After I was promoted from the wait list into the 100 chosen for the 2022 BBC Unfondo Ride, it became necessary to practice road riding. In the process, its clear there has been some deferred maintenance going on with the primary road bike of the fleet, my Ridley Fenix Disc, nicknamed White Lines.
The efforts worked, White Lines survived the ride but some final tweaks went in even today (see bottom of list)
New Bell!
Given how much I enjoy and use the bells on the mountain bikes, I decided it was time to get one for the road bike. Installation was a bit tricky, I settled on an aero position that seems really loud, at least for me.
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| The bell, with Coospo Computer on White Lines |
Front Derailleur Tune Up & Discovery
The lesson here is to RFTM - I watched You Tube video to discover an entirely new adjustment bolt I did not know existed on the Ultegra 8100.
The video warns of deltas from the 10 speed fronts and high tension required - I wish I had this 5 or 6 years ago when I installed this.
Tires - Finally Installed
I bought the Conti 5000 Whitewalls from Vlad, but they really are Tan-Walls. I used one on the front of the Solo Velo, but decided it was time to get them onto the intended target, White Lines. See the theme?
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| White Wall Tires That Are Tan |
Anyway, slight disaster using an old leaky tube last week, the tires worked great this week and for the Unfondo itself yesterday.
Big Mouth Bike Rack Install on Tesla
Finally put the Mom n Dad Racks to use. Scheduled to take a 3rd in our carpool, I needed
another rail. It took a lot of work dealing with the T-Bolt install and it was hard to center and reach the middle position, but it worked. And didn't get used.
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| Racked Up, Backwards |
Hint when using T-Bolts - just detach them from the levers, THEN put them into the rail.
Dura Ace 9100 11sp Rear Derailler, New Cable
This is the second time the Ultegra 11sp rear derailleur has been a problem - earlier I blew this unit up running a too short chain and then crossing it, while hammering up a hill. I got replacement cages and pulleys via Ebay
and it seemed good, but during front tuning, I noticed a popping effect as the lower pulley seemed to over-grip the chain. The cage is supposed to be slightly twisted, but more was going on here:
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| Rear angle of Ultegra Rear Derailluer Pulleys - whats with the gap in the plates? |
Given the tight timing to the Unfondo ride, I did not have much time to get a replacement when I decided it was indeed the lower pulley position. It turns out Diamond Dave had a little Dura Ace 11sp sitting around and was able to let it go for a good price and perfect just-in-timing.
The cable here is always a trick,
provided a good starting point accept I went and upshifted the lever with the old cable already removed.
How to get it back? After poking and failing, I found the shift lever hood rubber blocking the motion of the tension release. Another annoyance is the cable covering/routing in the Ridley, its a light plastic that got knotted on itself, requiring me to cut n splice.
The result is smooth, clean dura-ace shifting! Some tension adjustment is ongoing as the new cable settles.
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| Dura-Ace 9100 Short Cage Baby! |
Post Ride
The biggest issue on the ride was an increasing "creaking" noise - initially it was just under power, echoing through the carbon rim and disturbing neighbors in the paceline, until the end of the 75 mile ride where it was driving us all nuts all the time. In the last 5 miles, and after a quick attempt to adjust the derailleur tension one last time, I realized it was THE BEARINGS. Duh. The wheel did seem tight
vs other times I went to fix the bearings.
Steps
- tube n tire off
- remove disc rotor
- remove gear cassette
- remove axle ends
- remove cassette carrier
- tap out axle and non-drive bearing
- tap out drive-side bearing with a 19mm socket
- grease and place new bearings in place
- 21mm tap and hammer to drive side, 19 mm tap to non-drive side
- oil up the carrier end and MAKE SURE THE SEAL IS IN RIGHT
- replace axle ends
- locktite on bolts and re-install the disk
- install the cassette on the carrier, tighten lock ring tight
- tube, tire with starch as a baby powder replacement
- air, quick release axle and lever
- install wheel, test and tune
Cleaning of the Cassette
After removal from the D712SB hub, its time to clean the cassette Another t-shirt, some degreaser and elbow grease, its nice and clean. Not shiny, I think because its only Ultegra.
New Bearings For Rear Wheel
Checking my order history on Ebay and in my email, I buy a lot of bearings, last time in Jan 2021. So I checked the shed Hubs bin and found a pair of fresh bearings awaiting an adventure!
and punched the old units out, greased them up and punched them back in - the socket sizes were
a good idea, I used a 21mm socket to get them into the drive side (used a 19mm for the non-drive as prescribed in the video.
Starching of Tubes n Tires
I finally ran out of baby powder, likely better for my health anyway. SO I grabbed some corn starch, nearly as lubricating to the rubber interfaces. I used starch re-installing the rear-tube, and even took off the front tire and tube to starch it up too.
Radio is talking about critical mass - I used to do that. Started Sept 1992, I was 1997.
Back to it.
Quick Test
Worked great, the Coospo computer however was not seeing the speed sensor. Did I knock it? Worked fine for the ride itself, some readjusting and it picked up speed again.
