Good

+1
Minimal wear.

Too much pizza, too many beers, too many cocktails. Sleepy time. Tomorrow's plans: If weather is good, point my front wheel in a direction for four hours and turn around. If weather isn't good, watch all three LOTR movies. Either way laundry needs done, and a bill or two has to be paid.

i -will- center my chainring today. must happen. no excuses..... . giving me an improper tension headache.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to learn to do this. Such an art to it, but it's so satisfying once you figure it out.

do you know of a good write up on it for folks looking to learn?

For my birthday the Sqrl managed to stalk me online for ideas and then find one of these in arizona on craigslist.

http://i.imgur.com/ZdVqEl.jpg

Pretty sure I'm impressed, definitely sure I'm excited to have one again, but I'm not sure if I'm a little creeped out.

(Hi honey! http://i.imgur.com/KQztn.gif )

todai i rode my bike for first time in days.
LEG STILL HURTS FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
back on the couch i go

The only writeup I know on it isn't very good, tbh. But here's what I like to do:

- Make sure you've got appropriate chain slack in the first place. The chain should move about 1/2" up or down when you pull on it, AT ITS LOOSEST POINT.

- Loosen all chainring bolts until they are just finger tight. You want to make sure there's enough torque on them to keep the chainring from moving on its own as you're rotating the pedals.

- Slowly rotate the pedals until you find the tightest point on the chain. The chainring tooth that's as far from the cog as possible is the one that needs to be pulled in.

- When you find this point, squeeze the chain with your fingers. Small adjustments are important. You learn to get a feel for how hard to squeeze to shift the chainring.

- Rotate the pedals again until you find the next tight point. Repeat the process.

If you find that the chainring is moving around too much, your bolts are too loose. You can also gradually snug the chainring bolts as you go around the spider, but if your chainring isn't very round you'll probably need to do several adjustments before you can find a good compromise in tension.

Best behave yourself on the internets then. :)

I haven't had a Cool Tool since I lived in AZ. Like way back in 1991.

great synopsis on centering the chainring!

i learned from Sheldon's site, so i tap the chain with a tool handle to move it, but squeezing would definitely give better feedback. thanks. :)

Today I'm looking at road bikes, starting to do all of my research. Now I just need to find the money to actually buy one.

Speaking of which, what are the Group hierarchies for both Shimano and SRAM?

Today I dropped off the Colnago with Scrod to be shipped out to San Francisco and chatted bikes for a bit. Later I'll be taking measurements and using the fit calc.

this sounds so much better than "hit the chain with a mallet"

gonna try this later today i think, not sure if my chainring is un-centerable or i didnt loosen bolts enough

Do all rings need centering? I've never heard of that.

Is it just rings that aren't all too round?

SRAM:
red
force
rival
apex

SHIMANO:
durace
ultegra
105
tiagra
sora

If you can afford it, Rival/105+ is the way to go.
Also make sure ur looking at used u can find a better deal

Shimano: Dura Ace, Ultegra, 105. SRAM: Red, Force, Rival. That is in descending order. Don't bother going lower than 105 or Rival. If you can, ride similar bikes with similar levels of components to get a feel for which one you like. For instance, I wanted SRAM because I'd heard great things, it's a Chicago company, and I've met their CEO a few times and he seems like a genuinely nice guy that truly loves cycling. I rode a bike with Force and hated the hoods. Rode the same bike (Allez Elite) with Ultegra and loved the feel.

Edit: Tmonk beat me to it. TBH though, Tiagra, Sora, and Apex aren't worth mentioning. Clunky shifts, heavy, flexy crankarms, and the Sora triple front derailleur is a complete piece of ****.

Awesome, thanks guys.

That was the plan, that or better. And there isn't a whole lot in my area that is my size used. I've checked a few times, but its all either really old, and in rough shape, or its not all that great in terms of components. So we'll see how that goes.

For new, I'm actually looking at the Nashbar branded carbon roadies. Pretty good components for the prices.

Thats a really good idea. My shop back home is a specialized dealer, and another real close is a Trek/Fuji dealer.

SRAM apex is actually pretty damn good. Much better than low end shimano.

So if you have to get low end, get apex.

Tiagra is quite good. It's heavy, but it's durable, and Shimano still makes a Tiagra triple front derailleur which works well for touring.

Also within Shimano groups, isn't there some recycling going on with groups depending on last year's stock?
Like 2011 Tiagra is actually 2010 105, and how some 6400 brakes are just 7400 brakes with different paint? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

My 2012 Tiagra group shifts just as well as any 105+ bike that I've rode. Sora, on the other hand, feels like Walmart junk(haven't tried the 2013 Sora though). Current Tiagra is just the 105 from a couple years ago and is a very robust, good entry level group.

If you like DoubleTap shifting and SRAM's hoods, I agree.

That is correct. Hence di2 Ultegra.

This year was a huge shakeup in product lineups. Every line got an upgrade. If Sora wasn't so damn slow I'd say it would be a good value proposition, but that whole line really does suck right now for the price.

The brand new Sora is like the 105 of ten years ago or so. Mechanic said that when I was helping my dad shop for a road bike.