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Ride
Archive
August 2008
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2008
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2008
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| If you ain't got a decent drivetrain all your pedalling is for
nuthin' |
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Dead
Head Single Speed Kit
LX_Rear_Mech
LX_Chainset_and_cranks
Shimano_XT_Chain
Shimano
XT Hollowtech II cranks and bottom bracket
SRAM_PC_69_chain
XT_bottom_bracket
XT_Rear_Mech
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| XT
Rear Mech Price Paid: £35-00
Purchased from: Chain_Reaction_Cycles
Length of use: Continuous since June_2003
Overall Score: 
Comments:
No noticeable improvement over the LX changing but a good saving in weight (50
grams). I had a bad experience with one XT mech when it gave up on me after less
than a month however I purchased another one in June
which has proved much more reliable and I have upgraded the rating accordingly 
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| LX
Rear Mech
Price
Paid: Supplied with bike
Length of use: Continuously since April 2001
Overall Score: Comments:
A good quality mech that won’t let you down. This has given me 24 months of hard
use so far (April 2003) and is still going strong. The only maintenance completed
is replacing the jockey wheels every 12 months. 
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| LX chainset - octalink splined
Price Paid: £44-00
Purchased from: Chain_Reaction_Cycles
Length
of use: 10 months (as at December 2003)
Overall Score:
Comments:
Very reasonable price for a quality set of cranks plus chainset. I
made a
considerable weightsaving over the previous chainset (at least 150 grams). I'm
not a good enough rider that I could notice any difference in terms of stiffness
- I was happy with the previous Specialized Strongarm cranks and only replaced
because the chainrings were badly worn causing incessant chainsuck.
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| XT bottom bracket - splined
Price Paid: £21-00
Purchased
from: Chain_Reaction_Cycles
Length of use: 2 months (as at April 2003)
Overall Score:
Comments: Changed this at the same time as the chainset and cranks. Throwaway
cartridge style bottom bracket that gave me a considerable weightsaving over the
LX BB (75 grams) with the same solid and reliable performance. Care needs to be
taken on axle width when swapping from tapered to splined.
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| LX bottom bracket - tapered (square)
Price Paid: Fitted with bike
Length of use: 2 years
Overall Score:
Comments: An excellent, maintenance free performance for 2 years. Throwaway cartridge
style bottom bracket that is still going strong and I only replaced when I switched
to a splined chainset.
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| Shimano XT chain Price Paid: £15
Purchased from: Chain_Reaction_Cycles
Length of use: 1 month
Overall Score:
Comments: Continuously broke – not good enough!
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Sachs PC 69 chain Price Paid: £15-00
Purchased from: Cycle Surgery, Spitalfields
Length of use: 8 months use is very good
Overall Score:
Comments: Reliable chain with SRAM powerlink that makes removing and cleaning
the chain simple. This chain is much more hard wearing and reliable than
the shimano chains that I have used and that includes regulalry messing around
with a chain-tool to add or remove links.
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Shimano XT Hollowtech II cranks and bottom bracket
Price Paid: £109-00
Purchased
from: Chain_Reaction_Cycles
Length of use: 6 months (as at October 2005)
Overall Score:
Comments: The LX cranks which I bought in 2002 have seen better days and so I
decided to buy some new ones. The new Shimano XT Hollowtech II cranks and bottom
bracket look challenging for those like me used to the normal design, but spend
a few minutes studying the instructions and with the special park tool it's straightforward.
The
bottom bracket is part of the drive side crank set eliminating any play there
and with the bigger bearings contained outside of the bottom bracket shell, they
are really smooth once fitted. They even passed the 'Huey' car park test. 
The
cranks in place and ater taking them to the Alps (see chewed up teeth in the close
up) - not recommended but necessary when I had a crank failure on the specialized
crankset 2 days before boarding the plane.
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Dead Head Single Speed Kit
Price Paid: £9-99
Purchased
from: Woolly Hat Shop
Length of use: purchased October 2005
Overall Score:
This
kit converts your existing 7/8/9 Speed hub to single speed. It includes two rings
- 16 tooth and 18 tooth plus all spacers required to sit on you rear hub. I bought
this to go on the 1992 Kona Lava Dome (18 inch frame) that Sam
uses to ride to school.
We decided to single speed it, to keep it simple and also to keep it cheap (I
don't think I have any more gear shifters, or rear mech's in the spares box). I
went for the classic 32:16 or 2:1 ratio. For the uninitiated, that's 32 teeth
on the front chainring and 16 teeth on the rear. 
Dead
Head single speed kit fitted 
an
old LX rear mech put to use as a chain tensioner 
the
full chainset
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This
is an mtb-idle production
Design
pictures and content © Richard Sear 1999 - 2008
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