Bicycle on Michael’s Domain

Cycling during the Finnish winter

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Finally, snow has arrived in Helsinki! So far I was using my summer bicycle and it does not look nice. My daily commute has only perhaps one kilometer of dirt road, but during the mud months, that’s enough to undo any cleaning in a few seconds and to remove any lubrication from the chain. The mud months are nowadays in Helsinki at least three - thanks to global warming: October, November, and December. Cyclists who advise cleaning one’s bike weekly have just too much time on their hands… Most of the bicycles that are sold are not really built to be used all-season and I am still looking for something, that is really low-maintenance also during the mud months. And I am getting worried about the amount of chain lubrication that I distribute into the environment. I have heard that some cyclists are using biodegradable chain saw lubricant, and I will probably try that out.

Helkama Jääkäri - everything but the frame broke within the first 3 years

Thu, 07 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

For one last time, I have to write about the Finnish bicycle company Helkama . I own the Helkama Jääkäri , which is a military style bicycle and marketed as extremely tough. The frame has 25 years warranty. However, pretty much everything else has been braking within the first 3 years, which ridicules the whole concept. During this year’s spring overhaul, I had to replace three parts: The stand, the saddle and the bell. And I see already signs of future trouble… In none of my previous bikes, saddle or stand have been breaking that fast. And that includes cheap bikes for half the price that I paid for the Jääkäri. Apparently, Helkama does not vet its component suppliers sufficiently. My Jääkäri’s rear wheel had to be replaced already after the first winter and the carrier meanwhile two times. When it broke the third time, I did not even bother to get it replaced again, instead I repaired and reinforced it myself . I really hope that Helkama’s advertisement is just a lie and that the Finnish Army does not use this bicycle.

Helkama quality woes

Sun, 25 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post is a follow-up of my post from 2 years ago about my new bicycle, a Helkama Jääkäri . It had its fair share of problems, and even though the customer service was very responsive, the repetitive problems with its luggage carrier were too much for me. Last December, the third carrier broke. I had received also the this one as a free-of-charge replacement, but it is a nuisance when it breaks, even though replacing takes only about 10 minutes. It is not in very heavy use: the stuff I transport on it weighs about 2-3 kg, but apparently the welded/soldered connections are prone to fatigue breakage. Helkama knows that it has a quality problem with its carriers. When I asked for the second replacement carrier, the customer service told me, that they are trying to identify a suitable replacement for the subcontractor who makes these carriers. This time I thought to repair the carrier instead of asking for another replacement, which took less time and will probably last longer. I don’t know whether they have changed their component supplier. If my own repair breaks, I still have two old broken carriers I can repair, but most likely, my next bicycle is not going to be a Helkama .

The car is in the garage

Tue, 30 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Finally Claudia’s car is in our heated garage. After moving two thirds of our cellar’s content and half of our apartment’s content to our garage, it appeared questionable whether a car would still fit. I installed many additional shelves and relocated my and Marzena’s bicycles to the condo’s common bicycle storage. The other 7 bicycles and the bicycle trailer were hanged to hooks along the garage walls. Then we lifted Tobias’ 3.5 meter long cardboard rocket tightly under the garage ceiling. Finally I was able to drive it in. I drove in sort of blindly because the car had been snowed in so badly that me and Tobias could not really make any difference by scratching its windscreens half an hour (we had to stop because our fingers were too cold to continue). The snow and the cold had arrived here in Helsinki quite exactly together with the winter solstice.

What a bummer!

