{"id":2106,"date":"2012-11-22T15:35:25","date_gmt":"2012-11-22T23:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/?p=2106"},"modified":"2013-06-03T13:25:23","modified_gmt":"2013-06-03T20:25:23","slug":"bike-shops-whats-not-at-the-bicicleteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/?p=2106","title":{"rendered":"Bike Shops: What’s Not At The Bicicleter\u00eda"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bicicleter\u00eda<\/a>

Bicicleter\u00eda Pe\u00f1a, in Priri\u00e1polis, Uruguay.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve visited some great bike shops in Latin America. In Buenos Aires, in Santiago, in Bogot\u00e1. Once, I had an entire drivetrain replaced at a huge bike shop in Panama City. At these kinds of bike shops (that is, big shops in big cities in countries with a culture of cycling) you can often find what you’re looking for.<\/p>\n

In the rest of the continent, a trip to the local bicicleter\u00eda will leave you empty handed.<\/p>\n

Even so, I always check out the little bicicleter\u00edas I find tucked away in Latin America’s towns and villages. It’s possible they’ll have something I can use in the size I need (brake pads, inner tubes, extra spokes; simple things), but usually, they don’t.<\/p>\n

This is why I have low-tech components on my bike; cantilever brakes, bar-end shifters (downtube shifters would be even better).<\/p>\n

Good luck finding replacement parts for your hydraulic disc brakes, STI shifters, or anything to do with suspension. Sure, you could carry replacement parts for everything that might break on your trip, but you’ll be lugging a lot of extra weight for very little benefit. Best to keep it old school<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Even if you don’t need anything, it’s still a good idea to visit the bicicleter\u00eda. It always results in a friendly conversation where you’ll learn something important about cycling in the area (road conditions, local laws, places to visit, places to avoid).<\/p>\n

Also, I admit part of the reason I visit these hole-in-the-wall bicicleter\u00edas is because I enjoy the reaction I get when they see me roll up on my fully-loaded touring bike.<\/p>\n

Finding bike parts in Cuba is another story.<\/p>\n

How do you find bicycle-related stuff in a country where it’s almost impossible to find any<\/em> kind of stuff? The answer is, you’ll have to ask around (and this could take some time).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Derailleur repairs with Garbey at his home in Santa Marta, Matanzas, Cuba<\/p><\/div>\n

I started a three-month trip in Cuba with a smashed derailleur courtesy of Air Canada’s baggage (mis)handlers. Realizing there were no bike shops anywhere, I started asking around.<\/p>\n

Eventually, through a chain of “I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy” conversations, I met Garbey, the guy behind all the guys. Garbey had the right tools and knowledge, but not the right derailleur. However, he knew a guy in another town who did.<\/p>\n

In the end, this guys-knowing-guys process took so long that I wound up staying with Garbey and his family for several days until the derailleur was replaced.<\/p>\n

So, what’s the take-away message from this article? Well, I guess it would be something like:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Have a bike with low-tech components<\/p>\n

\u2022 Take replacement parts<\/p>\n

\u2022 Be ready to ask for help (i.e. learn some Spanish)<\/p>\n

So much of bicycle touring involves making it up as you go and making do with what’s available. What have been your experiences at the bicicleter\u00eda? Share a comment below.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

bike shop:<\/strong> bicicleter\u00eda f<\/em>; taller m<\/em> de bicicletas<\/p>\n

bicycle: <\/strong>bicicleta f<\/em><\/p>\n

bike:<\/strong> bici f<\/em><\/p>\n

cable:<\/strong> cable m<\/em><\/p>\n

cable housing:<\/strong> cubierta f<\/em> del cable<\/p>\n

cassette:<\/strong> casete m<\/em>; pi\u00f1a f (Esp)<\/em><\/p>\n

chain: <\/strong>cadena f<\/em><\/p>\n

derailleur:<\/strong> desviador m<\/em>; descarrilador m<\/em><\/p>\n

drive train:<\/strong> transmisi\u00f3n f<\/em><\/p>\n

gears:<\/strong> cambios mpl<\/em><\/p>\n

inner tube:<\/strong> c\u00e1mara f<\/em>; c\u00e1mara de neum\u00e1tico<\/p>\n

saddle:<\/strong> sill\u00edn m<\/em>; asiento m<\/em><\/p>\n

spoke:<\/strong> rayo m (AmL)<\/em>; radio m (Esp)<\/em><\/p>\n

seat:<\/strong> asiento m<\/em>; sill\u00edn m<\/em><\/p>\n

seat post:<\/strong> poste m<\/em> de asiento; tubo m<\/em> de asiento<\/p>\n

shifters:<\/strong> cambios mpl; <\/em>palanca de cambios<\/p>\n

wheel: <\/strong>rueda f<\/em><\/p>\n

*See the Pedalingo full list of bicycle vocabulary under BICYCLES<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Feature image (top of page): “Bicicleter\u00eda Brandon” in Betanzos, Bolivia.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 El Pedalero, 2012.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve visited some great bike shops in Latin America. In Buenos Aires, in Santiago, in Bogot\u00e1. Once, I had an entire drivetrain replaced at a huge bike shop in Panama City. At these kinds of bike shops (that is, big shops in big cities in countries with a culture of cycling) you can often find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,85,14,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-articles","category-all-categories","category-featured","category-latest-articles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/bicicleteria-post-feature-21.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2106"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2134,"href":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions\/2134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elpedalero.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}