AustinBike

A breakthrough of sorts. Pulled the wheel off and took the dropouts sliders out. Bad news: Kona does a proprietary slider, so the Paragon sliders from my other bike will not work. But in taking the slider apart I noticed the drive-side dropout was severely grooved (see pic below). My gut was telling me that the sound was coming from the dropout, so this could be the culprit. I took a mini grinder and smoothed that down. I was also able to find an old 8-speed chain that fit it perfectly (the 9-speed chain was a little short and the slider was as far forward as possible so it was hitting the frame, not the adjustment screw. If this fixes it then I will probably replace the dropout and get a new chain while I am at it (not a big fan of running multiple magic links on a chain that gets high torque on hills). Anybody want to lay odds on the dropout being the problem? Ed, you were riding behind me and trying to listen so you had the best perspective.

Tomorrow looks like a rain day so I am going to play with the chain length and also see if the thru axle from my Vassago will fit on the Unit. I have heard rumors that the Kona unit also uses the paragon dropouts so I could see whether that wheel fits. If so I can try a thru axle first and if that does not work, circle back on your QR.

Way to go on the "all or none" 😉

Yeah, sliding dropouts. I have a different back wheel that was given to me this weekend but it has a SRAM XDrive freehub (DT Swiss 350) and there does not appear to be a simple way to get that switched over to a SS compatible freehub, at least that I can find. Going to try a longer chain today to see if that matters. Also going to take apart the sliders and clean it if there is any grit between the slider and the frame.

Did that, no difference.

Is it a 9mm QR, if so yes, that would be great.

10x greater than sitting on a couch

Gonna be chilly but we’re gonna be riding. Trails are rideable so the R is at walnut, the I will be at Austin Beerworks.

Enough people saw me ride away on a crappy, creaky bike 😉 Even you posted that on this forum. Alibi confirmed!

Just got done overhauling the BB, this is a good idea, I will check that today on my ride.

Yep, that was the show.

I did check all of the welds. There is a small possible crack by the headset but, to be honest it could be a deep scratch as well. Anyway, the sounds are coming from the back half of the bike, this is right next to the head tube.

I will pull the BB and re-grease this week.

Also someone had an $8K road bike stolen while I was in Pinthouse. I have witnesses and an alibi so don't even go there. Plus an expensive road bike would be wasted on me.

Crank ring bolts were just removed, cleaned and replaced this weekend, then it creaked again.

I do run a lock through my wheel locks to make it a bit harder:

With all of the bike thefts this week I started wondering about my bike. I use a 1up rack which is locked to the hitch. I also have the wheel locks that I use whenever I am not in sight of the bike. If I ever had to leave a bike overnight I also use a cable and padlock (but only leave cheap commuters overnight, not the expensive stuff. Anyway, anyone know of someone that had a bike stolen off a 1-up where they were using the wheel locks?

Having a real problem with my 2014 Kona Unit singlespeed. I have ~10,000 miles on it based on Strava so it gets real use, but primarily on the streets, not the trails. About 6-8 months ago it developed a creak. Or more accurately a series of creaks. I have been replacing components but am running out of options. Here's what I have replaced so far: Front cog Rear cog Chain Bottom bracket Pedals Rear freehub The creak comes from the rear half of the bike. It is not the seat post, it happens if I stand. If I am pushing hard up a hill it does not happen, but only happens when I am pedaling. Here's the weird part: I get on the bike and start riding, it is silent. At about 15 miles the sound starts, by 20 miles it is awful. Then the next morning, I start riding, silent again. One of the last things left could be the rear wheel. If I want to see if it is the spokes, I know I can put some drops of oil on the spoke holes of the hub and where the spokes cross each other. Going to try that. Any other options?

Did a ton of walking in Zurich but never got a bike while I was there. Mountains are beautiful, if you want altitude you'll get get it there.

Ran into a ton of Pivots on SN, so it definitely happened. If you got to try the trail 429 it was probably an expensive demo because everyone I know that rides that bike ends up buying it, they're sweet.

Rode a bunch of brushy today, was impressed by how dry it was. A couple puddles on mulligan but the rest was excellent.

7 pages and he's created zero content. Publishing is hard. That is why I get behind on my site, I have actual paying writing jobs so my free stuff hits the back burner. At this point we should all just say put up or shut up. Let us know when the first version is out on the streets (and laugh at us) or just let this die. My guess is there will be 37 more replies before that happens.

Yeah, Jack and Adam's, then lost touch. He surfaced again at City Limits cycle (mobile service) then bought into the VeloFix world.

Sorry, I forgot to use the word "dry", I know the trails well.

Wife went to high school with the guitarist. We got decent seats and backstage passes when they came to Austin last time. Literally the last time I guess.