I recently acquired a 2012 salsa casseroll from a guy calling himself z. the rig was technically ready-to-ride, but then I discovered that the front derailleur had been hastily installed with a credit card-like shim, and seemed less-than-securely attached to the seat tube. thing’s been sitting there in my garage, unridden, for two months now. what follows is a dramatic interpretation of how I developed a plan to resolve this problem.
"I guess it’s time for a new fd.” I thought to myself.
but wait! as a self-described hack who has no business being as confident about my many undertakings as I am, I’d need to really think this through. if I’m already going to pop off the chain and detach the shift cable to replace the fd, I should just replace the shift cables, which means I’d need to remove and replace the bar wrap. and you can’t just order 3ft of shifting cables; nay, you might as well replace the rd cable.
sounds reasonable, but now we’re talking about a higher-effort initiative than otherwise. so while we’re at it, I should give myself a little gifty-gift. the biggest impact change I could make is replacing the 9s cassette with a one that has a wider range. bonus: swapping clusters is pretty easy.
footnote, new cassettes require new rear derailleurs and chains. ah, but the chainrin may have worn teeth, and that would mean it may misalign with the fresh chain — not something you want to discover after you’ve already done the rest of the work here. nbd, just sneak in a new chainring set.
[long silence] but do I really want a 3x up front? if I’m blowing out the gear range, why not lose the fd altogether and commit to a 1x11 or 12. good thinking: lighter weight and fewer potential points of failure in the system. just remember that I'll need new shifter/brake levers to accommodate the new range indexing. got it.
small note: the chainring and crankset bolt patterns need to match. I may be able to find a new 1x that fits this old shimano lx crankset, but I’ll probably be limited in my choices. if I don’t get new crankarms, I could be backing myself into a corner with a chainring that’s too big or small, or worse, I may be wrecking the whole transmission plan. a new crankset is a need, but only to enable freedom of choice. it has nothing to do with my distaste of the lx arms. plus, I could stand to get shorter arms, for my knees.
it’s probably a good time to service the bottom bracket. [long silence] normally yes. but let’s not be stupid here. I’ll probably want a new bb to protect that delicate chainline created by the 1x setup. not to mention I notoriously shred bb’s, so I’ll need to look into some burly phil woods or something. remember [self], don’t go overboard and walk into a full rebuild — after all, I specifically wanted an inexpensive bike that was ready to roll, to save money, to be a responsible consumer. remember?
true, true, but let’s be real: that stem is too long, now that I’m looking at it. I can’t be hunched over like that, not at my age. a shorter stem should be included, yes, for my health. and while I’m crafting my ideal riding posture, it would be irresponsible of me not to consider replacing these normal dropbar handlebars with riser-drops. and I do love me redshift’s top shelf riser dropbars. ok done. between the shorter stem and the higher handlebars, the ride will be easy-breezy-beautiful. noice!
hold on there cowboy: what’s a perfectly customized riding position worth if you hurl yourself off a cliff because your brakes fail you? sure, new brakes do seem out of scope, but remember: I already own a pair of unused paul touring cantilevers; I could put those on the rear, and buy one measily pair for the front. no uggos though; pauls can only be paired with pauls, that’s common knowledge — like for example paul's neo-retros would match perfectly.
mmmk, all set here. I think I’ve got a plan. sure, it may seem like this project got away from me a bit. and maybe I’ll be a few bucks over my budget. but that doesn’t mean I’m not being fiscally responsible. after all, I’ll try to buy used. plus, I’m saving dozens of dollars by using my existing paul brakes. I recently acquired a 2012 salsa casseroll from a guy calling himself z. the rig was technically ready-to-ride, but then I discovered that the front derailleur had been hastily installed with a credit …