Day 361 | Some Cairns backpacker: let's get that bike fixed
rest day
Trepidation.
Not surprising after my bike sorting experiences back in Alice.
Thought I’d better get right onto my bike stuff seeing how the weekend is cutting through the middle of my Cairns sojourn. I’ve got to conquer my stripped spoke nipples issue, I managed to get the rear wheel operational well enough out there in the middle of nowhere but in the process, despite the 8 sizes on my spoke wrench, Mal’s spoke replacement back in Alice doesn’t fit any, the nipples are too small.
Man, how can that work when they are all 14G stainless spokes? They are heavy-duty, bulletproof, spokes with pissy little nipples on the end.
There’s a few other queries, like what exactly is that noise from the crank, adjusting the XT derailleur, now why doesn’t the top of the range have an adjustment knob on the derailleur itself.
And after the exploding XR I’m also needing a decent dirt tyre to get me all the way to Adelaide, or at least until the next bike shop in Mt Isa, the best bet is looking for the Maxxis Crossmark in this Schwable free zone.
Can the locals deliver?
Might as well get these niggles attended to while I’m here, I’m thinking I might avoid this money pit on my return to Speewah. There’s a good looking road directly from Mt Malloy to Mareeba on the inland side of the range rather than the coast, that doesn’t require venturing through these thickly touristy, ie, expensive, zones a second time.
Seems in the cities, Cairns has a population of about 150,000, money flows through my hands like water.