Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.royalflash
06-18-05, 03:46 PM
The latest group MTB ride with my club was up the Wank mountain (this is what is it called in Bavaria so don´t blame me Mods):
The first few km of the ride were the worst and we quickly ascended 600 m. Very steep and the gradient was 26% in places and I have to admit that I had to get off the bike and resort to pushing at some points.
Once we got to the top though (I wasnt last for once) it was a great tour through the alps and winding around and down back to the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I used my eggbeater pedals and this could have been a mistake as I fell at one point when I couldnt get unclipped in time. I was having problems with my front derailleur and tried to shift it down on a steep gradient. The front derailleur was not cooperating and so I tried just staying in the same gear and mashing the pedals. The back wheel just slipped however and it was too late to unclip and down I went. Nothing injured just pride but I broke my saddle :o .
I think I will go back to the SPD´s next time. It just takes too long to get out of the eggbeaters in an emergency (no way to reduce the spring tension). It is not difficult to get out of them but I find that need to extend my leg to the bottom of the pedal stroke and rotate my heel outwards to get out whereas with SPD´s on low tension and multi release cleats I can get my foot out any point without any problem.
The front derailleur caused further problems on another gradient when i unsuccessfully tried to shift and this time just bent the middle chain ring badly in the process. The force of trying to pedal up hill and change gear at the same time was too much for the chain wheel. Major bike-surgery was needed with a large stone to flatten it out so I was able to continue the tour. I bet they dont teach you this at the Park tool school.
Anyway it was quite an eventful ride and the scenery was amazing as usual.
When I took the chain ring into the bike shop yesterday to get a replacement the bike shop guy was quite impressed with the damage and took some photos of it. I got a steel chain ring this time. I just hope it holds together better.
Dont know what happened to the front der. Shifting to the small chainwheel has been getting more difficult recently and I should have sorted it out more promptly but I hate messing with front derailleurs. Very frustrating. I had to bend the cage in the end to get it to work properly.
The first few km of the ride were the worst and we quickly ascended 600 m. Very steep and the gradient was 26% in places and I have to admit that I had to get off the bike and resort to pushing at some points.
Once we got to the top though (I wasnt last for once) it was a great tour through the alps and winding around and down back to the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I used my eggbeater pedals and this could have been a mistake as I fell at one point when I couldnt get unclipped in time. I was having problems with my front derailleur and tried to shift it down on a steep gradient. The front derailleur was not cooperating and so I tried just staying in the same gear and mashing the pedals. The back wheel just slipped however and it was too late to unclip and down I went. Nothing injured just pride but I broke my saddle :o .
I think I will go back to the SPD´s next time. It just takes too long to get out of the eggbeaters in an emergency (no way to reduce the spring tension). It is not difficult to get out of them but I find that need to extend my leg to the bottom of the pedal stroke and rotate my heel outwards to get out whereas with SPD´s on low tension and multi release cleats I can get my foot out any point without any problem.
The front derailleur caused further problems on another gradient when i unsuccessfully tried to shift and this time just bent the middle chain ring badly in the process. The force of trying to pedal up hill and change gear at the same time was too much for the chain wheel. Major bike-surgery was needed with a large stone to flatten it out so I was able to continue the tour. I bet they dont teach you this at the Park tool school.
Anyway it was quite an eventful ride and the scenery was amazing as usual.
When I took the chain ring into the bike shop yesterday to get a replacement the bike shop guy was quite impressed with the damage and took some photos of it. I got a steel chain ring this time. I just hope it holds together better.
Dont know what happened to the front der. Shifting to the small chainwheel has been getting more difficult recently and I should have sorted it out more promptly but I hate messing with front derailleurs. Very frustrating. I had to bend the cage in the end to get it to work properly.