it all started with a bit of time & nothing better to do on a sunday afternoon. the fact that the rear brake had been gripping the disk asymmetrically has not really ever been a problem but being a bit of a perfectionist i was determined to make sure the pistons all moved synchronously.
a bit of a clean, a dab of silicone grease and a new set of brake pads to round things off. the old ones were not bad but i decided they would have been worn unevenly and needed to go.
there was still time left. why not re-grease the suspension links then? i have already told you how that went …
i got a set of bearings locally – they only took a day to get here – and with a bit of garage voodoo i managed to tap the old ones out and pressed the new ones in. just a little hitch: the threads on the axles were ruined.
which begs the question: why were these threads ruined? i have done this work on my old nomad and these axles are supposed to go in easily and it should actually take some skill to round the threads. on order: one m15x1.0 tap from china. delivery time: about 2 weeks.
so i can’t put it all back together for another 2 weeks and since it’s just out there in the garage i really should check a few more things, right? i’ve had the bike for almost a year now and i have no records of if / when it was ever serviced.
take the fork. the pike is great but it takes quite a bit of punishment; that’s practically it’s job description. prevention is always better and most of the time also much cheaper than throwing away parts that are worn beyond repair due to a lack of maintenance. hence the visible absence of the fork in the picture above: i gave it to a friend who is a real wizard when it comes to ensuring these suspension components are functioning at their best.
the cranks had to come out, too. normally that should not be required to service the links but since i will have to access the axle threads from the rear to run the tap through i had to remove them and the chain guide. the bottom bracket bearing seals (what a mouthful) do look like they may not hang in there for much longer. oh well, bottom brackets are not expensive, easy to replace and while i’m in there ….
this is where the jockey wheels life. they are not in this photo because i took them out. the bearings were running a bit rough so they had to go. new ones should be here in a day or two.
yes, that chainring will have to go too. who knows how many kilometers it has done. chainrings are cheap compared to cassettes (by a factor 4). of course i will need a new chain, too. no point putting an old chain on a new chainring and watch it chew it to bits.
while i am in there … what started as a 20 minute job that cost nothing ended up as a full service. the upside: hopefully another year of shredding without any problems.