Yesterday AM, I took the Gitane out for a more substantial shakedown run; 19 miles R/T on the local rail trail, mostly long shallow grades but with one substantial (for around here) 0.8 mile long hill. From the very start, the bike felt good, particularly the new wheel tire combo enabled moving along at a fine pace (early in the season, I took it relatively easy until I get back into shape after the winter). Yeah, the brakes squeal although I tried the idea of hitting the new Kool-Stops with a sander on the braking surface. Possible toe-in ahead. Braking seemed fine, even the secondary levers were OK if one did not have high expectations. Shifting seemed decent although the wider range (than I am used to) I felt meant slower shifts. Glad I tested the bike, as I found:
(a) This is substantial, all gears fine except major jump/skip activity on the 4th cog only, making that gear unusable; see the photo below, not sure how to measure tooth wear but it’s difficult to see anything else causing this in one gear. I really leaned on the other ratios, all OK. I hit, no idea without a computer, perhaps 22mph not he flat in 5th/outer, so issues. Not the long hill, went down to 2nd cog, pressed hard, just fine. I even tried 1st/inner but it just seemed like overkill so I got back to 2nd. So — now what. I do not see bent teeth on #4 but by appearances I suspect used more than the other cogs (and I have no idea where I got this freewheel!); too worn? My options include (a) all new freewheel; (b) ask PastorBob if he has something “underfoot” and he usually does, I’ve bought several outright from him; (c) ship him the existing freewheel in hopes he can replace the one cog, the rest of the freewheel seems fine; (d) try to locate a 17T Suntour cog, get a second chain whip, and try replacing it myself. Checking eBay, several 17T’s out there but all Winner/New-Winner, no idea if it would also fit a Pro-Compe (oh, and there are track cogs out there, not helpful).
(b) A truly odd squeak going over bumps, my hearing is mediocre but I thought from the front of the bike. Wow, the handlebar clamp on the stem was really, really loose! Yikes. Hopefully fixed now.
(c) My Amazon-purchase headset-cup press does NOT like tall head tubes… like all of my bikes, and certainly this Gitane. So, I usually tap them into place with a rubber mallet. I expected the cups to settle on the ride, and need the headset readjusted, and I was not disappointed.
(d) It’s hard to tell on the stand, but almost immediately on the ride, I saw the shifter band was rotated off a few degrees. Not enough to affect performance, but distracting and I kept looking down at the shifters. Is there an alignment gauge? EDIT: I had forgotten that the attachment/adjustment of the band is hidden. I took a photo of the disassembled parts, I think at the very least I need to remove the left side lever, etc.
(e) I found the FD (the Suntour BL) very sensitive to position if one did not want the chain to scrape the cage. For fun, I measured the spacing between plate: the Suntour is 9.5mm at the front, opening up to 13.5mm at the back. The Huret that I took off is a constant 10.5mm front to back. Worthwhile to swap back? I checked the chainring runout by eye, it started out with a waver but carefully bending with two adjustable wrenches (one on the spider, the second on the 1st wrench for leverage), I must be down to under 1mm.
