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I opened it looking for my favourite bearing, and it is indeed there. Page 34, Section 1.7.1 The Bicycle Bearing "The demand for large numbers of steel balls.
by peterburkimsher 9y ago
I opened it looking for my favourite bearing, and it is indeed there.
Page 34, Section 1.7.1 The Bicycle Bearing
"The demand for large numbers of steel balls... provided the ideal commercial conditions"
When I get a puncture, I glue a patch onto the inner tube and pump up the tyre again. When the handlebars wobble, I tighten them with an Allen key. When the brakes fail, I can adjust the cables to tighten them or realign the pads. I can always keep the half-broken bicycle moving.
But when the rear bearing is broken, my bicycle simply won't move. Taking apart the wheel takes a lot of work. The fastest, cheapest way I've found is to replace the whole rear wheel with one from a scrapyard.
I think it's not an exaggeration to say that the rest of the bicycle is just an accessory to the ball bearings.
- dredmorbius 9y agoI've discovered, at various points in my cycling career, that rim splits, broken cranks, and broken chains also tend to severely limit the functionality of a bicycle. Though yes, the role of bearings (found in wheels, bottom brackets, and headsets, BTW) is surprisingly crucial.
- peterburkimsher 9y agoYou've experienced a lot! Thankfully I never had a rim split or a broken crank. I had a broken chain on 自由路 (meaning Freedom Road), when listening to a song with the lyrics "every chain is broken". I could still use it like a velocipede and scoot forward with my feet to the nearest metro station, though. The back bearings probably break on me more often because my bag's heavy.