Sunday, August 14, 2005

I'm sure it can't be *that* hard

I had a good ride on Friday, 42 km on the regular commute route, Minnehaha Blvd in the morning and then River Road in the evening. Not much to say other than it was nice to get back on the bike after the last two weeks. The kids have been sick so I've been taking time off to stay with them, and between that and sailing it's cut into my riding.

One of my favorite movies is The Princess Bride. And one of my favorite parts is when Vizzini, believing he's tricked the Man in Black, says "You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The first is never get involved in a land war in Asia. The second, only slightly less well known, is this: never go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha -- (he stops abrubtly and falls over, dead)"

Why do I bring this up? Because it's obvious that Vizzini has never disassembled a Shimano STI shifter mechanism. Clearly this blunder belongs high on the list of classic blunders. How do I know, you ask? Well, currently there is a pile of STI parts on the floor of my garage. Right now, that land war in Asia is looking kind of promising, compared to the task that lies ahead.

2 comments:

Sascha said...

That's why we have the LBS. I always try to do it myself first. And then, about half the time I have to bring it into Freewheel and whine, "guuuys, I broke it again." ;)

Frostbike said...

I used to work in an electronics shop. We had a sign with the prices of various services posted, and at the bottom it said, "Price doubles if you tried to fix it yourself."

On the plus side, I was able to get the shifter reassembled last night and it shifts! In theory, anyway. It indexes properly and both levers function until I actually attach the cable to the derailleur. But I think it just needs a little fine tuning. :)