Slave

Have a Shimano 105 Shifter (8 speed) on a bike donated for underprivilaged riders. The shifter will change the gears one way but not the other. I took it apart last evening (only as far as removal of barrel from casing.) The grease was very "gummy" and lots of dirt, so I cleaned it with toothbrush and Handy Andy. Used light machine oil to re-oil all sorts of levers and springs. I got the shifter working again but noted that as soon as I put it back in the houseing, the problem returned. So, the assumption is that one of the springs or levers is worn and the housing limits the amount of lever travel required to change the barrel position and therefore the gear. Lacking the tools to take it apart furhter and reading a thread previously, I also lack the number of hands to do do this. Question is, is the thing worth repairing or should it be replaced. I am sure there are a number of people who have similar problems with Shifters.

What do you mean no racing? A training ride is not a training ride until I get dropped at least 3 times. Don't worry Nance, I can see I'm going to be dropped so many times on Saturday that I will have an even more odd shaped head than I am currently used to. If nothing else, I need you to be there so I have a good reason to ride at the back. There may be more than just the two of us and it will be fun when we get past the pain barrier. So looks like Tazzman, you and I will be bringing up the rear. If the hills aren't too bad, I may just have one or to "intervals" one some of them. GOv2.0, dude, just call me wooden spoon. I love to stir it up. Sometimes more fun can be had ripping the hole right out of the hosepipe than watering the garden. It was fun yanking that chains of our northern cousins. Come Saturday, they will kick my butt, but for now, it's more fun than I have had since I were a children. Care to tell me why I can't ask if there are single women on the hub? Are there? Is it important if they are single or not? Trubes, did you go riding this AM in tihs cold? It's not cold. It very cold, with a capital "F".

Bliksem.

Tazzman and others attending Saturdays little excusrion: How about we get all of you who have committed to this weekends WWRR to come out South so we can show you the real hills? I will organise iwth some of our fellow southern cyclist to come up with a ride that will make your Kdorp hill seem like a speed bump. And I aint talking about SBR either. We can all meet at Panorama Shopping Centre and go for a little southern hill cruise.

It's all good Roders. Just having some fun. Going to stick eith 175'sfor a bit and see how it goes. Off to go and try the new setup. Will report back tomorrow, if I can still walk.

That WWRR still looks more scary than this. You sure I won't need that crash cart and 180 cranks?

Aye captain. Will persevere with longer cranks for more than one ride. Gotta give it a fair go, but no way ever will I go to a 39 chain ring. May as well start wearing pink blouses then, give up cycling and take up needlework.

Roders, my man, some okes are just hard core. You go up that hill faster than my car can go dude. Respect. If you have the profile Andy, it would be interesting to have Ox compare it to his WWRR. (I am having a ball pulling the piddle with him. Thing is he is doing the same to me.) Longer cranks is an experiment I am going to try. Maybe leave here early and go for a real long one with a few nasty hills to see how we get along. Only thing is, it's very cold with a capital F and windy.

Ah, oiu, oiu monseur, but it is so very close to home nes pas? I am sure I can twist Trubies arm to pick up a bus load of stuff for my pet projects. Otherwise I can make another plan to come by, or invite you for a SBR ride. No pressure mate, none at all.

On the Lido hill dude, when I played knights in white satin (Oh bugger, wrong forum again) Er shing armour. It wasn't your fault you were with the group and were stone deaf. I used the bush telephone to make a call but you weren't home / didn't answer. It's all good mate, I got to learn new stuff to do with money. I just wanna jack WW's bike and we can trade the back wheel for a cuppa come Saturday. Dude, can you make a collection for me? Dude called "pickled", he has some stuff for me for my latest project. He works round the corner from you in Randburg. There may be an item or two left over and I might just rebuild the peejou. (See Andy, I need the crash cart for something completetly different.) Then I can get another bike fininshed and start project Rapport.

OK, well you can never be too certain you know, but I'll take your word for it. No crash carts.

Have a speedwobble at 25 and moer off. SBR is the Suikerbosrand Nature reserve. Apparently it is the place to train if you want to do hills and you don't live in the berg (As in Drakensberg) or the Cape. Eish, not to get into any wrangle about illusions, but I will try and get someone to post the route profile of the reserve from Saturdays ride. (Help, Trubie. The mean man wants to beat me up.)(Nahh, just pulling the p1ss man. Will get Trubie to post the route if he still has it. Those illusions were pretty tough, but like that's just my opinion.)

Trubes, buddy, you miss the point. The Wild West 94.7 has a certain ring to it. Sounds way better that WWRR to me, but then I'm just wierd. Can't call it the WW 94.7 if the distance is outand then we can say it truly has nothing to do with a certsin local radio station. No copyright infingements. Ox, you foncuse me buddy. Last time I said we stop at the circus for coffee, you dropped my ass and left me to rescue damsels in distress. Then you said you would rather have all the pain in one go than have a half-time stop. Eish, angaaz dude. ANGAAAZ. Seriously, have you arranged the first aid dudes. Where is Spaso9 when we need him? Frikken running (Make that swimming) aroung Montenegro. I may need a crash cart.

