Mark's Blog

Earlier this fall I was looking to buy a bicycle maintenance book and "Zinn and ..." was one of the three that I founded recommended by people. I never bought one -- what do you think of the book? Is it comprehensive, easy to work with? Does it have drawn illustrations rather then photos? (I find illustrations that are drawn are usually clearer than photographs.) Is it the one with a ring binding so it lays flat?

My bicycle has click shifters and the front derailleur has three clicks (positions) for each chain ring. If the chain ever started rubbing in one position you would still have two other positions to try to make it stop. Of course the negative aspect of this is slightly slower shifting since you are turning two or three clicks instead of one for each shift. So far I have not noticed having to adjust the front derailleur as the middle position for each front chain ring seems to work for all the rear sprockets. One thing that helps is my chain is close to exactly twice the length as one on a diamond frame bike but the chain rings and rear cluster have the same spacing. This decreases the angle of the chain as it leaves the derailleur cage when the chain is in extreme gear combinations.

I have weighed 193 lbs. the last three days in a row (and 194.5 or less for the last 13 days in a row.) That's 15 lbs. less than the 208 I weighed on Aug. 21, 17 weeks ago. It is also 3.5 lbs less then when we got back home from France six weeks ago and that weight was 1.5 lbs. less then when we left for France 2 1/2 weeks before that. So my weight lost has been rather slow and steady.

Zinn's book, full of drawn illustrations instead of photos, comes with regular binding, and pages that no doubt will get greasy if I follow along as I work. It's a how-to book, and seems pretty thorough.

I found an answer to my question about the front derailleur last night. Zinn writes that Shimano STI systems give you in-between positions, but that they don't necessarily work when you have a triple on the front. Sounds like Campagnolo's indexing system for the front is more gradual, in the same way as yours. I *do* have an in-between position on the small front chainring, just not enough to keep the chain from rubbing the way the bike is set up now.

From reading Zinn, I gather two things to check are overall front derailleur alignment, and chainline, which has to do with whether the chain is bent when aligned right down the middle. Apparently, some manufacturers employ cheap bottom brackets that don't fit right, and can cause you to be poorly setup from the outset.