I noticed as I got the bike out yesterday that the headset seemed a bit stiff. Thought nothing of it
and resolved to give it some TLC tonight.
Opened it up (stronglight A something (A10, A9? nice roller bearing one)) and dicovered the bottom
race was a little grungy. Having removed the forks I then discovered that the bearing race support
on the fork crown has cracked right across. That is why it was allowing so much water/gunge ingress.
I've no worries about continuing to use it for the present (failure would not be catastrophic in
terms of the integrity of the bike, just give rise to poor performance at the front end with
sufficient warning to be able to get home.)
So the arguement goes something like this:
new headset and respray for frame (needs it after 14 years and 20+ thousand miles) 150-200 GBP
replacement of any part of the drivetrain would require major expenditure as it is all vintage
1989/90 (Shimano Sante and Ultegra) and I would want to move to STI and a front triple of the order
of 3-400 GBP.
I should get a substantial sum of money for some extra-curricular work in the spring. Its my
birthday in the summer.
I have been following the thread on Audax/winter training bikes with great interest :-)
It will be a shame to retire a faithful old friend but times change. It will be good to get
something where the gears are right for my no longer spring chicken body (I used to ride around the
North Downs with a 65" bottom gear [42x18]. Now I have something far gentler [39x24] and would like
gentler still and the option to not be covered in mud at the end of the day.)
Off the shelf bikes seem to start around 700. I may well be tempted to go for a custom frame. Any
experience on the merits of a personally designed frame? Is it worth it? Doing so would add several
hundred pounds to the price of the bike.
..d