As mechanically disinclined as I am, i'm all the more clueless when it comes to the inner workings of my Christiania trike. Not that it's so terribly complex, but I haven't had disc brakes before, and what goes on underneath is a bit of a mystery.
And since when just about every journey I do with it involves riding up and down hugely steep hills with all of my children inside, I figure it's a good idea to keep it in good shape.
I agreed with Dave at Broadway Bike that I should bring it in for a quick once-over to see if we needed to order any parts, so yesterday, that's just what I did.
I dropped Gem off at school on the way, which is always fun. Then I rode on to Cambridge . I wanted to avoid the rough pacing around Porter Square but largely failed at that, then I ended up in a giant traffic jam on Oxford Street, approaching Harvard. Turns out there was a chemical spill of some sort so there was a huge turnout of emergency vehicles in every direction. And what I sometimes forget about the trike is that its width essentially relegates me to waiting with the queues of cars since I can't squeeze between.
Still, the 10 mile journey to work took only about an hour, not bad considering the various delays.
On my way home, I stopped at the Broadway Bicycle School and spent about 20 mins and 10 dollars with Dave. He declared the Christiania to be in great shape and only ended up adjusting the disc brakes so they're a more even.
The next service will be in a 3 months or so, when the chain might need replacing or tensioninh, and the brake pads might need to be replaced. To that end, I've emailed Andrea at Velorution in London to see who makes the brakes, and how I can get replacement pads.
In the meantime, it's about time we started enjoying the Springtime, and the Christiania will play a big part in that.
Update: I've heard back from Velorution that the brakes are made by Winzip - http://www.winzip-diskbrake.com/ . A terrible brand name, but it's apparently popular as an OEM component.
2 comments:
Hey! lovely to read your blog!!
My friend and I have just bought 5 Christiania Bikes in our hometown of Boscombe, UK (down on the south coast) to hire out to people. We've got 2 of them built so far and it's fab cycling around town, slowing up the traffic and generally enjoying ourselves. Can't wait til we've got a whole fleet!!
Nice one, Joolee! Best of luck with your venture!
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