Sep 24 2008
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue
About halfway in to laying another coat of mastik on the new rims and tires, I was thinking that it would be nice if tubular glue came in different scents. Patchouli, Luscious Lavender, Outrageous Orange and of course, Minty Fresh!
How many layers of glue do you want on? 8? 9?
Then I opened the door to air the garage out and it all went away.
Final bits of work on the bike. I’ll finish up with the 3rd glue coat tonight and mount tomorrow. I’m anxious to get them out to the park to try them out.
Also got a new shifter cable set and bar tape. Couple slices in the tape from last fall that I just let go. Might as well get a new roll on.
The rear derailleur has been shifting like hell. I haven’t been able to solve this. Whenever I shift in in an opposite direction (up to down or vice versa), it seems to take an extra primer shift before it’ll move. After that, it works fine. No amount of barrel adjustment will get it to work. Strange. I changed the cable only this summer when it first started but that didn’t affect it. Also took off the rear derailleur, cleaned it thoroughly, and re-lubed. Still no change. That leaves a few possibilities: dirty/fouled cable housing (possible), broken shifter (unlikely), or broken derailleur (also unlikely). Other than that, I’m out of ideas.
I’m finally rested up. Got some drills planned today during lunch at a nearby park. Mostly dismounts and remounts. I was hopping up and slamming down way too hard on the rear wheel at the Peak race. Need to clean that up. I’m not really near anywhere I can do decent off-camber and uphill work. Those are at a park closer to home.
Mike,
With regard to the shifting I suggest replacing the housing at the same time you replace the inner cable. Make sure to use Shimano “SP-41″ housing. Bike n Hike has it. It’s use is mandatory for 10 speed systems, highly recommended for 9 speed systems. The SP-41 has lube inside all through out the entire housing. Where as older Shimano housing only had lube at one end. I usually recommend new housing and cables once a year on road bikes and twice a season on cross bikes if continually raced in muddy conditions.
Yeah, I picked up the SP-41 housing & cable kit yesterday. It’ll go on Friday.
I’ve been in denial about what to replace on this bike this year. It’s only 1 season old (6 cross races), only 1 of which was pretty messy (Hillsboro).
So I’ve had this thought that there’s no way stuff could get fouled up that fast.
Looks like I”m wrong.