Well, that was an evening of pointlessness.

[w00hoo_kent]

I have a Synapse with a creaky crank and a set of sparkly new wheels. CRC finally delivered the new Durano + to replace the one I lunched last Saturday and with an intention to retry the 110 mile route on Saturday I figured, swap the wheels, grease the bearings, and all good.

Cue noob failure.

So, when I asked the LBS for a tool to remove the cassette from the rear wheel they happily sold me one, they neglected to mention it was useless without a chain whip to hold the cassette in place to undo the lock ring. So I line it all up and find out it just spins. Humpf. OK, I have the original wheels now with a full set of spokes and trued up, all I need to do is grease up the bearings to stop the creaking and swap the Continental the LBS put on to replace the faulty Lugano out for the new Durano +. I get my trusty 10mm hex key out, can I remove the crank, can I bollocks. I add some leverage, still not interested in budging. On to the internet and the video of a guy replacing the BB30 on a Synapse shows him heaving away with a torque wrench to make the crank bolt turn. At the end of things he mentions torqueing the crank bolt back up to 40nm. Yeah, not only am I not going to get near that with a hex key to take the crank off, I'm not going to be able to match it tightening up again.

So I have a chain whip on order, I have a set of 1/4" drive hex bits on order, they'll be here sometime next week. Saturday is cancelled. I am officially a bit grumpy.

I could just swap the tyre out and do the ride, but the crank started creaking after it got wet and it's really bugging me, I'm not sure I can last 7-8 hours of it without becoming homicidal.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Talked to LBS this morning and they said to pop the Synapse in today, they are swapping over the new wheels on to the Synapse, replacing the bottom bracket (and checking if they can swing it on warranty as it's only a few months old) and then checking the indexing is all set up so I can pick it up and ride on Saturday. Absolute result. I'll still have the tools to do the rest of the work to the Sirrus which is a fine compromise. We've bought our last three bikes from them (Wildside in Tunbridge Wells) and initially I wasn't sure about their service department, but the last handful of times I've had to deal with them they've been truly excellent (possibly having a word about my worries made a difference, especially if I wasn't the only one) so a big thumbs up, looks like I've finally found somewhere I can trust to give my money to :-) .

I'm sure there will be more tech stuff when I come to put the Synapse wheels on the Sirrus...