Thanks Roders. You seem to understand my dilemma. I think with bigger cranks, I am probably going to go back to big blading pretty much everything except the meanest of hills. Will try out the 175's this afternoon and it should give me an idea of how it will all work out. Pronise, if anyone ever wants to see me NEVER use a small blade, put a 39 on the front of my bike. H3ll even up til last year, my 42 blade never got used by me, ever. I set the grub screws so it never moved except to get rid of the chain rub when in the upper or lower gears. When I still ran 6 speed, I also only ever used the bottom 4 gears unless climbing hills like Camaro. But then again, I only used to manage 16 up Lido hill. Now at least I can get 18 to 20 with relative ease.

Are you gong to wait for me while I do the traffic circle? Are you going to pick me up when I get dizzy and fall off?

Andy, SBR was not easy on a 42 to 21 combo with 170mm cranks, but it is doable. The first time I did SBR, I had to stop up that last long climb becuase it hurt my back more than anything else. This time around, I did not stop. (Yeah, I know we stopped to regroup just outside the second gate, but we did that last time as well. I'm talking about not being abe to complete the climb in a single go. Also, 1st time around Jow Louw stopped just over the top of the ride to regroup hwich I also didn't do this time around.) I feel confident that next time, I will be able to go faster without any need to stop at all. Just depends on how I can adapt to 175 mm cranks. I may hate them like I did the 39 t blade and chuck it after one ride. Thunk I will try and do some hills today to get a feeling of the lnger cranks and then I will have experience. No opinion in world like experience. It is all a question of economics really. Changing blades was a cheap experiment because the parts are available (lying in my garage not currently being used.) Similar to the cranks. Easy experiment. Changing casettes tho' is entirely another ball of wax. IDeally, I would like to custom design my casette. 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23. It would be closer to my 11 / 25 eight speed I had before. I needed to do Camaro on the 25 at the back. I may go out this afternoon and give it a bash with the current experimental setup. It can't hurt that much can it? Who knows, tomorrow I may have a half chain for sale. Stretched to double the length.

I get the gist BB. 39 is supposedly the way to go and maybe when I learn to spin more, the 39 will hurt less. First time I went on the long loop with the fast bunch, I got dropped at Walkerville. Second time, I manage to stay with them as fas as Walker fruit farms. Then when I tried the 39 t, I got dropped on the Lido hill. So, back to the 42 and last Sunday, even with a Sat SBR ride in the legs, I hung on until De Deur before getting dropped. With the 39, it just felt like all my gears were wrong. Either too easy or to hard. Nothing that felt "right". I am obviously used to the 42 and comfortable with it. I'm kinda hoping that I can spend more time sitting in the saddle doing SBR with slighty longer cranks and staying with the 42 t blade.

Hey Ox, can you find just another 0.7? Then it can be known as the WW 94.7.

Hey Porky, aks Delgado and the other Colnago trio members. They have seen the 11 / 21 and 52 /42 and I get up all the hills in SBR. Delgado calls it my "close ratio box." What can I say, before I joined this nut house (as the biggest nut), I used to grind hills in heavy gears. I am now training myself to spin, but still lapse into the odd grind every now and then. Admittedly, I do a lot of standing on the pedals riding SBR, but I've done it twice now. JB. The cranks that were on the bike when I got it: 170 mm. My legs appear to be of a normal length. Not too long or too short. Speed devil, I tried a 39 t chain ring up front and all it did was hurt. I didn't try and stay / persist with it at all. Had one ride and hated the 39 t. I am more than happy staying with a 42t small chain ring.

I was looking forward to being drilled into the tar and going to ICU for a three day recovery nap after this Wild West Epic. Oxman. The group is large and will be difficult to control. One or two dropping out is not a crisis. If in doubt, put it to a vote. Also bear in mind stop streets, Traffic lights and other issues that may make it unsafe for large group. I don't know the area well enough to make that judgement. Keep the distance and maybe loose one or two. No biggie. Initially I was temped to bail when I saw 110, but what the heck, how many 110 km training rides are there?

What the h3ck. 110 km can only make me a little stronger. Seems Ox wants to get his money's worth for the route so let's go the whole nine yards. (110 km.) It will be somewhat of a challenge for me. Can only hurt a little and for a few days. And if I can still walk the next day, I will see if I can join AndyR in the SBR.

This is the expected weather for Saturday according to Accuweather. Saturday Day http://vortex.accuweather.com/adc2004/common/images/icons/standard/wx/45x45/01.gifBright and sunnyHigh15?CRealFeel?:16?CView the Hour-By-Hour? ForecastWinds:SW at 8km/hWind Gusts:24 km/hMax UV Index:Moderate (4)Thunderstorm Probability:0%Amount of Precipitation:0.0mmAmount of Rain:0.0mmAmount of Snow:0.00cmHours of Precipitation:0 HrsHours of Rain:0 HrsHours of Daylight:10.5 Hrs

I think I'm the most qualified for that one IanJ.

Panda. They work for me.