Originally Posted by
zacster
Well, here's the kicker. I broke out my Park Cyclone Chain Cleaner that's been in the plastic unused for 2 years now, and cleaned the chain. It was of course very worn out, made obvious by the cleaning. But what I also discovered was that the frame DOES have a crack in it, on the chain stay. I had not noticed it before, but it looks like it was there for a while.
I'm not concerned about the crack, the frame is aluminum it doesn't seem to effect the ride. If it fails, it fails, I'm not very attached to this bike.
I'll try the suggested derailleur adjustments to see if it is the cables/housing, and I'll try swapping pulleys. I have another bike that needs derailleur cable housing, so maybe I'll buy enough for both, and a good tool to cut it. I've always wanted a good cable/housing cutter, but I've seen too many negatives about the Park and Pedros. The Shimano is never available anywhere.
Or you could just buy a branded set of complete cables with housings for the brakes and the shifters. They come precut and work great for bikes in the normal size ranges (up to about a 66cm frame). Nasbar carries Shimano and one other brand (which turns out to be a bit better than the Shimano ones, imho). Even though I have all the materials and tools on hand, I keep several sets of the complete kits as it speeds work and reduces the brain cells required to get a bike out the door.