With the Roaduno duly racked and running nicely, the wise thing would be to continue to ride it as is and get to know it whilst plotting my next move:
Alas, I am not wise, and this morning I decided I was going to go ahead and unlock that inner chainring:
You know that scene in “Taxi Driver” with the gun salesman? That’s how I feel when I’m digging out spare parts for a project:
[“Lookit that, that’s a beautiful little derailleur.”]
According to Rivendell, the stock freewheel “is good for single speeds but doesn’t work well with chain tensioners,” so I figured I’d swap it for this one which uses a Shimano bottom bracket tool to install:
I also had what I figured would be a perfect front derailleur:
And between The Classic Cycle 21st Century Friction Shifter Shootout and a box of treats I’d received from Rivendell I had about a thousand rear derailleurs to choose from, which I eventually narrowed down to these:
For a shifter I figured I’d use a Silver2:
And of course I’d need other odds and ends, such as a new chain and a cable guide for the underside of the bottom bracket shell:
Also in my box of treats was a 44-tooth chainring, so I figured while I was at it I might as well not only unlock the little ring but shoot for the moon and go for a 3×1 with an “overdrive” gear:
After installing the chainring, I removed the little nipple pastie from the shifter boss:
Then I mounted the Silver2 in the downtube shifter position, since I figured that way when I start swapping cockpits I wouldn’t have to relocate it:
Installing the front derailleur, I realized that since the middle and large chainring were so close in size it would have to sit pretty high up to clear that middle ring:
So I changed my mind and reverted to the original setup:
For the tensioner I decided to use the Ultegra, since capacity wasn’t going to be a concern and it seemed like the tidiest option:
Excitedly I headed out for a test ride:
Guess what? It skipped. So I tried another rear derailleur:
That skipped too. So did this one:
Could it be the freewheel? I dug out another one, a Shimano. It skipped. I shortened the chain, figuring maybe I wasn’t getting enough tension out of the derailleur. I played with limit screws and the “B” screw on the Ultegra. Ultimately I got the best results with the Ultegra derailleur coupled with the chain cut as short as I dared, and it worked perfectly on the big ring…but in the little ring it still skipped. Here’s how it looks in that position:
That seems like it should work to me but perhaps I’m missing something obvious. Whatever’s going on it has to be something I’m overlooking, or setting up wrong, or the derailleur’s bent or something, or somehow both my freewheels are worn (though they sure don’t look it), because Rivendell have been riding them this way for awhile now with no problems, as have plenty of other people:
No, it’s definitely me. I’m sure I’ll figure it out, but in the meantime feel free to tell me what I’m doing wrong.
