It could be the pedal, it could be the bottom bracket , it could be the frame. Alright, Bad, Disastrous. Or just something else. Only the creak comes with the hills. Effort or knee joints? So we blissfully ignored the issue all the way through flat Corrientes. It’s when the Missiones mumps encroach that we realise that we had better do something about the problem, ignoring the easy option of OSI…JCO is no longer an option. I’ve even stopped riding behind the Navigator, so distracting is the persistent intrusion. The saddle is suggested, yet the noise evidence suggests metal on metal, and low down. Yet it’s a well known fact that an ominous sound can travel the length of the frame, utterly confusing diagnosis. Yet there’s no play in any of the vital areas. Twist the saddle, vague creak. Maybe it’s catching at some point, maybe a wedge in there. Maybe we - OSI…JCO. Too many maybes, the Andes are sitting upon our horizon, we really have to do something, sometime soon.
The other bike decides to take a sicky in sympathy. Gear jumping, but only on hills, but as Corrientes is a single gear province it’s OSI…JCO…yet again.
Start with the simple things. Tighten the saddle bolt a half turn, a quarter turn on the gear adjuster. It took longer to find the tools in the bottom of my pannier than it did to effect a total cure for both sick cycles. A case of ‘a stitch in time saving nine’ out trumping Oh Sod It…Just Carry On.
