Work on the GT “eurotourer” commenced today. The SS driveline was stripped, bars, stem, headset and fork removed, brakes removed, cranks and bb removed. Actually it was pretty much stripped down to the frame.
Nick had already fitted the new Deore LX vee calipers and rear derailer when I arrived.
The factory headset was trashed so Mick scrounged and found a nice, new, XT one. Fitted that and refitted the forks. Mmm XT..
The new Shimano Hollowtech II bottom bracket/crankset arrangement was interesting (read: I stuffed it up coz I didn’t read the instructions!).
It consists of two sealed bearing thingies that screw onto each side of the bottom bracket shell. This is what I stuffed up. Depending on the width of your BB shell, you might need spacers. Mine was 68mm wide so it needed two spacers on the right and one on the left.. or vice versa? 😛
Once the two outboard bearing units are tightened (with proper splined wrench) the right-hand crank is fitted. As well as the crank arm this piece includes the chainrings and a large, hollow BB axle. The whole thing is pushed through the BB bearings (the axle bit that is, not the crank arm!!).
Once pushed all the way through, the left hand crank is pushed onto the axle splines and a little plastic locknut thing is done up with a little plastic locknut doer uperer thing (stop me if I get too technical). Two opposing allen nuts are then tightened, clamping the left-hand crank onto the splined axle. Don’t forget to grease and don’t forget the spacer rings!
Went home to get some flat bars (wink wink nudge nudge). Returned and fitted the front der. (spending 15mins trying to fit the stupid one-size-fits-all shims!). Fitted the original stem and bars, at least until I get a Quill->Aheadset adapter that will allow me to fit a new style stem.
Temp mounted new LX shifters (I’m running separate shifters and brake levers for servicability).
Pulled the chain over small-small rings and lined the jockey wheels up vertically to get the chain length, cut chain and pinned it back together (hopefully threaded through the derailer properly! :))
It looks good. The latest LX gear is a real grey colour, not that strange blue, like the older version cranks I have on the Avanti, so it looks good on the grey GT frame. The outboard BB bearings make the BB area look solid and tough.
Lets see what carnage I can unleash tomorrow..