Renewing the MTB

Oh my god! It's been two years!!! (though the post will be dated retroactively, for completeness sake, today is July 17th, 2011).

That day (June 28th, 2009) I finished to "re-do" my mountain bike. I actually started to write a post about it back then that I never finished (shame on me :-) ), but sure I'm gonna use most of it here hehehehehe.

This bike has a long story. I bought it in January 2004, right after I came back to cycling, basically it is mostly its fault :-)

I had bought a simpler bike before, just to see "how it would be" and after 2 months I changed it to this one.

The frame was the only 20" frame I could find in town, for an affordable price. A Caloi Elite 27, made in Brazil. It was on this friend's store and he had also a simple long course front suspension and a full group and parts to it, all in an affordable price.

Great! I had a reasonable bike and managed to evolve quite quickly with it.

Soon I've got a better front suspension. A Pro Shock 100mm. Simple, with elastomers, made in the city (only suspension's factory in the country, that I know).

Changed the front derailleur for a STX RC, perfect gear, never fails.

At the end of 2004 I brought the bike to Germany and it has served very well since then, but there was no further big maintenance.

So! After a long time I decided to renew my MTB. More the 3000 km and the same transmission and almost 2000 km from the last revision (since the total cleaning before packing it for the big flight)!

Chain was waaaay gone, the middle crank (32T) was gone and the cassette I was not sure, but at the end it was really gone, though I tried to save it.

Thought about changing the whole transmission, upgrading it to a 9-speeds, but that would imply a full crank set change and also a back wheel, that would make me change the front one also ... the price of doing that would be more than we paid for Fernanda's new 9-speeds bike (ok, no Mavic wheels, but they do the trick). So, just changing what needs to be changed.

Also new tires, for MTB not semi-MTB tires, since the use now is MTB and no longer MTB/road/city.

It took me a couple of months to do the whole thing, changing parts, disassembling the whole bike and reassembling it. A professional does it in an afternoon :-))


First wheels, the back one had 2 or 3 cracked nipples, that required a professional to do the job and also I don't really like to true wheels, it takes too much time to leave them the way I like. So a professional was a great time-result-price relation.

Anti-flat band, new tubes and new tires.

Hubs needed servicing. I hate finding the right point for cone bearings hehehehehehe but I managed. Careful cleaning, nothing lost. The tracks are a bit worn but they will survive until the rim gets too old and I need a new wheel set anyway.

Freehub serviced, as much as possible, Shimano freehubs are not meant for servicing. It's clean and working, but now bearings cleaning and greasing.

Chain gone, crank set out, derailleurs and breaks out. Didn't touch levers and shifters (too much work to find the right position afterwards). Drive train was left alone, I was not feeling any problem there. Also the bottom bracket was left alone.



Washed the frame, cleaned all the parts (derailleurs and breaks), lubricated, placed back with new break shoes . Derailleur pulleys also needed replacement, got a pair with sealed bearings, and middle crank replaced also. Crank set back, chain ... pedals needed servicing also.

Yep, not trivial, also not really meant for servicing. I like my Wellgo WAM-M919 pedals, so I tried to save them. Not easy to have a cone bearing with a locking nut where you can place wrenches to lock them ... after some trials, some that locked my pedal and left the other side loose, I guess I managed using a small plier and a clamp and a bit of glue.

Pedals back, new cables for everyone, tuning, all accessories back and ready.


First ride showed cassette really needed replacement, some gears where jumping, and pedals were as I said before (that was before the glue, I guess I tried it a couple of times before the desperate measure). More servicing and back to the road with new cassette. 15 km ride, left pedal still locking, and gears and breaks need fine tuning due to cable stretching.


After the trial I also got the courage and tools to open and revise the suspension. Nothing major, just grease and chance some elastomers and it was fine. It was never an amazing suspension, but it was always good enough and reliable.


After the bike was revised and tuned we went on vacations, a nice trip to cycle with my family in south France and north Spain.

The trip was great and revising the bike was a lot of fun!!

I miss the basement of my old apartment!!!