My decision to leave the inner tube to deflate a bit was a wise one and did the trick. Yesterday morning, I was able to finish rolling the tire edge under the rim. Then I inflated the tire, replaced it on the bicycle, re-engaged the gears and reattached the brake cable. I even took a short trial ride.
Alas, I had a new problem. The brake pads were rubbing against the rim. Not good. This meant that a brake adjustment was called for. I discovered, by the way, that my bicycle has Shimano cantilever brakes. A week ago, I wouldn't have had a clue what a Shimano cantilever brake was. I can't say that my knowledge has advanced immensely since then. But at least I know what that sort of brake looks like.
Because I had arranged to meet a group of friends in Geneva for lunch, I decided to leave the bicycle to its own devices. I spent a very pleasant afternoon visiting, catching up and admiring and/or playing with the little ones who came with their mothers. The weather yesterday was absolutely glorious - as was today's. In the meantime, workers had also arrived to repair my garage door. Fortunately, all that was needed was an adjustment and their time and labor was covered by my service contract. Apart from the bike problem, all was well with my world.
So, first thing this morning, I tackled the brake pads. After consulting the ever helpful how-to videos and other instructions that Google fortunately is able to provide for those of us who need to know "how-to," I was able to adjust the brakes. I then took a trial ride again. It was an extremely short one. All of a sudden, I had no tension whatsoever in my rear brake cable, which meant, of course, that those brakes were not working at all. I was also startled to see that a small piece near the operational lever - I later learned that the missing piece is called the "adjuster" - had disappeared altogether. I retraced my route twice, looking carefully, but could find no adjuster. I returned to my worksite. Again, nothing. I resigned myself to having to purchase and fit a new brake cable and decided to have a cup of tea and ponder the situation.
In the meantime, HWMBO called me on Skype. He wondered how my repair experiences were going. He pulled up a "how-to" describing brake cable installation and I pointed out the missing adjuster. At just about the same time, we both realized that the adjuster may simply have come loose and slipped down along the cable.
It was back to the bicycle again. Sure enough, the adjuster had indeed simply slipped down. When I slid it back up to its original position and tightened it, things looked promising. But there was still no tension and the brake pads themselves didn't move at all. This time I examined the cable line carefully and discovered that right about where the cable divides and is attached to each brake pad, the cable line had managed to slip out of a small pullley groove. I gently worked the cable back into the groove and voilà, everything worked as it was supposed to.
Let's hope that all is well. The weather has gotten much too pleasant not to be able to enjoy the outdoors. Even my forsythia is nearly in full bloom!
Its cheery yellow flowers give a major lift to one's spirits!
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