Starduster
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@Erin Potter 181572 wrote:
Heck yes, we’ll let you ride it! Next time it and you are in the same place, let’s make it happen.
Should we tell Judd how differently it handles from anything else?
Even with the best of care, things wear.
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This is a story of a near-treasure hunt to refurbish the drivetrain on the Olde Trek (’81 Trek 412 with 90’s Shimano drivetrain). One day I looked at the inner front chainring and declared, “”Man, this is WORN!” That part was a late-90’s replacement from during my Bike Exchange days, and even nickel-plated 7075 aluminum does not last forever. 20 + years, perhaps, but not forever. Off to my home shop (Papillon Cycles) and John Harpold orders up a 38T Sugino chainring. All well and fine. Then we pronounced the chain worn as well. SRAM still lists a full-nickleplate 8 speed chain in their catalog, but *no one* that we order from carries it. Still wanted the little bit of bling that a full nickelplate chain provides, so… Checked with lighting guru Peter White, who says he is the distributor for Wippermann Connex chains. Says they handle big chainring shifts on his bike better than SRAM, so… one Connex 808 deployed. Then I look at the derailleur pulleys. Quick parts run to buy those, and found that 10 tooth pulleys are no longer easy to find, except from Performance.
Then comes the *almost* treasure hunt… the Olde Trek was originally a 6 speed freewheel setup. When I went to a 700C wheelset, it became a 7 speed…freewheel, still. The no longer young moi wanted and needed a 32 or 34 tooth low gear. The incumbent Shimano HG40-something was just worn enough to do something about. The problem- better-quality freewheels are becoming harder to find- the direct replacement in that gear range from Shimano is now only available in the entry-level Tourney group. I wanted better. Much from Shimano has been declared obsolete and discontinued, including a freewheel called the Mega 7, which Sheldon Brown raved about years ago. I saw one or two of those at Phoenix Bikes. But that was then, not now. Darn. So John and I looked, and found the SunRace 13-34 you see here. It is the same configuration as the Shimano, but to be fair to SunRace, their own design. We ordered, decided this was more than good enough, and I went home to install. Came right back to the shop when I found I just didn’t have enough leverage to break it loose. Borrowed the vise and Bailey Garfield to “do the needful”. *His* wheel build, after all. One last bit of concern verging on panic when we looked at how close the outer lockring was to the axle end. John was concerned it wouldn’t fit. Turns out it did. The Shimano HG40 was a tight fit for the chain at the outermost sprocket. This is even tighter, but it *clears*. It really does. We will call that a precision fit and run like hell with it.
As expected, it shifts like new, including the 14 tooth chainring shift, even without a pinned/ramped outer ring. The bonus? I can climb easily out of saddle again. I was having trouble with out of saddle climbing, and I thought it was *me*. No skipping, but the very worn teeth were causing it to *slip*, which messed with power delivery and the bike’s ability to climb.
Happiness is a warm gun, er, refurbished drivetrain.
@Sunyata 181491 wrote:
I am sleeping in and therefore will miss breakfast, but will be volunteering at the finish with a bunch of Bikenetic folks. Maybe we could grab a quick beverage afterwards.
See ya there…