Re: Today's mechanical adventure

On 5/9/2025 8:50 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

 On vacation, in a hotel room far from home. The Bike Friday came along in its suitcase. Nothing athletic on tap; it's just for leisurely exploring and local transportation.
 The Friday does a "quick fold" in a minute or so, which is good enough for throwing it in the back of a small car or taking it on a bus or light rail.  But fitting it into its suitcase for airline transportation takes some disassembly. Front wheel comes off, drop handlebars are removed from the tall gooseneck stem and split in half, that stem is removed, as are pedals, etc. Packing it in the suitcase is tricky, a sort of three dimensional Tetris game with oddly shaped pieces. The packing takes me over half an hour, but unpacking and assembly is usually much faster.
 Not today.
 As I was all done assembling (so I thought) I lifted the rear wheel and pulled on the left shifter as I turned the cranks, to get the chain on the chainrings. But instead of the usual result, there was a big SNAP, I heard some little mechanical bit hit the wall, and there was a loud grinding, ratcheting sound from the gear train.
 That sound was from the bottom of the Shimano 9 speed front derailleur cage dragging on the large chainring's teeth. The derailleur was in a weird position, I couldn't shift it, and I was afraid of mangling it if I turned the cranks.
 The hotel is fitted with carpet specially designed to make tiny escaped mechanical parts* invisible. (*The technical name for such a part is a "pingfuckit.") 

In electronics, the technical phrase is 'let all the smoke out of  the part'
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