April 2, 2014
Gearing Up the Actual Gears
For people who are riding really extended tours, there would be no compulsion to pull their bikes apart after a mere 4000 km. But we are compulsive, and after what seems to be becoming our standard 90 days and 4000-5000 km we feel like we ought to seriously refurbish the bikes.
Normally this has included new tires and tubes, resulting in a pile of barely worn old ones that we tell ourselves we will use for rides around home. Also, we swap out brake pads, chains, cassettes, cranks, and sometimes cables. Crazy, eh?
One advantage of this wasteful replacement of stuff is that cleaning is made easy. It's easy to have a shiny crank when it's a new crank!
This time, because we had left little time between the end of the Southern Tier and the departure for Montreal and Paris, I ordered a pile of stuff from on the road. Unfortunately, probably due to reduced brain function when touring, I made some subtle but serious errors.
Take, for example,the cassettes. Our gearing is 8 speed and we use 11-32 teeth. So that's how I ordered it. Vendors seldom list exactly what lies between the 11 and the 32, but how far wrong can you go? Hah! Look at the photo below. Do you see much difference? It took Dodie about 2 seconds to denounce the one of the left. The thing is, it has 11/12/14/16/18/21/25/32 teeth, while the other is 11/13/16/18/21/24/28/32. Do you see it now?
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Yes, the one on the left has one fewer "bigger" rings. That is, one fewer "low" gears. You don't take a low gear, any low gear, away from Dodie and get away with it!
How about another error. The maximum range of our gearing is from 22 in front to 32 rear. So when I felt my rear derailleur was no longer delivering good shifting, I ordered the SRAM x-4, which is advertised as handling that range. Wrong! SRAM shifters work on a 1:1 click distance relationship, between the trigger shifter up front and the derailleur. My trigger shifter is a 1:2 Shimano. oops.
Taking a bike really apart is a bit demoralizing, as the elegant steed becomes a pile of greasy junk. But building it back up is equally encouraging, and the final adjustment of the gleaming new parts is a joy.
The same goes for the rest of the gear. At first you have a floor (and counter) covered in an explosion of who knows what. Then after a time it is reorganized and back together, and you can fine tune that last little bit.
Here is the bike, deep in despair:
But here they are, ready to go!
Similarly, the floor and counter are now ours again:
But, but, the maps are still nowhere! In fact, the route shown in the previous post is nowhere. OK, most of it is intact. But tomorrow, watch for a major revision.
Preview: The Inn is back in!
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