There aren't many pluses to being stuck inside in winter too injured to go riding, but at least it's given me some time to do other things, like sleeping too much, watching too much youtube, eating too much unhealthy food, etc. etc. I've also been making an effort to get my bike running smoothly so that when I am fit to ride I can just go without worrying about that.
Regular readers will know that I got pretty frustrated with the stock drivetrain on the 2019 Marin San Quentin 1 - mainly because of it's annoying habit of dropping the chain just as I was definitely about to beat a Strava record. I finally bit the bullet over Christmas and splurged for a shiny new Shimano 11spd setup with a (gasp) 42 tooth big cog on the back. Given that I'd been running a 32 / 36 ratio as my lowest gear for the last year without any real problems going straight to fifty-something teeth seemed a bit overkill.
I like to do all the work on my bikes as much as possible, but the installation process highlighted once again how important a good local bike shop is. Despite having the right tools, googling for all the answers, heating it with a hair dryer, whacking it with a hammer, trying every possible alignment of tools including trying to balance standing up on each end of the cassette tool / chain whip combo (don't do this, it is stupid and dangerous and doesn't work. At least wear a helmet if you do) I could not get the old cassette locknut to shift. Five minutes and €4.50 later it was off thanks to a nice big bench-mounted vice in my local shop.
Anyway, back to the point of this post, which is that I found out about a tool I never knew existed, namely the Derailleur Hanger Alignment Tool. The way I found out was, of course, that I installed everything, adjusted limit screws and indexing and it still made a load of noises in first gear. I already had a suspicion that I'd bent the hanger before starting on the job, but thought that one simply bought a new hanger and that was the end of it. However, it turned out to be tricky to get hold of the right hanger, and even if I did it's best practice to check alighnment anyway, and I love bike tools, so I ended up with a shiny new toy.
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| New tools! |
The tool was sold as a "Radon", but it was completely unbranded and looks remarkably similar to the
SuperB TB-1946 which is available under a few different names. It was the cheapest I could find in stock anywhere but seems
decent enough, and the small amount of play at the pivot doesn't seem to matter
in practice. My only concern is how robust the gauge rod and clamp (middle of picture) are, but moderately careful handling should make that a non-issue.
Long story short (well, shorter anyway, I seem to have rambled quite a bit already) - the tool revealed that my hanger was, as suspected, bent, and quite a lot. The straightenening process was pretty straightforward (fnar fnar) and fixed everything so all 11 of the gears now run beautifully. As for cost effectiveness, I hope this one will be OK. I've bent the hanger on every mountain bike I've ever owned (yes, all two of them). As a kid I happily ran with only 12 of my theoretical 21 gears working (the front mech wouldn't go into the small cog and you couldn't get at the limit screws without unscrewing it from the bike, and I just couldn't be bothered) for a couple of years, but I'm a bit pickier now. I also get the feeling that modern drivetrains are a bit fussier about alignment. Hopefully it will be just as useful as the bottom bracket puller I bought in 1998 and used to remove my old cranks about 15 times last year.
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