Nice wee pootle tonight on the freshly fixed Colnago and falling in love with it again. Last week was a real low point when the (stupid Italian) bottom bracket unscrewed itself on the drive side pulling the left hand crank solidly into the cup. Of course this had to happen at the top of Glenesk up past Tarfside, 12 miles from the car. This meant a bit of walking, freewheeling a and borrowing a set of molegrips off workmen building a new lay-by to finally get me back to Edzell. To be fair, I'd used spacers to shift the drive cup and therefore axle across to stop the inner chainring hitting the stay. The problem only came to light when the previous owners bodge of coke can shims on the taper, disintegrated. I'd had 1mm spacers made to move the axle enough but this must not have left enough threads for it to stay tight enough with all my cranking uphill. Wouldn't have been a problem with BSA threads as the pedalling force would have acted to tighten the cup, but stupid Italian threading works the opposite way. I'd hoped to get away without buying an old Campag BB as there are so many variations and not all the people selling them know what period they fit as the axle markings aren't always present. Even before you take into account what people are asking for them it's a bit of a minefield. Luckily I discovered an online specialist in London (Pedal Peddler) who actually marked their pages properly and got the perfect fit with the necessary +1 +1.5 axle, even though in typical latin style it isn't marked as such. Been years since I've has a caged bearing adjustable BB and have forgotten what a beautiful system it is. Price was cheaper than ebay but £45 for a 30 year old 2nd (3rd/4th?) hand part was a bit annoying, but at least they included brand new bearings. Also on the plus side, the new freewheel and chain I fitted a few weeks ago have bedded in nicely and I can now get up the local climbs without my knees exploding.
MTB's have also been causing me problems with a particularly vicious stick attacking my 29er, taking out the mech hanger and chain, bending a cassette cog in the process. The following week I went to take out the Pugsley to find the 300 mile old Race Face bottom bracket seized solid. So much for being "packed at the factory with Phil Wood waterproof grease." Bought a cheap Shimano one in the mean time, but might try getting a local bearing supplier to replace the Race Face bearings with hybrid ceramic ones. They do full ceramic ones in smaller skateboard sizes, but not the larger size I'd need which is a pity as they'd be perfect for beach use.
So that's been £200 in parts in the space of three weeks. It's not that I mind spending that, just not on boring dull stuff like drivetrain parts. Here's hoping that's all my bad luck done with for this year!
