Those of you who read my blog “bike swap nightmare ” will be aware that for the last section of my trip I had needed to borrow a friends tourer at the last minute in order that I could do the trip as planned. An incorrect sprocket had been fitted to my Rohloff hub gears meaning my belt drive would no longer fit. With this becoming apparent the day before we were booked on Eurostar to meet friends in Epernay there was no way it could be fixed in time. Apparently only one place in the UK had the tools needed to do the work. I was very fortunate to have a friend, Cath, close by who lent me her Specialised Rockhopper for my tour. Following a few adjustments, Bob, as he was named, was soon fit to ride. Despite being very grateful I was very pleased however to know that my custom bike would be ready for my South East Asia tour.
While I had been in France and Italy, The Captain was collected from John Atkins cycles in Leamington Spa to my usual bike store, Edinburgh Bike Co-op. The guys in Leamington had been really helpful but with Edinburgh now taking on the job of getting my bike back in working order I was left with little choice. I’d been very frustrated on finding I could not take my own bike and had been desperate to know how such a mistake had happened. The bike store had only been able to order the one sprocket available; suppliers did not say the system had changed; the next mechanics undertook the sprocket change without raising any questions. It seemed my predicament was due to a chain of human errors. All I could focus on now was getting my bike fixed for the next stage of my tour.
An upgraded belt had now been fitted (thanks Edinburgh Bike Coop) and the wheel had been returned to Rohloff to check for any damage. Apparently all was now working though I would be in Singapore before I had the chance to test this out. All was good. The new belt was like velvet, revolving in near silence. Gears changed smoothly after a full hub service. The Captain was back.
The only thing to work on now would be the decor and boy, have I seen some ideas for that….
These machines certainly had more flowers than I’d ever seen on a bike before…and at night – well, that’s when they were really bling.
So, inspired by the tri-shaws in Melaka I purchased a set of L.E.D lights, 5 metres long, from one of the bikers there. I’m not sure I’ll fit them just yet but a marker has been set and I do think a rickshaw would make a great addition to my bike collection when I’m done.
