Frank
07-08-2007, 10:15 PM
as in f-l-a-t (can't bring myself to use the word, don't want to jinx myself and folks who read this), is a blessing in disguise ;)
I went for a ride yesterday evening and when I got home I got everything ready for an early morning ride today. Had a friend coming through who wanted to meet for late breakfast on his way from TX back to NE, so I didn't have much time anyway. When I got out to the garage a bit later than I wanted, I started rolling the bike out of the stand and had a f-l-a-t rear tire. I started to fix it and go, but then the cell phone rang, he was ahead of schedule, so I decided to leave it til this afternoon.
When I took the tire off, I found a piece of fine steel from a truck tire had penetrated the tire and punctured the tube. I counted myself as fortunate I got home with no flat last evening. I replaced the tube and even put a new tire on since this had been on a while and was worn pretty good. It was then that I noticed the cassette felt loose. I had not noticed that when I built the bike up or since, but it may have been this way all along. It is a 9 speed Ultegra cassette on an older 36 spoke MA40 wheelset I built up.
As I was checking stuff out, I measured the MA40 vs an Open Pro and looks like the hub thing that the cassette slides on is longer on the MA40 than on the OP. I checked the lockring and it was tight, so I guess the longer spindle was keeping the cassette from locking down, thus the movement.
I checked out the cassette and cleaned it and it seemed fine. I decided then to go ahead and put a new set of OP black rimmed and spoked wheels on (they look nice with the red Paramount and black bar tape, saddle, and cages) and with new tubes and new tires and new wheels the Paramount is ready to go again.
I had not noticed any shifting problems when riding, but the cassette was certainly moving around. Don't know if it would have eventually caused a problem, but I took this as a reminder to do more frequent on-going maintenance.
I went for a ride yesterday evening and when I got home I got everything ready for an early morning ride today. Had a friend coming through who wanted to meet for late breakfast on his way from TX back to NE, so I didn't have much time anyway. When I got out to the garage a bit later than I wanted, I started rolling the bike out of the stand and had a f-l-a-t rear tire. I started to fix it and go, but then the cell phone rang, he was ahead of schedule, so I decided to leave it til this afternoon.
When I took the tire off, I found a piece of fine steel from a truck tire had penetrated the tire and punctured the tube. I counted myself as fortunate I got home with no flat last evening. I replaced the tube and even put a new tire on since this had been on a while and was worn pretty good. It was then that I noticed the cassette felt loose. I had not noticed that when I built the bike up or since, but it may have been this way all along. It is a 9 speed Ultegra cassette on an older 36 spoke MA40 wheelset I built up.
As I was checking stuff out, I measured the MA40 vs an Open Pro and looks like the hub thing that the cassette slides on is longer on the MA40 than on the OP. I checked the lockring and it was tight, so I guess the longer spindle was keeping the cassette from locking down, thus the movement.
I checked out the cassette and cleaned it and it seemed fine. I decided then to go ahead and put a new set of OP black rimmed and spoked wheels on (they look nice with the red Paramount and black bar tape, saddle, and cages) and with new tubes and new tires and new wheels the Paramount is ready to go again.
I had not noticed any shifting problems when riding, but the cassette was certainly moving around. Don't know if it would have eventually caused a problem, but I took this as a reminder to do more frequent on-going maintenance.