Now, I have five bikes in total: thee in Chicago and two in Helsinki. Bois asked me a couple of months ago whether I am interested in a new bike with disk brakes: they were on sale. I said – sure, and he got a bike for me. Meanwhile, the biking season in Chicago was in full swing, and I encountered a problem: my new bike, which I purchased last fall, was slow. Boris kept telling me that I was making things up and it was just the start of the season, and I was a little bit slower than I was at the end of the last one, but the Apple Watch told me otherwise.
When I dropped my new bike for the tune-up, I asked to check what could be wrong and is it possible that the brakes were too tight.
They said that there was nothing wrong, but I didn’t believe them. On the day when I was going to pick up this bike from the shop, I also dropped my old bike for a checkup. Having both bikes right here, I demonstrated the difference in the speed the wheels were spinning. Then one of the shop workers started to look closer. After twenty minutes of exploring the situation, he found the culprits:
He explained that these extra rubber rings were there to prevent water from getting inside (I am not sure what :)), but they were slowing down the axis. After he removed them and tuned the brakes, I got the difference right away! Now I can bike even faster than at the end of the last season!
And my new bike in Helsinki is a real beast! Even though i Helsinki, it’s almost constantly up/down hill, I still get around fasted than in Chicago!
I biked twice so far, once in a rain, and it was fine as well, and my “salamandra skin” worked great. Actually, this time around, when it was very hot during my first bike ride and cold and windy during my second time, it really proved being a second (and better!) skin!
Hettie's Reflections 