Trebor Snave

Listen, O Clydes, and hear my tale of woe…

Or more like, “Whoa, how did THAT happen!”

Today was one of those days where everything conspired against me at work; with a couple of hours left until quitting time I was really looking forward to taking out my aggressions on a couple of hills I know rather than my coworkers. My lovely wife had given me the go-ahead to skip dinner prep so I could get out and go as soon as I got changed.

I was in the middle of my before ride checks and – flat rear. Eh? That was full just the other day, wasn’t it? Huh. Must have a slow leak, I guess that tubes about a year old. Well, fire up the compressor and we’ll be gone in a jiffy. Now why won’t this thing pressure up? I listen close and yep, there’s air hissing at the stem. Pull the tube and there’s not one but two holes, one on each side of the stem. My attempt at patching fails, and I don’t have any spare tubes. There goes the ride, guess I’ll lift instead…

While I was taking a break from lifting, I started looking at my bike, which was upside down at the foot of my bench. My outer and middle chainrings are destroyed. There are broken and worn teeth on the outer, and the middle is actually cracking! Hmm, no way am I riding this anytime soon…

Upon inspection, the assembly is riveted/welded, indicating the low end of componentry. I think this sounds the death knell of my old Giant. It was the basement model when I bought it twelve years ago and I pedaled it many miles. I’ve been noticing some noise from the bottom bracket, also. I’m planning on a new bike come next year anyway, but I’m not ready to purchase yet! What to do, what to do?

Flashback to last summer; a friend of mine had an old MTB that had been pretty well “destroyed”, he thought. Wheels all bent out of shape, or some such. I guess I’m a sucker, I gave him $20 for it: a lugged steel frame Redline. Odd frame though, it’s not a diamond, and boy is it heavy! But it may save my fall cycling. I’d stripped it down to bare frame just for something to tear apart one day. Good thing I saved all the Suntour parts! Hope my shifters work, I seem to have gotten rid of the grip shifters…

Anyway, I spent a couple of hours stripping parts off the Giant and fitting them to the Redline. Guess I’ve got another couple of hours before I get it all put together. I’ll pick up some tubes and a new chain tomorrow and see if it will ride…

Halthane

You seem pretty confident, but I'll put in a plug for www.sheldonbrown.com

great if you have any questions.

Trebor Snave

Sheldon is a great resource! I've spent plenty of time browsing his pages.

Air

I know it's a bit late - but any lbs has tons of cranks and chainrings laying around. A quick call would set you up with new cranks, gently used rings, and then spring for the bottom bracket and installation (since they have to take all that off anyway). Probably total price $50, not bad for a new lease on a drivetrain.

Trebor Snave

Air, I know. I just am not sure that $50 wouldn't go better towards a new bike. I ride some pretty rough, wash board dirt roads that are begging for some front suspension. The Giant has an old suspension fork on it, but it's pretty well got no bounce left. And you can't get 1" threaded suspension forks new anymore.

So it all really boils down to whether or not I want to keep throwing $$ at a bike that's not all that great to begin with, or transfer parts to another frame that will keep me going for a couple of months for a minimal expenditure?

And, the wife just agreed that a new bike would make a great Christmas present. Whoohoo!