New Gear (Literally)

June 26th, 2008

OMG what a clever title. My crankset and bottom bracket came in today. They were on my bike by 5pm. The chainline still isn’t as straight as I’d like it to be, and I had to take a few links out of the chain. The rear axle is barely on the frame. I’m sure it would be ok, but remember that creaking I heard? It was the frame. Hell, the thing is at least 25 years old, and there’s visible rust. So I ordered a new frame.

I had a dilema: order a whole new bike or just get the frame. I’d probably have ordered the frame before the end of the year anyway just for a project, so I went ahead and did that. I may or may not order the complete bike. I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Hopefully the new frame will ship tomorrow. It’s coming from Texas, so it should only take a few days by truck. It’s free shipping, but I’m not sure which method they use. I AM sure it’s whatever is the cheapest, but there’s no telling how long it’ll take. It shouldn’t be more than a week (I hope).

So about that post title… I have a bigger chainring and bigger cog ont he back wheel = different gear. I’m a riot. I took some pictures of the new setup. I really like the new stuff. Pake has really impressed me, except for one thing. You’d think that if you ordered a whole new crankset that you’d get a couple of crank bolts. That is clearly not the case.

Here are some pictures that I took earlier of my bike, and a couple of the new frame that I robbed from the website. And maybe I’ll throw in one of the bike with the old cranks so you can tell the difference, because otherwise you probably won’t    lol

Before:

After:

I guess the chain line is pretty straight now that I see the picture, but it makes a lot of noise. Could just be the brand of chain, I guess.

And here’s the new frame (of course I got the brightest color they had):

It has no decals or anything, and it’s churned out of the same factory in Taiwan that makes frames for just about every major brand, so I hear. so the quality should be the same. I just got a hold of it before all the stickers and stuff get put on. I usually put my own anyway.

So when the new frame gets here I’ll just transplant everything from the old one to the new one. I may decide to order a narrow bottom bracket (the thing the pedals go on; it lets them spin), and I’ll most likely get a new chain also. Those are pretty cheap. I’ll make Squish a hell of a deal on the bottom bracket, and I’ll be good to go. Then I retire the peugeot frame by hanging it on the wall in the garage. Or maybe I should smash it to pieces and make a video of it. Then we could see just how much abuse one of those old frames can take.

Who votes for retiring it, and who votes for smashing it to smithereens?

cycling, me | Comments