SaintViper's Journal, 28 July 2011

well that sucks!!! but you have a couple of bikes as I recall...you can at least keep pedaling until parts are found no? I thinking I will have to climb back into the saddle for the first time since the race this evening. I did a run last night which went ok but at the end my legs were very sore...so the lactic acid is still lurking. Though this morning they feel and look better. Was packing around 12lbs of water/edema post race. Down 4 this morning....and will continue to drop it as the week goes on I'm sure. Sorry about the bike. That sucks.  

I can still ride it but it's annoying. The other bike is loaned out at the moment. Looks like you had a good ride. Glad you are feeling better.  

bike issues must be going around. I got home last night to find that the rear hub and freewheel on my new bike are totally locked up. WTH??? So I have to take it to the LBS today and hope they can get her going again. Hoepfully it's just junk in there needing to be cleaned out and not needing a whole new one...I had planned on a test ride of the Ring of Fire's new course this Saturday of course with this bike since i wanted to know if I could do the climbs on this bike...damn! 

Wow, that sounds as strange as the problem on my bike. I've never heard of that. The shop thinks they have a handle on the problem on my bike and have ordered parts from Litespeed. I did a 65 mile ride on it last weekend with the tight headset and it was tolerable. It's just one of those things that sticks in your head and bugs you. 

The LBS was a total bust. They wouldn't even look at it. In fact, Oval Concepts (a brand which has been around for some time now) was totally new to them. They had never heard of them. Kept asking me who makes Oval? Uh, OVAL makes Oval.... "Is is a proprietary brand?" Noooooooooo...OVAL makes Oval....why is this so difficult? They they said, "well this is going to take some time, we are going to need to do some footwork to see who even carries Oval." "Oh no you won't. I'm not asking you to get me any parts or anythnig, I just wanted you to open the hub and look around and see if it was in fact broken or just gummed up...but since you are unwilling, forget it." Then they tried to sell me a cross bike. :-/ grrrrr Fortunately, our sponsored bike shop had two of the kestrels in stock as demos and so he offered to meet me half way between his shop and my place last night (a 2 1/2 drive one way if I was going the whole way) and exchange me my wheel for one of the demo wheels. He will then take a look at it and if it is in fact bust, will deal with the warranty stuff from his end. So I did that. She has her almost new wheel on, with fancy new race tires (the ones she came with were bout shot) and she's all ready to go for Saturday. I have a meeting late tonight after work. I think she and I will probably have to ride to the meeting and home. I don't know if she's ever done a night ride before...she might enjoy herself. :) 

Wow, that's great service from your non-LBS. Too bad they aren't closer. I'm kinds of torn on high end wheels that use proprietary parts. I broke a spoke on one once and it took 6 weeks to get a new one. Standard 32 spoke wheels are boring and heavy though. I'm using a set of Rolf Vectors now and they seem to be holding up well. If they break though I have a set of trusted and true 32 spoke Mavics with Ultegra hubs that are super durable and can be fixed by any shop waiting in the wings. 

Hey, glad your bike issue seems to have a light at the end of the tunnel. I got great news yesterday. The guy who took my wheel tore into it and found that it just needed some servicing. Says it's better than new now. So I'll get my wheel back as soon as we can arrange another meeting. Yay!! Looking forward to my ride tomorrow though the winds here today are outrageous!! I don't think these wheels use proprietary parts so much as that the rims match the bike so to get a new wheel that matches you have to find the SAME wheels. rolling eyes. Spare wheels are certainly a good thing to have. Fortunately my bro is a pretty darned good wheel builder.