ok, i admit it – i did not really crash (luckily), i hit the brakes in time. and the bike did not burn either (not sure if mountain bikes can burn at all). i just made it up, it sounds better that way.

i was, however, surprised to hear some strange noises on my way down from altkoenig that i had not heard coming from my bike until then, and they were sure as hell also not coming out of the ipod’s headphones. i hit the brakes (i mentioned that, didn’t i), and had a look.

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at the first look i was dismayed to see that the derailleur (above) was missing. a second glance revealed that the precious part had been solidly embedded in the rear wheel (thank god the guys from sram put some thought into making this thing as tough as anything), braking a spoke in the process, and forming a tight little alliance with the chain, which in turn was wrapped around the rear hub in a way chains don’t usually achieve.

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the chain had achieved this surprising amount of proximity by twisting in entirely new directions (e.g. picture above, upper right corner).
after a few minutes of frantic wriggling i had disentangled the chain from the wheel & hub, but due to its new form the ‘quick release’ link showed no signs of releasing at all. carrying the bike down the mountain did not seem like an option, so i took the chain breaker (always in my pack) and after some purposefully applied brutality i got rid of the chain, removed the derailleur from the ruins of the rear wheel, stored everything away (i always take my rubbish back down the mountain), mounted the bike and let gravity do what it does best.

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the cable does not look fresh either, does it? the bill was … let’s not go there.

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i’m still not entirely sure what happened, but my theory is this: i recently had a few problems with the freewheeling mechanism, it got a bit stuck at times, and forced the chain forward on the upper length. when i took my favourite trail down the hill the upper chain length must have gotten sucked into the wheel, and took the derailleur with it.

luckily i have ordered a new set of wheels a couple of weeks ago, and now i have the perfect excuse (not that kris asked for one): it will solve the freewheeling as well as the spoke issue in one go.

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hope hubs with standard bearings (no shimano crap), mavic 729 rims (welded), dt swiss spokes, and the usual fat albert tires. not light, but definitely bulletproof. i guess my bike is pushing the 15 kg mark now, which is a good 3-4 kg more than a typical x-county bike would weigh.
the plan is now to make it as hard as possible for me to get uphill, and soon enough my loss of bodyweigh will more than compensate for the additional strengh of my bike.

i hope.