Monday, August 4, 2008
When my trusty but ancient Bridgestone road bike bit the dust two years ago (the bottom bracket essentially disintigrated, probably because it was being serviced by someone who didn't really know what he was doing) I ended up buying a "department store" bike even though I knew I might end up with a piece of junk that would die after a year or two... but I really wanted to get a bike that (1) was lighter than my steel-framed Bridgestone, and (2) had a triple chain ring to make climbing hills a bit more manageable, and I couldn't afford even the low-end rides at either the LBS (local bike shop) or on-line from Performance or Nashbar. So I ended up with a Kent Denali XL... a road bike made primarily as a giveway for people who buy GMC Denali's (some kind of SUV I think) by a company that used to make only mountain bikes but now seems to focus on brand-name "tie-in" products. But it was inexpensive, light, and had a triple chain ring! Though I did buy mine at Amazon rather than a department store... for quite a bit less than either are selling them for now.
stock photo of the Kent Denali XL
I replaced the pedals, seat, water bottle cage, and brake shoes immediately, and the tires soon afterwards. After that I started having problems with the thin bladed spokes snapping, so I started replacing spokes and eventually rebuilt the rear wheel, then the front wheel, with sturdier spokes. Along the way I also replaced the 7-speed freewheel with one with an oversized largest sprocket. I like to ride upright and have always used brakes with top pulls, so I also replaced the brake levers and rewrapped the handlebars with thicker handlebar tape. And since the handlebars were mounted a bit too low for me to be comfortable with them, I added a stem extender to raise them to a more comfortable level. I also added a bike computer, seat pad, and seat bag for spare tubes and tools. All in all, none of the new parts were particularly expensive, and the most time consuming change was rebuilding the wheels... between upgrades and add-ons, I've probably spent about the original cost of the bike over the past two years, but I don't anticipate any more "major" expenses and it seems to be holding up well despite having about 1500 miles on it.
Over the past month or so I've been getting a sharp squeal from the area of the bottom bracket when I pedal, which I suspected was due to it needed to be serviced. So when I found a sealed bottom bracket cartridge on sale for an incredibly low price ($10) at Nashbar, I jumped at the chance to replace the previous bearing-and-cup system. I also found a set of cranks with a triple chainring in the same sale ($7.50), and decided to try replacing the cranks as well, since I'd never been totally happy with how far the OEM cranks set the pedals from the body of the bike.
Yesterday I picked up the tool I needed to install the bottom bracket, and installed the new parts, which then necessitated adjusting the front deraileur, since the new chainring gears are slightly larger than the old ones. The deraileur adjustment was a pain in the backside, but I think I finally got it right... though no doubt it will need more adjustments as I break in the new setup.
my Kent Denali, 2 years and a few modifications later...
The ease of replacing the bottom bracket with a sealed unit (and the low cost of the one I purchased at Nashbar) has me considering getting my old Bridgestone back in good working order, both as a backup and possibly for riding in bad weather. Maybe that will be a project for this winter...
For those who are interested, there's a fellow up in Canada who keeps a fairly entertaining (to me, at least) blog regarding his $99 department store mountain bike that he refers to as the Bike of Doom. He's determined to do as little as possible to modify the bike and is trying to see how long it will last with routine maintainence under the rigors of regular riding. He also has some downright radical (and in my opinion, on-target) ideas about the importance of department store bikes to cycling in general and the tremendous mistake many bike shops make in refusing to service them (and in often treating the owners of such bikes with arrogance and disdain.)
JMH
