Sunday, September 6, 2009

When Will the Carnage End?

The past week has not been a good one when it comes to my bike not being broke.
It started with me burning through front and rear brake pads in the course of a race. That plus the fact that setting up the hydraulic brakes is more finicky than cable pull led to me swapping the Juicy 5's for BB7's. A little heavier, a little less powerful, but I like the ease of adjustment, and the little extra pad clearance the provide.


Then my bottle cage broke! My bottle cage! Bottle cages aren't supposed to break?


Racing in New Hampshire I had jettisoned a bottle, so maybe it's just as well I replace them with ones that grip the bottle a little better. Profile Design Nylon Kages have proven reliable in the past, and since I had a couple from my dear departed Soma, they're ideal.

Yesterday, after bidding Charlie and Kerry farewell in search of some singletrack after a delightful fireroad flyer my cranks broke!


I know, I know, carbon road cranks on a SS mtb is just asking for trouble. Well I found it. Of course, and this goes without saying, I was about as far from home as I could possibly be while riding at the Res. Ripped the ring right off the carbon spider will climbing a hill.
These are the third set of cranks I've broken in the past 3 years, on a singlespeed. Never ever had a problem with cranks on a geared bike before. I have a set of FSA Energy cranks that I've swapped the broken carbon ones out for. Essentially the alloy version of what I broke.

So now my bike is 1/2 lb heavier (less than I thought it would be), and hopefully stronger than before.
Let's hope it last until the season's over.

1 comment:

James said...

You've got some crazy power to keep braking cranks! The 1/2 pound shouldn't slow you down at Landmine.