The Bicycle of Theseus

I recently replaced several bike parts, and I thought I would share my experiences and web research, and talk a bit about my beater bike.

A week ago, I had noticed that my bike chain was making clicking/scraping sounds (in rhythm with the front crank) when I was pedaling hard. I figured that a chain replacement might be in order; after reading about chain stretch and doing some measurements, I realized that it definitely needed to be done. Incidentally, that link points to Sheldon Brown's website, which is an amazingly useful font of bicycle repair information. So this past weekend, I stopped by the bike store to get a new chain, a chain breaker tool, and a replacement mirror. The job went fine--they even sold me an aftermarket master link, which lets you pop the chain off the bike without tools. I really want to try out Brown's suggested method for cleaning chains this way--snap off the chain, toss it in a Coke bottle of citrus degreaser, and shake well.

However, the bike store and Brown's website both had warnings that if the sprockets (e.g., freewheel) are worn, you might get chain skipping due to the mismatch.. Sure enough, when I took it out for a ride the next day, I got: [pedal] POP [pedal] [pedal] POP [pedal] POP [pedal] [pedal]... Time for a new freewheel, at least.

I bought a replacement freewheel (I already had a freewheel remover from the last time I did this). I also bought new tires while I was at it: the rear tire had developed a herniated sidewall, with a bulge of inner tube coming out of the side. Some grunting and pulling later, I was ready to roll. Went and biked down to the remote data collection site.

But anyway, I wanted to talk a bit more about the bike. It's an incredibly old beater: I've had it since about 1989--yeah, my undergrad days. Being an inveterate tinkerer, I have continuously replaced and upgraded parts since then. The original parts are: the frame, the front fork, the handlebar stem, front wheel (minus ball bearings and several spokes), deraileurs, left crank arm, and front chainrings. It's faster to list what's original instead of what's been replaced. I'm pretty happy with how it has gone together--I know it would be annoying to get all the replacement parts I want if I ever had to build another bike. Incidentally, speaking of bicycle repair, I have to give a big shout out to Broadway Bicycle School--it's a do-it-yourself place near Inman Square where you can buy shop time, and use their tools. It was the perfect place to learn bike repair techniques; I used to go there all the time when I lived nearby.

As a final note, the title of this post is a reference to The Ship of Theseus--that Philosophy 101 paradox: if an entire ship is replaced, piece by piece, would it be, in the end, the same ship? Actually, I didn't know the name--I just knew the story. However, Google's brain is quite amazing: a search on "ship around world replacing parts same" turned up the name in the top ten links.