[youtube]nzfZ-dYOhig[/youtube]
Not funny. Learn by doing.
It is mandatory to remove the LIME chain-guard in order gain access to the box cover,
to =set the manual= "N" adjustment of the Shimano brainy-box.
You who have video, see that
a special socket is needed to un-capture the chain-guard.
No one but bike experts know that this nut is LEFT HAND THREAD. I am a "don't read bike repair manuals", type of fool.
Now, finally I get that nut off...and the chain guard is STILL not free to remove.
Why? The CHROME trim,
so Ipod-Kool,
must be removed. BUT HOW?
It turns out to be a snap-on affair. It is not intuitive, this step. It must be taught.
But this self-lesson is not readily apprehended, esp. by a vision-impaired person.
NO Lime-specific shop manual exists.
The video above shows the g-d thing finally pop off.
Now I can, tomorrow, make the =mechanical= "N" shimano adjustment.
And that is a literal snap to do, an easy ratchet back and fro; video will show in five seconds, then.
AND comes the electronic "pot" adjustment. It integrates, too with the mechanical length of the shifter cable.
LIME#2 is clearly of the same batch as LIME#1: NEITHER bike shifted, out of the box, nor from the store.
They are bike experts, but none have worked on this failure-of-marketers, Shimano system. They don't know....
GIANT makes a Suede model using the very same drop-in Shimano "Coasting" system of manual, geared hub, automatically shifted.
I went to Mack Cycle yesterday. The nice man let me ride the sample Suede around the lot. It did not shift. At all. It was in permanent
second gear. No first, no third.
WHY? Because Shimano has poorly set-up these well-designed things, and the poor makers (Giant and Trek) in this case, offer no assistance.
In the Trek example, the bowden cable is about one quarter of an inch too long. A shim must be made to compensate to "shorten" the effective
cable length, in order to allow the system to work, even AFTER doing the hard-to-get-into Brain Box, mechanical "N" adjustment.
It is a wind-up, wind out rotary-stepper motor, if that makes sense.
Be not confused: that slotted "pot" is also called the "N" adjustment by Shimano, for insane reason unknown to self.
Of these two bikes I have now ridden (Lime Lite, and Giant basic Suede with Coaster shifting by Shimano,
I think I much prefer the LIME, even though its shifter box-brain is a bear to get into. It is a "better bike" in the looks department.
That's just my call. Both bikes are virtually identical, right down to the hemi-hub caps.
The Suede I rode yesterday is a unisex type, easy to swing over the leg, moreso than the mens' LIME.
But it has a pogo-stick seat post (feh!) and, in blue, it looks sort of "girly". And it does not shift.
BUT, its shifter box is fully exposed for easy adjustment.
LIME shines in the style and "I'm a GUY" bike dept. It is not "cutie pie" It's just bike-looking and nobody will think you a fairy
for riding a Lime.
But the damned things do not work, not from the rows of them in bike shops, nor from the box, assembled by self,
NOT until one, two, or three basic, vital adjustments are made.
I am still very glad to have the Lime. It has been a learning experience.
Thumbs up. And wait till I do some more video of the set-up and the fender fitting,
and with its Hank Slicks and hand-rubbed-dull, Freddy Fenders, it is a "don't mess with me" male statement.
And it's fun to ride and without technical flaw, really, but that it does, inherently, make a slight ratchet-click sound,
even while pedaling, not just when coasting.
More to come. Will be funny at times.
Obviously, I enjoy playing the technical clown.
But here is my heroine; she's my next-best of being Nick Lucas.
I can't be either one of these souls
[youtube]FruHmR3O9q4[/youtube]
She is an anodyne for what fails us
Therefore, I signed off, tuckered and resigned, dedicating myself as
fake Lee Morse,
singing for my most favorite boy,
nicobie. He can't have me, though, sorry!
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to come: some more stuff, good interesting stuff, and a video side by side "review" of Lime and of that Suede at Mack Cycle.
Next form:
