Revenge Of The Exercise Bike

Do not try this at home

Back in November of 2009, my wife and I bought an exercise bike. It's been used pretty frequently, but we've neglected the maintenance on it big time.

First it started making clicking noises. We ignored them. After a few months, it started squeaking. We ignored it. When the shaking started, I dug out the instruction manual. It talked about things we could do every so often to keep the bike in good running order. We ignored it.

A year and a half after buying the bike, the handlebars flapped side to side like wings. When my wife would ride it, I could hear the crashing noises outside. We had to re-arrange the living room to make sure no breakables were within the potential zone of destruction.

I finally broke down and grabbed a screwdriver.

Call me?...

The wireframe drawing in the instruction manual made the bike innards look like a rocket engine, but it was actually much less complex than I feared. The biggest problem was that I kept sitting on the screws I'd taken out. That Allen Wrench and I had a moment I'll never forget.

Once I got to the actual bike chain, it was pretty easy to tighten up. It was just two bolts, really. I pushed it pretty tight, figuring once every year and a half was a little too frequent for my tastes.

My wife got the on the bike when I was done. She stood on the peddles. They were as unmovable as granite. "What did you do?"

I got to take the bike apart again. At least the Allen Wrench was still warm.