We have heard from Roloff regarding the shifter; unfortunately, it is not a stock Roloff shifter, such that we need to be contacting HP Velo. We are also concerned that Scott’s shifter might be showing signs of the same problem mine has. Before we can do any further examination, we need to get a torx wrench/screwdriver, since that is required to remove the parts.
Since the hotel we are in is expensive, we are going to hobble along to Napanee and camp tonight (possibly hotel if necessary), and then hobble along to Kingston tomorrow. Once we are in Kingston, renting a car to go home is much less painful .. plus, we will have successfully circumnavigated Lake Ontario, so there will be some closure to this trip – it would feel less like giving up.
We will try to check email during the day. We may not have Internet tonight. Our cell phone is on, so that folks can reach us if necessary.
Hang in there! You’re not a failure and you shouldn’t think that way. Your accomplishments on this trip have been a delight to read about. It’s called a shake down trip for a reason. Bike malfunction is an unforseen circumstance and it’s better to have happened here then when you’re on the big trip.
Take care as you hobble home.
Love ya!
mom
Hi S&B,
Sorry to hear about the bump in the road. I can understand the frustration, but don’t let this overshadow your accomplishments to date and the inspiration they have been to those following along on your blog. And of course even a setback like this is fulfilling the goals of this trip, since this is one more problem you *won’t* encounter on the next.
Good luck as you press on to Kingston — I hope you and my dad are able to meet up.
Cheers,
Kevin
Thanks for the encouraging words. We made it to Napanee, and are actually feeling pretty good, if a bit wet. We rode through rain showers for much of the day, but even with Becky’s shifting problems our average speed was well above what we had been doing – 18.2 kph.
It is good that we ran into this problem now, and not on our next trip, and I’m now the proud owner of a Torx T-20 driver to add to our repair kit.
We haven’t heard back from HP Velo yet (not surprising since it was 4:30 in Germany by the time we decided to contact them) but I’ll take a further look at Becky’s shifter tonight.
Torx T-20 — is that some kind of early-model Terminator? I can see how that would be handy to have in one’s repair kit.