This post provides a review, a service history and details of modifications of Chase, my 2007 Giant CRX 1 Flatbar which is currently my commuter and wet weather bike. Photos of Chase can be found here.
Maintenance Schedule | Specifications
The specifications for Chase, a 2007 Giant CRX 1 can be found on Giant Australia’s website. The following variations now apply:
- Rear wheel is now a Shimano WH-RS10
- Shimano Deore M-530 front v-brake
- Shimano Ultegra SM-FC6600 BB [68 mm British thread]
- Race Face Ride XC seat post.
February 14, 2009 – 9,995 km
January 31, 2009 – 9,904 km
- The time has come to retire the Vittoria Zaffiro fitted to the front. This tyre has done 4,257 km. I have replaced it with a Continental Grand Prix 4000S which was on the front of the Look 555. I estimate this tyre has another 1000 to 1500 km in it.
- The Brooks B17 fitted to Chase does fit the original Giant seat post well and has creaked for sometime. It has also taken me sometime to track down the source of the creak. Last year I temporarily switched the Brooks over to Julia my Giant XTC 2 and found I had no creak. Investigating further, it seems the Brooks fitted to Julia’s two bolt post much better than the one on Chase. To cut a long story short I have now fitted a Race Face Ride XC seat post to Chase to hopefully eliminate the creak. In the process I managed to crack the seat post collar … bit heavy handed … replacement collar $20.00. Ugh.
The Rock Face Ride XC seat post is 3D forged 6061 heated treated aluminium. The post fitted is 27.2 mm, 350 mm in length and weighs 295 grams.
January 15, 2009 – 9,815 km
- The new rear Shimano WH RS 10 rim broke a spoke. This rim was fitted to the bike on December 13, 2008 and has done 363 km. I weighed ~ 95 km at the time the spoke broke. The spoke wrapped itself around the axle as can be seen in the photo.
November 5, 2008
- Puncture on the front: Only got a few kilometres up the road this morning en-route to the office before the front went down. I have had a good run with this tire, a Vittoria Zaffiro so okay with this.
November 3, 2008 – 8,801 km
- Arose this morning for commute north to Joondalup only to find the rear flat. Another battle with the Vittoria Randonneur ensured, one PBK tyre lever bit the dust and I found that what I suspect was a kink in the tube resulting in a small hole above the valve. Application of a Park Tools Super Patch was not successful so I bunged in a new tube. In the process I found a crack in the rim and then on further inspection more cracks. After speaking to Ric Churchill at Churchill Cycles I have a new rear Shimano WH-RS10 on the way and Churchill Cycles will lend me a rim (and swap over the cluster etc) while I wait for it to come in. A couple of photos of the cracks appear below.
November 2, 2008 – 8,782 km
- Removed the Continental Gatorskin from the rear (done 3,506 km – still okay as spare) and fitted a Vittoria Randonneur. Will see if they live up to the hype.
October 30, 2008 – 8,714 km
- Broke a spoke on my Shimano WH-R550 rear wheel en-route to work this morning. Dropped the bike into Joondalup City Cycles for the installation of a replacement spoke and to re-true the rear wheel. $42.00 later all is good, other than the new spoke is silver instead of black. Mind you this is apparently in with BMX riders, so maybe I am cool after all. This is the second rear spoke I have broken on this bike, with 3,967 km between incidents. I would suggest for 8,714 km, my weight, and riding on often less than ideal bike paths, this is not a bad run and the Shimano WH-R550s are holding up well.
October 20, 2008 -8,314 km
- Retired the Duro Stinger 28 mm rear tyre to the big green rubbish bin and fitted a Continental Gatorskin which has done about 2,972 km on the front. Really a stop-gap measure until I get a Vittoria Randonneur or similar tyre.
- The Categye BM-300g mirror was driving me up the wall as it had to sit up and the curved nature of the mirror along with the short horizontal connection meant it intruded into my hand space on the bars. Even moving all the controls inward a bit did not really help. I just found it frustrating to use, so have replaced with a Zefal Cyclop mirror which is a different shape. It has solved my hand placement issues, but it does not tighten as well as I would like and hence can be shaken out of its position fairly easily. Needed to add a washer to get more tension.
October 16, 2008 – 8,173 km
- Puncture in the rear whilst commuting to Joondalup this morning. This is the third puncture with the Duro Stinger 28 mm which has now done 935 km at a rate of 312 km per puncture.
October 15, 2008 – 8,146 km
- Puncture in the rear whilst commuting along the coast to Joondalup this morning. This is the second puncture with the Duro Stinger 28 mm which has now done 908 km at a rate of 454 km per puncture.
