gearing down

Riding up Buller something other than my legs starts to grate, to grind, to click, to clack. Not good sounds from my bottom bracket. I don’t need my triple, my 30-tooth, but I couldn’t use it anyway. It skates big time. Something has to be done before France—replace the drive-train, run the new one in, get used to the feel, the practice of it. Something has to be done now.

I do a little web search. Both the legendary Sheldon Brown and Bike Noob have something to say on alternatives to triples. Sheldon likes my dying Shimano Dura Ace triple but says it has serious shortcomings. The bolt holes are unique and difficult, which I discovered when making a middle ring changeover two months ago.

Bike Noob introduces the SRAM Apex—50 x 34 at the front and 11 to 32 at the back. Packs as much grunt as a triple and has more useable gears, like all 20, compared to the triple’s 27 possibilities but only 16 useful gears. Mick can do the job for $770 plus labour.

I drop the bike in Saturday arvo after the Baw Baw Challenge ride. Mick’s busy fitting a customer; hands me the box of components to inspect: brakes, callipers and shifters, rear set of sprockets, and ... I save the magic chainrings till last. And read the unmagic figures 53-39.

Mick says they often get it wrong. He’ll call them first thing Monday and hope he can get the part for the job for me by Tuesday afternoon when I come down to Croydon.