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So, I meet up with a new group of riding people on Sat and it's warming up nicely. I'm really pumped for the ride. The trails are not highly technical, so I'm expecting a fast ride.
Plus, the group is mostly roadies doing the MTB thing off season.
We get about a mile into the ride and I'm negotiating a tricky little up, sharp curve to the left around a tree, down, then curve to the right.
I've done it a million times but it's still tricky.
I'm entering the last little curve to the right and I'm riding thru some deep dry leaves.
All of a sudden, my bike stops and I see this 1 inch dia branch stuck between my rear wheel and derailleur.
"Oh ****" I think, not again.
I look at it and the der cage is bent into the spokes.
So I yank it out and bend the whole thing back to what I consider straight.
I figure, that's not so bad, I can still get a ride in.
So I ride for about 50 yds or so and then downshift.
Oops, major chain wrap between the cluster and spokes.
That's the end of my ride.
So I say bye to the group, and then carry my bike the mile or so back to the parking lot.
As luck would have it, I knew a few friends were gonna be on their way to ride a little later.
I call up one, who I know bought a spare XT Derailleur and asked her to bring it.
Well, she gets there in about a half hour, and I slap the new der on and adjust the cable tension as good as I can.
We go for another ride and it works for the most part but, but not perfectly.
I start getting pissed cuz it slips every time I put power down.
"I can't ride like this" I say.
"I'm going to Cycle Works to let John slap the der hanger alignment gage on it"
Back to the car, load the bike up, and off to let John have a go at it.
John is the greatest guy and bike wrench I've ever met.
I explain the situation to him and he says, "what again?"
"you want to wait or just leave it with me?"
"I'll wait if you don't mind working on it now"
Well, they weren 't that busy, and John likes me.
Maybe because I've dropped some serious coin there, but at least partially because we really get along and also ride motorcycles.
So he gets the bike on the stand and says "hey Lenny, look at this"
I bent the hanger mostly backwards, and a little inwards.
"Wow", I said. "I've never seen one bent that way".
"I have" says John.
So he proceeds to take a rubber mallet out and bang the ever lovin' piss out of the hanger to bend it forward.
I just couldn't watch him manhandle my bike like that.
Finally, he put the gage on it and gave it a few more tweaks in the other direction, and did some cable tension adj.
"Good as new" says John.
The only reason I'm telling this story is because I seem to have this happen to me much more often than anybody else I know.
One year, I went thru 3 derailleurs.
Every year, at least one bites the dust.
I was so psyched this year too, cuz till last Sat, I hadn't broken one, yet!
Do you think certain people's riding styles just attracts branches and stuff to the rear der?
Am I jinxed?
It just seems so weird.
Anybody else go thru an absurd # of derailleurs in a season.
What can I do?
Somebody please invent a light weight, completely enclosed, reliable shifting mechanism for bikes, PLEASE!!
Thanks for letting me vent.
Lenny
Plus, the group is mostly roadies doing the MTB thing off season.
We get about a mile into the ride and I'm negotiating a tricky little up, sharp curve to the left around a tree, down, then curve to the right.
I've done it a million times but it's still tricky.
I'm entering the last little curve to the right and I'm riding thru some deep dry leaves.
All of a sudden, my bike stops and I see this 1 inch dia branch stuck between my rear wheel and derailleur.
"Oh ****" I think, not again.
I look at it and the der cage is bent into the spokes.
So I yank it out and bend the whole thing back to what I consider straight.
I figure, that's not so bad, I can still get a ride in.
So I ride for about 50 yds or so and then downshift.
Oops, major chain wrap between the cluster and spokes.
That's the end of my ride.
So I say bye to the group, and then carry my bike the mile or so back to the parking lot.
As luck would have it, I knew a few friends were gonna be on their way to ride a little later.
I call up one, who I know bought a spare XT Derailleur and asked her to bring it.
Well, she gets there in about a half hour, and I slap the new der on and adjust the cable tension as good as I can.
We go for another ride and it works for the most part but, but not perfectly.
I start getting pissed cuz it slips every time I put power down.
"I can't ride like this" I say.
"I'm going to Cycle Works to let John slap the der hanger alignment gage on it"
Back to the car, load the bike up, and off to let John have a go at it.
John is the greatest guy and bike wrench I've ever met.
I explain the situation to him and he says, "what again?"
"you want to wait or just leave it with me?"
"I'll wait if you don't mind working on it now"
Well, they weren 't that busy, and John likes me.
Maybe because I've dropped some serious coin there, but at least partially because we really get along and also ride motorcycles.
So he gets the bike on the stand and says "hey Lenny, look at this"
I bent the hanger mostly backwards, and a little inwards.
"Wow", I said. "I've never seen one bent that way".
"I have" says John.
So he proceeds to take a rubber mallet out and bang the ever lovin' piss out of the hanger to bend it forward.
I just couldn't watch him manhandle my bike like that.
Finally, he put the gage on it and gave it a few more tweaks in the other direction, and did some cable tension adj.
"Good as new" says John.
The only reason I'm telling this story is because I seem to have this happen to me much more often than anybody else I know.
One year, I went thru 3 derailleurs.
Every year, at least one bites the dust.
I was so psyched this year too, cuz till last Sat, I hadn't broken one, yet!
Do you think certain people's riding styles just attracts branches and stuff to the rear der?
Am I jinxed?
It just seems so weird.
Anybody else go thru an absurd # of derailleurs in a season.
What can I do?
Somebody please invent a light weight, completely enclosed, reliable shifting mechanism for bikes, PLEASE!!
Thanks for letting me vent.
Lenny
