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…
I recently ordered a threadless stem adaptor for my old 1990 Trek 1000. Then I decided that since I would have to strip the handlebars down to get the old quill stem off, unless I want to destroy the old stem, I might as well replace the handle bars with new style ergo type handlebars. I found some Bontrager Race handlebars on ebay.
I was interested in how best to install the older style brake levers on the newer style handlebars. I normally see brifters (brake levers/shifters) on these. I was searching, and stumbled over some new style brake levers that are larger and resemble the brifters. The one post I found was comparing the Cane Creek SCR-5 brake levers with the Tektro R200A brake levers. The posts were saying the innards of the Cane Creek brake levers and the Tektro were the same, but that the Tektro levers were less expensive. I have seen Cane Creek stuff on nicer bikes, while the Tektro stuff seems to be cheaper. So I was surprised that the brake levers were the same. But I looked at pictures and they looked pretty the same. The hood was slightly different.
I searched and found the Tektro R200A brake levers at JensonUSA. I ordered a pair. But I continued to search for information. But I found a reference to the Tektro R200A brake levers being the version for small hands. And that the Tektro R200 was the standard size. I knew Cane Creek had a compact version of the SCR-5 brake levers called SCR-5C brake levers which are made for small hands. I called Jenson USA to ask them. The guy didn’t seem to know much. But I did learn that the Tektro R200A were back ordered. And they didn’t sell the Tektro R200 brake levers. I canceled my order for the Tektro R200A brake levers, and ordered the Cane Creek SCR-5 brake levers. They were about $10 more, but I will get them sooner, and they should fit my hands better. And Cane Creek is a better brand anyway. It will look better on my bike.