This is not a silky-smooth riding Ti bike. The tradeoff for this degree of stiffness is that the frame does transmit road vibration to the saddle and bar. The integrated rear derailleur dropout helps in that regard. This frame flexes very little, if at all. I have yet to induce any shimmy at high speeds. This is a stiff frame with sharp handling, thanks to the large-diameter titanium tubes and the excellent welds, which meet the American Welding Society guidelines. My impressions from last October still hold true. I have had some long days on this bike, including a 220 km / 137 mi brevet. Today it has more than 4,000 km / 2,500 mi on it. At that time I had ridden the bike 1,400 km / 870 mi. I wrote an early review of my Alchemy Eros in October 2015. Photograph courtesy of Alchemy Bicycle Company This is what a new Chris King Press Fit 30 BB looks like. So the water that found its way into the frame, most likely by wicking down the seat post, accumulated in the BB shell. The Eros frame does not have a drain hole in the BB shell, or in the chain stays. As the BB bearings came out of the BB shell, a gush of water followed. After the crankset had been removed, the mechanic discovered that the BB bearing on one side of the BB shell was almost frozen. The bike needed a service because the BB was clicking sporadically. In my post about my broken saddle, I mentioned that I was told about the snapped rail after I sent the Alchemy Eros to Meng Thai Cycle for servicing. It contains a spindle or axle that the crankset attaches to, and the bearings that allow the spindle and cranks to rotate. I just cleaned all the parts, flushed out what grease was left in the bearings, flooded the pedal body with fresh grease, and reassembled the pedals.īottom Bracket (BB): The bottom bracket connects the crankset (chainset) to the bicycle and allows the crankset to rotate freely. It is possible to replace the bearings – Speedplay sells a pedal rebuild kit for USD100 which replaces everything but the spindles. The fiddliest step was removing the retaining ring. The Spindle Screw was held in place by some Loctite Threadlocker Blue, but I got the screw to turn without having to heat it, as mentioned in some posts. I found online instructions to disassemble my pedals. That means my pedals should have been regreased between five and twelve times by now. Speedplay recommends that the pedal bearings be regreased at least every 3,200 km / 2000 mi, or every two months. When I got home I consulted the Speedplay website. He didn’t have a needle-type grease injector gun, so couldn’t do the quick and easy pedal maintenance via the grease port hole built into the pedal bodies. The pedals were spinning too freely on their spindles, which is a sign that they needed regreasing. Lim, the mechanic at The Bike Artisans, thought that my pedals could be the source of the noise. I had given my pedals little or no thought since then.Ī week ago the bike developed an irritating click. I bought my Alchemy Eros, and the Speedplay pedals that I specified for the bike, in June 2015. That adage about the squeaky wheel is certainly true where pedals are concerned. Pedals just seem to go on and on doing their job with no fuss or bother. The wear is visible, and that wear is often made tangible by clipping in and out of the pedals requiring either too much or too little force. Cyclists notice when their cleats need replacing. It is usually only after the rider feels roughness, notchiness, or uneven drag while steering, that headset bearing get serviced or replaced.Īnd the bearings we all forget? The ones in our pedals. Bike mechanics should check headset adjustment when servicing bikes. Steel bearings are often replaced with ceramic bearings, which have a lower rolling resistance. Any reduction in friction (loss of watts, in cyclist’s parlance) is highly sought after. These are the bearings which help the bicycle’s forward progress. There are bearings in the two rear derailleur pulleys.Ĭyclists pay lots of attention to the bearings in wheels and drivetrains. There are bearings in the rear wheel hub and the freewheel attached to it. There are bearings in the bottom bracket, which allow the crankset spindle to rotate freely. There are bearings in the headset, which is the assembly that connects the front fork to the frame, and permits the fork to turn for steering and balancing. Starting from the front of the bicycle, there are bearings in the front wheel hub, which allow the wheel to spin on its axle.
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