Back to work today, quite how I managed to get this job is still a bit startling to me, but I'm not complaining.
I did complain about the first bike though. It was a Victoria city bike called a Baden Baden and it looked in good condition; I don't know if Victoria are known in the UK; they make mid to upper middle range city bikes so I thought this wouldn't be too much trouble. The list of "Extras" included changing the brake blocks front and rear, pumping up the tyres and turning the rear tyre because it was on backwards.
Blocks changed the front V-Brake was looking lopsided, a turn of the wheel revealed that the wheel had so much buckle it could be a pair of boots. It took a long time and some swearing until I managed to get it to submit to laws of physics so I could reset the brakes.
Then I pumped up the tyre; the inner tube exploded. B*gg*r. Dropped wheel, looked for new inner tube with the same valve, checked wheel and tyre, fitted tube, pumped, bang. On inspection both had popped on a seam on the inside of the tube. I recall this has happened before so it could be the trouble was the batch of inner tunes, which could be quite old for all I know.
Okay then, different tubes, but that would mean a different valve type, so I'd have to change the back wheel to match; not the end of the world as I needed to swap the tyre. Found a pair of car valve tubes, and to be on the safe side, some rim tape. Mount tube, mount tyre, wheel back on.
Go to back tyre; it's a Sram hub gear because nothing can be simple with this bike. Unscrew bolts, drop innards of Sram on floor, retrieve, put in tray.
Colleague calls from the till, a customer has a question she can't answer. to till and back.
Remove tyre from wheel, swap inner tube, wheel back in droppers, pulling to tension chain with some difficulty, phone rings, It's my colleague at the till again: another customer has a question.
Wheel back on floor, go and sort customer out, back to wheel. Beginning to feel like Basil Fawlty.
Wheel back in droppers, tension, tighten, chain inexplicably slack, repeat. Works second time.
Set brakes, set gears, wonder of wonders I haven't lost any of the bits and they work first time. Time for test ride.
On cue it starts to rain, very heavily.
Test ride delayed to Monday, in the meantime fix an elderly Diamondback which goes surprisingly well. Knowing where all the tools are is a great help. Admittedly I knew some of them were at my apartment, but that's entirely my own fault for not ordering replacements for my tools...
