More Bicycle Maintenance
It’s never ending this bicycle maintenance malarky. Just before Xmas I took my bike into the shop for a service. I wanted to get the forks serviced so thought I’d let them give everything else a once over as well. Turned out that the forks were beyond repair so I had to get some new ones. there was no point spending £179 on the same pair as before when I could upgrade to a better pair for £199, so with that and the service I ended up coughing up £300!
The new forks are better though, but nothing else seems that great. the brakes are the same as before, I needed a new drive chain as mine was badly worn and there is definitely something wrong with the rear hub. I had asked them to service this but it doesn’t seem right. The ‘locknut’ on the non-drive side can be turned by hand. if i tighten it by hand then the hub feels awful and barely turns, if I loosen it a little then there is some play in the hub… Time for a new rear wheel??
I was then forced a couple of days ago to buy a complete new drive chain (3 chain-rings, a cassette and a new chain). Mine was so badly worn that the chain was about to snap and wouldn’t release properly from the hooked chain-ring teeth. Another £125! These arrived yesterday so I spent the afternoon putting them on the bike, giving it a good clean and sorting out any other bits I could.
The new drive chain went on without a hitch. I then tried fitting some new brake pads (which should be an easy task), but no matter how I tried they just wouldn’t seem to fit. It seems as though the pads themselves are just too thick so by the time they are in, there just isn’t enough room for the rotor to fit between them? In the end I had to put one new pad in and the least worn of the old pads. The rotor still rubbed a bit, but I think the rotor maybe a little bent too…. Arghhhhh! By the time I get a new rear wheel, some brake pads that fit and a new rotor I could have bought a new bike!… Now there’s an idea!
