Every now and then I notice the pedals are getting further away on my Tour Easy recumbent, which means it’s time to snug up the seat lace again. The lace cord has a Kevlar core, so it’s not very stretchy, but over the course of a few thousand miles either it stretches or the seat mesh relaxes.
Here’s the only tool I’ve found that works for this purpose:
That’s what a friend calls his, anyway.
It’s from Stanley and not in their current website listing, but they do offer the 78-393 – 4 Piece Hook and Pick Set, which looks to have a tool sporting the same hook end with a different (and much smaller) handle. IIRC, I got this one several-many years ago at Wal-Mart; maybe it’s a special-issue part number just for their shelves?
What you do is work your way from the bottom of the seat lacing on one side all the way to the top, pulling out the slack as you go. At the top of that side, pull the accumulated cord into the knot, then start at the bottom of the other side. When you’ve got both sides pulled taut, knot up the slack again and you’re done.
Needless to say, you can give yourself a King Hell puncture wound with that thing…
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 