Broken Parts and Broken Dreams

For much of my cycling career I have enjoyed a charmed existence. Most of my equipment remained intact for longer than expected and then was repairable when it broke, often at manufacturer's expense (as my last post illustrates). My luck has recently worn thin. In the last month, I have had a series of mechanical failures that I plan to list and complain about. At this time, I have a pile of non working or marginally working bicycle equipment that needs replacement or service, valued at $8-9000 (for most items, I use the first valid price that pops up in Google shopping the establish the true retail value).

1. Ritchey PRO Cyclocross Crankset $125. The non-driveside crankarm cracked in half while I was preriding the Monson cyclocross course.
   
   
   Luckily it happened while I was trying to power up a steep run up (I was moving rather slowly). I crashed and bruised my left shoulder and my testes. If this had happened on the gnarly descent, I'd be in the hospital right now. Also, I missed the Palmer Cross Race because I was unable to repair the damage to the bike (luckily I was able to borrow a nice bike from Felt to race on at Monson, no joke, it rode really well. Thanks Felt!). I plan on pursuing Ritchey for a remedy. Turns out the crankarm that failed had been recalled. Thanks for telling me.
2. Campagnolo Record Left 10 speed Shifter $160. I broke the brake lever in the crash when the crankarm failed. I think that it is repairable, but I took the opportunity to order 2009 Centaur shifters, which have the new Campy shape while retaining the ability to shift multiple gears in a single shift (the 2010 and 2011 are limited to 1 down, 3 up, probably in an effort to make the 11 speed groups more appealing).
3. Fuji SLM 2.0 MTB $4o00--Destroyed. I sent it to Thule. I only mention it because I haven't gotten to replace it yet so I haven't been able to mountain bike for most of the summer.
4. Easton EA 90 SL clinchers $750. While the rims on these wheels are almost identical to Velomax's Orion II rim and therefor stand up to abuse, the hubs refuse to remain adjusted. Seriously, the front hub requires adjustment every 100 miles and the rear appears to need attention every 200. While the adjustments are simple and take less than 5 minutes and two 5mm wrenches, it is annoying. Other users of these hubs have concurred that this is an issue that plagues them too.
5. Easton EC 90 Aero tubulars $1800. Different hub from the above wheel, same issue, only more pronounced. These wheels come out of adjustment almost immediately, rendering them useless as race wheels.
6. Velomax Orion II clinchers $550. Broken spoke. My fault. Waiting on a spoke that Landry's ordered for me. Other than this isolated incident, I have had good luck with these wheels. This is my second set.
7. Ritchey Protocol WCS clincher wheelset $550. Knocked out of true in a minor crash during WNSP. When I tried to true it, a spoke nipple crumbled in my spoke wrench. Replaced by Landry's in like 15 minutes (they called to say it was done before I got home from dropping it off).
8. Chris King HeadSet $125. The one on my cross bike appears to be indexed. I abused it, I am not blaming King. I have tried to adjut it a number of times and it is just rough. I plan on seeking professional help.
9. Shimano 105 threaded Headset $25. I installed this on my Basso (winter/travel/"B"/loaner bike) a year ago when I was broke and couldn't afford anything better. Its seriously indexed and needs replacement before any serious miles can be put in on the Basso.
10. Shimano Ultegra Octalink Bottom Bracket $35. This was on my cross bike and was just plain worn out. It developed play. Normally, I would just repack or replace the bearings. Unfortunately, Shimano designed these to be disposable, you can not adjust them or access the internals. Thanks Shimano. Luckily my good friend Andrew had a suitable Dura Ace BB laying around that I am now using (and the DA is serviceable)
11. Sidi Dragon SRS MTB Shoes (non-carbon) $250ish. Eggbeater pedals suck. Not only can you not tell if you are clipped in or not, but they eat into the soles of your shoes. I experimented with Eggbeaters a little while back and they ground themselves into my soles and eventually the sole cracked as a result. Crank Brothers must know about this problem. They should sell these pedals with a little metal plate to prevent the damage. It would cost them penny's per pair sold and save users from ruining perfectly serviceable shoes.

Product Review: Ritchey WCS Protocol Wheelset--Great Wheelset for the Money.

My initial impression of these wheels, before I owned them, was that they were flimsy. PVB had a set that he thrashed during a cross season and then on the road. Obviously with a wattage cottage like Pierre, who is known to destroy parts, the wheels gave up under the abuse (PVB later stated that he was happy with the wheels and admitted that they held up well under after he dogged them).

I got my set as part of a Record 10 UT grouppo August of 2007. I needed a set of cross clinchers, so I resigned myself to killing these instead of selling them and buying something more durable, such as Ksyriums.

First off, these wheels are light. They weigh in around 1500 grams, which puts them in the same weight category as Ksyriums and Easton EA90's. They are semi aero with bladed spokes and a low spoke count.

I have been using these wheels as my training clincher for the 2007 (season curtailed by injury) and 2008 cross season and race on them occasionally, for instance when my tubulars need regluing or the valve stem gets stuck in the extender.

The front wheel went out of true early on. I trued it once and it has remained true ever since. I attribute this to normal settling of a machine built wheel and don't hold it against the wheelset.

I have been riding/abusing these wheels in all the conditions that New England cyclocross throws at you and I have been very happy with their performance and durability. Seriously, I have crashed these, smashed them into blind ruts and roots, bottomed out the tire onto the rim countless times and they are still true and ride straight. I even take them on light mountain bike terrain without issue.

While the bearings were never as smooth as my Campagnolo hubs, they are smooth enough for daily usage. The hub speed has not degraded with time, which leads me to think that they are well sealed, considering the mud, ice and rain that these have been ridden through.

You may notice that I am not using the Ritchey quick releases with these wheels. "Why?" you ask. I like the Ritchey quick releases so much that I use them with my "A" wheels. 2008 I used them with my Zipps on road and then my Egde/DT Swiss wheelset for cross. Now I am using the Ritchey skewers with my Easton EC 90 Aeros.

I do have complaints. First, admittedly not a big complaint, the freehub pawls are loud. Seriously loud. Like these things interfere with normal conversation if you are coasting. Its reassuring that they are working well, but man are they loud.

Second, the decals on the rim are shoddy. They are more like stickers. They were applied poorly and have bubbles underneath them.




While this is not serious either, its just irritating. I would just peel the stickers off, but that would create work for me and I'd rather just leave them.

Overall, I am quite happy with these wheels. I plan on using them as my cross clinchers for the foreseeable future. Considering how well they are holding up, I have no reason to expect that these will need to be replaced any time soon.

As you may know, these are available quite inexpensively on eBay and on other internet sites. Also, Ritchey is making a tubular version of this wheelset, which I assume is of comparable quality. If I were on a tight budget and needed a reasonably light bargain wheelset, these (clincher or tubular) would be very high on my list.