The First Spin

Waited with bated breath till about 9.30 pm to go for my first spin. Before going out I changed the gear from 9th to 5th in the back and the smaller one in the front. Chenku told me this is what a normal bike's gearing would be for normal gentle riding on level roads where you are not trying to overtake anyone. I made up my mind that I would not change any gear during the first few rides.

Next was the question of grip or where and how to hold the handlebar. 

There are several types of grips that you can use for a drop handlebar bike. The most preferred one for normal riding is called the "hood" grip. This is what you see professionals doing in Tour de France etc when they are cruising comfortably. You place the hand on the hood of the brake lever and use two fingers to pull the brake.

See here for a detailed description of various types of hand positions. Grips. 

I tried to test it in our garage first because Someshwar had told me to use that. But I felt very uncomfortable and uncanny. Pulling the brake lever with just two fingers is going to take some time for me to get used to. I tested what I later learnt was the hook position. I felt more confident if not comfortable because with this grip your control of the brake is very good. You are essentially holding the handlebar where it bends. This gives you good braking leverage. But with this grip the riding style becomes more aggressive, in the sense you have to lean forward a bit. And if you want to see traffic coming from different angles in the front you have to raise your head a bit.

I must add here that Someshwar set the front brake of my bike in the relaxed position. This is to avoid hard front braking initially. He said change it once you are confident of braking. I think I will set it to normal hard brake soon.

After getting the grip worked out, out I went for my first test ride. I had my phone in the pocket. A towel and my Petzl. My first reaction was "oh my God. This is really uncomfortable" :-) You feel the rattles of the road immediately. The road in front of our house has been recently given the mastic asphalt treatment and it is still quite rough. I could immediately see how rough it was :-)

I went towards Peep Inn, turned left towards Southern Avenue. Turned left again from Menoka. Lake Avenue turned out to be the worst adventure with its numerous small and big pot holes. I guess I would have gone for something like  a 1.5 km ride or perhaps a little more. After a while I could feel a little strain on the right side of the back. It is also a little difficult, as I said earlier, to see traffic coming from various directions in the front when you are leaning forward. 

I forgot to notice how the seat felt. I guess it did not feel anything particularly uncomfortable. Otherwise I would have noticed it and remarked here.

I think I will just need a couple of good rides on empty roads to work out the basics and enjoy the ride. Can't wait for Sunday. I also think some push ups will help. Since my wrist fracture in Chadar in February, that has quite stopped. Must try to revive  that as soon as possible. 

Adventure With The Pump

My first experience with the cycle pump was turning out to be quite a disaster. But somehow I retrieved the situation and managed to pump my tube properly. Here is the  hilarious story.

Modern bikes can have any of two types of valves. One is Presta and the other is Schrader which is the old type. The pump nozzle has to be different for these two types. My pump, I was told had both. The old mechanic at the shop even showed me how to change it. Thank God that he did. It is not a very simple flip of a key or button. You need to open up things and reassemble etc. But once you have been shown, you can quite do it. No rocket science involved.

He set it to the Presta system. They did not have any bike with a Presta valve at the store. So he could not show me how it operates. I said I don't really need to see such a simple thing in action. Just show me that air comes out of the nozzle as you pump and it did. I was happy and I came back.

Come home. I sat down to pump my bike up. I took the cap off from the top of the valve. Loosened the nut on the valve and checked that air was hissing out as I lightly tapped the top. Now is the time to engage the nozzle on the valve. I did. And all the air from the tube went out with a short hiss. There was obviously very little air inside. But more worryingly, the nozzle was just not sitting tight on the valve so that I could press the pump.

Felt quite helpless. Tried reaching Someswar several times to understand what I was doing wrong. There is very little that can go wrong actually. Anyway, his phone was unavailable. After considerable sweating and frustrating attempts, I took out the nozzle. I did the only thing that I had not done yet. I put what was supposed to be the Schrader nozzle. And presto !!! It worked :-)

The illiterate mechanic had no idea which side was Presta.

The tube pumped up quite nicely upto 80/90 PSI with just a few strokes. But after this it became very hard. Pumping was increasingly more difficult. My target was 120 PSI. But I could not go beyond 110. Someshwar had called back just now and told me that 110 is fine. He advised 100 for the front. Let me see how it feels. We used to keep the front wheel a little less so that it wouldn't bounce.

The Assembly

The cycle was finally assembled by Someshwar in our drawing room on Sunday. Someshwar Rao started off as a self taught cycle mechanic. After working for a few years with a shop he got training in Gurgaon by Firefox (an Indian cycle brand). He certainly knows his job. 