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I broke my distal calf-bone (fibula) in a bicycle accident. The street must have still been icy in the afternoon or maybe it was the wet leaves. It happened on the way home, so it is technically a work accident according to Finnish law. Nevertheless, it allowed me another peek into the local public health care system. I just was discharged today from Töölö hospital after spending there four nights in a mixed 6-bed room.Surprisingly little painAs long as keep my leg up, the pain is so profoundly absent that I skipped the last day’s pain medication completely after consulting with the doctor. I wanted to feel at least a little bit of pain. How else was I to know, that I should go easy on my leg?Keeping healthcare costs downThe first night I was in a two bed-room together with a bothersoom roommate, who didn’t even stop talking after I had clearly communicated that I wanted to sleep; that was around midnight. Then he repeatedly verbally attacked the nurses and later barricaded himself in the toilet. When the security guards came to resolve the situation I was first hurried out of the room to the corridor and later into the 6-bed room. It goes without saying that I didn’t sleep much. This is how Finland keeps its health care costs down: The facility is overcrowded and the nurses overworked. I was actually suprised how well they managed considering the circumstances and patients like my room mate. They were always very friendly and helpful.SurgeryMaybe and hopefully the health care cost savings have not yet reached the expertise of the personnel. I don’t mind sleeping in a 6-bed room for four nights as long as the surgery is performed according to the standard of care. Surgery was necessary, because although the fracture was not displaced, it was sufficiently angulated to result in suboptimal healing when treated without operation (just by casting). The surgery was not performed under general, but instead spinal anaesthesia. The surgery went well, but healing will take its time, but so far everything is looking good. I got 6 weeks of sickness leave. Hospital foodThe hospital food confirmed to its reputation: I had so profound constipation on day four, that I thought my hemorrhoids would burst and the sutures rip when I was trying to pop out my poo. The fresh veggies and fruits were mostly a few thin alibi slices of cucumber or tomato. No wonder there was too little fibre. **The biggest loosers: Helsinki University Helpdesk and Tele Finland **The biggest letdown during the hospital stay was Helsinki University computing helpdesk and my mobile phone provider Tele Finland: I had several experiments going on in the lab and in order to give instructions how to proceed I needed to connect to my desktop computer at work via ssh (and nomachine via ssh). I did not manage to get the VPN working form Android. The detailed instruction link on the University help page was (as usual) broken. But even if it wasn’t, I guess nobody bothered so far putting up instructions for an OS, that has as little installations as 500+ Million worldwide.Helsinki University uses OpenVPN and there is an official OpenVPN client for Android . However, when I mailed the helpdesk, they didn’t even read my mail. They said I could get to my files via the VPN web interface. This is of course only true if one uses the networked folder on a Windows machine to store ones files. My second e-mail, where I clearly point out again, that I need ssh access to my desktop computer from Android is unanswered to this date.In order to circumvent this problem, I tried tethering using my Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S3) and my Lenovo convertible S10-3t (dual-boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu 12.04). And tethering didn’t work. I contacted Tele Finland to ask whether this is due to policy or whether there is just a bug somewhere. No answer until this date. So I presume its policy. Tethering has been working beautifully with my old HTC Desire (using CyanogenMod 7.1 ) and Saunalahti . I tried to update my Galaxy S3 from 4.04 to 4.1, but this process requires an online Windows machine (which I couldn’t get because thethering didn’t work).

My new Helkama Jääkäri bicycle

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

My Trek bicycle lasted 10 years and approximately 50000 kilometers before I had to retire it. I don’t do any preventive maintenance and fix things only when they are broken. In 2006 I bought a 450€ bicyle from Biltema . It lasted not even 5 years before it needed a major repair (including replacing the expensive bits like wheels, brakes, derailleurs, freewheel and many less expensive ones). Last June I decided to get a [Helkama Jääkäri]([img_assist|nid=581|title=Helkama Jääkäri|desc=|link=url,http://www.helkamavelox.fi/en/models/men/jaakari_3_gear-hmj3nhr_arv_k|align=left|width=240|height=160]) for about 700€. It’s an old style army bicycle and I hoped that it would last longer than the Biltema quality.This winter I cycled with my new Helkama bicycle several hundreds of kilometers on bumpy snow tracks and in February my rear wheel allmost fell of. The screws had not been tightened sufficiently and the thread was already badly damaged. To continue my way I had to remove the washer to expose some undamaged thread and tighted the screw. I contacted Helkama, because the bicycle was not even a year old. They responded quickly and I received a replacement rear wheel by post within a week. That’s good customer service and a reason to stick with the brand: When I bought a new bike for my son last month, I choose the Helkama Yoker , even though it was certainly not the cheapest choice.