Shakedown run today.
Rode about 7 miles. Bike rides nice and smooth and tracks straight; it's a good no-hander. But the drivetrain had me pretty concerned. It was way more crunchy and clunky than I expected. The clunks came once every time I leaned hard on a pedal, so twice every rotation of the crank if it was under load like going uphill. Crunchies were just kind of random. My first thought was that the cheap Taiwan hub was to blame, in conjunction with the butt end of the kickstand coming in contact with the back of the sprocket.
I shaved down the end of the kickstand with a Dremel, thinking that would cure the clunks on power strokes. Nope. By the time I was done, there was plenty of daylight between the stand and the sprocket, but the clunk hadn't changed. But in flipping the bike over and watching the drivetrain while pedaling, I noticed the chain was kinda floppy on the rear sprocket.
If there's one bike lesson I will never learn, it's that you should always start with a new chain. This one was crispy when I got the bike, but I doused it in WD-40 when I started working on this thing, and it seemed to loosen up so I just rolled with it. I guess I've read one story too many about saving an old chain by soaking it in kerosene. Now, looking at the chain while I pedaled the upside-down bike, I could see it wasn't always meshing nicely with either the sprocket or the hub, so I started looking closer. Oops.
And this was in the dim light in the garage. It took me a while to find the master; I'm used to them having a more oval shape. Not this one.
Finally popped it off and took it in the house where I could see it under some better light. WOW. It's a wonder I made it to the end of the block today. much less the end of 7 miles.
Yes, that's 6, count 'em, 6 cracked links.
Conveniently, I happened to have a brand new KMC single-speed chain in the bike dungeon. Putting it on cleared up the crunchies. Still had the clunk, thought. Tried swapping out the pedals, no change. So I opened up the bottom bracket locknut and cranked the cone just a little tighter. Voila! Clunk is gone.
This is not to say the bike is nice and silent. The seat is plenty creaky. And the rack is held together with a lot of rivets, as are the fender brackets. Also, the rack has that rattrap spring on it. It's not bad on fresh tarmac, but once you hit rough pavement or a driveway apron or sidewalk cracks or a gum wrapper in the street, all those little fasteners sing out together to remind you you're riding a 57 year old bike.
Overall, though, I'm digging it. I started out with the seat too low today, but it got a lot more comfortable to ride once I raised it a couple inches, and it'll be even better now that it doesn't clunk on every pedal stroke. Still hoping my ideas for the taillight/rack come into focus in time for the deadline.
Rode about 7 miles. Bike rides nice and smooth and tracks straight; it's a good no-hander. But the drivetrain had me pretty concerned. It was way more crunchy and clunky than I expected. The clunks came once every time I leaned hard on a pedal, so twice every rotation of the crank if it was under load like going uphill. Crunchies were just kind of random. My first thought was that the cheap Taiwan hub was to blame, in conjunction with the butt end of the kickstand coming in contact with the back of the sprocket.
I shaved down the end of the kickstand with a Dremel, thinking that would cure the clunks on power strokes. Nope. By the time I was done, there was plenty of daylight between the stand and the sprocket, but the clunk hadn't changed. But in flipping the bike over and watching the drivetrain while pedaling, I noticed the chain was kinda floppy on the rear sprocket.
If there's one bike lesson I will never learn, it's that you should always start with a new chain. This one was crispy when I got the bike, but I doused it in WD-40 when I started working on this thing, and it seemed to loosen up so I just rolled with it. I guess I've read one story too many about saving an old chain by soaking it in kerosene. Now, looking at the chain while I pedaled the upside-down bike, I could see it wasn't always meshing nicely with either the sprocket or the hub, so I started looking closer. Oops.
And this was in the dim light in the garage. It took me a while to find the master; I'm used to them having a more oval shape. Not this one.
Finally popped it off and took it in the house where I could see it under some better light. WOW. It's a wonder I made it to the end of the block today. much less the end of 7 miles.
Yes, that's 6, count 'em, 6 cracked links.
Conveniently, I happened to have a brand new KMC single-speed chain in the bike dungeon. Putting it on cleared up the crunchies. Still had the clunk, thought. Tried swapping out the pedals, no change. So I opened up the bottom bracket locknut and cranked the cone just a little tighter. Voila! Clunk is gone.
This is not to say the bike is nice and silent. The seat is plenty creaky. And the rack is held together with a lot of rivets, as are the fender brackets. Also, the rack has that rattrap spring on it. It's not bad on fresh tarmac, but once you hit rough pavement or a driveway apron or sidewalk cracks or a gum wrapper in the street, all those little fasteners sing out together to remind you you're riding a 57 year old bike.
Overall, though, I'm digging it. I started out with the seat too low today, but it got a lot more comfortable to ride once I raised it a couple inches, and it'll be even better now that it doesn't clunk on every pedal stroke. Still hoping my ideas for the taillight/rack come into focus in time for the deadline.
