad weather, or they stop running very early in the evening. I was afraid that in this rainy season, I would face just such a cancellation.
It was possible, however, to find a ferry still running thanks to a GPS search. So I just rolled on in. That was the end of a rather successful bike repair run
Today's ride: 78 km (48 miles)
Total: 143 km (89 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 2 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |