This just in from VeloNews:
Belgian cyclist Bjorn Leukemans was handed a two-year ban by the Flemish anti-doping authorities Thursday following his positive test for testosterone.
Leukemans tested positive for the banned performance enhancer at an out-of-competition test on September 26, four days prior to the world championship road race in Stuttgart, where he finished 13th.
That's big news. I mean, you NEVER hear of cyclists using performance-enhancing drugs let alone failing drug tests. What the hell is this sport coming to?
Thursday, January 24
Sunday, January 13
Chain Stretch Already?
So, a few things.
First, I finally spent a few bucks on a workstand (to be totally honest, I bought it with a pair of gift certificates) and, god almighty, that thing has changed my life. How has it changed my life?
It was only a few weeks ago that I asked Trek Tommy to take a gander at my bike considering the vibration I was getting in the top two or three tallest gears. For the longest time the issue had me stumped--had me stumped for months, actually--but not five minutes after mounting my ride on my new Spin Doctor Race Repair stand (these companies really should be paying me for all the free advertising I’ve been giving them via this well-read blog page), I realized upon close inspection that the chain wasn’t fully seated on the chainring, meaning there was a fair amount of space between the chain and the concave space between the teeth on the chainring.
Know what I mean, Vern?
Afterward, I spent the remainder of the night wondering exactly what would cause such an issue. Not one to be outsmarted by a few tubes of carbon and some Japanese components, I hopped online and posted a note on Google Groups, the rec.bicycles.misc group, specifically.
(If you want to go ahead and check it out for yourself, CLICK HERE. I’ve always found it useful to post tech questions, but it also allows you to search for information--any type of cycling information for which you might be looking.)
Anyway, two gents posted replies explaining that my issue sounded like my chain had stretched to the point where it was no longer engaging the chainrings properly and so for the first time in my cycling career, I decided to gauge the chain length.
I know. I’m a goddam genius.
I had always heard you could use a ruler or a tape measure and that if you held one end of the ruler to the center of a rivet on the chain that the opposite end of the ruler--exactly twelve inches--should align against the center of another rivet. When the end of my ruler was nowhere near a rivet, I realized I was dealing with a worn chain.
(Now if someone had told me chains wear after only 4,000 miles, then I probably would have thought of this sooner.)
Regardless, I hiked it over to Toga Bikes on 64th and West End Avenue (quite the goddam shop they have there) for a new Dura-Ace chain and the guy behind the counter recommended a new cassette as well, but rather than drop $209 on a Dura-Ace 10-speed cassette, I spent $70 on the 105 cassette. Do I need to be that much lighter? Probably not.
Anyway, it worked out perfectly as I had recently bought a folding chain-breaking tool when I bought the work stand, so I was ready to do what I had to do. Removed the rear wheel, removed the old, grease-covered cassette (which did look as though some teeth were more worn than others), installed the sparkling new 105 cassette, and then tackled the chain.
I now realize that disassembling and assembling a new chain is actually quite simple. I’d imagine that most bike repair is proably as simple, but that’s beside the point. At first, I simply installed the new chain but it wasn’t until I shifted onto the small chainring did I realize I was going to need to remove some links to make the whole package work properly.
No sweat. The Park Tools web site is a terrific resource for tech issues and it explained the procedure perfectly--measure the proper length for the chain from the smallest cog and the small chain ring, make sure the chain isn’t rubbing against the bottom portion of the pulleys, and you’re set.
The one small error I made was when I installed the rivet. I think I might have went a quarter-turn too tight as that link was rather stiff and I had to work it up and down with a fair amount of lube before it wanted to work correctly. Speaking of which, I should check that later tonight.
And I’m still having crank-creaking issues. After my last group ride on SI, I loosened and re-tightened all the bolts on the crank arms, but I’m still getting noise, so I have to tackle that again, yet I’m feeling so good from the chain-changing success, I feel that maybe I’ll take apart the bottom bracket, clean and lube, and then put that f#cker back together.
