Song of the week #44

Fixing v-brakes

Last night I fixed the brakes on my city bike. One of the arms of the v-brakes wasn't moving. This happened both on the front brake and on the rear brake too. I asked a guy from the bike shop how to fix the problem and he said that probably it got rusted or some dirt caused the brakes to brake.

I went home and unscrewed the screw but the brake arm didn't come loose. I gave up after a few tries and abandoned the project. After I turned on my laptop I searched on the web for a tutorial to fix v-brakes and I found this video:

Although my brakes are a bit different I got the tools and unscrewed the screw again. This time I got a screwdriver and tried to force the brake arm. I didn't succeed at first but then I started to twist the arm and it started to get loose. I found out that a lot of rust was causing the brake to malfunction.

the rust

the tools

I cleaned the brake with a fine sand paper and then like the guy does it in the video I greased it up an resembled it. It was working so well that the other side, which was working before, got stiff. So I had to clean the other side too.  

After fixing the front brakes I did the same thing to the rear brakes to. The rear brakes came off a lot easier.

The whole operation took me about 40 minutes but next time I will be a lot faster because I know what to do :D

The rear brake got stiff a bit but maybe it will recover in a few days, if it doesn't I will lube the cable. I didn't line up the brake pads with the rims eater because I'm expecting the springs to get loose a bit after they were stiff for a while.

Neuzer Bike Party 2011

To write or not to write, this was the question in my head. In the end I decided that I will write about this race :)

Last year I didn't write about this race because as I said in an earlier post I was lazy and I had a lot going on. Last year the weather was very bad, it was raining a lot. Although the mud was sticky and slippery in other places I managed to finish 4th. That motivated me this year to catch a podium finish.

The weather was great this year but the organizers were as bad as last year :)

I don't want to write a lot about this race, because I wasn't feeling good, my back was hurting and I got lost.

The good things
- the weather
- the race course
- I didn't get disqualified although I missed a check point

The bad things:
 - the start, I saw people fall before the race - the tanks go to the major and to the cops
- the race referees were sleeping
- the race course wasn't' cleaned so I didn't know were to go
- I did't see the signs so I got lost
- the bike wash had to close because of some electricity problems
- the potatoes from the end weren't cooked properly

A few pictures:

Happy 2nd Birthday Nabb!

It's been two years since I wrote the first post here. At first I didn't know what I want from this blog, I only knew that I wanted a blog. I still don't know where the blog is going but I'll know when it gets there :)

Last year I wanted a redesign, I'm still thinking of it but I haven't decided on the new look yet. Since last year I bough a domain and I changed some small scripts to.

I've learned a lot writing here and I want to learn even more in the next years. Happy Birthday Nabb!

Images from brickell-life and thechainlink.

Song of the week #43

Song of the week #42

Remembering the hot summer days on this cold day...

My bikes

I've made a few pictures of my bikes. I like my bikes very much, my road bike and my mountain bike sleep near my bed:

I am lucky that there is a big elevator in my flat so I can put two bikes in it:

Very cool advertisement

Via tvdece

Grilled cabbage

Although I fried more vegetables and some sausages I chose grilled cabbage as the title because it is just delicious. Since I was on vacation and I tasted it it got on my favorite foods list.

As I was saying I grilled a few vegetables on my Singer grill from emag, I had a cabbage, two eggplants, a chili, a tomato and some red peppers.

All the vegetables were delicious but my absolute favorite was the grilled cabbage. Cabbage season is here so happy grilling :)

The power of the bike bell

Via freerider.

Song of the week #41

Cyclepassion - October

This month Fabienne Heinzmann is on my wall. She is a swiss rider and rides on a BMC mountain bike (this year Cadel Evans won The Tour of France on a BMC bike).

The making of video:
Thanks again To Cyclepassion and light-bikes for this great calendar.

Song of the week #40