It started off well enough wrapping the bars on the Cresta GT one side done, right...
Wrong. I fell victim to one of the classic blunders which, besides not getting into a land war in Asia, is when wrapping bars check your work early and often and certainly before you tape up at the end! Sigh. So hearing the voices of my parents in my head, Any job worth doing is worth doing right, I unwrapped the whole thing and started anew, this time remembering to check -visually and by feel that the wrap was even and had no gaps.
Ok bars wrapped, lets go for a ride, after all I just got my brakes adjusted so its all good...right?
I'd only gone a few miles when I noticed an odd sound during braking, so I stopped and saw the above (adult language) not the result I was looking for. I limped home, left it for a day so I could find my zen.
These vintage Dia Compe canti's have a hex nut one one side so you can loosen it to make the pad adjustments and a hex head on the other side which allows for..
The step I didn't do last week (edit coming to that post) which is to use an allen wrench on one side and a box end wrench on the other to get the brake post very SNUG so it doesn't rotate like it did for me. I thought I had them all tight last time but I went and did the both end snug trick on all four pads. I hope this is the end of the Canti saga.
The good news is that I rode the Novara after work twice last week and even tackled the hill I had avoided the week before and conquered it. The bad news is the front shifter was acting up and needed attention. They do provide a workstand in the bike lock up which is nice but there is no clamp so its tough to much actual wrenching and I also remembered how many little parts the Symmetric shifters had so the bike got a ride home.
I soon realized that even with a proper stand I needed the shifters off the bike to really work on them. I did this reluctantly because dealing with mounting the clamp for the shifters before had been a real PIA but I removed the cables and forged ahead. Even with the diagram and multiple attempts I could not get the front shifter secured to the shifter body without a lot of lateral play, I finally removed a washer and it kind of worked but I had no faith it would hold up and my patience had run its course with the Symmetric shifters.
Ebay provided a pair of banded Suntour power shifters like the ones on the Moto_GT, I would have liked to get them from Bikeworks but I would have had to wait a week to go and there is no guarantee they would have any, and by then the Ebay ones should arrive. Hopefully the Novara will be back up and running next weekend. The Symmetrics are boxed an ready to go to a bike forums member for the cost of shipping.
Ok it wasn't all bad, I got the Ibex sold to a nice lady who also has a Bianchi road bike but wanted something to haul kid trailers and take camping. I rode the Moto_GT to deposit my haul but held back enough to treat myself to an IPA at C&P to celebrate.
Ride. Don't let the turkeys get you down. Smile. Repeat.
