Fifty Plus (50+) - Neighbours new bike.

Nathan is my "New" neighbour that I have been trying to get into cycling. I set the TCR up for him and a couple of weeks ago he started looking on E-Bay for a bike for himself. Last Sunday and he won the Auction on a 2007 Jamis Ventura for $400. We picked it up on Wednesday and Thursday set it up for him. Tonight he took it out for his first ride with his Father-in-Law and it is fine.

That set up on Thursday left a few questions on fit but we set the saddle up on height and fore and aft and no complaints on butt ache so at least that is right. Bar height and although he has been saying that the bars on the TCR were too low at 2" below the saddle- We took 2 spacers out from under the stem on the jamis to give him a lower position. It appears that the "Extra" length on the Jamis suits him and after the ride tonight he now wants that last spacer out.

Few things still to sort on the Jamis though. It is 9spd Tiagra and even though I did adjust the RD adjustment last night to get the gears running smoothly- he has had to double click on the gears before they change a couple of times. Still some tweaking there. Brake cables need changing and brake blocks are shot on the rear. Still some meat on them but probably contaminated. Still a few tweaks to make on fit but it is now down to one small change at a time.

Took a few shots of Nathan on the bike for future reference but didn't get a pic of his left arm in the shot. Bit of gravel rash there from his first Tombay.

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When ever I have to start double shifting, the first thing I look at is dirt. Clean/replace and lube the cables. A sticky cable can cause lots of shifting problems.

Congrats to your neighbor - those are nice bikes. And good for you for dragging him into the sport and lending a helping hand in the process.

Nathan, my good man, a word to the wise. You need to be extremely careful about the company you keep. It may take years to overcome the stigma of this situation. My prayers are with you.

Nathan, my good man, a word to the wise. You need to be extremely careful about the company you keep. It may take years to overcome the stigma of this situation. My prayers are with you.

All I can say is that I wish I had Nathan's neighbor.

It is 9spd Tiagra and even though I did adjust the RD adjustment last night to get the gears running smoothly- he has had to double click on the gears before they change a couple of times.

Tiagra's are double indexed and normally have a two step reach when shifting on both left and right shifters. One click will move you one gear up/down while the full swing of the shifter to the right will move you two gears up/down. On the left shifter, two clicks will move you up/down one chainring. I have a Tiagra drivetrain on my Defy with a triple crankset and when I bought the bike new, I took it back to the LBS to have it adjusted because I thought there was something wrong with it. When the mechanic told me that was normal I did some research on the shifters and found it to be true. It was the first bike I have had with a Tiagra drive train and didn't know it was double indexed when I bought it.

It's actually a very nice feature because you can go up/down a single gear without moving the shifter all the way to the left and when climbing hills, you can drop down two gears in one move if you need to. I actually like it.

When ever I have to start double shifting, the first thing I look at is dirt. Clean/replace and lube the cables. A sticky cable can cause lots of shifting problems.

Whenever I encounter a shifting problem that doesn't respond to normal tuneing, the first thing that I do is to check the derailleur hanger alignment. Most of the time that's it.

Still plenty of things to sort on this bike. It is 4 years old and been used so some items are bound to be failing on it.

One thing I have found out is that it was bought as a 54cm---It is in fact a 56. This is the top limit of fitting the rider but in a way- it is a good job it is a 56. Top tube on the TCR is 535 and it was the minimum he needed. The 54 has a TT of 538 so not much difference for the "better" fit. The 56 has a TT of 555 so this will fit better. But it also has a Bar stem of 120mm. That "May" be a bit long but I do have a 100 and a 90mm stem in the spares box so we can adjust better as time allows. Seat post is well laid back and may require an inline post to get better saddle position on the bike as at present it is well forward on the rails. Considering as this was how the previous owner had the saddle in this position- and he was at least 6" taller than Nathan- I am surprised at how laid back that post is.

But test ride tomorrow in earnest. 30 miler with about 3,000ft of climbing up 12 to 15% slopes. That should see how quickly he gets cold as he waits for me at the top of the hills.

Still plenty of things to sort on this bike. It is 4 years old and been used so some items are bound to be failing on it.

But test ride tomorrow in earnest. 30 miler with about 3,000ft of climbing up 12 to 15% slopes. That should see how quickly he gets cold as he waits for me at the top of the hills.

He needs to put some age on fast if he wants to keep pace with you!