Following on from a discussion with @Globalti in THIS THREAD, last night I decided to give the brake pads in my disc braked GT Grade some attention. Small chamfers to both leading and trailing edge of the pads and a general rub up of the friction face to remove any possible glaze. Of course this mornings ride was bone dry and crisp so no squeal anyway but I am sure it won't be long until I find out if this has worked.....
Also took the opportunity to do something that was mentioned to me by a fellow Grade owner some time ago. I checked the chainring bolts of my 105 crankset. These are a rather special affair that are just a torx bolt (why Torx?) screwing into the back of a presumably cast outer chainring. A rather elegant solution IMO but the chainring shape spoils it for me because it looks a little ungainly and not at all as aesthetically pleasing as it should. Anyway, the bolts were not loose, but neither were they tight and easily nipped up another quarter turn, so definitely worth doing before disaster struck. Thanks to @Kestevan for the warning
This mornings school run with Skol Jnr threw up another issue. Right from the start my chain was making a regular noise every few pedal revolutions. A short distance into the trip I stopped to investigate because it seemed to be getting worse. This is what I found....
View attachment 335962
As this is the only 11s bike in the fleet and only a recent addition I haven't yet got any spare chains or links for this so the bike may be unusable until this is sorted. I do have a link for a 10s chain but the Vernier callipers tell me this is a full 0.5mm wider so unlikely to run smoothly.
EDIT: the puzzling thing about this is that the link has broken on the inner plate. No surprise there as that is the side that has to climb the sprockets when changing gear at the back, but the chain travels to the right in this picture meaning the part of the plate where it is stamped KMC is the bit that should be taking all the hits during a gear change?
Well caught. 
The ramps on the inner edge of the chainrings assistFollowing on from a discussion with @Globalti in THIS THREAD, last night I decided to give the brake pads in my disc braked GT Grade some attention. Small chamfers to both leading and trailing edge of the pads and a general rub up of the friction face to remove any possible glaze. Of course this mornings ride was bone dry and crisp so no squeal anyway but I am sure it won't be long until I find out if this has worked.....
Also took the opportunity to do something that was mentioned to me by a fellow Grade owner some time ago. I checked the chainring bolts of my 105 crankset. These are a rather special affair that are just a torx bolt (why Torx?) screwing into the back of a presumably cast outer chainring. A rather elegant solution IMO but the chainring shape spoils it for me because it looks a little ungainly and not at all as aesthetically pleasing as it should. Anyway, the bolts were not loose, but neither were they tight and easily nipped up another quarter turn, so definitely worth doing before disaster struck. Thanks to @Kestevan for the warning
This mornings school run with Skol Jnr threw up another issue. Right from the start my chain was making a regular noise every few pedal revolutions. A short distance into the trip I stopped to investigate because it seemed to be getting worse. This is what I found....
View attachment 335962
As this is the only 11s bike in the fleet and only a recent addition I haven't yet got any spare chains or links for this so the bike may be unusable until this is sorted. I do have a link for a 10s chain but the Vernier callipers tell me this is a full 0.5mm wider so unlikely to run smoothly.
EDIT: the puzzling thing about this is that the link has broken on the inner plate. No surprise there as that is the side that has to climb the sprockets when changing gear at the back, but the chain travels to the right in this picture meaning the part of the plate where it is stamped KMC is the bit that should be taking all the hits during a gear change?
I completed the school run very gingerly and remained seated just in case!
That disaster DID strike on my one forum mountain bike ride - DETAILS.
I have loads of spare used 9spd links as that is/was the majority of the fleet until I bought my oldest lad and Mrs Skol 10spd MTBs. Thought I had better get a spare link for them so picked up a 10spd chain for the spares bin. Not used this yet but now need to get something 11spd as well! I have just emailed Wiggle, the bike supplier, to ask if this will be considered as warranty. I am not going to be upset if they say no because I know chains are a funny one, but thought it worth asking the question.....
