one monkey typing

Had a flat tire (rear), was a bad patch - one of the old square ones done with bad technique. Replaced patch. Rear tire center is clearly worn flat but still lots of miles (it has 1000 miles on it now).

Reconfigured - moved handlebar bag to seat post on a ToPeak T bar to free up bar space for headlight in a normal position.

Chain cleaned and re-lubed with Chain-L lube (new lube). VERY quiet running, supposed to be an excellent lube. Really thick. Chain still does not register as even 0.75 wear on the chain gauge.

Odometer: 1622

When cleaning my bike a couple of weekends ago, I saw that the derailleur wheels were so worn that I was concerned that they might break while riding, which could cause the chain to seize, which is dangerous.

It took two weeks but I finally found the new derailleur wheels that I bought a year or so ago.

You may remember that I have been running a very, very worn chain because last time I put on a new one, it started skipping, which means the cassette needed replacing as well. I have noticed no particular problem with running everything until it's this worn; shifting was still totally fine and nothing skipped under power.

When I had the bike up on the stand, I saw that the chain was now so worn that it climbed nearly completely out of the teeth when going around the front chainring. OK, time to finally replace it.

I put on the new derailleur wheels and replaced the cassette as well. The chainrings are a bit worn but not badly. I can't flip them, they have features embossed in them to keep the chain from falling down between the rings. I do have a whole new crankset hanging on the wall but I'm going to keep running this one for now.

According to the archives here, the chain I just took off and threw into recycling went on at 17330 miles back on April 16 2009. I'm currently st 26678 miles. So somewhere around 9000 miles on this chain and cassette. If I do the "right thing" I change a $9 chain every 1800 miles or so, so that's 5 chains or $45 in that time. Just leaving it on until everything is wrecked cost me a $9 chain and a $18 cassette, for $27 total.

Even if I put on a whole new crankset every time, that only adds $27 for a total of $54. Also, even if I do the "right thing" the cassette still won't last forever; in fact, I think I have to put a new cassette on every 9000 miles anyway, so that means I save a ton of trouble and a little money just doing no maintenance other than lube.

Verdict: it's cheaper to just run the chain and cassette into the ground then replace them both at once.

Here are photos of the new and old wheels (the specs say the bottom wheel should be 15 teeth, but the one I pulled off is 13. The 15 goes on and works so whatever).


And here's the kind of wear that I saw on the cassette. The upper chainring is the lowest gear, which is essentially never used. The other is I think gear 3 or 4, probably 4, it's the most worn one and that's the gear I'm in most of the time.



Installed: New chain (nashbar), SRAM PG 730 12/32 7 speed cassette (from REI), Shimano derailleur pulleys (LBS)

Odometer: 26678

The rear left brakes on the Fusion have been chewing up pads. 3 pair in 60K miles, one pretty badly done in in only 6K miles. Last time I determined that something must have hit the pad bracket and made the pads bind, creating the equivalent of a stuck caliper (I replaced the caliper and it made no difference. Since the bracket is cast iron, I don't want to just start whacking on it, so I ground down the slide tab on the pads a little. Apparently not enough though, the pads went down to the metal in only about 10K miles. The other side is still on the original pads, and there's still life left in them.

So today both sides got new pads, the left side got enough ground off the pad guide tabs so that they glide smoothly (about the same as the other side, maybe a little easier), and also a new rotor since rotors are cheap and the original had pads go down to the metal on it twice. It still looks recoverable by turning, so I'll hang on to it if I ever need another.

I also washed the bike, relubed the chain (lots easier with the repair stand), and found that the power cable for the light system was frayed AGAIN. This time before putting on a new cable I'm putting on an experimental super-duty strain relief made from a couple inches of split vinyl hose wrapped around the tail of the connector and the wire and filled with epoxy. We'll see how that lasts. I also ordered another 3 cables from DealExtreme, they're $3 each there so if I have to just keep replacing them every 4 or 5 months I guess I can live with it.

Looks like the brake pads on the bike are probably good for another 1000 miles.

For some odd reason, I've seen a LOT of people I know in cars driving past me and giving friendly beeps. I'm having to refill the air horn canister weekly now. I did actually use it last week as intended, a car in Dexter was backing out of a parking spot right into my path, and I was doing about 25 (the speed limit there) at the time.

Odometer: bike 23829, car 58475

New chain, tested just at 1.0 on the wear gauge. Using old master link, new one put in the tool pouch.

Odometer: 19437

The old one went on at 17330, so I got about 2100 miles out of it. Usually I get 1800 miles, but I did try to clean this chain a little more often, and it was summer so there was usually less crud getting on the thing. We'll see how it fares winter, both because of more crud and because I'll probably be less inclined to clean the chain when it's 10*F out.

Also new brake pads on the front (disc). I put on a set of aftermarket pads at 14460, so I've already gotten 5000 miles out of them. The original Avid pads lasted only 2520 miles. Given that the aftermarket pads perform as well and cost 1/3 as much, clearly I'll be going with them in the future.

I had the master link let go on my chain today on the way home. Weird. I've been told that those 2-parters don't re-use well, but the last one I had got reused at least a dozen times without trouble. This one had been taken off exactly once last time I cleaned the chain, and it came apart. As with last time (several years ago) it happened when downshifting.

No big deal, I carry a spare, I just walked back, picked up the chain, looked around a bit and found 1/2 of the master link (surprised I found that much, it was a gravel road), got out a new master link and remounted the chain. Back on the road in about 3 minutes.

I suppose I might think about picking up a Park Cyclone cleaner so I don't have to take the chain off the bike to clean it.

New chain installed. There's a little skipping in 3, which is probably the gear that I use under load the most. It'll probably settle down quickly.

Odometer: 17330

Odometer ~16050
Damn, I just checked it on Sunday, and it was barely over the 0.75 wear mark on the gauge. I figured I'd replace it this weekend, but when I went out to lube it tonight, it was way over 1.0. Weird how it wore that much that fast.

Hopefully since it wore that fast it didn't do in the cassette cogs.

I decided the time has come to replace the chain and freewheel.
I let the chain go too long almost a year ago, so I decided to just keep going on it. It has nearly 5000 miles on it I think. It should have been replaced at 1800. Since it went so long, it wrecked the freewheel too, so I had to replace both at once.
I also replaced the kickstand that snapped in half when I was trying to wrench off my clipless pedals a couple of weeks back to put on the platform pedals.
So, new chain, new freewheel
Odometer: 12,500 miles

I guess it's here. I rode to work and back today in shorts, a compression top and a T shirt. Apparently it's time for this unseasonable silliness to end. Tomorrow night it's supposed to be snowing. Friday, we're supposed to get 7 inches of snow.

Time to give in to the inevitable. I mounted the studded tire on the rear (the front went on a month ago when we got our first snow). Sure feels strange to be mounting snow tires in 60 degree weather.

I picked up some DuPont teflon + wax lube for the chain. I put some on Sunday, and another squirt today, wiping down afterwards, trying to wick out some of the dirty oil. I'm hoping the dry lube will help a bit in not picking up quite so much crud in the winter. It's probably a vain hope, but it's something to try, and practically any experiment is worth $5.

Some day I'll have to build a dedicated winter commuter bike; 8 speed internally geared hub, full wrap chain guard, disc brakes, pogies, etc.

Data: rear Nokian mounted, odometer 8459