So there I was minding my own business bike-commuting most of the summer. It's not a long ride by any stretch, but with usually going out over lunch for errands and stuff, it didn't take long to get a few hundred more miles in since I started up againg around June. I just got back from the UK after renewing my visa (which took aound a month, worse luck), and have been enjoying a reasonably consistent if somewhat unpredictable Colorado summer.

Enter the point. The other day, I noticed that my back wheel appeared to be out of alignment, which I just put down to curb-hopping knocking the spindle off-center. However, no amount of adjusting made any difference, so off to the bike shop it was. I just took the whole thing down there (19" Giant Rincon 21spd w/ front Suntour shocks and some aftermarket junk) so I could explain some of the other stuff such as chain hop, gear slip etc that was doing me no favors when I have to hack it around town with the rest of the traffic. They told me that the wheel was no problem, but as for the drivetrain issues, it came as a bit of a surprise when they told me that the chain and rear cassette were utterly gone and that I was now in the market for replacements whether I liked it or not.

So I think I've managed to get some good out of this - I never really had a problem with the ratios, though I have had to accept the limitations on the street of maxxing out a little lower than I'd like. Therefore, I've got them installing a Shimano 30-11 cassette, which trumps my factory 28-13 at both ends. The granny gear was never much of an issue for me (did Vail Pass in June from Breckenridge with no real gear woes), but I'm looking forward to the 15% gain at the higher end!

I'll be getting it back Monday or Tuesday after a full tune, both wheels trued and all the drivetrain upgrades, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the difference is - should be substantial after nearly 700 miles with no routine maintenance! Guess that's the lesson there, though were I under any other circumstances, I would have probably thought harder about dumping $$$ into it. For as much as I get on well with it, it feels about as light as a photocopier some days, and I'm getting more tempted by a full-shock frame with rear lockout with every passing day.....

Ah, it just gets better!

In keeping with the customary tradition of paying the price for avoiding maintenance, I had to return the bike to the shop today, after experiencing rather nasty chain hop during power-ups. We went through a lot of things, before zero-ing in on the front chain ring, which has also got eaten away by the ever-expanding chain that I've been paying no attention too.

But the factory Giant set is a 'sealed unit', which means that I'm looking at a whole new crank assembly. That'll be going on next week, and should (better) cure the petulant chain issues.

I was a bit bummed, because they couldn't get a 11 tooth cassette onto my freewheeling hub, so I had to stick with the 13. No point going up to a 12, since they already had the 13 on there.

I'll be up at the Denver Moonlight Classic this weekend - don't worry, I'll skip the usual 'I'll be the one on the bike' - this will be my first time, and apparently there's thousands of riders - which comes as more than a shock to everyone staggering out of the downtown bars around 2am!

My lesson learned - anything mechanical needs care - but I'll sure as hell know what I want if I ever decide to go custom!

U need to stop doing burnouts and grabbin second with those mud tires. IT will tear the chain and sprocket up.

get a 20" bmx street bike and learn how to do manuals( bunny hop, and never let your front tire hit the ground, w/o pedaling until you drop off again)curbs, stairs and misc things. do some grinds, ie feeble, back peg, doubles. your bike will weigh in at about 37 pounds and i PROMISE you that it will be 5x's the work out. a built bike thats built right will run you about 1000.00 and it wont let you done for yrs and yrs..

This message has been edited. Last edited by: brokenUjoint,

I'm not a mountain biker, but am an avid road biker. Let's see the last set of "repairs" i did cost me about oh $800. I was looking at about $150 bucks to put me at rideable conditions, but that was by no means where i wanted to be. So i went all out. The only thing that went unchanged on the bike was the cranks, pedals, and handlebars. I bought brand new Cane Creek aero rims, Hutchinson Fusion Comp tires, Shimano Dura Ace down tube shifters 9 speed cassette and front deraileur, Shimano Ultegra rear deraileur and brakes, and a Velo Crossbow seat. I decided to keep the Campagnolo cranks and chain rings and the Look clip on pedals. I can't even describe how nice this bike looks, feels, and rides. It's just amazing. And for all you mountain bikers, faster than you could dream of(on road). However, if I did take it off pavement, assuming i made it more than 10 feet the thing would probably fall to pieces. Nonetheless I love it, and when I'm not driving my '97 TJ, which is in the shop by the way, I'm passing cars that are going 20mph in traffic.

I think I see that happening to my road bike(s) in the next few weeks also. On the way to one of the last races of the season I lost the outer part of a look 247 pedal on my TT bike. I liked those pedals, cheap/light/functional. Darn thing just fell apart and off the back of the Jeep. Guess I should have checked it before I left for the race.

Well, had the road bike with me that day, so before the TT I just swapped on one of its matching look 247s, no problem. Did both races that day and went home.

So then I go and look for another pair of 247s to replace my busted on on the R600 cannondale/converted to TT bike. Out of production now. All other look's are kinda dorky looking or really expensive with no gain in functionality. So ok, I see the NEW look pedal design. Lower profile cleat, carbon/abs pedal. That sounds good, I can handle that for the Road Race bike (7-Up team edition frame CAAD5 cannondale, campy zonda wheels, ultegra gruppo), I'll just swap those on at $250 for the pair. Oh wait, now the cleats don't match. Either get another pair of shoes or another set of the $250 pedals for the training bike (the one that gets all of the abuse, miles, and is the TT bike when needed). Well, its going to have to be the pedals, I like having the same shoes until I wear them out.

Hmm, $50 pedals went out of production so I'm looking at $500 to fix the problem. Makes perfect sense.

And I still need to rebuild the mountain bike for some races this year. And loose 30 lbs, at least that's cheap, just don't eat so much.

Jason

TJChuck - you didn't go for integrated shifters this time round? Dunno if they're a pain to retro-fit or not, though. I'm used to down-tube shifters on my old road bikes, though I've recently picked up a touring bike with a pair of integrated shifters. I'm looking forward to seeing how they fare, though the snow and crappy temperatures aren't helping, as aren't the lack of pedals or headset work. I've got the feeling that simply due to their location, they'll be better for mid-speed shifting, as opposed to any stop-light quick getaways....

I priced out the Shimano STI brake lever shifters and decided that they were a bit too much for this particular round of upgrades. I really like the look of the downtube shifters as well. Also, my roommate has a Lemond Victoire with all Shimano Dura Ace on it, and to tell you the truth my shifters engage alot quicker than his do. I might change over eventually for the conveniance factor, but all that was before i bought my jeep.... bike upgrades have now taken a back seat to Jeep upgrades. I also want to get a carbon fiber fork and threadless headset. but like i said Jeep is coming first for now.

I'll take the integrated hands down (though I did have a 105 STI unit fail on me during race, just plain quit working).

Not having to move your hands in a tight pack(75-100 riders) is nice, being able to shift during a sprint is nice too.

Jason

yeah, heard on the not having to move your hands in a tight pack. However, I don't do any competitive riding, so that's not really an issue. One of these days when I actually have some money to spend on my TJ and my bike I'll probably end up throwing down the cash for a Trek full carbon fiber.

Those Trek's are sweet. A good bit of my club gets them for nearly nothing, but then again they are just about pro's.

I'm not sure I'd still ride the road bike if I wasn't racing. Dealing with cars/traffic really isn't my thing. If I just wanted to ride I'd get the MTB out and hit the trails.

BTW, have you tried riding the new shimano integrated XTR MTB shifters? They are an odd beast to get used to. Not sure what I think of them yet.

Jason