Saturday, 9 March 2013

Chainrings for me

How appropriate that the first proper post on this blog "Gear for Wilson" concerns actual gears (on the mountain bike!).

Well, as you know, I'm currently in Cape Town, South Africa for this little race known as the Cape Epic . I had just assembled my bike yesterday, intending to do a short but still decent Saturday lunch-time ride around town. Cape Town: it is recommended you see the city on a bike; it is easy to get around and the traffic generally does not pose a problem to safety if you ride smart, as evidenced by the large numbers of cyclists zooming around town yesterday.



But, i digress, a brand new chain and worn out chainrings do not happy bedfellows make. Skipping the chain on hard efforts in the big chainring was a fearful experience, as the chain would jerk and jump off the chainring with a terrible grinding noise - I'd think the chain had snapped every time I found myself pedaling air.

The small chainring, also worn out, was no better; there was chainsuck on hard efforts - and this was riding on a city street in dry, clear conditions with a clean bike! Yup, i cringed every time the sound of the chain grinding against the drive-side chainstay announced that the small ring had over-enthusiastically picked up the chain and carried it all the way into a fateful meeting of metal and carbon.



In  the end, i limped back to the accommodation and parked my bike against the stairs... and contemplated life forlornly...well, not quite.

What I should have done was change the chainrings along with the new chain i put on... back in Singapore... idiot.

The upside is that I had packed new chainrings in the spares kit, but I oculd only slap them on on Monday (tomorrow) when Mum and Amanda arrive in Cape Town. I'll update you lot on how the chainring replacement and test-ride goes, and of course post more pictures of what else I've been up to.

I'll post pictures of what the worn-out chainrings look like (small one has deep pockets, the big one looks like the teeth have been grounded down) next to the newies.

In the meantime, here's a very comprehensive website on chainsuck by Jonathan Levy (a very old website from 2001 that is surprisingly, still relevant and coincidentally, a South African site). You should give it a read if you find chainsuck a bane - especially riding in wet, muddy, high-wear conditions like we find in Singapore - and equip yourself with the knowledge on how to recognize and deal with chainsuck in its various forms.


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