I’ve mentioned several times in this blog my issues with the rear tire and derailleur clearance. Since I’m giving my poor sore butt a bit of a break today and sort of taking it easy (not that the ride lengths the last few days don’t count as taking it easy anyway), I finally got around to swapping the front and rear tire.

I’m using marathon greenguards front and back. I’ve always had good luck with them on previous tours, thought I’ve mostly been running a 26” marathon cross on my Bacchetta giro 20 since it has more notable tread. As you know if you’ve been reading along, I put a 1.75x406 in the rear before I left. I’d checked the derailleur clearance ( the long cage hangs WAY down on my 20” wheel into the sidewalls) and it looked just fine. You’ll also know that when I checked two days ago I discovered the detail had been hitting the tire in the lowest gear no matter which front chainring I used.

Back to swapping the tires. It was easier than I expected. It can be hard to get a greenguard back on the tire due to the tight wire bead. I only swore in German once this time and I did not knick my hands on anything. That right there counts as a good day.

Once on and the tire pumped up I reinstalled the wheels and shifted down to the lowest gear. Crap. The derailleur was tight up against the tire. That’s not right. It was never like that before. I’ve ridden with a 1.5” in the back all but the week before I left and it always cleared. So I did some tinkering. It looks like somehow the low limit screw was allowing the default to overshift onto the lowest gear in the rear. It wasn’t over shifting into the spokes simply because the tire was in place. It’s possible when I removed the derailleur for packing purposes that a spacer could have fallen off, but I’m not convinced of that. I had to turn the screw way in, hard to do with the screwdriver on a pocket knife. At the moment I now have sufficient clearance. While it’s possible the cage is slightly bent, I think that’s doubtful. I was careful about how I packed it and it doesn’t look bent when sighting straight on. It’s also possible that I’m somewhat cross threaded. My Allen wrench isn’t quite long enough to easily screw the derailleur on. My fault for not bringing one with from my tool kit at home. I’ll give it a try today here around Bozen as I explore along the rivers and see if it starts rubbing again. If it does I’ll search out a bike store to have them tinker with it. 

And finally, someone in the neigh has a baby who is NOT having a pleasant morning. There is nothing quite like a screaming child accompanying your work on a derailleur to put you in a great frame of mind.