March 8th is International Women's Day. A day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. We've seen a huge increase in women in cycling the last few years, and while we've still got a way to go, it's a huge thing worth celebrating. For a second year in a row, we held an International Women's Day workshop, designed to empower women, and pass on skills so that they can take more bike maintenance tasks into their own hands, as well as celebrate how far we've come.
We partnered again with owner of Hilltop MTB, and Ambassador Program Specialist at SRAM, Jaime Hill and our own mechanic, Bridget, to lead the workshop. The focus this time being drivetrain, with a focus on SRAM's latest T-Type Transmission groupsets. Since T-Type is SRAM's newest drivetrain technology, and the setup is quite different to a conventional cable-actuated drivetrain, we wanted to focus on this.
This year's workshop was more intimate than last, which means that participants were able to get more hands-on with the tools and tech and really get their teeth into learning some new skills. Going back to basics, we started by explaining the SRAM Transmission ecosystem and compatibility, as well as general operation, and the benefits of Transmission, as well as the game-changing UDH dropout.
Moving onto some practical skills, Jaime and Bridget spent some time teaching people how to lock/unlock a chain master link, as well as how to use a chain breaker to fully remove a link; two skills that are vitally important Carrying a chain breaker and a spare master link can potentially get you out of a sticky situation in the backcountry by being able to remove a broken chain link and add a master link in its place.
Moving onto some home workshop skills, we practiced removing/fitting a cassette and a chain - something a home mechanic might have to do from time to time, while replacing worn drivetrain components, or just for cleaning. Finally, Jaime and Bridget ran us through a Transmission derailleur install, including how to use the SRAM web app to determine chain length, setup key position, and the 'prepare, hang, tighten' procedure.
We covered a lot of ground, but spent more time on the basics, and managed to get some real hands-on time on the tools, getting people really well acquainted with some potentially day-saving techniques. At the end of the day, that's what it's all about - nobody is going to leave a two hour session wrenching like a pro, but if everybody leaves with some real hands-on experience and a genuinely useful skill, then that we've met our goal.
As always, a huge thank you to everyone that attended - you're all rockstars for coming and pushing your boundaries to learn something new. Thank you to Bridget and Jaime for leading the workshop, and to SRAM for supporting us!
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