carleton

I don't really like the dropouts on the DF3. I pulled my wheel this weekend on my first standing start. Wheel locked up against the chainstay and I almost fell over as I was strapped into the pedals. I found out that I *can* yank my feet out of the straps, haha. Granted, I wasn't using the chain tensioner.

Fast forward to tonight...

Tonight was Chariot and Keirin racing at DLV, so lots of standing starts. I *did* use the chain tensioner and, again, pulled a wheel on the first standing start...even with the tensioner engaged. The wheel didn't move enough to lock up thankfully. But, the chain was super slack all of a sudden.

So, I wrench down really hard on the wheel nuts and race the night. But, something wasn't right. I felt some dragging. In wrenching hard on the nuts on the Dura Ace hub, I also tightened the cone nuts and they seized the bearings a little. I didn't realize this till I got home and inspected everything.

So, I spent the evening moving everything back to the Tiemeyer. I'll use that until I get the dropouts replaced with titanium ones or I get a good chain tensioner that will work for the length of the dropout.

To be honest, the only advantage the DF3 has over the Tiemeyer is that it is maybe 1lb lighter and it absorbs bumps better. But, heck, I don't even know how well it does that! I broke a saddle tonight, too!

The Tiemeyer is stiffer under the load of standing starts.

So...I'm back to the Tiemeyer after less than 2 weeks on the DF3:



I've never had a problem with Tiemeyer's titanium dropouts. Never needed a tensioner with them.