In praise of quick links...

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Svendo

Guru
Location
Walsden
Decided to do a nice long ride in the forecast mild spring weather today. I mapped out a route via Holmfirth to Jackson Bridge, up the climb there in the '100 climbs book', then over to Emley Moor transmitter and home again using the lower route back to the west side of the Pennines. Great weather, especially once the sun came out. Raced up the Jackson Bridge climb and got 8.30, slightly faster than the index time in the book. I was enjoying riding back towards home, on some new lanes, until this corner. It was a single track lane, steep going downwards with a smooth, recently laid surface. I approached the sharp turn, began braking and had a slight front wheel slide, I thought 'this isn't good'. I tried to brake again favouring the rear, knowing I'd still struggle to make the turn and didn't want to go to the right where the surface wasn't greasy as I'd be conflicting with any uphill traffic.
The inevitable happened and i went over at something just above 20 mph, sliding on my right side. Managed to jump up, spent a couple of minutes moaning softly waiting for the initial shock of pain to subside, then began checking the bike. (there may also have been some swearing!) the right shifter was pushed in, so banged that out straight. straightened the back brake. Then noticed the rear derailleur was pushed in, and when I tried to straighten it a bit, of course the hanger broke. As it's designed to. I walked down the hill to a more comfortable location to see what I could do.
I've heard of single speed convertion, and seen the pictures in books like Zinn's, but never had to watch a mate do it or do it myself. And I've no experience of fixed or single speeds, although I have a vague awareness of chainlines and chain tension being important.
Fortunately, about a month ago I added a 10 speed KMC quicklink to my saddle bag. It was actually quite straight forward to detach the derailleur, use the duct tape roll I have to secure the loose cable to the water bottle, break the chain and begin looking at what gear to have.
I knew I had some short but steep hills, and the climb over the pennines, then from Denshaw to Newhey. Some good stretches around 10-12%. 39-19 seemed perfect, pulled taut the chain was the exact length, in fact too exact. I had to derail the chain a bit to get enough slack to join the quick link, and then the chain ended up too tight to turn smoothly, or to allow the rear wheel to move, or to derail the chain again, which with the rear facing dropouts on my frame meant I was a bit stuck.
I experimented a bit, and found I could undo the QR skewer and allow the rear wheel to move forward a bit onto the skewer from the axle stubs, using the play in the rear forks, which gave enough play to change the chain to the 17 sprocket, and off I went.
Unfortunately on the way home the chain twice decided the 19 sprocket on which it wouldn't turn was better, and changed by itself meaning I had to stop and do the QR, fork spread routine again.
By the time I got home I was getting a bit shivery and achey and my left thumb was swelling up nicely. At least I made it, and that's better than taxi/train (GF at work) palaver. Turns out I've a nice big patch of rash on the hip, and spots on the knee and elbow. NO damage to the bibknicks on top at all.
Bike seems OK, I'll give it a thorough check tomorrow. New mech hanger ordered. All in all not a bad crash, almost worth it for the learning experience. Now I need an n+1 SS/Fixie! I'll add some pics when I've taken them!
 
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