MTB gears: A teeny tiny problem
Well, actually a huge problem. I’m a bigger rider and always have problems with MTB and gravel bike wheel longevity and hubs. And often need new bearings. Case in point: the AXIS wheels that come standard on the Specialized Diverge last no more than 5000kms then I can throw them away. This happened – twice! But then I took a feather from William (from Williams bike shop)’s cap and get the GIANT PR2 wheelset. And they are bomb-proof. Paired with the 700*40c KENDA Flintridge gravel tires I didn’t have a single puncture at the inaugural Nedbank GRAVEL BURN.
So many bearing replacements
I don’t ride often, but when I (we) do, it is often far. Like to a race, to warm a for the race.
- Ie from Stellenbosch to Uniondale for the Karoo2coast earlier this year. Which comes to a 600km long-weekend.
- Or from Stellenbosch to Swellendam for the DC, then the DC, and then back home again. Another 600km long weekend.
- Or from to BFN for the MUNGA and then the MUNGA itself, if it works out that year (which it didn’t this year – plig voor plesier). And that comes to 2000kms+ for the long week if up and down.
And I have had my fair share of MTB rear wheel issues on the MUNGA as well. But know I know. And the new bike is being cared for just as well as the old MTB. Which means new bearings for the DT Swiss hubs ever so often. In fact already twice in the last 3-4 months. So now you have a lot of context for the next section. But what has this got to do with MTB gears? Easy…
Missing MTB gears before the Tankwa…
When Chris and I set off for the Karoo last weekend, at night, we made it to Paarl before I heard a funny noise, looked down, and saw my rear cassette cluster wobbling about. This wasn’t good. And nothing was open. And there would be no further bike shops open along they way (other than calling up the guys from CERES cycles in the middle of the night, which I wouldn’t do). So we turned back home to go and fix the MTB gears problem.
Which lead to another problem
Chris has the tools to remove the HG cassette. But we found the lock ring was stripped when we put it back. So the problem was not that it wasn’t screwed on properly – it was – but it wasn’t holding properly or grabbing enough because of the stripped top lines on the end cap. Quite a simple MTB gears problem. and one that could be quickly fixed during the day at a shop. But we had to make alternative plans after hours if we wanted to continue riding through the night. Chris had a new spare 12 speed cassette, but it was XD and not HG. So the only solution to continue riding was as follows:
MTB gears fix!
Remove one of the spacers between the sprockets, somewhere in the middle of the cassette. This will ensure enough ‘grab’ on the lock ring when screwed in place that the cassette doesn’t wobble about. And it worked perfectly. But it wasn’t all smiles, as it meant two of the sprockets was now directly next to each other sans a spacer in-between. Which means I lost that gear. And shifting wouldn’t be perfect, as the chain moves up and down over the ‘combined’ sprockets. But that was a small price to pay to continue riding. Which we did. Through the TANKWA. And I absolutely loved it. even with the quick MTB gears fix before. Because I certainly learned something!
Time for an upgrade…
PS this was the last of that cassette and the HG freebody is being swopped tomorrow to XD pared with a 9-50T cassette. How is that for range? SRAM always brags about the 520% range on their 10-52T cassette. But 50/9 means 555% range! MTB gears issues no more.
THANKS CHRIS, for the clever #bicyclecouriers MTB gears quick fix.
