As mentioned, the bikes may not have been 100% shaken-down for this trip, and as we went across Essex the sounds of twang-crunch-b*ll*cks started to emanate from the Epic Progression.
Between Hook of Holland and Amsterdam we barely needed to change gear, but now we are here, in the Cycling Capital Of The World, we decided to get things sorted.
Mr Google suggested CityBikes so we went in there and found a shop full of… well, City Bikes. Basically your Amsterdam City Bike is not the Lean Mean Epic Machine that Sid and Doris are used to. It is an extremely upright machine, neglected as far as is possible before rust and entropy cause the whole thing to disintegrate (at which point, we find, you just buy another for €50) and with in-hub gears.
Our new friend looked at our bikes wistfully and said (in Polish-accented English) that he didn’t really ever get a chance to work on derailleur gears but his mate Alex down the road knew all about them.
20 minutes and 200m later (it takes a while to cross pavements, cycle lanes, car lanes, tram lanes etc) we are making friends with Alex who is from Serbia.
And for Alex, Everything Is Possible!
We collected the bikes with newly-aligned gears and adjusted spokes. Zippy zappy, we are glorious free of worries!
Alex looked at our low-weight mechanical kit, shook his head sadly, and added some proper chain lube, a roll of duct tape (for emergency mending of ripped tyres, plus a zillion other uses) and a puncture repair kit that is at least 30 years younger than the rusty old box we had brought.
And two Alex Bike stickers. We will carry those on our Epic Journey with great pride.