Maybe it's my bicycle that weeps? Actually it's not too bad. The latest rides my bicycle's handlebars were creaking and I couldn't figure out why. The creaking was heard almost all the time, it wasn't regular and it only ceased when I rode without my hands on the handlebars. But the handlebar clamp bolt was tight and so was the stem bolt. What should I do? I went online and searched for tips. The first tip that came up was to disassemble the whole steering - the headset, the stem and the handlebar - clean it, regrease any parts that needed regreasing and then reassemble it. So that's what I did. And today the noise is gone. What was causing the noise? I don't know, but as long as everything is working I'm satisfied. Thing is, riding with a creaking handlebar really limits you, since you don't want to riding down a steep hill with your handlebars loose or in separate parts. Perish the thought!
Well, when not fixing creaking handlebars I'm trying to find out info about Rotor's new Uno groupset. Not that I'm really thinking about changing my Campagnolo groupset. (For those of you who don't know I ride a Campagnolo Veloce groupset. I am slowly collecting a Campagnolo Athena groupset and when it is complete I will upgrade to that, but I'm not in a hurry.) My Campagnolo Veloce groupset works perfectly. And Rotor stuff is kind of expensive... I have to admit though, I like Rotor's thinking, coming in with that engineer's view on cycling. Those Q-rings look really cool, even if I'm not entirely convinced about the benefits of oval chainrings. (Which is probably just because I'm kind of conservative.) And the SABB - the Self Aligning Bottom Bracket... Wow!
Q-rings. (We borrowed this picture from Rotor's home page. Hope that's OK!)
The Self-Aligning Bottom Bracket. It's so good even cats dig it! (We borrowed this picture from this maki blog. Hope that's OK!)
Besides, isn't it great with more competition in the cycling components business? Campagnolo, Shimano, SRAM and now Rotor... I like Campagnolo and I like Shimano as well, but I want neither of them to have a monopoly position.
And I also don't want electronic shifting. I don't care what anyone else does, if they want to have electronic shifting it's all good. Really. Doowutchyalike, you know. But I think it's nice to have something, a means of transport, that requires no electricity at all. And since Rotor seems to be investigating hydraulic shifting... We at Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb are not fans of oil. Or OK, we like the oil that we lubricate our chains with and we like olive oil, but we don't like fossil fuel oil. But we do see the benefits of disc brakes, and if the benefits of those could be transferred to gear shifting... It really could be great.
So I am really curious about what Rotor is up to. These are the pictures that Rotor have released on their facebook page:
(We borrowed the pictures from Rotor's facebook page. Hope that's OK!)
I have to admit: They're really good-looking! And they wouldn't look out of place on some bikes! However, information is scarce this far, they will release it at the Eurobike show which starts today. And if you want to read more about it you can do it here, or here.
Ride safe!
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