Categories: Accessories and GearBelgian AffirmationsBreaking The RulesCogalsDefining Moments

Test Drive Dummies

Woopsie-dasies.

Everyone knows it’s a great idea to change out pieces of equipment the day before a group ride, especially an honorary Ronde van Vlaanderen Cogal involving steep, cobblestone climbs. There is obviously also no need to test-ride the equipment after making said change.

I remark at this point that it is rather unexpected to find an 11 speed chain inside a box labeled as being 10 speed. I also note that an 11 speed chain is not obviously narrower than its 10 speed counterpart. Once installed, it even seems to operate normally, happily jumping from one cog to the next, up and down the cassette, as you click away at it on the work stand. It gives the strong impression of being a happy chain.

This is a ruse. It is not a happy chain. In fact, it is a borderline malicious chain; it lulls the rider into a false sense of security, right until the moment that enough pressure is applied to the pedals, at which point the chain will rudely skip. The amount of pressure required to make the chain skip is dependent upon in which gear you are riding; some skip easily, some (seemingly) not at all. The ones that seemed like they didn’t skip at all were the two lowest gears. Comforting, knowing the steep cobbled climbs that were to be gobbled up towards the end of the ride, where they would be most instrumental.

As it turns out, the amount of pressure required to skip the chain is the amount applied at roughly 20% and the rider has risen out of the saddle in search of extra power. This came as quite a surprise to me, the rider, and also to those riding behind me, who used words like “ejected” and “like you hit an invisible car” to describe what they saw.

So, I can make with certainty the following observation: a 10 speed chain and 11 speed chain might not have any outward trappings of distinction between them but they are indeed very different. This difference manifests itself by one functioning as expected and the other having the capacity to eject a rider when combined with a 10 speed drivetrain. It all seems very obvious, but that doesn’t make it less true.*

There are many other examples of this I’m sure; I remember having quite a job of properly connecting my Cinelli stem to my Scott Drop-In handlebars because the diameters did not quite match. That one also resulted in some high speed handling anomalies.

There are two morals to this story. First, it matters whether your equipment is interoperable. Second, if you make a change to your gear before a big ride, for the love of Merckx, take it on a test drive.

*As it turns out, it does in fact make it less true; this should function flawlessly but it was a worn(ish) cassette that held the secret to the bikes newly discovered ejection function.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

Next Velominati Super Prestige: Paris-Roubaix 2016 »

Previous « Awesome Dutch Nerds

View Comments

Teocalli says:

Apr 7 2016 at 8:09 am

Ha Ha - so on the same lines is it permitted to wear a Club Gilet with a V-Jersey or should I wear Club Jersey and Gilet?

Ooh the quandary.
ChrisO says:

Apr 7 2016 at 8:40 am

@Teocalli

Ha Ha – so on the same lines is it permitted to wear a Club Gilet with a V-Jersey or should I wear Club Jersey and Gilet?

Ooh the quandary.

I think Rule #17 is your guide here. No Mapei jersey with Kelme shorts applies to V kit and Club gilet.

If it's cold I'll be wearing Dulwich kit because I have more warm bits than my RBS-Giant kit from Dubai.
Teocalli says:

Apr 7 2016 at 8:57 am

@ChrisO

@Teocalli

Ha Ha – so on the same lines is it permitted to wear a Club Gilet with a V-Jersey or should I wear Club Jersey and Gilet?

Ooh the quandary.

I think Rule #17 is your guide here. No Mapei jersey with Kelme shorts applies to V kit and Club gilet.

If it’s cold I’ll be wearing Dulwich kit because I have more warm bits than my RBS-Giant kit from Dubai.

True enough - unless the new gear turns up tomorrow. Unlikely though.
chris says:

Apr 7 2016 at 10:15 am

@ChrisO

Along the same lines as fitting new equipment for a cogal, what’s the ruling on the appropriate level of equipment.

