Saturday, September 14, 2013

Group-set dreaming

It is the perfect time of year to play on my bike and try different tire set-up and other stuff. Last week I just mounted some new cables and housing because the old ones were getting quite dirty already. I love how a new cable and housing set-up makes your bike shifting feel like new.

So new set-up is mounted, indexation is ajusted but the bike keeps shifting like crap. Investigating the cables reveals nothing wrong so I tighten it back and try it again: same result. I then start questioning the housing. Yesterday, I dismounted everything and mounted some new cables and housing again, only 1 week after I changed the set-up to a new one. Result: same crappy shifting.

While trying to adjust the cable tension via the Sram XX grip shift barrel adjuster I realized there was something wrong with the shifter. The part tapering toward the barrel adjuster is broken! Heck, I have'nt even crashed with this bike and the shifters were bought brand new and ridden for approximately 5 months. Needless to say I am not impressed with Sram, even though it could have happened to any parts from any brand. The worst part is the local bike shop is not even sure it will accepted under warranty!

I have been thinking a lot lately about switching my group-set but I first need to sell my bike (shameless plug). The more I think about it, the more I lean toward a full Shimano XTR group-set. The shifting appears to be super smooth, the set-up a bit less finicky and the brakes are definitly way more powerful.

My next bike will be full XTR equiped for sure. I just need to sell current bike and I am patiently waiting for the news from teams onto which I have applied for next season. Fingers crossed!

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