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The New Old Crank Set

12.27.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

As we neared the end of the year, some issues with my bike started cropping up. Because I am me, I immediately diagnosed them as problems with the front derailleur. Because I am me, my diagnosis was 100 percent wrong.

The problem was a noise — a sort of a creak — that started whenever I pedaled in the small chain ring. When I shifted to the big ring, it was quiet. On a club ride two weekends ago, I spent as much time as possible in the big ring, just to keep from hearing the noise. But some hills were involved in that ride, and riders near me were treated to a “creak — creak — creak” noise whenever I applied power or started climbing.

I dropped it off with our club’s bike mechanic, who was surprised to be seeing me again so soon. He’d just done some work on my rear derailleur. The next day, he sent me his verdict: bad crank arm and bottom bracket. My mind  brought up memories of  an incident that happened on a New Year’s Day ride. My left crank arm fell off. Having to tighten it before each ride after that got old fast, so I got some blue Loc-Tite and smeared it into place. Once it cured, no more crank arm problems.

Don's crank set.

I was pleased about that, because I liked this setup. Guest blogger Don Blount had sent me the crank set after I’d posted about needing 172.5 mm cranks instead of the 175s that came with the bike. The shorter crank arms let me deliver more power to the pedals. But it turns out my fix was only temporary, and in the long run it did damage. The bike mech summed it up:

“The noise issue appears to have been started by a degrading crank.  The non-drive crank arm appears to have worked loose over time.  This damaged both the crank arm by wallowing out the splines and, because it allowed for play on the crank, ended up damaging the non-drive bearing on the bottom bracket.”

The only way to fix the problem, he said, was to replace both the crank and bottom bracket. Yech. But I had a solution, sitting right in the garage — the original crank set and bottom bracket that came with the bike.

The original.

He put them on, and I was rolling again the next day.

Because Christmas intervened, and we were out of town for five days, I haven’t ridden it much yet. I have gone out on some short rides with my wife, and really pushed hard today when we did Veloway laps. I will have to lower the seat a bit — maybe not the full 2.5 mm the new cranks have added to my pedal stroke, but enough to keep that twinge away from my knee — and futz with the saddle, because lowering it means I have to put it back a bit, too. Heck, I haven’t had the bike fitted for almost two years. Maybe it’s time to do it right and make an appointment to get it done right.

—–

Click to embiggen.

Christmas was a modest affair around our house. Pat set a low gift expense limit, so neither of us went overboard, but we both got what we wanted. I got some new wool socks, because I like the ones I have so much. But these are truly high-tech socks. They’re even sized for each foot. And they tell you which one, right on the toe. Makes me feel like being in kindergarten again, when we had red ribbons tied to our right shoe so we would be able to learn left from right.

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Categories // Accessories, Equipment, Maintenance Tags // clothing, cranksets, repair

“I Need a New Bike”

11.22.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

A little scene happened on our Sunday club ride that I think lots of riders can relate to. (Names have been changed to protect the writer of this blog).

I sat down at one of the tables outside the Starbucks where we begin our rides. Two women came over to me.

“Hi,” said one. “I’m Lanie, and I’m going on the B ride today. This is my friend, Melanie.”

Melanie wore a jersey from a well-known bicycle training studio.

Lanie turned out to be the wife of one of our club’s A riders, Milt. But she hadn’t ridden much on her own. Melanie was there to lend moral support. The ride would be on a rural road with rolling hills. I welcomed them both, and promised that the ride would not be too fast for them.

As usual, the pack held together for the first few miles, and Lanie and Melanie did a nice job of hanging with it. Both were well ahead of me. But I caught up to them at a stoplight that everyone else had managed to miss. From there on out, we made a compact group, along with Brad, another B rider.

We reached the rollers. Lanie dropped off the pace. She had trouble climbing the hills. At one point, a sheriff’s patrol car caught up to us, passed me, and sat behind Lanie as she struggled up another hill. We were barely traveling at walking speed. I shifted down to my easiest gear to maintain my position behind the squad car. The deputy was very patient behind Lanie, and finally turned off on the first side road that we reached.

“I thought he was going to ticket you for riding too slow,” I joked.

“I know,” she exclaimed. “These hills are killing me.”