Finally, I recently learned of another cycling blog that’s pretty damn entertaining. It’s a local guy and when it comes to bloggers, especially cycling-specific bloggers, you could do a lot worse, so I recommend you give this guy a shot and check out his page, which is www.bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com.
First, I finally spent a few bucks on a workstand (to be totally honest, I bought it with a pair of gift certificates) and, god almighty, that thing has changed my life. How has it changed my life?
It was only a few weeks ago that I asked Trek Tommy to take a gander at my bike considering the vibration I was getting in the top two or three tallest gears. For the longest time the issue had me stumped--had me stumped for months, actually--but not five minutes after mounting my ride on my new Spin Doctor Race Repair stand (these companies really should be paying me for all the free advertising I’ve been giving them via this well-read blog page), I realized upon close inspection that the chain wasn’t fully seated on the chainring, meaning there was a fair amount of space between the chain and the concave space between the teeth on the chainring.
Know what I mean, Vern?
Afterward, I spent the remainder of the night wondering exactly what would cause such an issue. Not one to be outsmarted by a few tubes of carbon and some Japanese components, I hopped online and posted a note on Google Groups, the rec.bicycles.misc group, specifically.
(If you want to go ahead and check it out for yourself, CLICK HERE. I’ve always found it useful to post tech questions, but it also allows you to search for information--any type of cycling information for which you might be looking.)
Anyway, two gents posted replies explaining that my issue sounded like my chain had stretched to the point where it was no longer engaging the chainrings properly and so for the first time in my cycling career, I decided to gauge the chain length.
I know. I’m a goddam genius.
I had always heard you could use a ruler or a tape measure and that if you held one end of the ruler to the center of a rivet on the chain that the opposite end of the ruler--exactly twelve inches--should align against the center of another rivet. When the end of my ruler was nowhere near a rivet, I realized I was dealing with a worn chain.
(Now if someone had told me chains wear after only 4,000 miles, then I probably would have thought of this sooner.)
Regardless, I hiked it over to Toga Bikes on 64th and West End Avenue (quite the goddam shop they have there) for a new Dura-Ace chain and the guy behind the counter recommended a new cassette as well, but rather than drop $209 on a Dura-Ace 10-speed cassette, I spent $70 on the 105 cassette. Do I need to be that much lighter? Probably not.
Anyway, it worked out perfectly as I had recently bought a folding chain-breaking tool when I bought the work stand, so I was ready to do what I had to do. Removed the rear wheel, removed the old, grease-covered cassette (which did look as though some teeth were more worn than others), installed the sparkling new 105 cassette, and then tackled the chain.
I now realize that disassembling and assembling a new chain is actually quite simple. I’d imagine that most bike repair is proably as simple, but that’s beside the point. At first, I simply installed the new chain but it wasn’t until I shifted onto the small chainring did I realize I was going to need to remove some links to make the whole package work properly.
No sweat. The Park Tools web site is a terrific resource for tech issues and it explained the procedure perfectly--measure the proper length for the chain from the smallest cog and the small chain ring, make sure the chain isn’t rubbing against the bottom portion of the pulleys, and you’re set.
The one small error I made was when I installed the rivet. I think I might have went a quarter-turn too tight as that link was rather stiff and I had to work it up and down with a fair amount of lube before it wanted to work correctly. Speaking of which, I should check that later tonight.
And I’m still having crank-creaking issues. After my last group ride on SI, I loosened and re-tightened all the bolts on the crank arms, but I’m still getting noise, so I have to tackle that again, yet I’m feeling so good from the chain-changing success, I feel that maybe I’ll take apart the bottom bracket, clean and lube, and then put that f#cker back together.
Finally, I recently learned of another cycling blog that’s pretty damn entertaining. It’s a local guy and when it comes to bloggers, especially cycling-specific bloggers, you could do a lot worse, so I recommend you give this guy a shot and check out his page, which is www.bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com.
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