Diamond Encrusted Rocking Horse Poo!

Again my apologies to London Alan for the number of times that I have written about his bike in this blog and all the fettling that had to be done to it.  On his brakes, mudguards, front hub, etc..  Oh to be so smug eh?  There I was stood tall with arms crossed and a wry grin on my face looking down on his broken bike.  Yeah.  Too many times I've talked and sometimes written about my bike, a Koga World Traveller, and spouted on way too much about how good a bike it is.  

Well yes, the bike has done me proud since new.  So that's for the last 10 years or so.  I've had only 2 significant problems in the last 15 to 20 thousand miles.  Some 6 years ago the headset handlebar height adjuster came loose.  So that was changed under warranty.  Then 3 years ago whilst on the LEJOG thing the Rohloff hub oil seal blew.  Black oily blood everywhere.  Supposedly repaired in London but again it leaked a second time about a year ago.  Which resulted in a visit back to the workshop in Germany.  No wheel - no bike.  I was grounded for about 8 weeks but it was over the Christmas months so not really a problem.

Major problem number 3 has just come to light.  Well it had to eventually happen.  The Gates Carbon Drive which has put up from new with a billion tons of blubber attempting to put the power down on every single ride since new has finally succumbed.   The reason I bought the Gates drive was cos it was zero maintenance and would last 3-4 times longer than a standard sprocket and chain.  And for sure it has.  I thought that the only squeak from me was going to be the big cost to replace it when that day came.  And finally it did when its teeth started to pull away from the belt.  

I speak to the local bike shops around York, all of whom give it a big 'sorry mate, Gates Carbon Drive bits are as rare as rocking horse poo'.  One shop at least said if I could find the bits on line they'd be happy to fit them for me.  Finally I spoke with Cyclesense you know the ones who got funny with me about the head bearing work?  Alas they were the only game left in town.  Initially it was a, 'Sorry Wayne, I'll have a look to see what we can do but the fact is that rocking horse poo is significantly easier to find than a set of Gates sprockets'.

So my next thought was to try to get a belt and see if I could get the bike back on the road whilst others continue to search for what must be going by it's rarity diamond encrusted rocking horse poo.  I go on line.  Nothing at all in the UK.  But I get a hit on a North American supplier via Amazon so game on!  I ask Brad the Lad if he would order it for me, which he did using his credentials on the US Amazon site and as a result the belt was paid for at the US rate (cheaper) and with fast shipping, arrived 5 days later.  

To change the belt the rear pannier rack has to be removed and the frame split.  First job was to undo the 6mm stainless Torx bolts that secured the pannier to the frame.  Now it is fair to say that the pannier has carried a significant bit of weight over the intervening years as I do not travel lite.  Whilst one bolt came out no problem the 6mm Torx bolt on the belt side of the frame would not budge.  Gently does it Wayne.  But with a groan the Torx splines in the bolt head twisted out leaving me with a proper problem of just how to remove a fecking seized in and stripped bolt out of the frame so that I could get the rack off and the belt changed.  

Here's a video of the problem taking the carbon belt off showing what I had to do to get the pannier bolt out so that the belt could be removed.  

Great.  Sorted.  The new belt was fitted and tensioned.  But bad news.  The sprockets were also so badly worn that the new belt was completely out of alignment.  Even worse the teeth on the small sprocket acted as miniature chisels which cleanly took little non-love bites out of the brand new belt.  Aw FECK!  See attached video...

I've contacted the Cyclesense workshop manager again.  Marc - he's the good un there - says bring the bike in and he'll take the sprockets off and pattern match them as best he can and see if any of his suppliers can supply the bits.  Followed by a conversation about another customer with a similar Gates belt drive set up who's bits were ordered in April but still have not arrived 6 months later!  The simple fact was that IF the parts could not be sourced then I've asked him to bin the belt and convert the bike to a chain drive as there is no way I can be held to ransom by the non-availability of specialist kit.  

The next day I'm in the garage harrumphing a lot working on my old Dawes Audax Giro 600.  A 30 plus year old 'classic' racer which is in bits.  If I can get it back together I will use it in the interim until my tourer is finally sorted.  Paint the rusty bit of frame first then it's just a rebuild job innit?  Will it carry my weight cos for sure I'm a good 4 stone heavier than the last time I used it?

The phone rings.  Hi Marc... 'Wayne, some good news.  I've been searching through all of my old workshop spares and magically have found in an old pile of rocking horse poo in the corner of the room a diamond and gold encrusted 19 tooth back sprocket for your bike.  And... another supplier thinks he has got the 50 tooth front sprocket in stock!!'

Wow!  I'm gobsmacked.  Am I a lucky boy or wot!?  There's probably a couple of hundred people in the UK and across Europe with the same spares problem.  Nonetheless, it's my turn to have the planets align in my favour.   Perhaps the Universe does try to keep things in equilibrium, what with the palaver over the wooden flooring and the extension work etc here at home then yes, surely it was my turn to get some good news!  

Perhaps some more good news?  JS Woodcraft are in the process or replacing the flooring.  Even if there were to be an additional charge cos the new flooring will be (and should have been) 'fumed' they will not charge me for it.  Simply they messed up the order and they will put it right.  Good.  Chris the floorer has also given me an acceptable date later in October to come back to do the installation.  And whilst all of this unfolds I've decided to undertake a bit more work to the concrete subfloor to make sure that it is as flat as a flat thing so that the new oak floor goes down hopefully without any issues.  

I'm still being stiffed though by the Germans for 150 quid for trims that I no longer need.  Being that I am a Yorkshireman that is really, really hurting.  It's almost as bad as a paper cut!  Shhhh!  Right now I'm still giving CPR to my pet wallet moth.  It has developed such a bad case of palpitations.   Poor thing.  I hope he gets over it.  

I've got to say though that the bike has done me proud to date.  I've done millions of training miles on, in, around, through, over, under and any which way but loose about York, plus LEJOG, the NC500, the NY200 - three times, Blackpool to Scarborough, the Danube in Austria and Germany etc.  I could go on.  That plus the no quibble warranties have meant that most issues to date have been resolved without too much difficulty.  It just sometimes takes an age to do.   

I've asked Marc to give me the old bits back when he's done - I said for sentimental reasons.  Well perhaps not quite that.  

Simply, diamond encrusted rocking horse poo is such a rare thing.  I'm sure that I will find some value in it at a later date!

Ciao for now.