OK, I'm beginning to think that my mechanic skills are pretty bad. After the crank cast & crash (see
http://www.mudncrud.com/forums/index.php?topic=769.0) and the chain break (see
http://www.mudncrud.com/forums/index.php?topic=691.80), you would think I would learn my lesson. Well, this morning I bought a new chain for the Blur and put it on as soon as I got home. I wasn't sure what size to get, so I got a 116-link. It was pretty clear that 116 was too long, so I took 2 links off. That
looked OK.
I really wanted to head up to do the Canyon Trail->Table Mountain->Charcoal Road->Saratoga Gap->Grizzly Flat loop. So I hopped on the saddle and sallied forth a little after noon from the house. About a mile in, I could tell something was a miss. When I was in the big ring, I couldn't couldn't shift the chain into the largest cog in the back. I thought, "I can live with that". However, once I hit the trail, I realized I couldn't shift to the smaller cogs while in the middle ring. This killed me. I can clear most hills in the middle ring now and now I was being relegated to the granny gear because I couldn't get the chain to stick in the middle ring. Well, that psychologically destroyed me. The whole time, I kept thinking, "what else could go wrong"? I settled for grinding up Grizzly Flat up to Skyline and then back down and home. Still a little over 22mi in 2:45 (
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/los-altos/104208274738), but I should have done that whole thing in about 2h.
Questions for you more experienced folks:
- Do you think my chain is still too long? I'm thinking I may need to go down to 112.
- Recommendations on a good torque wrench?
- Should I just admit I'm an idiot and bring it into the shop before I kill myself due to equipment failure?
