Mechanicaly, technically, well let’s just say I’m severely challenged. I would never describe myself as a mechanic, I’ve always left such things to others, mainly because, I haven’t the patience or the dexterity to hold this bit and the other bit while screwing it secure. Always a dismal failure, until at last I managed to mend a puncture, at home, then again by the roadside, adjust my brakes, change my brakepads, all small beer I hear my reader shout! Then on 21st August last, I trued my back wheel, and everyone, or at least, my faithful following of one, said what a “Bike Maniac”.

Today has seen yet another small step for welshcyclist in his long,lonely and slow cycle to becoming self sufficient in bike mechanics.

I kid you not, for today I changed my pedals, my mania now knows no bounds!

Several weeks ago, the right pedal on my Raliegh Pioneer GT tourer, began to make a squeaking sound whilest tooing and froing my workplace, I had a look, it was obvious that the great pedal maker had called in its number. What was I to do?

I did the unthinkable, I decided to fit new ones……..MYSELF!!!!

When I last used the Cycle2Work scheme a couple of years ago I had so many discounts on the bike (the Subway LTD) and clothing etc., I was left with money to spare, and spent it on a new (spare) set of pedals, which have been in the shed ever since, bonus eh?

A pair of DMR flat pedals to be exact.

That was a few weeks ago, and I failed even to get the old pair off the Pioneer, I just couldn’t shift the pedal out of the crank.

Well, as I continued my commuting the sqeaking disappeared, and my laissez faire attitude took hold, why fix it if its not causing a problem? Far from a true maniac’s focus, as you, my reader, will agree.

But then came this wet Saturday, i.e., today, and to cut a long story short, I banished myself to my tiny shed, sulking over words I’d had with her indoors.

DMR Flatties pedals

  The shed, or as I like to call it, ” MY SHED”, is very small, space is at a premium, because of all the “STUFF”, the rest of my family insist on keeping in there. What to do? I thought to myself, looking at the GT, which seemed to be entreating me to give it some TLC.

Bike maniacs can do it in the smallest places

Then Jeckyl and Hyde like, my bike mania took hold. Yes, I would work on my GT, me, yes me!

I had to manoeuvre the bike around so that I could access the correct areas, and also reach the tools from number three son’s toolkit.

I cleaned up my gear mechanisms front and rear, even tweaked them to better performance, adjusted my cockpit, raising the saddle a smidgin and tilting the nose up, and then turning the screw on my Brooks saddle, for a firmer seat, before giving it a damned good polish. Is there nothing the bike maniac could achieve?

It was then that I remembered the pedal problem, should I, or shouldn’t I?

Off I went, digging out the right size spanner, once again micro manouevring the GT upside down into just the right place, I began with a heave! Heave! NOTHING.

I sprayed on some aerosol lube, let it soak in, then again heave! Heave! ….and nothing. I checked in my bike maintenance book that I was indeed attemting to unscrew the pedals the correct direction, yes I was. Then I read that the use of boiling water over the offending connection, might, just might do the trick, with a smack from a hammer. This I did, once, twice and the third time it moved with a jolt…. WOW!

Off came the old

It was a breeze putting on the new ones.

What a beauty

 Then it was off for a quick test spin, lovely comfortable cockpit, gears ever so smooth, and pedals that glided.

Cheers.