Bike Stuff

With the original  Shimano 105 5500 9 speed triple Aluminum-framed, 105 triple road bike  Klein was one of the original makers of aluminum frames using 'oversized' lightweight tubing. Today the proportions look totally normal. But it was avant guard 20+ years ago. In 2002, I'd been riding the Bianchi Nuovo Racing as my road bike but moving down to Menlo Park, road biking became more important than mountain biking and it was time for an upgrade. In early 2003, I found this 2002 model on closeout. In some ways, it was better than the newer ones because it was the last of the Kleins to get the trademark cool paint job. Trek had purchased Klein a few years earlier and they were about to start painting them 'normally' like other Treks.  What is cool about this paint job? It's not just "Plum Crazy" purple (and purple is kinda cool all by itself), but it is a semi-translucent paint with metallic flecks and is color-changing. Huh? Color-changing? Yeah, dependi...

Backstory:  A fun little project I finally got rolling last night. I picked up a 1986 'Trek 700 Tri Series' from the local bike exchange in an 'as is' condition. (Not the kind of bike to give someone as transportation, not exotic enough to be worth restoring to flip, so sell at a bargain). FWIW, getting to meet the folks over there had me volunteering as a mechanic for a few months before my schedules changed. It was in remarkably good mechanical condition but it was clearly 37 years old and perhaps not serviced in much of that time. So full teardown, clean, lubricate, new consumables etc. It would have been quick and simple except for personal injury, oh, and a hidden broken axle that was hard to source a replacement.  I say 'hidden' because if I hadn't taken it apart, I probably wouldn't have known and had probably been ridden for some time based on the way it was stuck in. The break was so clean, right at the bearing that at first it looked like a re...

I had a 2019 Salsa Cutthroat with a SRAM Force 1×11 setup that I wanted to get a bit lower gearing for steep hills around here. Not worried about increasing the top end. Didn’t want to replace the rear wheel which has the HG style freehub used for the last 20+ years on 8, 9, and 10 and some 11-speed setups. So, what’s the big deal? Just put a big cassette on. They make plenty of them these days. Well… Kinda. Cassette availability: SRAM’s HG-compatible cassettes stop at 42t. I have that and want at least 50T Hubs: Most large cassettes require an XD driver on the freehub. Some hubs can be changed easily, some maybe, some not. Mine was in the ‘can’t find one’ category Derailleur: The SRAM Force 1 (and most other road derailleurs) isn’t rated for cassette cogs that big. The longer cage varieties like this one can get to 42 but some only to the upper 30s. Also, the derailleur’s total tooth takeup (difference between largest and smallest) gets strained beyond ~37t. 50-11 = 39T to take up...