I have had ongoing problems with my old huffy that I bought from Toys R Us years ago. I have ridden in to work daily for a long time.
It has proved to be a good transport for the money, in fact it has been a great transport when I consider the savings it has brought us; but lately parts have been giving way to the laws of physics that say all things decay.
The derailleur was the latest, it literally came apart on me a few days ago and I was afraid the old friend was a goner. I am not much of a bike mechanic and I learn on the go, so it was with caution that I began to tinker with the mangled pieces of rolling gear and twisted housing.
Taking the derailleur off of the bike was easy since it was mostly in pieces, but putting one in its place was not so easy. I have a bike I found in the dumpster a few years ago that has been a source for many spare parts, so I thought I'll just take the piece off of it and fix my bike.
My Huffy is a mountain bike that I have modified slightly for a commuter bike but the salvaged bike was a racing bicycle. The racing derailleur was still on the remains of the frame. The chain laced through it. I looked and looked but couldn't see how to get it off of the chain or the get chain out from wrapping through it. I gave up. Later I returned and looked the contraption over again. It had a hex head on one of the axes to the roller gear. I figured a hex nut meant there was a threaded bolt in there somewhere and if I took a wrench to it the thing would come apart. And that is just what happened, spilling a roller, an axle, it's barrel sleeve, and two washers on the concrete floor. I crawled on all fours for about twenty minutes looking for the parts and re-engineered the thing.
I thought they are both bicycles they both have gears, chain, crank and derailleur so the parts should be interchangeable. I was wrong. The part from the racer seemed to have more of a back angle to it. The mounting hole for the stabilizing nut was a different size and threaded which the huffy wasn't. There was a tiny flange designed to keep the part from spinning around the axle that was different.
Both were pretty shot so it didn't matter if I made it worse, indeed I don't think I could have made it worse. I filed the flange off of the part until it was smooth and hoped for the best. I had to find a bolt that would fit the new racing part to the old huffy frame. The clamp for the cable was rusted and had to be worked free but after a while I was able to thread the cable through. It looked like it would work- maybe.
I put the wheel on and turned the crank. The wheel turned. There are adjusting screws on the derailleur but no matter how long I spent I couldn't get it to go to all positions. The chain was a fraction too small to accommodate the higher back angel of the new part, but I could get it into most of the gears.
It is not a perfect fix but it is going to have to work for the time being until I can get a new solution.
Which may be a new bike.
It has proved to be a good transport for the money, in fact it has been a great transport when I consider the savings it has brought us; but lately parts have been giving way to the laws of physics that say all things decay.
The derailleur was the latest, it literally came apart on me a few days ago and I was afraid the old friend was a goner. I am not much of a bike mechanic and I learn on the go, so it was with caution that I began to tinker with the mangled pieces of rolling gear and twisted housing.
Taking the derailleur off of the bike was easy since it was mostly in pieces, but putting one in its place was not so easy. I have a bike I found in the dumpster a few years ago that has been a source for many spare parts, so I thought I'll just take the piece off of it and fix my bike.
My Huffy is a mountain bike that I have modified slightly for a commuter bike but the salvaged bike was a racing bicycle. The racing derailleur was still on the remains of the frame. The chain laced through it. I looked and looked but couldn't see how to get it off of the chain or the get chain out from wrapping through it. I gave up. Later I returned and looked the contraption over again. It had a hex head on one of the axes to the roller gear. I figured a hex nut meant there was a threaded bolt in there somewhere and if I took a wrench to it the thing would come apart. And that is just what happened, spilling a roller, an axle, it's barrel sleeve, and two washers on the concrete floor. I crawled on all fours for about twenty minutes looking for the parts and re-engineered the thing.
I thought they are both bicycles they both have gears, chain, crank and derailleur so the parts should be interchangeable. I was wrong. The part from the racer seemed to have more of a back angle to it. The mounting hole for the stabilizing nut was a different size and threaded which the huffy wasn't. There was a tiny flange designed to keep the part from spinning around the axle that was different.
Both were pretty shot so it didn't matter if I made it worse, indeed I don't think I could have made it worse. I filed the flange off of the part until it was smooth and hoped for the best. I had to find a bolt that would fit the new racing part to the old huffy frame. The clamp for the cable was rusted and had to be worked free but after a while I was able to thread the cable through. It looked like it would work- maybe.
I put the wheel on and turned the crank. The wheel turned. There are adjusting screws on the derailleur but no matter how long I spent I couldn't get it to go to all positions. The chain was a fraction too small to accommodate the higher back angel of the new part, but I could get it into most of the gears.
It is not a perfect fix but it is going to have to work for the time being until I can get a new solution.
Which may be a new bike.
