Local Sites

Barneston Dam plaque.














Barneston Dam















The "Glenmoore Wall" looking down.














The "Glenmoore Wall" looking up.













I live near the intersection of the L & S Bike Routes at Rt 345 & RT 23.












The intersection of L & S Routes.



























French Creek State Park.
















Hopewell Lake in French Creek State Park.

1639 Miles Broken Spoke Repair Test ride

Today I did my usual 9 mile morning route up the "Glenmoore Wall" to test out the repairs. Everything seem good. The IRC Red Storms definitely seem to have less rolling resistance than the Vittoria Zaffiro. I will have to see how they wear.

1639 Miles Broken Spoke Repaired

To repair the broken spoke, I first removed the skewer, and cassette. I then removed the tire and tube.











I then cleaned all of the parts.














Since this was the second spoke on the cassette side that broke I decided to replace all of the spokes on the cassette side. I replaced 13 spokes since the one from February was probably still OK. This is a good article on how to true a wheel.
I also replaced the nipples with 2.0mm X 12mm silver brass nipples . The spokes were 14 gauge 2.0mm X 295mm which I determined by measuring one of the existing spokes. (The spoke length will be different for the other side of the hub.)

I ordered the parts from Cascade Cyclery :
50 spokes $19.76, 50 nipples $5.70, Shipping $10.25, no sales tax--- Total $35.71

I replaced the spokes 2 at a time, truing the wheel in between. Since I do not have a truing stand, I used the bike itself and the brake pads as a guide. The old spokes did have some wear marks at the lower bend.

After all of the spokes were replaced, I spent some time getting the wheel true. I am surprised at how well it can be done on the bike with the brake pads and a pencil point as a guide.






Since I had the rear tire off, I decided to replace both the rear and front tires. The original tires were Victorria Zaffiro tires and I was completely satisfied with them. I did not have ANY flats in the 1639 miles that I rode with them. The picture on the left is of the rear tire and the tread was wearing flat. You really don't need to replace the tire at this point and you can actually wait until you see the threads under the rubber. I probably won't keep this tire but I am sure you can get many more miles out of it.



The picture on the left is of the front tire. It has not worn much and I will keep it as a spare.












I am replacing the tires with IRC Red Storm Street Kevlar Tires from Price Point. My reasons are:
1.) I wanted to try a narrower tire. The IRC's are 23 mm whereas the Vittoria's were 25 mm.
2.) I wanted to try a lighter tire. The IRC's are 205 g. The Vittoria's are 340 g.
3.) I wanted to try a higher threads per inch tire TPI to see how the ride. The IRC's are 127 TPI. The vitorria's are 26 TPI.
4.) Price Point made the decision easy with a $24.98 for TWO sale on the IRC Red Storm Street Kevlar.

The IRC Red storms have a rotational arrow, so I was careful to install the tires properly. Also I put the label in line with the presta valve to ensure the professional mechanic look.










I am not sure why there is a rotational arrow since the tire is smooth. I also made sure to reset the tire size on my cyclocomputer. The 700 x 25 mm tire circumference is 2105mm whereas the 700 x 23 mm circumference is 2096 mm.










All done! the only casualty was this tire lever from my Sette Torx ST-14 Tool Kit.

1639 Miles Broken Spoke

Today when I was doing my morning ride a rear wheel spoke broke as I was climbing the "Glenmoore Wall" i.e. Pumpkin Hill Road. The spoke was on the rear wheel on the cassette side. This is the second spoke that broke and it was on the same wheel, same side, just 2 spokes down.The first spoke went in February and since I did not have any bike tools at that point, I had the LBS fix it. When I picked up the wheel I paid $25 and the LBS guy said "You know these rear wheel spokes have the tendency to go one after the other. When another spoke breaks we will probably need to change a number of them at once" I thought to myself, "aren't spokes 35 cents each. So if you did all 14 on the cassette side it would be an extra $4.90. So why didn't you replace them and charge me $30 rather than again when I come back?"Guess what I am going to do--- I am going to replace all of the spokes on the cassette side. I am also going to put fresh tires on since my rear tire is worn (the rubber has flattened, the next step is the threads wearing through).

Raleigh Grand Prix Background

I bought my 2006 Raleigh Grand Prix at Shirk's Bike Shop in East Earl, PA on June 04, 2007 for $700. I put approximately 1450 miles on it my first year of riding.

The bike has been extremely reliable. The only maintenance I had done other than lubing the chain and adjusting the brakes for wear was:

1.) A spoke broke in February 2008 and I had The Downingtown Bike Shop repair it for $25.

2.) On July 05, 2008 I checked the chain stretch. It was 1/16" and acceptable. I then took apart the chain, cleaned it in mineral spirits and reassembled and lubed.

I am going to keep this blog as a companion to my Motobecane Fantom 29 Blog . I won't write as many posts on this blog, as I will just write about the maintenance I perform on the Raleigh.