a damned school boy error

[yello]

Long story, stay with me (or don't )

I'm on a week's cycling holiday and am/was planning to stop off on route home to ride a 400km brevet. So I have two bikes with me; my alu road bike for enjoying the climbing around here and my audax bike. I changed the chain on my audax bike before coming on holiday but didn't test ride it... duh! I checked it shifted gear okay but didn't actually ride it. And guess what? The chain slips! It's a damned stupid mistake and I'm a right twonk.

It's vaguely possible that I assembled the cassette spacers in the wrong order (Campag 10sp) since I removed the cassette to clean it... doubt it though, I was careful with re-assembly.

It could be new chain with old cassette syndrome. I thought I'd brought the old chain with me in case I had a problem but, no, a quick search of the car tells me I didn't.

So I have a decision to make,

- attempt to resolve the problem (using holiday time)
- ride the audax on my alu frame (means a bit of pfaff in kitting it but nothing too onerous)
- forget the brevet, enjoy my holiday, sort the problem when I get home and ride a 400 later in the month

The last one seems the least pfaff option at this point in time but I hate having to abandon plans, especially because of my own stupidity. But it does also have the benefit of me not having to worry about over tiring myself for the 400.

Btw, the holiday is excellent. The cycling here (Vercors) is superb and the climbs, and views, spectacular. I did a 150km ride yesterday, 2800m climbing and enjoyed pretty much every minute!

 

[Globalti]

Why can't you just go to a bike shop and buy new bits? They're bound to be cheaper in France.

 

[yello]

They're bound to be cheaper in France.

Oh, I like a good laugh! You are kidding aincha! Nah, sadly, generally speaking it's cheaper for me to buy online from the UK or Germany and have it shipped.

But that was option 1, getting it sorted now. It means going to the local big town (40 minute drive) and HOPING said bike shop will have a Campy 10sp cassette of some description... forget the specifics of it being a Veloce 13-26. And then smiling nicely at him at asking if he can fit it immediately. To many if's in the equation, not to mention cost, when I know I can sort it myself at home next weekend.

 

[Kestevan]

Can you not take the rear wheel and chain from the alloy bike and fit to the Audax?

Assuming they're both Campag.....

 

[yello]

Can you not take the rear wheel and chain from the alloy bike and fit to the Audax?

Maybe... both Campag - the alu's 9sp, the audax 10... not quite sure how it'll index/change but it's defo worth a try.

 

[HLaB]

I'd just ride the Audax on the Alu frame, surely there won't be much to do to prep it for the Audax, take off: guards, lights, other brackets and sort out the audax bike when you get home and enjoy you're holiday.

 

[yello]

I'd just ride the Audax on the Alu frame, surely there won't be much to do to prep it for the Audax, take off: guards, lights, other brackets and sort out the audax bike when you get home and enjoy you're holiday.

True... there's not much preping needed in honesty. I'd not bother with the mudguards, not for a one off.

I'd just need to mount the front light and swap front wheels (I run a dynohub and B&M Cyo combo)...or I could just mount my backup light (Fenix L2D torch).... plus fit the bar bag. The alu bike's got rear light mounts already so I'd just clip the rear leds on.


Maybe that's the better option. I've never ridden further than, er, maybe 200km tops on the alu bike though. Not sure just how rash a decision it might seem at 3am Sunday morning!

 

[arallsopp]

I'd just ride the Audax on the Alu frame, surely there won't be much to do to prep it for the Audax, take off: guards, lights, other brackets and sort out the audax bike when you get home and enjoy you're holiday.

+1. Knowing the bike is reliable is a bl00dy good start for a 400km ride. One creak, and I know I'd lose power to mind games if I didn't know the setup was good for the distance. *


* spoken with very limited brevet experience, on a bike that creaks all the time

 

[summerdays]

I'm not much help as to which option you should take but just to let you know that there are others out there making the same mistakes... Mr Summerdays changed his chain on Sunday and basically rode 100 meters to test it. Commuted to work yesterday and discovered it slips so spent the whole 14 miles there and back riding in strange gears either really low or high! He's ordered the right bit but is stuck with this one since his wheel for the other bike is in the shop (they didn't bother to fix it last week he discovered when he went in to pick it up!).

 

[asterix]

Yep, I am going to fit a new cassette very soon for a mere 160km - a useful reminder to test it carefully!

 

[HLaB]

True... there's not much preping needed in honesty. I'd not bother with the mudguards, not for a one off.

I'd just need to mount the front light and swap front wheels (I run a dynohub and B&M Cyo combo)...or I could just mount my backup light (Fenix L2D torch).... plus fit the bar bag. The alu bike's got rear light mounts already so I'd just clip the rear leds on.


Maybe that's the better option. I've never ridden further than, er, maybe 200km tops on the alu bike though. Not sure just how rash a decision it might seem at 3am Sunday morning!

You'll be grand, its not like you are going to this having never rode more than 20km, Good Luck and Enjoy :-)

 

[yello]

plus fit the bar bag.

Scratch that. Oversized bars mean the bar bag clamp doesn't fit. So'd I'd have to stuff bumpf (leg & arm warmers, gilet, map, brevet card, food, etc) in jersey pockets.

I"m all in favour of adventure but I'm leaning back to the play safe option 3!

 

[yello]

Decided to forget the 400, enjoy my hol and do the 400 next weekend.

I changed the chain back to the old one and problem solved, so it was the old 'new chain, old cassette' problem. I'll run the old chain into the ground and then change both cassette and chain at the same time.