I spent way too much time messing with the tomato twins today. Fortunately, it was sunny outside so I simply rolled all my tools and stand out to the driveway and worked outside. It was really a great setting for bike maintenance. I swapped out the crank on Big Beef (which went very quickly after learning the ropes last night on Goliath) but it was demonstrating even less tolerance in the chain case than Goliath. Subsequently, the chain was rubbing against a very small part of the case, as with Goliath. I’m fairly certain it was an issue with the chain’s angle in the cases’ stay guide tubes. With the chain tightened up on a smaller chainring, the angle of the chain changes, leaving less tolerance in the tubes than originally existed. I tried a couple of different options than just decided to remove the cases for both bikes.

Again, the cases are well-designed (lots of solid mountain hardware), albeit not for long-term Portland riding (no drain holes and easy-rust stamped steel). I’m likely going to install a more basic chain guard as opposed to a fully enclosed chain case. It’s just easier to get to the bits you need to get to when you need to get to them, and the tolerances are vastly different for a chain guard than a chain case. I’ll start my search tomorrow.

Unfortunately, in my haste to get Big Beef rolling so Everett and I could head to the store, I failed to re-attach the rear brake’s chainstay torque arm bolts. Subsequently, when I headed down the driveway and pulled on the rear brake, I heard a pop and snap and all of sudden was relying onthe front brake alone. Way to go, all-pro mechanic. I was able to re-align the hub brake, but unfortunately the brake arm that actuates the drum broke at the end. I was able to rig a temporary solution to hold the cable to the arm, but it needs a new brake arm. I’ll phone Sturmey’s California office tomorrow and see how easy it’ll be to get my hands on a new brake arm.

All this aside, the change in the crank size (dropped from a 36t chainring to a 32 chainring) has been a positive experience! The difference is small but noticeable throughout the whole range of the hub. You definitely have access to more gears and it makes riding that much easier. Additionally, when removing the chain cases I noticed that the sprocket on the rear hub has 23 teeth. Tomorrow I’ll find out if I can order a larger sprocket, thereby lowering the ratio even more.