I’ve published a couple of posts recently with no pictures in them. Here’s a picture with no words to go with it.
D’oh. Well, since I’ve broken my vow of silence anyway, I may as well carry on: after a flat tire just before the weather turned cold last September (making it impossible for me to go outside and fix it, obviously), this bicycle is now fit to roll, with one more air-holding tire than it had before, a new chain, and new jockey wheels. The front derailleur seems to have turned into a mass of rust like you’d see on those shows where people dig up metal artefacts from centuries-old shipwrecks in the salty sea. It’s shockingly ugly, but it’s not a high priority. Our front derailleurs always seize up, because we never move off the big chainring in front except when we’re on vacation somewhere a bit less flat.
I was able to put this repair off, because where before it was my commuting bike, since G started nursery we’ve been using a bakfiets.nl Cargobike purchased locally from Hugh at dutchbike.co.uk.
Aside: I once came across an post in a forum in which it was sneeringly asserted that there is no such thing as a jockey wheel; only a guide wheel and a tension wheel. I have not yet finished feeling a slight childish glee when the opportunity arises to call them both jockey wheels.