I reappropriated the miffy bike (so called because its head tube sports a decal featuring the said rabbit perched on the cusp of a crescent moon) for a day's commuting service - at first it was seriously weird riding it again and it was hard to believe that it had been a comfortable steed for two Dunwich Dynamos and a number of FNRttCs as well as regular commuting. Slow steering, long wheelbase, narrow and very low bars, short cranks. But by the time I got home last night it seemed normal again and I was enjoying the super-awesomeness of the 531c ride.
Anyway, this was all prompted by the failure of the cartridge bearings on my Paddy Wagon - after three years of daily commuting, no maintenance and variable chain tension, I was not remotely surprised to find that the original cheapo bearings were shot and that the back wheel was wobbling from side to side. I'd looked up how to change the bearings on formula hubs and it seemed straighforward enough.
Of course I quickly realised that the instructions do not take account of the fact that
(a) the work bench is wobbly and not even as wide as a wheel;
(b) the vice is conveniently bolted to the end of the bench where we keep the ironing board, the mop and the spare leaves for the antique dining table;
(c) everything is thoroughly seized up and rusted, particularly one set of locknuts;
(d) the flat surfaces on the locknuts are too slender for a spanner of any stature;
(e) the diddy little cone spanners that do fit are only about 4 inches long and therefore capable of delivering very limited torque;
(f) with it being indoors and surrounded by hanging laundry, Mrs R was not very happy at the prospect of me using a blowtorch on the locknuts (more as a punishment than as a remedy, to be honest); and
(g) my head was already hurting as a consequence of having gouged part of it out on the corner of the cast iron fireplace in my younger son's room when plugging in Manotea's old laptop so he could do his history homework (son, not Manotea).
Two hours later, the old bearings were out, the new bearings were in, the work bench was strewn with oily rages, hammers, screwdrivers, allen keys, bit of dented wood, drips of blood and sweat, and the house was still reverberating with the sound of hammer blows, tools dropping on the quarry tiled floor, howls of pain and assorted thuds. But the whole bike was reassembled (excluding the Carrdice SQR bracket, as the nuts inside it are spinning uselessly and so I cannot tighten it up any more) and I'd managed to stop most of the bleeding.