I went for a more than usually strenuous little ride this afternoon on
my road bike - 26 miles and three climbs in excess of a mile long, two
of them steep[1]; and I thought I was being attentive and careful
feeling for anything wrong with the bike, and didn't notice anything.
So later on I cleaned it, and as I was cleaning the chainrings I noticed
a distinct movement - the bottom bracket bearing had at least a
millimetre of play. It span very nicely, but still that's a lot of
movement. I cannot believe I didn't feel it on the road! I stripped it
down and found nothing damaged, so I cleaned everything out with WD40
and kitchen paper, gobbed in a lot of fresh grease, reassembled and
tightened it all up until play just disappeared. Hopefully that will be
that...
[1] From Auchencairn west along the A711 to Hazelfield - 125 metres in
four kilometers; then past the Wicker Man Festival site and onto
unclassified roads before descending into Kirkcudbright on the B727;
Then from Kirkcudbright on unclassified roads up to High Kirkland - 80
metres in under a kilometer; then equally sharply down to the Buckland
Burn (wheee! Hairpins!) and on up Bombie Glen to the 125 metre contour
again, across the plateau, back onto A711 by the Wicker Man and
blasting down from Hazelfield at 35.8mph (couldn't quite hit 36) to
arrive home *just* in time for the TdF on ITV2.
--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
[ This .sig subject to change without notice ]