The rest of our ride — about a 30-mile round trip — went smoothly. Melanie showed she could leave us behind whenever she wanted, but mostly stayed back with Lanie. With only three miles to go, we had to negotiate two tough hills in a semi-suburban neighborhood. When I told Lanie we had just climbed the last hill, she didn’t believe me.

Back at Starbuck’s, Lanie talked about her riding.

“That was a hills route,” she said. “Milt told me it was mostly flat, with some easy rollers. If I’m going to keep riding routes like that, I need a new bike.”

“What kind do you have?” I asked. I hadn’t paid close attention to what she was riding. She did a double take.

“I don’t know,” she answered.

“What kind of drivetrain do you have?” I continued.

She stared at me. Melanie jumped up and went over to the bike. Lanie followed. In a minute, they were back.

“It’s a Specialized Dolce with a triple chainring, Shimano 105,” Melanie said.

“It’s got a carbon fork, and a carbon seatpost,” Lanie added.

“Well, that’s a decent bike,” I responded. “Your drivetrain is one level up from mine.”

“I’ve got about 250 miles on it,” said Lanie. “Milt says when I reach 1,000 miles, we can talk about a new bike.”

“You don’t need a new bike,” Melanie chimed in. “Just ride more. And ride more hills.”

“Ugh. I’m too old for that,” said Lanie. “This getting old is for the birds.” (She later admitted to mid-50s.)

The A riders started to arrive. When Milt pulled in and sat down, we told him about Lanie’s new bike strategy.

“That’s fine,” he said. “When you get 5,000 miles on it, we’ll talk about a new one.”

We all laughed, and Lanie grimaced. Melanie mentioned riding hills more again. I sipped my egg nog latte and mused about the common desire cyclists get after they’ve ridden awhile. A new bike will solve everything.

I don’t need a new bike. I’d like one, of course, but I don’t need one. We have better things to spend our money on now anyway. But I remembered that I’ve been in Lanie’s shoes before. Almost as soon as I started riding, I decided that with the “right” equipment, I could become pretty good. I pored through catalogs and bike company websites, drooling over carbon fiber wonder bikes that weighed a feather and sped like rockets. But I learned that it’s not the bike, it’s the engine.

I’m sure Lanie will get a new bike one of these days. She’ll take it out and ride the rollers with us again. And she’ll find that regardless of the level of equipment she has, the rollers are still hard.

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Categories // Bikes, Equipment Tags // Bikes

Another New Saddle

10.13.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 1 Comment

After being reasonably happy with my WTB Speed V for about a year, it went and fell apart on me. I decided the quick and easy way to repair it was to wrap it with duct tape. Great in theory, but it fell short in practice. The pumping motion of my pedaling legs caused the tape to bunch up. I took one 30-mile ride on the taped saddle, and really felt it afterwards. I figured I’d have to shop for a new saddle.

But then, pulling into the garage, I saw the answer right in front of my eyes. My old Raleigh had a saddle that was almost new. I took pilfered it from the unused 10-speed and put it on the Specialized.

The saddle is a F0rte Classic. Forte, of course, is the house brand of Performance Bicycle, the nationwide chain. I had bought it back in 2007, when the saddle I had on the Raleigh proved to be too uncomfortable. But after riding the Forte on my first metric century, it was evident I’d made a bad move. My bottom suffered during that ride. A few months after, I bought my current bike and forgot about the Forte.

At first blush, it might prove to be a good replacement for the WTB. Performance bills the Classic as “ideal” for long rides. After my metric experience, I was skeptical at best. But I’ve ridden it several times, rides of 15-20 miles, and it seems to be pretty good.

Why the difference?  I believe it all has to do with bike fit. That Raleigh’s frame is a bit too large for me, and I had never been fitted for that bike, anyway. But I did get a professional fitting for the Specialized, and I kept the key dimensions handy just in case I did have to make adjustments to the saddle. It’s amazing how different a perch can feel when the rest of your body is in a comfortable position.

The Classic has semi-soft padding all around, which I like. I don’t do well with the hard, skinny, racing-style saddles. It also has a center cutout, which I can take or leave. I’ve ridden with and without cutouts, and in my case, they don’t seem to make much difference. I think it has only about 250 miles on it, so it’s just like new.

With the weekend coming up, I’ll be getting out for some longer rides than I’ve subjected the saddle to so far. We’ll see if it lives up to its billing as a long-distance saddle. However it turns out, you can be sure I’ll let you know in a future post.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // saddle

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