My Chain is Too Long

I  know it's a strange complaint, but I vaguely remember putting a new chain and freewheel onto my Schwinn about 20 years ago, just before I stopped riding. And now that I need low gear more often, I find the chain won't climb up because the rear derailleur rollers want to bump into the largest cog.

So I dug out my old tools. This photo shows most of them. They are Campagnolo (Italian), Mafac (French) or SunTour (Japanese). No blue-handled Park tools because they really weren't doing anything but wheel stands back when I was working on bikes. Now they are a good bike tool source.

If chain length adjustment is something you understand, then I don't have to explain anymore. Alternatively, go to Park Tool's site, read this article, and figure it out for yourself. Or if you have a problem, take your bike to a real bike mechanic. It took me only 15 minutes to clean the chain, remove one link, lube the chain and adjust the derailleur.

Most derailleurs have more adjustment that this Campagnolo Record so nowadays you don't have the same sort of adjustment problem that I do (I'm using a larger  freewheel cog than I should be). My derailleur also has lots of slots and holes in it. I drilled it out myself (he says proudly). When I did it a friend claimed the mechanism would break in no time. I claimed it would make me go faster. Now, 35 years later it hasn't broken and I have never won a bike race. Who's laughing now? (I don't know)

Anyway, after I shortened the chain a link, I went for a ride. The weather mirror shows that it's a pretty nice Palm Sunday in San Diego. Light winds, no steep hills, but I did still appreciate being able to reach that 28-tooth cog.

As I was riding along, I saw another darn Mustang convertible - but thankfully this time it was blue, the top was down, and there were people sitting in it having a serious conversation. I wanted a picture of it, so I rode by, stopped at the curb and waited for them to get out and go into a house. They drove off the other direction instead. Oh well, no Mustang photo today, I thought.

I rode by a house where my pal Steve K used to live. I love this house and I like the clean green Range Rover in front. This can be the car of the day, forget the Mustangs, I thought.

Silly me. Look what I found around the next corner! I especially like the extra-deep, chromed oil sump hanging down in the front, the ladder bars in the back, fastback body style, and the great flame job. 

This Mustang warrants an extra-large photo, don't you think?