Currently on my road bike, I have a Cateye Strada and a Polar HRM watch. That way I have speed, and my HR. I mainly use that bike for spinning. Works fine.
But on my tri bike, I have a Cateye computer on a little plug mount between my tribars, but there is not room to mount anything else. I could wear a HRM watch, but that would be hard to see without constantly flipping my wrist.
I want to try to keep my HR in Z1/Z2 on my upcoming Ironman. So I am looking at buying a new computer with an HRM. I have considered mounting my Garmin Forerunner 305 up there, but for regular use, it would be a pain to have to keep it charged, and taking off, and putting it back on.
A few computers I have been looking at:
Polar CS100b (I already have a Polar HRM strap)
Cateye V3
Garmin Edge 305.
The Polar CS100b is the cheapest at about $72. But some people have reported issues with the speed sensor not working. I am guessing they installed them incorrectly. The buttons are supposed stiff too.
The Cateye V3 I can get for about $123. It had cadence which would be nice. I like the display layout. It has calories, but supposedly the number is screwey.
The Garmin Edge 305 appears to be a bike version of my Forerunner 305. I can get a refurbished unit for $170. I like my 305. The unit would be easier to put on and take off the bike. But unlike a regular bike computer, I would have to make sure it is charged each ride. I would get data I can DL into the computer which would be cool. But other than an initial look, I don’t do much with it. I have read a bunch of reports of the unit shutting off when people hit bumps. That would not be cool.
The Garmin 705 would be cool, but much more expensive.
I am currently leaning towards the Cateye V3.
I would love to have a full blown power meter, but I can’t afford that.
I have had a wobble on my chainring. When I upgraded my front derailleur, it become much more noticeable. In certain gear combinations, the chain would rub against the derailleur cage at certain parts of the pedal rotation. I could see the chainring go side to side.
I started looking on ebay for a new crankset. The crankset that is on my bike is the original Suntour Blaze. I wanted to upgrade to a Shimano Ultegra crankset.
But then I looked in my Barnett’s Manual. Wow, look in the book. What a concept! I found a solution. My Trek bike was made in 1990 and had square spindle ends. What the manual said to do was mark the spindle. Then tap the crank on with a plastic or rubber mallet. rotate the crank to see how much wobble there is. Use the rubber mallet to remove the crank. Rotate the spindle 90 degrees, and tap the crank on. Rotate the crank and check for wobble. Do this again in each of the four spindle positions until you find the position with the least wobble. Then mount the cranks.
I went through the procedure as described in the book, and sure enough, I found a couple postions with much less wobble. So I mounted the cranks, and now the wobble is almost non-existant! I am guessing the wobble snuck in when I swapped out the bottom bracket for a sealed bearing version.
I am still looking at buying a Shimano Ultegra crankset if I can find a good deal on eBay.
I have been wanting to replace the front derailleur on my old Trek 1000. The derailler it came with was the original stock Suntour Blaze. Many of the other components on the bike had already been ugraded. I had bought a Shimano 105 front derailleur (FD-5600) at one point, but it was a newer one designed for the newer narrower 9/10 speed chains. But it was the only Shimano 105 I could find that had a clamp size of 34.9mm. There were some other derailleurs from that period, but they were for frames with braze fittings on the frame
I had given up for a while on replacing the front derailleur. But then I discovered that Shimano make a Braze On Adaptor for a 34.9mm seat tube! Sweet! And I could buy the fitting for under $15. Then I would be able to use any of the older braze-on front derailleurs. I ordered the adaptor. Then I started looking for front derailluers. I decided to get a Shimano Ultegra braze-on front derailluer. Actually, at the time, the Ultregra stuff was called Shimano 600. But it’s Ultegra. I got a great deal on a Shimano 600 (Ultegra) fd-6401 front derailleur. With shipping, it cost $15. Both the clamp braze on adaptor and the derailleur came extraodinarily fast. Installation was easy. Now I have an Ultegra front derailleur. I am looking at upgrading the rear 105 derailluer to Ultegra as well. And maybe the brakes, and shifters if I can find good deals on them.
My brake levers came! I had to remove the old handle bars first. Since I was replacing the handle bars, stem, and brake levers, I didn’t need to worry about removing one of the brake levers in order to slide off the old stem. I did however remove the handle bar tape so I could remove the brake cable housings which were under the handlebar tape. I wasn’t worried about the brake cables, and just cut those.
Once I remove the handlebar tape, I pulled off the brake cable housings, then loosened the quill stem, and removed it from the steerer tube.
I bought some new brake cable housings, so I removed the old brake cable housings and cut new ones the same length.
The brake cable housing for the rear brake runs through the top tube. Trying the get the housing back in was a pain. I knew I wouldn’t easily be able to get the housing to come back out the far side. So I ran a brake cable into the top tube, and was trying to get it to come out the other side. My plan was to stick a small wire loop in the far hole, and try to catch the wire and pull it out. But that wasn’t working. But in my playing with it, the cable mananged to come out the hole on it’s own. I ran the cable housing down the cable, and used the cable to guide it out the far hole.
I mounted the stem that came off my Jamis tri-bike onto the threadless adaptor. Then I mounted the adaptor into the steerer tube. I mounted the handle bars to the stem. Then I mounted the Cane Creek levers on the handlebars. I wasn’t sure of where they would be best positioned. So I punted. I know that on older bars, you generally wanted an approximate straight line along the flat part of the botton of the drops to the bottom of the levers. I wasn’t sure on these new style bars and levers.
I ran the brake cables and hooked up the brakes. I roughed out the position of the handle bars. Then using electrical tape, and taped the brake cable housings to the handle bars. There was a slot along the inside of the bars for the brake cable housing the route through.
I had some black Bontrager cork handlebar tape, but I didn’t retape the bars yet. I had a bike fitting coming up, and I thought he might want to adjust the position of the brake levers. I would re-tape the handle bars after the fitting.
My new Bontrager Race handlebars came today via priority mail. And my new Profile Design threadless adaptor came yesterday. I was a little worried about whether I ordered the right size, but it is perfect. I was surprised how small the box was. But it was in there.
I have some new Cane Creek SCR-5 brake levers coming probably Tuesday. I originally planned to reinstall the diacompe Blaze brake levers. But then I stumbled over these ergo shaped levers. I can’t wait for them to come! I am excited to upgrade the handlebars on my old Trek 1000. I already have some black Bontrager handlebar tape. Part of me is thinking of change the color though. White might look good. But it would probably look dirty quickly. Maybe Red. I had red on there before. Maybe I will stick with black.
I am still keeping an eye out for a carbon seat post, and an Ultegra rear derailleur. The carbon post with help dampen vibrations from the road. Right now I have aluminum fork, frame, seat post, and handlebars. So vibrations would come right up. And I currently have a Shimano 105 derailleur. The barrel adjuster is bent a little. But the thing works well. Maybe I willl just replace the adjuster. But if I find a good deal on an Ultegra derailleur…