Post by captslog on Jun 9, 2014 8:30:18 GMT
As I posted on the 'What have you bought now" thread, I bought some wheels, a new cassette, and a new chain. I thought I'd let you know how I got on.
The wheels arrived last. It took four deliveries before they got it right, the courier failed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and they finally arrived on Thursday. I was pleased to find that they were in good nick, I was getting worried about how much abuse they would have suffered ion the back of the van.
I thought I'd have a new cassette while I was changing the wheel, the other one was looking a bit nasty, and I found that the teeth had very sharp edges, from which I deduced "wear". I understand that if the cassette is worn, then the chain probably is too, so one of those was also waiting for the wheel upgrade.
I've never fitted a cassette before. So I read the instructions and found it needed a torque wrench which luckily I have. The cassette is lock in place with sort of knurled faced ring, so when it tightens up, it's not meant to come off in a hurry, but neither does it go on smoothly. It takes quite a bit of grunt to achieve the right torque and it sort of clunks into place which feels alarming.
With the cassette on, it was a quick job to change the tyres. They went onto the new rims even easier than they did the old ones which i wouldn't have beleived. Both wheel in the bike and shiny casstte, it started to look nice.
Next the chain. I'd taken the old one off and I hung it with the new one by nailing them to the shed door through the first link. This way I knew I couldn't get it wrong when I made the cut. Yup, that's worn all right! The old chain was half a link longer than the new one over the same number of links.
Fitted the new chain, checked I could get most the gears and off I went to try it out. HORRIBLE! It was as rattly as a bag of spanners, and I was beginning to curse the fact that I'd gone for a 9speed chain. A bit of adjustment helped but it still wasn't nice.
I went for a ride with my son, and he thought it looked like we'd got the chain length wrong, as it was very tight on the large cogs. But he knew this wasn't so, because he was there when it was cut. We did a quick 8 miles with the gears rattling and jumping and the whole thing feeling like hard work. Disappointed.
the next day I put the bike on the rollers so we could see what was going on. Felt very foolish to find that I had routed the chain wrongly through the rear cage, somehow managing to go over part of it before it went over the jockey wheel. BURK. There are now score marks in the this bit of the cage, but no lasting damage.
With the chain rerouted it sounds really nice, still not completely adjusted, but fast and easy changes.
Last night we went around our usual route which is 13 miles. The best average we've managed until now was 19mph, and this time we did it at 20. New wheels? maybe.
sorry this got long. thanks for sticking with it 'til now if you did.
The wheels arrived last. It took four deliveries before they got it right, the courier failed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and they finally arrived on Thursday. I was pleased to find that they were in good nick, I was getting worried about how much abuse they would have suffered ion the back of the van.
I thought I'd have a new cassette while I was changing the wheel, the other one was looking a bit nasty, and I found that the teeth had very sharp edges, from which I deduced "wear". I understand that if the cassette is worn, then the chain probably is too, so one of those was also waiting for the wheel upgrade.
I've never fitted a cassette before. So I read the instructions and found it needed a torque wrench which luckily I have. The cassette is lock in place with sort of knurled faced ring, so when it tightens up, it's not meant to come off in a hurry, but neither does it go on smoothly. It takes quite a bit of grunt to achieve the right torque and it sort of clunks into place which feels alarming.
With the cassette on, it was a quick job to change the tyres. They went onto the new rims even easier than they did the old ones which i wouldn't have beleived. Both wheel in the bike and shiny casstte, it started to look nice.
Next the chain. I'd taken the old one off and I hung it with the new one by nailing them to the shed door through the first link. This way I knew I couldn't get it wrong when I made the cut. Yup, that's worn all right! The old chain was half a link longer than the new one over the same number of links.
Fitted the new chain, checked I could get most the gears and off I went to try it out. HORRIBLE! It was as rattly as a bag of spanners, and I was beginning to curse the fact that I'd gone for a 9speed chain. A bit of adjustment helped but it still wasn't nice.
I went for a ride with my son, and he thought it looked like we'd got the chain length wrong, as it was very tight on the large cogs. But he knew this wasn't so, because he was there when it was cut. We did a quick 8 miles with the gears rattling and jumping and the whole thing feeling like hard work. Disappointed.
the next day I put the bike on the rollers so we could see what was going on. Felt very foolish to find that I had routed the chain wrongly through the rear cage, somehow managing to go over part of it before it went over the jockey wheel. BURK. There are now score marks in the this bit of the cage, but no lasting damage.
With the chain rerouted it sounds really nice, still not completely adjusted, but fast and easy changes.
Last night we went around our usual route which is 13 miles. The best average we've managed until now was 19mph, and this time we did it at 20. New wheels? maybe.
sorry this got long. thanks for sticking with it 'til now if you did.