I had taken the bike out of the box on Saturday night itself. On Sunday, before Someshwar's arrival, I removed the various protective covers one by one. However, I could not work out how to take off the front fork stay and the other plastic protective covers like on the front and rear hubs. I filmed the entire process, so that if need be I could pack it back in the box and transport it. 

Someshwar arrived at around 1 pm and set up the bike in less than an hour. However, he could not inflate the tyre beyond 30 psi. He said his small pump was incapable of pumping beyond that. My tube needs 120 PSI. I would need a full fledged pump to do it. Being a presta valve it is very unlikely that the local tyre repair shop would be able to do it. So the bike is still waiting in my study room, yet to be ridden. 

Today (Monday) I have purchased a Firefox pump with a pressure gauge which can inflate both presta and shroeder valved tubes. The modern pumps are way more efficient than what we used to have in our childhood. They used to take ages to inflate a tube. It used to be very frustrating trying to pump up a bicycle tube, hard enough to ride. However, the narrow modern road bike tubes don't require too much air volume either. Though 120 PSI is the requirement, it doesn't take too long.

After the bike was set up, Someshwar and I went to our house in Metro Park, where I have the old Hero MTB. Someshwar said he would love to restore it and make it into a proper hardtail with gears and front suspension etc but it would require to be transported to his house. I gave him a go ahead. He took off the front wheel. We loaded it in the back of my car with the back rest of the back seat flattened out. Together we went to Shalimar where he re-assembled it and went home. It is in terrible shape. I don't know what all he would change. Let me see. 

If it is properly restored then I can go to the difficult places around Calcutta with it. Going out medium distance on the road bike is not a very sensible thing to do. 

It is worth noting down how the bike was set up. The order in which the parts were attached. The first to be attached was the handlebar. Next was the front wheel and adjustment of the brake. The front fork's plastic stay takes a strong downward push to be dislodged. 

After this the seat post was fitted with some liquid grease applied to the post first. Next was the rear brake adjustment and some front derailleur adjustments too. With the seat fixed at the lowest point, I am just about able to touch the floor on the two sides. I wonder if I should have gone for a 52 sized bike. Funny that the bike felt so small when I first took it out from the box. 

Forgot to mention that at some in time, the pedals were also fixed. 

Modern bikes have brakes in reverse. What I mean is the rear brake is engaged with your right hand. In our traditional bikes or even motorcycles it was the opposite.

Someshwar told me that the drop handlebar will take some time to get adjusted to. I think he has a point. I tried to ride it in our living room and almost fell as I felt disbalanced. The real test of a bicycle is of course out on the road. Weather permitting I am going to go out today. 

Day 2 - A Few Purchases

Today I bought a pair of flat pedals from the Fire Fox store in the city for eight hundred bucks. These are black and alloy material. Quite heavy. I might graduate to clipless pedals at some point in time in future. But for now these will do. 

From Bhanubhai Desai, I bought a set of allen keys (Taparia) and a set of star keys. These tools (costing Rs 300 and Rs 160 respectively) are important in that if you don't have them you cannot manage with anything else. And modern bicycles have quite a few screws that will need these keys.

I had intended to buy a helmet also. But the Firefox grey helmet was Rs 2600, which is why I had to postpone the idea of buying it today as I was short of cash. Perhaps another day. Let me check the Merida price too. 

I took a look at the pumps available at the shop. Firefox. Rs 1400 for the one with a gauge. That cannot be strapped on to the bike though. The strappable one is Rs 1000. But it looked pretty useless. Problem with these items is you cannot check them out before buying. 

My New Toy

My new toy has arrived. The Merida Scultura 200. Right now it is sitting in our main living room in a cardboard carton.

I got this from Nikita Distributors of Calcutta today. It's an auspicious day. Janmastami. It was a holiday at work. So I took my Duster to their office  in Kamalalaya Center for delivery. Loaded it after flattening the backseat back rest. It is very light. One person can easily carry it manually. The box measures 54.5"x29"x8". You keep it on the floor along the length and height is 29 inches.

The cycle came from Pune, where Nikita's headquarters are. They sent it by FedEx. The cardboard carton got slightly torn at two places on the side. I haven't opened the box yet. I will do that on Sunday when Someshwar Rao comes to assemble the bike for me.

Meanwhile, I will have to buy a pair of pedals, a bottle cage and a helmet. That's the bare minimum. Which I will do tomorrow. After that I have to get a pump and at least one spare tube before I go anywhere cycling.