Amanda P
Legendary Member
- Location
- York. Well, York-ish...
Mrs Uncle Phil and I were touring our Pino tandem across the country from Whitby to Walney last week, planning to go up the Cumbrian coast to pick up the Hadrian's Cycleway in Ravenglass.
Just as we came up to Ravenglass, disaster struck with the right-hand crossover bottom bracket cup working its way out of the frame, rendering our pedalling very inefficient and noisy. A helpful chap cycling towards us let us know that there was a bike shop in Ravenglass - Muncaster Cycles, who'd take a look at it for us.
We spent the night at the campsite in Ravenglass (as planned) and rolled up to Muncaster Cycles as soon as it opened in the morning. The gent there got stuck straight in and found the problem - the cup had fretted its thread away and cracked. We attempted a repair by modifying a standard cartridge botttom bracket cup with insulating tape to pack it out, but couldn't get it to hold in the bottom bracket shell's thead. But he put other work aside for a good hour to work on it, and wouldn't accept any payment. He also phoned ahead to Haven Cycles in Whitehaven to let the chap there know we'd be calling in to see if he had the parts to fix it.
We got on a train to Whitehaven (the pino only just fitted on, but the guard didn't seem to mind, although he did point out that tandems weren't, technically, allowed. Too late, we were moving by then and it would have taken longer to chuck us out along the route than to keep us on until the train terminated at Whitehaven).
Haven Cycles' owner took a look and also did his best to fix things, but we concluded in the end that the bottom bracket shell's thread was damaged and that the best we could do was a 'limp home' fix - so we did that with an alloy bottom bracket cup and some epoxy which we had in our fix-it kit. Again, no charge other than the cost of the cartridge bottom bracket - which I took away; it'll get used on one of our fleet of bikes or maybe one of our neighbours' at some point.
We decided not to risk cycling home - we'd be constantly worrying about it failing further, and any further damage to the bottom bracket shell threading could make a permanent repair very expensive. So we got the train back from Whitehaven.
These two bike shop guys really did their best to get us back on the road, getting straight on with it while we waited, and even though they had other jobs waiting, and neither made any money from us although we'd have been happy to pay. It seems only fair to report their goodwill and efforts here in return.
Thankyou very much, both. I'd like to say we'd be back to buy something that makes you lots of profit, but as we don't live that way it's unlikely. But hopefully other CycleChatters will.
The Pino has a unique crossover bottom bracket, so it was always unlikely that any bike shop would have the required parts in stock. We'll have to get JD Tandems to fix it now we're home.
(While I'm here I might also mention that we did manage to squeeze the Pino into the Northern Rail trains' bike spaces. If there's a sliding door it's not easy, and you'll have to telescope everything in and stand it on its back wheel, but it can be done - especially if a friendly train driver pitches in and lends a hand, as one did. Another train had had the door removed and it was much easier. Guards made us aware we were pushing our luck but seemed happy to put up with it as long as the trains weren't busy. East Coast mainline from Newcastle officially carries tandems anyway, so no problem there).
Just as we came up to Ravenglass, disaster struck with the right-hand crossover bottom bracket cup working its way out of the frame, rendering our pedalling very inefficient and noisy. A helpful chap cycling towards us let us know that there was a bike shop in Ravenglass - Muncaster Cycles, who'd take a look at it for us.
We spent the night at the campsite in Ravenglass (as planned) and rolled up to Muncaster Cycles as soon as it opened in the morning. The gent there got stuck straight in and found the problem - the cup had fretted its thread away and cracked. We attempted a repair by modifying a standard cartridge botttom bracket cup with insulating tape to pack it out, but couldn't get it to hold in the bottom bracket shell's thead. But he put other work aside for a good hour to work on it, and wouldn't accept any payment. He also phoned ahead to Haven Cycles in Whitehaven to let the chap there know we'd be calling in to see if he had the parts to fix it.
We got on a train to Whitehaven (the pino only just fitted on, but the guard didn't seem to mind, although he did point out that tandems weren't, technically, allowed. Too late, we were moving by then and it would have taken longer to chuck us out along the route than to keep us on until the train terminated at Whitehaven).
Haven Cycles' owner took a look and also did his best to fix things, but we concluded in the end that the bottom bracket shell's thread was damaged and that the best we could do was a 'limp home' fix - so we did that with an alloy bottom bracket cup and some epoxy which we had in our fix-it kit. Again, no charge other than the cost of the cartridge bottom bracket - which I took away; it'll get used on one of our fleet of bikes or maybe one of our neighbours' at some point.
We decided not to risk cycling home - we'd be constantly worrying about it failing further, and any further damage to the bottom bracket shell threading could make a permanent repair very expensive. So we got the train back from Whitehaven.
These two bike shop guys really did their best to get us back on the road, getting straight on with it while we waited, and even though they had other jobs waiting, and neither made any money from us although we'd have been happy to pay. It seems only fair to report their goodwill and efforts here in return.
Thankyou very much, both. I'd like to say we'd be back to buy something that makes you lots of profit, but as we don't live that way it's unlikely. But hopefully other CycleChatters will.
The Pino has a unique crossover bottom bracket, so it was always unlikely that any bike shop would have the required parts in stock. We'll have to get JD Tandems to fix it now we're home.
(While I'm here I might also mention that we did manage to squeeze the Pino into the Northern Rail trains' bike spaces. If there's a sliding door it's not easy, and you'll have to telescope everything in and stand it on its back wheel, but it can be done - especially if a friendly train driver pitches in and lends a hand, as one did. Another train had had the door removed and it was much easier. Guards made us aware we were pushing our luck but seemed happy to put up with it as long as the trains weren't busy. East Coast mainline from Newcastle officially carries tandems anyway, so no problem there).
