Bent Derailleur Hanger

No riding this week as I was on the beach in the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

I was able to figure out my shifting problem before I had left. I am pretty sure the problem with the Fantom 29 is a bent derailleur hanger. I did not see any damage to the derailleur itself. Good thing because a replacement would be $55.

The Motobecane Fantom 29 is equipped with a replaceable rear derailleur hanger. The replaceable hanger is specifically designed and engineered to bend or break and sacrifice itself to save the frame or derailleur from what would otherwise be non-repairable damage.

As you can see from the picture on the left, the chain "walks" to the inner side of the teeth on the cassette sprocket and then skips down with each revolution. It only does this in the lowest gear. That would tell me that the derailleur is leaning toward the wheel.









When you look at the hanger itself it does not look bent. It must be very slight. I may attempt a repair by making my own alignment tool and using a technique as described on the Parks Tool Website.

In any event, I purchased a replacement hanger at bikesdirect. Even if I can straighten the existing one, it is probably good to have a spare.

I was surprised that bikesdirect sells replacement hangers but they do. I emailed them on July 19 at 11:21 pm to ask if they had a model number and a source as to where to buy a replacement. I thought they might point me to bikeisland.com which I believe is run by the same company as bikesdirect. Instead on July 21 at 4:35 pm they emailed me a link at bikesdirect for replacement hangers. They are $20 and includes free shipping and no sales tax. I googled other sources and $20 is a good price. I ordered one on July 27.

When I get a chance this week I will complete the repair. In the mean time the Raleigh Grand Prix will be my ride.

Saturday Morning Ride

Today I rode 15.6 miles at Marsh Creek State Park. The weather was great--- sunny and mid 80's in the morning.I didn't drive my car to the park. Instead I rode the Fantom 29 the whole way. It is only 2.5 miles from my house to a point on Chalfont Road where I enter the park on the blue trail heading to the quarry.

There were several mountain bikers and I saw 10 people on horse back.

I was exploring trails that I have not ridden before when I picked up a stick in my chain and may have slightly bent my rear derailleur. When I am in the lowest gear the chain skips teeth when I pedal under load. I continued the ride but it is annoying. I will have to deal with the derailleur later.

I continued around the quarry then rode the old railroad bed to Lydell Road. I then road the rail road bed back into the park then up the blue trail. On the downhill part of the trail I took a side trail that then takes you back to Lydell Road. I took Lydell Road to the park entrance and took the gravel road to the dam.

I then did the downhill past the dam and took the gravel road back up to the top of the dam. Two bikers were walking their bikes up the gravel road. One of them had broken off his rear derailleur! I guess I shouldn't feel bad with a bent derailleur. Using my Crank Brothers tool I help him remove a section of the chain to try to get the bike in a single speed setup. It worked if he took it slow.

I then took the blue trail back up to Chalfont Road and then 2.5 road miles home. It was an excellent workout.

The Fantom 29 performed before the bent rear derailleur. It still rode well afterwards except for the lowest gear. I hope I can bend it back or do some adjustment rather than replacing it so I will see when I can get to it.

Safety First!

I recently realized my helmet is getting old and had always heard that you should replace a helmet every 5 years or so. On the left is my Black Bell Forza-2 (serial # A11057317, large, dated November 2001). I purchased it when I bought my Landrider Autoshift Bike for recreational riding. I am replacing it with the Silver Bell Impulse (serial# A3360467, 54-61 cm, dated 06/08) on the right.






Everyone recommends replacing a helmet after 1 crash. Bell, the helmet manufacturer recommends replacing every 3 years. Snell, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to research, education, testing and development of helmet safety standards, recommends replacement every 5 years. The Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute does not have a specific recommended time interval.






My helmet is nearly 7 years old. The inside padding is worn out and it did not have an adjustable headband like the new helmets. The Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute identified a good value helmet. " Wal-Mart has a round, smooth Bell Impulse for $25 that is molded in the shell, a high quality construction technique." BHSI recommends rounder helmets with less vents because they will have more foam and probably result in better crash protection.

So I purchased the Bell Impulse for $24.88 at Walmart. It is easy to adjust and fits well.

I am thinking about crash testing my old helmet and cutting it up to see how it performs. Any suggestions on testing methods would be appreciated!

Springton Sunday Ride

Today I rode 8.2 miles at Springton Manor Farms. The Motobecane Fantom 29 performed flawlessly.

I explored some trails that were adjacent to the park. When you continue down the Bartol Trail there are trees across the trail at the park boundary. The trail actually continues and there were plenty of single track loops in the woods. It is nice and shady. The trails are gently sloping. It was a pretty good workout.

I saw a metal tree stand in the woods. Good thing it is not Mountain Biker season!

Morning Ride

Today I rode 6.2 miles at Springton Manor Farm. I usually don't see anyone on the trails on my rides but today I saw a woman riding a horse.

Again, the Fantom 29 performed flawlessly--- smooth shifting and good climbing.

Motobecane Fantom 29 steps in

Today I used the Fantom 29 for my morning ride and did 6.5 miles at Springton Manor Farm. I usually ride my Raleigh Grand Prix road bike during the week for my morning rides but the Raleigh is out of commission, so the Fantom 29 stepped in nicely.

The Fantom 29 again performed flawlessly-- smooth shifting and good climbing. I did have to rush it this morning because I need to keep my fitness ride to about 50 minutes so I can get to work on time. My Sunday Fantom 29 ride can be longer. The 6.5 mile ride was still a good workout.

So why is the Raleigh out of commission? On Monday 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). But enough of that. This is the motobanefantom29 blogspot not the raleighgrandprix blogspot.

So until I get the parts and complete the repairs, the Fantom 29 will be my ride.

Great Workout-- Great Ride

View Larger Map

This morning I rode 7.8 miles at Springton Manor Farm. Again the Motobecane Fantom 29 performed flawlessly-- smooth shifting and good climbing.

When I was riding down the Bartol trail there was a tree completely across it. It was only about 2 inches in diameter but rather tall. I was able to stand it up and the have it fall away from the trail.

The second time around on the Bartol trail I noticed a trail to my right. I took the trail and it was a good ride to a hay field south of the park.

George W: MTBer-in-Chief

I guess I haven't really been paying attention, but I just learned George W Bush is a mountain biker. According to reports he started mountain biking in the beginning of 2004 as a substitute for jogging because of a bad knee. He is riding a "Trek Fuel 98 made of space-age carbon fiber with rear suspension that soaks up big bumps. List price: about $3,100. He had it specially fitted by a Washington bicycle retailer" according to the report.






I think it great that the president is a mountain biker. It seems we have a common goal, fitness. We don't have in common how much to spend on fitness. I am perfectly content with my $600 Motobecane Fantom 29 and I saved $2500 over what W spent for his fitness machine.

W rides his bike at his 1583 acre ranch near Crawford, Texas. It must be nice to have your own mountain bike riding park. I do have Marsh Creek State Park that I ride nearby. It is 1705 acres with a 535 acre lake and the government takes care of it for me (and everyone else) !