Can't believe the damage

chewa

I replaced my geartrain at the weekend (new chain, cassette, outer two chainrings) and spent a bit of time setting the indexing up. (I use a Shimergo set up, shimano cassette, campag veloce mechs and ergo levers, stronglight chainset)

I didn't ride the bike yesterday after finishing but took it for my commute. I noticed that the chain was a bit long (I'd not shortened it to suit my touring/commuting gearing) but made a mental note to shorten it later and rode only on my outer ring.

Got onto George street this morning and the back wheel locked up.
It appears the mech had siezed so not folded back, and with the combination of this and longer chain, the chain snagged the spokes and dragged the mech in.

Bike not rideable so i walked it to work and got a lift home.

The damage was incredible : The mech had twisted enough to allow the chain to bypass the upper jockey wheel and pop out the side! The gearhanger was bent (the frame is a 531c with campag ends) and the wheel slot had opened up as the wheel had twisted. One broken spoke.

So I've just spent an hour and a half tonight replacing the spoke ( I build my own wheels), and using some judicious bending (hammer assisted) to get everything back straight. Stripped the mech and lubed everything so it is now working fine, then adjusting.

Was a bit of a pain but i want to do Edinburgh St Andrews on Saturday and my other bikes have much higher gearing.

Did bring it home to me that if the frame had been ali or carbon might have been a write off. All for a simple mechanical issue!

Mark_K

Be thankfull you are capable of doing your own repairs to that standerd for a lot of people that would have be expensive :shock:

alan_sherman

And for me yesterday: Spoke broke in rear wheel causing a wobble. I thought I'd just ride on it to get home. However the bucjke caused the brake blocks to rub on the tyre and cause a blow out.. So a new tyre needed plus a puncture repair.

Note to self - release brake next time and ensure the tyre is not rrubbing on anything.

don_don

Bummer

Shame you weren't riding fixed

chewa

don_don wrote:

Bummer

Shame you weren't riding fixed

Currently have an old Holdsworth frame in mid fixed/s/s build up for next winter.