Is it Sunday-best to honour the spirit of the Velominati and look as fantastic as possible at all times… or is it training standard because well, it isn’t a race and even our second-best stuff should still look fantastic?

Inquiring minds would like to know ahead of the London cogal on Saturday.

It comes down to, do I take my Hed Stinger 6s with tubs or my alloy Eurus with clinchers? Given that it’s a long ride and I have to get across London first I’m inclining towards the clinchers for the repairability potential.

For me it's going to be #1 sans its carbon tubulars. There's a new set of tubs on order, some of Vittoria's latest gen tan walls but the useless twats I ordered them from emailed me at the weekend to blithely inform me that they wouldn't actually have them in stock until May.

#1 will either be shod in its Flandeien beat of Vittoria Pave, Nemesis and '90s Dura Ace or mismatched clinchers (a spoke broke a couple of weeks ago on my preferred rear) and Open Pave. It largely dependent so on whether I get round to checking whether the emergency tub holds air or not. If @frank hadn't written this post I probably wouldn't have thought to check.
frank says:

Apr 7 2016 at 10:40 am

@Teocalli

Ha Ha – so on the same lines is it permitted to wear a Club Gilet with a V-Jersey or should I wear Club Jersey and Gilet?

Ooh the quandary.

Oh for fucks sake that would only work if they go together. Jesus, man.

@ChrisO

@Teocalli

Ha Ha – so on the same lines is it permitted to wear a Club Gilet with a V-Jersey or should I wear Club Jersey and Gilet?

Ooh the quandary.

I think Rule #17 is your guide here. No Mapei jersey with Kelme shorts applies to V kit and Club gilet.

If it’s cold I’ll be wearing Dulwich kit because I have more warm bits than my RBS-Giant kit from Dubai.

Exactly, but if it's plain it might work. For example, a black gabba jersey with v-gilet is no issue.

@chris

You're welcome.
chuckp says:

Apr 7 2016 at 11:28 am

@frank

But you are also the size of a unicorn turd. I am the size of an Orc. Might also matter.

Maybe you need to go on a diet?
Teocalli says:

Apr 7 2016 at 11:45 am

@frank

Yeah but which watch should I wear?
ErikdR says:

Apr 8 2016 at 4:40 am

@frank

Ok, the data is in, folks. Swapped out the cassette and left the 11s chain. Quick spin and an admittedly ginger but committed acceleration up a short 20% grade proves @Oli‘s point, it works perfectly fine although I do find the chain a bit noisy, but that could also be the new cassette.

And then I brought the bike back in and chucked a new chain on as well, just because I don’t want to wonder about any of it.

I get my drive train pretty damn clean, but there is nothing like a new chain/cassette for the clean bike look.

I'm surprised no-one has asked about this until now - but Frank: the BIKE; what about the bike? Is the bike OK? No scuffed hoods, I hope? No ominous bends in the handlebars or weird new angles on the brake levers? Please confirm that that beautiful machine of yours came through this unharmed!?

(Oh; and I hope that you, yourself, are OK as well, of course...)
Ron says:

Apr 8 2016 at 12:16 pm

Thanks for the confirmation, Oli!

I use KMC connectors on Campa chains. (I also use KMC connectors on KMC chains, but that is kinda a given.)

With four road bikes, I swap chains rather infrequently. My riding is spread across them all. Ha, did some quick calculations the other week. Not riding as much as I did in my younger less responsibles age, but with my daily work commute, I'm well over 10,000 kms for the year. Not staggering, but made me feel a lot better about not doing road rides five days a week, as I used to.
frank says:

Apr 10 2016 at 2:47 pm

@ErikdR

Bike suffered some mysterious damage that I attributed to scuffing from my shoes or the cobbles. Until I washed it. At which point it turned out to be energy drink and dust. Bike remains in the blemished state it was in. (A bike that's been through Roubaix is never quite blemish free, but those are the best kinds of blemishes.)