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Got my back yesterday. Rear tire replaced and middle chain ring replaced along with all my bearings greased, gears nicely indexed, two new spokes, brakes bled and wheels re-trued.

Fitted my new pedals when I got home, first thing I did. There are a little harder to clip out of then my last pair, but am sure with enough time there will loosen up, and before any one asks I have changed tension screw as far as it will go.

But over all the bikes running nicely now lets see how long it lasts till I break something again,

Definitely looking forward to getting back on the trails.

As I mentioned in my previous post I managed to break my old pedals (Shimano M520). Today was the day I found time to drop my bike off to the shop, to get fixed plus a full service (inc getting my wheels re-trued.)

While I was there I decided to get a replacement set of Shimano M545. At first glance there do feel a dam site heaver then the M520’s but do look and feel a lot more solid. When I get my bike back which should be some time next week, I will try out the pedals and give you my thoughts on them.

M545

M520

The last ride I had must of been 2 weeks back, up in Ilkley and I don’t care what the rest say, we got lost. Managing to get back to the pub just before last orders, and before you leave a comment Andy. I payed you back with a curry and beer. Next time let me know that we will aim to try and reach a pub after. Then I will bring some money

I don’t know if this is some kind of recorded but 4 out of 6 of us managed to get a puncher on the same stretch. Don’t help that none of us had lights and it was 10:45pm in the middle of what I would call no where. Well, as well as needing to replace the inner tuber it looks like am going to have to replace a few spokes. One broke and at least one bent.

I have been told that I could ride on this and the wheel should be fine but me been me, the word “SHOULD” does not fill me full of confidence. After all I don’t want to replace my wheel(s) if I don’t have to. I say wheels as you can’t just get one you  need a matching pair .

To top it all off I broke a tooth on my middle ring yet again. I think this time I might just leave it be. Am sick of replacing it each time,and before I forget I busted up my pedals so I will need to get a new set of them.

I am hoping to pop my bike into the local bike shop tomorrow get the back wheel sorted and get a full services done. I guess its due.

My new chainset arrived on time as expected and I have to say, excellent service from chainreaction. Will defiantly be ordering from there again.

So here is where the fun begins. Now if any of you read my other Post with the issue that I had little to no thread inside my crank, making it near impossible to pull my crank off, well this issue just got a whole lot worse. This time I tried to pull it off it striped all of the thread leaving with no thread for the crank puller to grip onto making it impossible for me to remove the crank.

Just places an order for a new crank for my bike after the last incident with tightening up the bottom bracket.

The crank set I ordered is a Downhill RaceFace Diabolus Chainset
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=4191

You may be thinking why a downhill chainset when I rally don’t to down hilling.
Of course it will add unnecessary extra weight to my bike the total weight for the Bottom Bracket rings and crank at a  1197g , but am willing to leave with that.

The model designed for all style mountain biking was only 245 Grams lighter then the Downhill chain set, but the downhill chainset is a lot stronger. And since I have a habit of bashing my chainset of rocks I thought I might as well get one stronger then I need.

I was thinking of trying to compensate the weight by trying to lighten up the load by upgrading other components on my bike, such as forks and handlebars

My bikes been parked up for a couple of months now and I do find it a crying shame.
Been looking at the website http://www.canterburyweather.co.uk/sun/ukmap.php which will tell you when then sunsets, and at the looks of things am looking forward to March/April as the sun does not set until at least 6pm.This means I can start going on my bike after work and I will be able to cycle to work and back and not worry about the dark.
A lot of you may ask why don’t you go out and buy some lights and yes, its something on my list of things to do. But every time I decide to get some, something else more important comes up and I end up not been able to afforded them that month.

For a while now I’ve had this very annoying squeak/vibration coming form my back disc brake.
I know the guys at work are getting sick of me moaning about it, but it’s very annoying and it sends horrid vibrations right though the bike frame. At first I thought it might be uneven wear on disc pads, and this by itself was causing this disc to vibrate as there was uneven pressure on the disc.

My second line of thought was, when coming off my bike as I do on many occasions, I’ve gone and knocked the disc and put a slight kink in it,so I swapped the front and back disc around, expecting the vibrations to start on my front. With no such luck the vibrations continued on the back.

I have had a few suggestions:
1) There could be an airlock somewhere along the line, causing the pads to clamp at different times.
2) When I dismantled the brake a while back I didn’t tighten the unit back onto the frame correctly.

No matter what I do I can not stop the back brake from vibrating.