u/clipd_dead_stop_fall

After climbing from the Run to upper Greenfield, I turned from Flemington onto Windsor for the last short climb of the day. An SUV pulled off Mirror and pulled to the right to let the car in front of me pass, and stayed parked for me to finish out the climb.

I tell you, that was a four wheeled oversized Santa and Christmas in August!

Seriously, nice to know not everyone is a jagoff. We managed to exchange waves and it pretty much made the ride.

Trying to do as much service myself and want to get bearings for upcoming replacement. Service docs point to a pair of W540243 51 mm x 40 mm x 6.5 mm bearings. Everywhere else online gives different sizes for upper and lower bearings.

1. Are they truly the same size for upper and lower?

2. Can I replace them without disconnecting brake or derailleur cables?

3. Is an extractor and press required for replacement?

Phillips Ave, Pittsburgh PA.

I can't tell if the rolling with the flashers on when I started to pass, continuing almost a city block with their flashers on, and canceling their right turn at the light while still turning right were just driver ignorance or the driver channeling male genitalia.

TLDR - don't fear learning to maintain your bike like I did.

With our closest Trek shop closed, I tried an independent LBS for my Domane AL3 and Checkpoint SL5 annual service. TLDR it was a lot of money and short on satisfaction.

Tuesday, I decided to do my own mid-season maintenance on my Checkpoint SL5. The drivetrain was getting a bit chatty despite a cassette installed in December and a brand new waxed chain. I managed to reindex it with Calvin's virtual help.

Then I moved to the freehub. The wheelset was purchased from I9 in December but nothing had been touched in 1500mi. I pulled the 1/1 freehub, pawls, and springs and wiped everything down. I put it all back together and used Dumonde Tech freehub oil, then put the freehub back on. I spun it and no sound. I forgot to remove and reinstall the seal (facepalm #1).

After I put the freehub back together (the right way), I mounted it on the hub, greased the hub cap, mounted the cassette, and put it all on the bike. Then I noticed the cassette spacer on the table (facepalm #2).

Disassembly and reassembly #2 and off I went. The test ride on Wednesday was glorious. Shifting was awesome and the freehub sounded like I was reeling in a marlin. It felt like a new bike. I feel like I finished second semester freshman bikewrench class 😆

Winter will definitely be headset bearings, and possibly hub, freehub, and bottom bracket bearings. Looking forward to it.

Booked on Jet Blue through Capital One Travel. Seat selection was confirmed on the site and via email. When it came time to check in, Jet Blue had no record of the selected seats.

I had to spend over an hour and another $160 for seats since the seats on the original tier were sold out. Then when we got to the airport, we printed new boarding passes to confirm the new seats, and when we started to board, we were flagged as not checked in.

Does anyone else have similar experiences? This was our first time booking through Capital One travel and flying Jet Blue. Not sure I want to go through this again.

TL:DR

1. Cracking sound - add a check on the derailleur hanger frame bolts.

2. Squeaking under load - check the cleats, screws, and interface if running MTB SPD shoes

Details

I had my SL5 2022 supposedly stripped for maintenance back in March. I paid an independent LBS a small fortune in parts and labor, only to have an increase in cracking sound and squeaking under load. I say supposedly because they either never took the hanger off or they did but failed to put thread locker on the bolts. Maybe threadlocker isn't the norm, and I'm not a bikewrench, so maybe I'm misunderstanding this.

Regardless, after checking the usual suspects for the cracking sound like seatpost, chainring bolts, brake rotor bolts, etc, I found the derailleur hanger frame bolts to be loose. I pulled them, added blue thread locker, and tightened to spec. Cracking sound is gone. On to the squeak.

I took the bike to another LBS yesterday and explained what's going on. Squeak under load, with improvement when pushing heels outward. I got a three week estimate with complete rewiring of derailleur cables plus spoke check on new wheels.

Instead, I started as cheaply as possible with new SPD cleats for ~$20, and added the Crank Brothers MTB SPD shims. The shims will be here tomorrow, but the new cleats have significantly reduced the noise already. I think what is happening is my Fizik Terra Atlas MTB soles are rubbing on the PD-T8000 pedal frames.

I think I'm going back to Trek for service in the future. I like trying to support local LBS since our nearest Trek shop closed, but the two I tried were highly recommended yet I'm unimpressed by the results. If I'm going to pay, I may as well pay folks trained to work on my bikes.

