Over the last week I have come to the realization that my mountain bike has been seriously neglected. This is normal due severe slackness, however it has been complaining pretty badly since new year:
- Whenever I put the power down the chain slips entirely from the cassette (drivetrain needs replaced)
- I find it hard to turn left (headset is dodgy)
As it turns out, fixing the headset was a 30 minute job with a bit of cleaning, care and lots of grease required. The drivetrain replacement has been in the pipe for ages and I decided to use the winnings from SSMM 2005 where they photographed me at 3am with a handlebar moustache and about 8 t-shirts on!
I have most of the tools required to do this including all of the specific Shimano tools. It went ok apart from one chainring bolt which I just could not remove and had to go to the bike shop.
“oh you just use this tool here…” - gffnnashahaha
Anyway, get back home - stick the new rings on and try to hammer the chainset back into the frame. And you will never guess what?
The Shimano deore granny ring (easiest front cog) will not fit around a Shimano XT bottom bracket cup - Argggh!.
So anyway my bike is now without easy gears, and I have a 4 hour ride to look forward to tomorrow - goodbye knees!