Covet

[Subby]

Heading out to Transition Triathlon in Leesburg this afternoon to take it for a test spin. Owner of the shop said he would help me with the fit if I liked the bike. I feel a little better that what was an anonymous craigslist ad actually turned out to be a husband and wife owner of a LBS. Prior to learning that I had visions of walking into an apartment and having the door swing shut and locked behind me.

[Subby]

Woohoo! Success!

Great experience with Alex and her husband Steve at Transition Triathlon. I ended paying the eBay price and Steve said I could come by any time for a free adjustment. Steve said that Alex paid $4K for it, which seems like a lot…maybe they meant for the bike plus additional component upgrades. They are right next to the WOD in Leesburg, so I was able to go out for a test drive and was pretty much in love from the get go. Alex genuinely seemed to love her bike, too, and to my untrained eye, it seems like it is in great shape. I don’t think I realized that it was going to have carbon wheels and handlebars, too. The light weight takes some getting used to, but overall it’s just nice to have a road bike to call my own. To think where I was two years ago (no bikes, no exercise, miserable) to where I am now (bike commuting every day, happy, pretending I may do a triathlon one day)…it has me in a really happy place.

Thank you a million times over to everyone who took the time to give me advice and help on this.

[Dickie]

Congrats Subby, a new bicycle love affair begins! I look forward to seeing you out there!

[DismalScientist]

@Subby 47849 wrote:

I don’t think I realized that it was going to have carbon wheels and handlebars, too.

Good luck triggering traffic signals with this one. Better wear a big ‘ole iron belt buckle when riding it.:rolleyes:

[KLizotte]

Pictures or it didn’t happen!!! :rolleyes:

Congrats on the new bike. Sounds like a great deal and just in time for the nice weather. Whoohoo!

[Subby]

@KLizotte 47858 wrote:

Pictures or it didn’t happen!!! :rolleyes:

My new office mate!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2632[/ATTACH]

[KLizotte]

Sweet. Good thing you can keep it inside the office with you.

[Subby]

Ugh. I spoke too soon.

I was biking home today and the Ultegra drivetrain kind of exploded and took one of the spokes with it. I was biking up 41st street when the chain popped off and I couldn’t unclip in time and fell over on my left side. No big deal – it’s so steep it barely hurt and it actually happened to me on another bike once before. I was bummed it happened on this bike, but whatever. The bike was fine and I put the chain back on and peddled slowly the rest of the way. When I got to the top of the hill, I got on the bike and started peddling. A few revolutions in and I heard a clanging and clattering. The chain gave and I heard something hit the street. Turns out it was a piece of the pulley and the drive train had completely come off the bike – it was just hanging by the cable.

I was so pissed, I called my wife and just carried my bike for about a mile before she found me. GOOD THING IT’S LIGHT! Thanks to all the cyclists who asked if I needed anything.

Anyway, I emailed the previous owner to see if they would take a look at it. I don’t wtf happened. It just doesn’t seem normal.

I included a few pictures. The first one is me holding the piece I found in the street you can also see the broken spoke.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2645[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2646[/ATTACH]

[dcv]

@Subby 47968 wrote:

Ugh. I spoke too soon.

I was biking home today and the Ultegra drivetrain kind of exploded and took one of the spokes with it. I was biking up 41st street when the chain popped off and I couldn’t unclip in time and fell over on my left side. No big deal – it’s so steep it barely hurt and it actually happened to me on another bike once before. I was bummed it happened on this bike, but whatever. The bike was fine and I put the chain back on and peddled slowly the rest of the way. When I got to the top of the hill, I got on the bike and started peddling. A few revolutions in and I heard a clanging and clattering. The chain gave and I heard something hit the street. Turns out it was a piece of the pulley and the drive train had completely come off the bike – it was just hanging by the cable.

I was so pissed, I called my wife and just carried my bike for about a mile before she found me. GOOD THING IT’S LIGHT! Thanks to all the cyclists who asked if I needed anything.

Anyway, I emailed the previous owner to see if they would take a look at it. I don’t wtf happened. It just doesn’t seem normal.

I included a few pictures. The first one is me holding the piece I found in the street you can also see the broken spoke.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2645[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2646[/ATTACH]

Sorry, that sucks. It looks like your derailleur hanger broke.

