New Tricycle
I appear not to have written anything since before our civil partnership... hmm, must have been a bit busy. We had a fab time, thanks to everyone who came, sent cards, etc. It was absolutely amazing.
The new tricycle arrived on Friday. My old tricycle that got nicked was a second-hand purchase from someone living a mile away, but no such luck this time on sourcing a replacement. So it was to be a new Taiwanese one (similar price new to the second-hand Pashley) and we debated whether to get it flat-packed or collect it. Having it flat-packed seemed the lesser of two evils, as getting it in the back of the car would probably have involved disassembly and then reassembly afterwards, but we had second thoughts when the thing turned up with illegibly photocopied instructions for a different model entirely (different brakes AND different gears). I wouldn't have known where to start, but auntysarah did a sterling job with some help from zoeimogen, and after a few days of sproings and widgets all over the hall, it is now sitting there in one piece, and the wheels are going round, and the brakes seem to do the right thing too. I trust them...
It's the first time I've used derailleur gears, so that might take a bit of getting used to. Especially as Sarah reckons that the geary gubbins don't quite fit properly and I should treat it as a five-speed rather than a six-speed, or Bad Things will happen with a big Clunk. And I'll be getting a thicker security chain and talking to our household insurance before parking it in the porch. However, one odd feature is that the saddle can't be secured down, so I'll be carrying that with me whenever it's parked, which should reduce the chance of the rest of it being nicked too.
The new tricycle arrived on Friday. My old tricycle that got nicked was a second-hand purchase from someone living a mile away, but no such luck this time on sourcing a replacement. So it was to be a new Taiwanese one (similar price new to the second-hand Pashley) and we debated whether to get it flat-packed or collect it. Having it flat-packed seemed the lesser of two evils, as getting it in the back of the car would probably have involved disassembly and then reassembly afterwards, but we had second thoughts when the thing turned up with illegibly photocopied instructions for a different model entirely (different brakes AND different gears). I wouldn't have known where to start, but auntysarah did a sterling job with some help from zoeimogen, and after a few days of sproings and widgets all over the hall, it is now sitting there in one piece, and the wheels are going round, and the brakes seem to do the right thing too. I trust them...
It's the first time I've used derailleur gears, so that might take a bit of getting used to. Especially as Sarah reckons that the geary gubbins don't quite fit properly and I should treat it as a five-speed rather than a six-speed, or Bad Things will happen with a big Clunk. And I'll be getting a thicker security chain and talking to our household insurance before parking it in the porch. However, one odd feature is that the saddle can't be secured down, so I'll be carrying that with me whenever it's parked, which should reduce the chance of the rest of it being nicked too.