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Friday 25 April 2014

Naughtybike's ill

Evening all. 

Yesterday was a bit sad for me. Now to some this will sound like a sadact, but some will understand this so bear with me. 

My bike is my car, it takes my children to school, to lots of fun places, carries a multitude of things, including the content of the house to self storage, even helping friends out. She's called Naughtybike purely down to how I ride and how she performs. It's been a blast, however with all the fun come the more grown up side of maintenance. 
I chose the Vitus Vee1 for how little there was to go wrong and idealistically keeping the bike in order is easy, especially with two years heavy use and minimal part replacements. However I didn't realise the one crucial component that would be tricky to replace/fix would be the crankset. Turns out it's also the one part I wasn't expecting to fail, even joking to my partner when I spotted a potential problem saying it's dirt not a crack. Sadly it was not the case as it turned out the dirty marks were flippin physical cracks. Wear and tear can be an unexpected kick in the clunge I tell you!

No worries thinks me as I thought the manufacturer would be able to source OEM parts, after all many companies used to offer after sales spares, or know where to buy spare parts from when things go wrong. In this case Chainreactioncycles, the Retailer has teamed up with the Manufacturer, who helped bring Vitus back to life (I could be wrong) and rightly so. It's good to see the brand back and some good value bikes too! But for replacement parts we hit a problem. Minimal parts are sold by CRC for the singlespeed Vee 1 and stupidly I'm unsure of what parts I need in the bike so I've had to speak to Vitus. 
Top marks to Simon who's trying to see what he can do for me and Naughtybike. 

Sadly I'm left in a situation though. with the preparations in line for moving soon I'm trying to keep the flat decluttered and stay a one bike, two trailer household for now. Means Grumpybike the Carrera has come out of storage and Naughtybike has gone in until I can source replacement parts. But that poses the question, 'how does one get an poorly bike to the storage facility? By bike, silly!
Especially when both bikes have dedicated trailer mounts meaning I can use both trailers without hassle, even if Grumpybike needs a new QR skewer. But nonetheless making the best of a bad situation is all good! 

But for now. It's time to sleep and think of what to do about Naughtybike and what awesomeness I can do with the kids this weekend if it stays dry! 

Paul OUT!  - Peace y'all 

5 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Alan. I'm going to need it. Especially the way Grumpybike rides.
      Also from the tweets I received from Vitus this afternoon they'll be in touch next week. #Goodjob!

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  2. your clock needs adjusting, too!

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    1. Ever since moving to a vanity domain it's been weird and out. It works every now and again but one day I'll try and fix it again.

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  3. Oh heck - cracks are badddddd news. I hope you can fix her. I haven't cycled in months, hardly at all since I passed my driving test. Spooky coincidence that, Im not lazy *honest*.

    Julie's Notebook blog

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