I've had the bike for two years now and it was in the shop for a teardown in February. Since getting it back, It's developed a much more pronounced cracking sound over bumps and when I get out of the saddle.

The BB is brand new, so I suspected the typical seat post carbon paste issue. I took the wheel off to check the rear axle as well. After doing so, I noticed the two screws holding the rear derailleur hanger to the frame were loose enough that I could easily spin them without a wrench.

I added axle grease, carbon paste to the seat post, and tightened the frame screws to spec with a torque wrench.

Has anyone ever had the Rd frame screws come loose? Might be time to take it back to Trek for service instead of the local independent LBS.

Test ride is tomorrow.

Does this intersection at Arch St. and N. George St. have a history of crashes between motor vehicles and bicycles/pedestrians when motor vehicles are making the right off Arch toward the bridge?

Curious as Friday was my first experience in York, and I was nearly hit in that crosswalk.

For a change of pace, I drove to Baltimore MD to ride the Heritage Trail from New Freedom PA to York PA with my riding buddy. Nice enough trail despite being pretty much dead flat. Well maintained and a mix of mostly gravel and some paved sections. Overall, is recommend it for someone considering a 40mi ride if you turn around before York.

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My advice for York? Beware the junkies hanging out on the trail at the bus depot. They wander back and forth without looking. Also beware some of the street crossings in the city, especially at Arch and George St. I had an incident there today that, while contact was avoided because I fell over, was technically a hit and run as I was in the crosswalk and had the light and the driver left the scene. Most of the drivers there are fine, but a few can kiss my lycra and chamois covered ass. I filed the police report this evening.

My son is riding my Trek Domane AL3 with the stock 9-speed Sora drivetrain. Instead of ordering the OEM 11-32 cassette, I ordered an 11-34 since he's a clydesdale and could use a little more low gear.

When I took off the previous cassette, I saw there was a spacer, so I mounted the new cassette with the spacer, cut the new chain (another story there), and tried to put everything together. Seeing the chain not making it to the new 34t cog, I started to mess with the indexing with the cable barrel adjuster but something still looked way wrong. Then I noticed the jockey wheel is pretty much right on the 34t cog. I looked that up online, and tried to adjust the b-limit screw to open the gap but I saw no movement.

I am wondering:

1. Did Trek put a short cage on despite the documentation indicating the 11-34 should fit?
2. Did the shop misalign the derailleur when they remounted it after service such that the screw isn't hitting the derailleur hanger lip?
3. Am I missing something else altogether?

It's going back to another shop tomorrow after work (need another chain anyway since I botched the cut on this one), but I just like to learn so I can make my own adjustments and changes and not be beholden to shops all the time. It's not like I do this work all the time, but if anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

I just rode from the Hot Metal bridge to McKeesport. Mostly clear given recent storms. Duquesne to the McKeesport bridge over the Mon has some damage and broken, low hanging branches. Passable, but use caution.

I was on the trail approaching McKeesport from Boston. At the intersection of Glenn and River Rd , I saw two vehicles approaching so I put a foot down. Most vehicles will see me and flash headlights as they approach. As the pickup truck rolled up, the driver saw me, stopped, then floored it through the intersection in a show of masculinity heading to the 15th St. bridge. As I got to the top of the path at the bridge, I saw the truck pulled over and an entire chest of tools all over the road. There had to be over a hundred wrenches, sockets and other stuff in the lane.

Sorry, not sorry.

Head on a swivel folks. For the longest time that building (Ascend Tube) sat empty, but now it's got people entering and exiting the lot. There are trail stop signs that everyone ignores, myself included, and I nearly was hit this morning by a driver turning left into the lot without looking.

"And now for something completely different" \~ Monty Python

"That'll leave a mark" \~ John Candy

Two years ago outside PNC Park, the Pittsburgh Pirates Parrot mascot nearly knocked me off my bike as I tried to pass and he/she/it jumped left. Riding past PNC Park today, I nearly got hit by a pre-game batting-practice homer that left the park and hit the RiverWalk. That was about two feet in front of me. The camera doesn't do the distance justice.

Gorgeous but cold sunrise ride on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail and GAP on Friday. 5:30 am, no cars on the street in Pittsburgh, and no riders on the trail until I turned around at McKeesport. Just deer. Lots of deer.