Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Methodology

Things are amiss in Flat Tire Land.
The other day on my ride, the drive train began to make some goofy noises.
Okay, not really goofy, it sounded like the front derailleur needed some adjustment, the chain was doing a shimmy against the cage.
So I put it off until yesterday when before my ride I took a look at it.
Hmmmmm.
No rub.
Lot o'clearance.
Rear derailleur looks okay too.
So off I went.
Well about ten miles out, I start to notice this rubbing, clinking, clanging, tinkling sound and it seems to be getting louder.
So I'm looking down at the front chain rings, for that's what it sounds like, the chain rubbing against the front cage and I start trimming the front derailleur, slowly moving it out.
Nope.
Then I spy the Deda Fang.
Maybe the chain is rubbing against the Fang thingy when I get to the lower gears.
So at my stop, I make an adjustment, moving the Fang slightly off the chain, maybe a couple of millimeters.
Nope.
Not that either.
Now this sound is really bothering me, so I start doing the scientific method thing, you know, testing, hypothesizing, and all that.
So now I start fiddling with the cable adjustment in the front. Tighter until it wont' shift, looser until it won't shift and still the noise lingers.
Doesn't get louder, nor does it get softer.
Now I'm getting sort of angry for I can't seem to diagnose this whirly clang sound and it's ruining my ride cause I'm looking down every five feet and speeding up and slowing down and riding all over the creation looking like maybe I just drank a forty ounce at the corner store and am on my way home.
Now I finally get the bright idea to change gears.
All good one gear up, all good one gear down.
Big ring same, small ring same.
Now I'm really confused.
I got one gear going all Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on me and I have no clue as to why.
I give up and head on home.
I cleaned my chain and cassette and that seemed to help though I still don't know why a dirty chain would affect only one gear.
I'll see what happens today.
Then, there just has to be something else for it seems like it's that kind of day.
Then I look at my Garmin and it shows like zero juice, no power!
Wait, when I left it was like ninety percent charged!
Don't tell me that my batteries just decided to dump in like two hours.
Now this really irritates me cause I just got this thing and already it's acting sort of strange.
So I plug it in and sure enough it starts charging.
1%
2%
3%
Etc.
Hmmmmm.
I remember reading someplace that using the HRM eats power faster and kills battery life in half.
Maybe that's it.
Wait!
Five minutes later, the thing reads 100% charged!
WTF?
Now I'm sort of freaking out looking around the house for some garlic or at least a crucifix or something.
Where can I get some holy water?
Maybe yesterday was just some kind of bad dream, a pigment of my imagination!
Uh, figment.
No, there my bikes sits all upside down waiting for some chain lube.
The Garmin stares back at me, 100% charged, all innocent like nothing happened.
Okay, let's go out and see if I can recreate the symptoms.
Scientific Method like.
Sort of.

6 comments:

Steve A said...

Is that fang like the one I had - that broke?

limom said...

Yeah, same one.
It wasn't the problem though.
Seems my chain is just, uh, sensitive.
More on that later.

John Romeo Alpha said...

I had something similar, where one rear cog wasn't quite right, although it wasn't the smallest or the largest, and no matter what simple adjustment I did, it just made things worse. I ended up just following the full Barnett's manual rear derailleur adjustment procedure from step 1. BAM! Mystery problem gone.

limom said...

Interesting, I'll have to look into that.
Seems my problem isn't adjustment though.
Or maybe it is.

limom said...

Boy, do you have the whole Barnett's set?
Even the CD is like a hunski!

John Romeo Alpha said...

Yes, it's not cheap, but the derailleur chapter is available for free download:
http://www.bbinstitute.com/the-barnett-manual