Weird Little Day

Today was West Bend’s first look at 50° since December 30 and I was only too happy to hop aboard my Framed Gravier for another ride around town. We got up to 52° before the rain came and the temperature dropped back into the 40s. I now have done three outdoor rides in the last seven days, which is unusual for February. But it’s also unusual that I am continuing to struggle with a bike that, to me, still seems brand new. I’m having problems that I don’t think I should be having with fewer than 500 miles of service.

Today it was the crankset: single chainring SRAM Rival paired with an FSA BB30 bottom bracket. I noticed as I pedaled that the chainring wasn’t tracking in a consistent plane; it appeared to wobble. Shifting wasn’t affected—all of that takes place in back, of course—and there was no sensation that the chain was going to drop off the chainring. Things seemed fine but they looked odd. And looks were not deceiving. I stopped at Pedal Moraine and, with the bike on the workstand, it was obvious that the drive-side crankarm would not have held on much longer. I may have been only a minute away from a catastrophic failure and a humiliating walk home.

Once everything was taken apart, cleaned, and reassembled, I was ready to roll again. Critical to reassembly was ensuring the proper torque on the crankarms. That’s probably the root of the issue, and it’s something I didn’t even think to check when I took delivery of the bike last July. I wouldn’t doubt that the issue was present from my very first ride.

Today was also an opportunity for one more adjustment to the rear disc brakes, which have been extraordinarily hard to get dialed.

I had no trouble on the short ride home from the shop, so I’m looking forward to my next ride. I still think the Gravier will be a honey of a bike once I beat it into submission. Today’s ride was only our 17th adventure together, and on almost every one I have found something at least a little out of place. Is that just part of the deal when your bike is shipped to you from the manufacturer rather than handed to you at the local bike shop? Maybe.