Oooh, shiny!
After the beatings endured by the drivetrain on my beloved mountain bike during the Death March and Spring Fast Laps series this year, it had finally had enough. Following my trip to West Virginia last month, I dropped the bike off at Village for some long-overdue love.
Bearing in mind that my intent was to upgrade to a 29er in the next year or so, I wanted to stay fairly inexpensive on the replacement parts. Still, I also need the bike to perform as advertised during the last several races this year, including three Fast Laps races at John Bryan, a six hour enduro at the same, and a two-lap race at MoMBA.
A minor upgrade that made a HUGE difference!
Chris at Village did the best he could with those requirements. He had a few parts in stock, but had to order a few more, and so he called me a week or so after I dropped it off. He’d changed the chain, cassette and rear derailleur, but the shifting was only marginally better. The weak point now was the worn out shifter. I stopped by one day while I was out on a training ride on the road bike and confirmed his assessment on a test ride, and then made the call to replace the shifter with a slight upgrade.
I’m glad I did. Chris’s next voicemail reported that the bike now shifts “like buttah,” and he wasn’t exaggerating. The thing is an absolute joy to ride now, and in fact shifts so easily that I have to get used to it! I think the gearing on the cassette might be slightly different from stock as well, because the bike seems to accelerate much more easily, and the ratios seem a touch closer than they were before. Of course, just having a fresh chain makes everything smoother and easier, too. On the one test ride I’ve had on the bike since the upgrade, I was shocked at how quiet and easy the whole assembly is now.
Canning the big ring up front in favor of a bash guard seems to have been a good choice, as well. The only place I ever used the big ring in the first place was going down hill on pavement, and even then it was seldom. I can manage 25 mph or so just on the middle ring, and that’s plenty for me, for now. If I feel like I need a little more top end later, I can always swap out the chainrings for minimal cost.
All this will definitely make me a little faster at this fall’s races, since I won’t be fussing with the drivetrain, and will be able to get my shifting done more quickly and precisely. And with how well the bike is working now, who knows, maybe I won’t sell it after all!