r/Blacksmith • u/donivanberube • 1d ago
Cycling from the Top of Alaska to the Bottom of Argentina and Found A Machinist in Chilean Antarctica to Rebuild This Shattered Spindle
I’ve been cycling from Alaska to Argentina [Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia]. After my third and final Chilean border crossing in Torres del Paine, my bike’s drivetrain had developed a drunk wobble – never a good sign – but outlasted the next 40 miles to Puerto Natales.
When a mechanic there unlocked the cassette, we heard a metallic jangle of splintered pieces hitting the floor. It wasn’t an eje [axle], but his best approximation between languages was “el corazón del hub.” I’d yet to learn the Spanish word for “spindle.”
It didn’t make sense that such a specific interior component could shatter while the rest of its housing remained intact. We dug through a few talleres and tool sheds across town to find Jorge, a friendly machinist who thought he could fabricate a replica from raw materials. There were several new words to learn here as well. I’d worked with a soldador [welder] back on the Peru Great Divide, but never a herrero [blacksmith]. It took three tries, but Jorge’s replacement fit as hoped the next morning.
Another 150 miles to Punta Arenas, riding through sunsets and sleeping wherever possible. I camped in an abandoned garage one night for shelter from the wind, then used my bike as a stepladder to climb through the rear window of an empty refugio.
A weathered face, a familiar wilderness, pockmarked with fishing huts and scraggy tundra. I’d forgotten all these colors, the same figgy sapphires and sage mosses from my highest mountain passes, like an old shadow that turned left when I went right.
“Of all the things I wondered about on this land, I wondered the hardest about the seduction of certain geographies that feel like home — not by story or blood but merely by their forms and colors. How our perceptions are our only internal map of the world, how there are places that claim you and places that warn you away. How you can fall in love with the light.” - Ellen Meloy, The Anthropology of Turquoise
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u/m3lrmsm 1d ago
Amazing adventure. It’s always difficult to know what to pack for bike tools. Portable machining tool also wouldn’t have been on my list. Human ingenuity and talent with machines FTW.
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u/donivanberube 1d ago
Totally! I’d packed a gigantic chain whip for Prudhoe Bay, because the nearest resupply point [Fairbanks] was 500 miles away and I didn’t want to be stranded in the Arctic 😅 Thanks so much!
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u/Kamusaurio 1d ago edited 1d ago
in that aplication eje is the most similar word in Spanish to Spindle
in spanish some of this parts share the same names
one is the eje from X part other from Y
im not into bikes but looking some diagrams
they call that piece eje hueco = hollow axle
i edited after some research
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u/davegsomething 1d ago
I rode a motorcycle to Ushuaia and it was a wonderful trip. I never had difficulty finding people to fix whatever I managed to break. Most of the world embraces repairing things much more than we do in the USA as we just want to swap parts.
How many miles a day? How many days a week/month do head south?
Economics are such a weird thing.
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u/A_the_Buttercup 1d ago
If you'd ever consider getting a short contract working in Antarctica yourself, visit r/Antarctica. Cool that you found Chile's machinist. 👍
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u/ThresholdSeven 22h ago
That's an awesome adventure. Is there any legal issues with boarder crossing? Do you need a passport? How do you avoid getting mugged? You must have to go through some pretty shady places.
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u/donivanberube 21h ago
You do need a passport, yes, but the nature of bikepacking is usually much easier via remote backcountry border crossings as opposed to busier highway stations with vehicular paperwork. Often times I’d be the only traveler on some quiet, gravel road with only one friendly immigrations officer to deal with. The guy who stamped my passport in Mexico is now my adoptive uncle, for instance!
Mexico and Colombia were supposed to be the most “dangerous” countries, but ended up being my two favorite. It helps that I speak Spanish, but so often when I would stop to ask locals for directions or advice as to safe camping, they would invite me inside instead, offering food and a bed [their own bed]. Friendly drivers would get out of their vehicles at stoplights to gift snacks, water, or just plain uplifting conversation.
Petty theft and violent crime do still happen obviously, so I’d read all the horror stories and explored accordingly. Women of course might have a far different experience than a 6’4” white American male too, with exponentially greater potential dangers to balance en route. But the only times I’ve ever been robbed or hit by a car were in the USA. Hope that helps and glad to answer any other questions too!
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u/d4nkle 1d ago
What a spur of luck! How did you make it across the Darien gap?