[Skunks]

Originally posted by Griff
Screw it. Lets just do it now.

My wife reminded me that I spent a couple weeks last summer trying to isolate a squeak on her bike. It turned out to be these very cheap pedals she was using. When you're riding its sometimes hard to tell where the noise is coming from. Her squeak being in the pedal didn't exist when the bike was being cranked on the stand.

Yeh, there're lots of other noises, too, when I'm actually riding. I'm _pretty_ sure I know the cause of this particular squeak, though, because of the weird angle it's at and how little clearance there is.

The derailler hanger should be pretty much perpendicular to the ground when the bike is upright. If you've got the stomach for it I can lay out how you straighten a hanger the Griff way. Take the derailler off using an allen head wrench. Now the fancy tool part you are going to need... drum roll... an adjustable wrench. Close the wrench on the hanger with its handle pointed in the direction the hanger is bent. Pull or push gently but firmly until it is back in its original position. You can ruin your frame doing this. I wouldn't try it with anything but a steel frame. Your fancier materials can be a problem. You can crack a steel frame doing this as well so here's the deal- If it goes badly I'll have UT delete my response and act as if we never had this conversation.

I'm a little confused by your directions, but I'll take a look and see if I can figure it out.

The simplest fix I'm familiar with involves a little language skill called the mechanics code. Scout out your local bike shop. Find out which night the greasiest young guy/gal in the place closes instead of the owner/manager. Place a cold six pack of home or micro-brew beer in a paper sack. Place the sack on the work bench being careful that the gentle ting of glass is audible. Ask if he has two minutes to look at your bike. From here you have to be able to read folks but generally if you hand him an open bottle he will a) turn out to be juju's Moses in which case you're screwed b) he'll drink while talking you through the fix or c) chase you out and steal your beer.

...And then what?

Amusing though it may be to try, I think I'll wait until I can legally acquire a six-pack of $foo_beer.

My preference is to do all my work myself. Bikes are simple machines once you get to know them. It might be wise to let a pro peak at it though if you think you're gonna break something.

I'm not very worried about breaking it. The bike's pretty old; I've had it upwards of five years now, and I've been fairly actively growing the entire time. A bigger/better/faster bike wouldn't hurt. I'd spring for one now, but it's not really necessary yet. My motivation for wanting to fix it on my own stems from the fact that it's an option (no stress if I fuck something up) and general stinginess on my part (no income == little motivation to spend money).

'Sides, it'd be kinda fun to know how to do this sort of stuff with some degree of competency.