Today, 6.45pm ish, eastbound on the Whitechapel High Roada stop to deal with a call from the fairy, all good, found a nice spot in front of a shop, where the market stalls begin, I've barely got the whell off and started on the tyre when an appeal for help in very broken english uters from behind me
Two teenage asian kids, perhaps 14 or 15 with an old banger of a bike with the front brakes jammed on the rims, 'you have tool' he said pointing at my pannier, he was right but heaven knows how, I got the multitool out and looked at the rusty cantilever brakes, hmm, looked at the inline adjuster on the brake lever, of course it fully wound out, wound it back in, job done
amazed and delighted, the oik then asks me what's wrong with the back brake
that one's easy, there's no brake cable at all, I explain what a brake cable is and how to fit one, he says thanks and the two of them shamble off
good, back to the job in hand, a minute passes and again, broken english asking for a brake to be fixed, I turn round thinking it's a piss take, different asian youth speaking more patois this time than broken english, asks me to come and fix his bike brake, I politely suggests that he brings it to me under the circumstances, a horrid bashed up stunt type bike is produced, a something rhino
that ones easy too, the spring on one side of the cantilver brakes is dead as a dead thing, leaving one brake stuck on the rim, I call him back from where he's gone back to packing up his stall, I explain that it's a not a roadside fix, not by me anyway, he invites me to inspect the back brakes, I politely demur, excusing myself on the grounds that I had to get home at some point and still had a hole to patch
soooo, should you find yourself having to stop thereabouts, looking vaguely competent or needing to fix something where people can see you, display tools of the calibre of tyre levers and above, allow plenty of time
Two teenage asian kids, perhaps 14 or 15 with an old banger of a bike with the front brakes jammed on the rims, 'you have tool' he said pointing at my pannier, he was right but heaven knows how, I got the multitool out and looked at the rusty cantilever brakes, hmm, looked at the inline adjuster on the brake lever, of course it fully wound out, wound it back in, job done
amazed and delighted, the oik then asks me what's wrong with the back brake
that one's easy, there's no brake cable at all, I explain what a brake cable is and how to fit one, he says thanks and the two of them shamble off
good, back to the job in hand, a minute passes and again, broken english asking for a brake to be fixed, I turn round thinking it's a piss take, different asian youth speaking more patois this time than broken english, asks me to come and fix his bike brake, I politely suggests that he brings it to me under the circumstances, a horrid bashed up stunt type bike is produced, a something rhino
that ones easy too, the spring on one side of the cantilver brakes is dead as a dead thing, leaving one brake stuck on the rim, I call him back from where he's gone back to packing up his stall, I explain that it's a not a roadside fix, not by me anyway, he invites me to inspect the back brakes, I politely demur, excusing myself on the grounds that I had to get home at some point and still had a hole to patch
soooo, should you find yourself having to stop thereabouts, looking vaguely competent or needing to fix something where people can see you, display tools of the calibre of tyre levers and above, allow plenty of time