October 10, 2008 – 8,032 km
- 500 km service
- Cleaned drive chain and lubed chain with Rock n’ Roll Gold;
- Lubed other moving parts;
- Cleaned and polished Chase using Turtle Wax products;
- Adjusted L and H screws on front derailleur;
- Released air pressure from tyres and went over them with a magnifying glass, removing glass and debris from cuts;
- Removed and reinstalled seat post with Ritchey Liquid Torque to hopefully remove squeak;
- Checked all fittings for tightness.
October 6, 2008 – 7,771 km
- Puncture in the rear. As I was at Anne’s I took the opportunity to patch the tube. This is the first puncture with the Duro Stinger 28 mm which has done 575 km.
September 19, 2008 – 7,374 km
- Replaced front Deore pads with a pair of Fibrax salmon pads (life span – 962 km);
- Replaced Shimano 105 chain (life span 1,874 km) with a KMC X 10 chain;
- Cleaned and polished the bike.
September 7, 2008 – 7,264 km
September, 1 2008 – 7, 238 km
- Replaced the Continental Gatorskin which was on the rear with a Duro Stinger 28 mm. A cheaper I picked up at Joondalup Cycle City to get me home as the wall of the Gatorskin came away from the bead.
July 7, 2008 – 6,540 km
- I have had a chance to ride a little bit (128 km) with the new front brake. My first impressions on a 20 km ride was that the new combination was not ideal, with a lack of moderation, but with another 100 km of riding I no longer have that feel and the pads appear to have bedded down and the new brakes are working effectively. Better than the Tektros? I am not sure I would go that far, but they are working effectively.
June 29, 2008 – 6,412 km
- Took on replacing the Tektro RX-5 85mm mini v-brakes on the front this morning, replacing them with a Shimano Deore M-530 front v-brake. Having not done this before, I thought it would be a pretty straight forward job and I know it will be next time! Removal and re-installation of the arms was straight forward. However, when I went to set the adjustment, I found one arm did not have spring tension at the correct pad gap. Of course, I didn’t read the manuals did I! Some a spent a fair bit of frustrating time trying different things to sort the problem before clicking to the fact that the braze on has three different spring holes, which assist with getting the spring tension correct. Funny that! Once I move the offending arm to the correct spring hole, the rest was plain sailing. I do however now have the arms in different spring holes, whereas thePark Tools Big Blue Book of Cycle Repair suggests that they should be mirrored. I will see how this works and adjust as necessary. The other issue is the cable length really needs adjusting as the v-brake arms are longer with the Deore brakes and hence the cable can be shorter, but I don’t have the necessary tools or cable at present so will fix this down the track.
Initial impressions in terms of braking, are that there is a significant improvement in braking. Further riding will confirm or otherwise of course.
June 28, 2008 – 6,412 km
- Removed the FSA (“Faulty Stuff Attached”) MegaExo bottom bracket (BB) and replaced it with a Shimano Ultegra SM-FC6600 BB [68 mm British thread] which I purchased from Chain Reaction Cycles for $22.00. I used a Park Tools BBT-19 BB Tool to install the new BB. All up a pretty straight forward job and the new BB seems to have fitted okay. Hopefully I will get a lot more than 6400 km out of it!
On the downside I also took the opportunity to replace the front brake pads and in the process stripped the thread on the fine adjuster on one of the front Tektro RX-5 85mm mini v-brakes arms! Called into Bike Force Fremantle and have picked up a Shimano Deore M-530 v-brake as a replacement. Hopefully this will fit okay and provide much better braking than the Tektro.
June 16, 2008
- Chase is currently off the road (June 16, 2008) due to a bottom bracket failure at 6400 kilometres. A replacement BB has been obtained from Chain Reaction Cycles and awaits installation.
June 4, 2008 – 6,218 km
- The Blackburn Quadrant light and the Sigma Sport Mirage EVO + EVO X Pro lights have now been removed and replaced by two Fenix L2D Premium Q5 torches mounted via two TwoFish Lockblocks.
May 26, 2008 – 6,000 km
- Fitted a new 700c x 23 Vittoria Zaffiro tyre to the front, removing the Continental Ultra GatorSkin with the intention of preserving its life for later fitting to the rear.
- Let the chain wear too much but now replaced it at 5,500 km with a new Shimano 105 chain which I picked up off e-Bay for a reasonable price. I suspect that I should have replaced the chain at around 4,000 km.
- Cleaned the chain at 6,000 km. Over winter will adopt a 500 km service interval.
November 11, 2007
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Tags: Blackburn,Brakes,Brooks,CRX 1,Deore,Derailleurs,Fleet Cycles,FSA,Shimano,Tektro,Vittoria
Categories: Bicycle gear reviews, Competitive Cycling, Hiking
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I purchased a pair of 
