I finally pulled the trigger on getting a new drive train for the Merckx. The current version is vintage 1992 Campy put together by my brother. Well to say it’s worn out is an understatement and since I’m running a 53/38 with the shifters on the downtube, it’s about time to upgrade. I decide on the Campy Centaur Gruppo. I kept the Chorus cantilever brakes I already have and got some new wheels. A cool thing about the new gruppo is the compact crankset allowing for a wide range of gear ratios with only 2 main front sprockets. I think the guy said it gave me the range of a 50/29. That should help on the hills. The only bad thing is I won’t get it back until next friday, so I’m jonesing for a ride. Which brings me to what I was going to originall talk about. You see I haven’t ridden the Kona Mountain bike since last summer so I decide to take it down from the rack and give it a spin. Well what do you know, no air in the back tire. I pump it up and go off to do some errands for the wife. Lo and behold when I got back the damn thing was flat again. Somewhere in my garage there are two replacement tubes, at least they were there before my wife did a spring cleaning of said garage. I searched everywhere but couldn’t find them. No problem, I’ve got a patch kit. I’ll just patch the sucker up and be done with it. I filled the tube with air and a bucket with water. I methodically dunked and checked the entire tube but I couldn’t find the leak. Damn thing was mocking me big time. Now you can guess where I’m going at lunch? Two extra tubes for the mountain bike and “Eddie”.
[...] I finally got “Eddie” back late friday but other than a jaunt around the neighborhood, I haven’t taken it out for its paces. I’m reluctant to get all the new components gunked up due to the horrible rainy weather we still are experiencing up here above the 45th parallel. Forcasts for the rest of the week look good though and I’m going to take advantage of it. Oh, BTW I misspoke about what the specs where in my prevouis post. The crankset is a 50/34 not a 50/29 and I’m using a 12/25 cluster. Here are some pics of the groupset and new Mavic wheels. Aren’t they pretty. [...]