new cassette and then some

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had ordered a new 28-11 8-speed cassette for the Dolce. It finally came in this week, but after the shop installed it, the mechanic noticed that the pulley of the rear derailleur was rubbing against the lowest gear. Turns out that rear derailleurs are designed for a maximum size rear sprocket, and if you exceed this max size by too much, the jockey pulley rubs against the low gear sprocket. Who knew?

My options were: put the old 25-12 cassette back on or keep the new cassette and buy a new, better derailleur. So now I have a new cassette and a new Ultegra GS rear derailleur. Woohoo!

Gear ratios

For most of June and July I spent a lot of my saddle time on the Terry touring bike, in preparation for the coastal ride. The Terry has mountain-bike gearing more or less: a standard triple up front (52-42-30) with a 9 speed 11-32t cassette in back. So with the 30-32 combination, you have a decent granny gear to get you up most hills.

This weekend I took the Dolce out for the Holstein Hundred, and I had completely forgotten how different the gear ratios are on this bike. I definitely felt it on every climb. When I got back home I started counting, and soon realized that, although the triple in front is the same, the Dolce has a 12-25 cassette as opposed to the 11-32 on the Terry. Huge difference! So on Sunday I took a quick trip over to Alameda Bicycle and ordered a new 11-28 cassette. This will give me the same gears on the Specialized that I have on the Terry, with the exception of that lowest granny gear (the 32). I can't wait to get it installed and try it out on the nearest hill.

Rear wheel saga

I've been having ongoing issues with the rear wheel on my Terry Classic for a couple months now. It rode fine for a thousand miles or so, and then I broke a spoke (first one ever). Got it fixed, then a month later, broke another spoke. Then 3 weeks later, another. I don't know if there was something wrong with the wheel to begin with, but from what I've read on the internets, once you have a few broken spokes, it's all downhill from there.

At the end of April I took my Terry into the shop where I bought it, and we decided that we would rebuild the rear wheel with the existing hub, better spokes, and a new rim. It would be a bionic wheel! So we dutefully filled out the order form for the rim and the guy at the shop told me it would take a week or two for the rim to arrive and then a couple of days to rebuild the wheel. No problem!

But then one week went by, and then another. I called the shop, talked to the orders guy, and he said he'd look into it and get back to me. But he didn't. The next week I called and talked to someone different, who said she'd look into it and get back to me. She didn't. Clearly the phone thing wasn't working, so I went back down to the shop and felt like I was starting from square one all over again... even though I was dealing with the original guy I had placed the order with 6 weeks ago. Anyway, he ended up offering me a loaner wheel until my new Velocity rim arrives, and he switched out the cassettes and got me all set up today.

So, the good news is, I have my Terry back and I can stop riding my old beater to work. And it was really cool of this guy to loan me a pretty nice wheel (definitely nicer than my own). But I still have no idea what happened to that order or when the new rim will arrive.