And your derailleur too. maybe the hanger broke first, then the derailleur got damaged when it went into your wheel.

[Dickie]

First off, I am glad you are not injured, that could have been far worse! But oh man, such a bummer Subby, the pictures don’t look good, but it is a bit hard to tell. A few quick questions:

1) Since you were riding up hill when this happened were you in your easiest gear (largest sprocket on the rear cog)?
2) Did the chain pop off the first time at the chain rings (front), or somehow at the cassette (Rear)?
3) Did you drop the bike on the geared side?
4) When you put the chain back on and began back up the hill did you visually inspect the rear deraillier to make sure it was not bent first?

Here’s my suspicion: The chain either skipped off the front chain ring due to a limit stop being set incorrectly or you were in the biggest sprocket on the rear and the smallest chain ring on the front creating a pretty tough alignment issue for the chain, once you applied real force the chain skipped off. Once you went down I suspect that you bent the deraillier hanger causing the deraillier to be bent inwards. Once you put the chain back on and pedaled away the deraillier (if still in the largest rear cog) would have struck the spokes… thus the damage to both the spokes and the deraiilier. The damage however seems considerably higher than I would have guessed. From what I can tell the rear deraillier inner cage is broken in half and will need to be replaced. My bigger fear is I cannot see the deraillier hanger on the bike anymore. Usually this is a break-away piece and can be replaced, but I am not familiar with Orbea’s construction methods. Regardless, the wheel will need a new spoke and truing, the rear deraillier will need some spare parts if it can be salvaged, and a new hanger will need to be installed. Not terrible, but certainly a pain in the arse and really upsetting.

Perhaps the sellers can help you out given they own a bike shop, or at least get you the parts and labor at cost. PLease keep us posted on the progress and keep your chin up!

[Subby]

@dcv 47969 wrote:

Sorry, that sucks. You fell on your left side? (non-drive side?)

Thanks.

I did fall on my left side…and I am pretty sure everything was fine then because I was able to peddle on the flat part of the A530s up the hill, although the gears kept slipping. Everything went kerblooie once I got to the top of 41st.

[Jason B]

I hate to say it, but a similar thing happened to me. Took a slight fall on the Roosevelt boardwalk. Rode for another couple miles and the derailleur cracked off in the same place when I started to crank up custis. The derailleur locked into the spokes and broke three of them. When I went into my LBS to ask if they could fix it, the first thing he asked was with no exaggeration, “did you fall before it broke?”
Fortunately for you, as previously stated, you have a replaceable disposable hanger, mine was fused into the carbon frame, essentially making my entire bike disposable. Needless to say I cried and cursed interchangeably.

[dcv]

@Dickie 47971 wrote:

… or you were in the biggest sprocket on the rear and the smallest chain ring on the front creating a pretty tough alignment issue for the chain…

Dickie, good assessment and explanation. I think you meant to say big chainring and largest cog (cross chaining). This gear combination forces your chain to severe angles and will likely cause you to drop the chain under high load. This also causes increased chain / cog / chainring wear.

[dcv]

@Dickie 47971 wrote:

… or you were in the biggest sprocket on the rear and the smallest chain ring on the front creating a pretty tough alignment issue for the chain…

Dickie, good assessment and explanation. I think you meant to say big chainring and largest cog (cross chaining). This gear combination forces your chain to severe angles and will likely cause you to drop the chain under high load. This also causes increased chain / cog / chainring wear.

[Subby]

First things first, I contacted Steve and Alex at Transition Tri and they made the same assessment as you guys. They also offered to repair the bike for free and replace the parts at cost. They are also going to do an inspection for any other damage. Pretty generous of them, in my opinion.

It’s weird, when I was riding up 41st, I was in smaller ring up front and probably the next biggest ring in back (I need to take a terminology basics class so I can stop ^&%$ing up the names of bike parts). When I am on my Trek hybrid, I have 3 rings up front and go up on the middle ring and the largest ring in back with no issue. On the two road bikes I have taken up, the chain has popped off the rear ring and I have fallen over.

Since I fell on my left side, I don’t think anything was bent on the derailleur, but I also didn’t check it.

What am I doing wrong when going up 41st? Should I be in the smallest ring up front and in back?

[Author]

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