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Old 05-16-19, 01:27 PM
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BikeWonder
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Location: Calgary
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What's your 'Murphy's Law" Bike?

Let me tell you about this bike. It's a great bike. In fact, it's so great, that it rides better than my 1982 Miyata 1000. It's a also lighter, more nimble/ responsive, and surprisingly, it's a touring bike. I believe it's a late 1980s Nishiki International Touring Series. So why am I writing about this bike?

The components are the one and only Suntour XCE (more issues ahead). I had issues with the Sakae Oval (biopace rival) crankset, so I switched it out for a more compact crankset such as the Deore LX shown. The 700c wheelset are just fine, but I had to switch the freewheel since the XCE one that it came with before was seized to death from being in a shed for nearly 25 years. It originally came with a 700c wheelset, of which I will be putting on my Miyata 1000. I've since switched it for a good quality 27 inch wheelset I had laying around. I had no problem switching the wheelset since I used an extra Deore LX cantilever set laying around to adjust for the size difference. It had Dia Compe brakes originally. I also switched out the front derailleur for a Deore FD laying around, but it didn't reach the largest ring. I could only use the two smaller ones.

Anywho, it gets worse, at least for me. When I decided I didn't like the crankset, I decided to switch it for a biopace set I had laying around. Then I found out my crank removal tool had worn. I got a new one, only to discover the crank itself had its threads worn out, so now I'm not sure of I can remove them. Then a chain issue came up. I had a darn time putting on the Shimano quick link, which I'm sure was made by Satan himself. I tried to see if shifting worked with this bike. The Suntour XCE components were unique in their spacing and shifting abilities, or so I'm told. So none of it was compatible with absolutely anything I've put on, which leaves me with one of two options:
A) discard the bike into a volcano
B) swap out the components for something compatible

But you see, this bike really took it out of me. Because of this bike, I might actually take a break from fixing bikes for a while. But then again, I love how it rides. If I'm telling you it rides better than a 1000, take my word for it. But it will either make you or break you. In this case, I'm not sure which one, yet. I think I will just give myself some time to recover how ridiculous this whole thing feels. If Murphy's law applies to bikes, this is it for me.

What's your Murphy's Law experience?

Last edited by BikeWonder; 05-16-19 at 11:36 PM.
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