I’m sad to report that the ridiculously long life of my Kona Hahanna is coming to an end. Nineteen years is freakishly long, but when you take care of something, there’s a better chance that it will last. As reported repeatedly here, I have been riding regularly since June. In August, I resisted the temptation to replace my bike, as it was still going strong, with a few adjustments. But about a month ago, I lost the ability to shift into the lower gear range (the small front sprocket). That was annoying, but I could deal with it. I have some tough hills to climb, but I could get up all of them in the middle range.
This morning, when I was just leaving Sooke and passing Sooke Elementary, I went to shift into my high range and my chain fell off. Luckily for me, it was easily fixed, but from that point on, I could not get my bike in the high range. So any even moderate downhills I just coasted. I made it home all right, but I told Tammy that I needed to take my bike to the shop. I told her that I was worried what they would say: I suspected that there were parts of the drivetrain that were worn out.
I was right. My front derailleur was broken and that then leads to a cascade of required fixes. The cost would be equal to a new low-end bike and a lot more than the bike is worth. Tammy’s opinion is that I should replace it. There was a pretty decent bike at Sooke Mountain Cycle that might fit the bill. The floor model was only a medium, so Lorien (the shop owner) is setting up a larger model that I will give a try at two o’clock. I know that I wanted a higher-end bike than this to replace the Kona, but there isn’t a couple grand extra kicking around right now.
Will post more later.
