I left my laptop power cable at work yesterday, and since the weather today was so nice, I thought it seemed an opportune moment for a shakedown run of my new bicycle. I’m glad I didn’t pick a longer trip for the test, because just before I got to Longwood I noticed (1) the rear derailleur seemed not to be working and (2) the left-side pedal was getting wobbly. Closer inspection showed that (3) both bottom bracket hubs were loose.
In each case, I simply hadn’t wrenched things quite tight enough. Unfortunately, tightening the bottom bracket hub require special tools, three- and five-point pin spanners of particular dimensions. In fact, I built matching spanners to do the initial reassembly, but I left them in Connecticut. So now I have to (a) take the bike back to Westport, (b) go back to Westport and bring the tools back to Boston, or (c) find someone in Boston who has the tools.
Thankfully, Harvard runs a shuttle from Longwood right back to my block in Central Square, and on the front of every bus is a bike rack. My timing was lucky; I was able to get my power cord and immediately catch a bus home.
There’s another option. You can take it Broadway bicycle. They’ll have the tool there and will let you use a rack to work and charge something cheap for 5-10 minute intervals.