Some noticed on the Strava notes that I’d had an aborted ride about 19.8 km from Ban Wassana, our base in Trang.
The back story was that with all this wet riding I’d developed a noticeable “click” in the front wheel. I originally thought it was a broken spoke, but after checking and changing out front wheels I figured it was just the hub. I took the wheel to the mechanic (father and racer son) who swapped out my brake handles. [I may have left out that story – the used Dura Ace brake handles I’d purchased on Craigslist last year didn’t last over the summer storage. I found a new Sora set for B600 ($18) including installation.]
The shop owner said I should have all the bearings serviced, since that front one was totally out of grease, and they would do the complete bike – chain, brakes, hubs, headset and crankset – for B480 ($14). I delivered the whole bike next morning and shortly thereafter got a call from our “fixer” friend SunSern. He helps negotiate and translate all these complex deals. They were having difficultly getting the bearings back in the bottom bracket cassette, after using water pressure to force it open. It was probably a sealed cassette.
Needless to say, it was impossible to get the bearings and all back into the cassette without a special press and mandrel, but not without trying 3 other mechanics in town. The shop found a new cassette to put in and I was satisfied that I only had to pay the wholesale price of the new cassette B480 ($14). Riding home in the rain was fast fast and a sweet ride.
Next morning at 5 AM I took a new ride to test out the bike and at 18,9 km the right-hand crankset arm slipped off. Fortunately I had cell service and Stanna arrived 45 minutes later (after going to town to fill the empty scooter gas tank) with the scooter to shuttle me and the bike back home. Not an especially fun trip holding a bike high enough off the ground so wheels don’t touch from a scooter rear seat.
On closer inspection, it seems that the new cassette has larger splines than the crankset arm slots so the arms were only ¼ of the way onto the axle. The locking bolt backed off and let the arm slip freely.
SunSern, my fixer, managed to convince the bike shop to bring the “bike ambulance” to pick up the bike at Wassana, and work once again on the problem. This was on a Friday and we’d scheduled a 2-day ride to Sukorn Island the next day, so the pressure was on to find a fix. They found a temporary cassette and chain wheel setup 50/34 to install and I was back in business by 4 PM.
The old DuraAce crank and new (larger splined) cassette are at a machinist to see if they can be milled, seated and married together. At this point only the brake calipers on this 25-year-old Trek 2500 haven’t been replaced, but it still rides super.
