I dropped the Django and EZ-Sport off at the shop today. The EZ-Sport hadn’t been ridden since last summer (except for a few miles on the trainer), but its tuneups are free (since I bought the bike there), and it had been nearly a year since its last.

The Django hadn’t had a tuneup yet and I was experiencing a minor problem with the rear derailleur’s jockey wheel, which would turn forward, but not in reverse. Also, I wanted to look at lowering the gearing. The bike climbs OK, but I’m worried that it’s not low enough if and when I start loaded touring. Let’s put it this way: I’ve never thought it was too low.

The bike has 30-42-52 chainrings on the front, and an 11-32 8-speed cassette on the rear. That works out to a 24.4″ granny gear. If I drop the bottom chainring to a 24 teeth, that’d give me a 19.5″ granny gear. It doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but it’s actually 20%, which is fairly significant.

I talked with the bike shop, and we decided to swap out the 30-tooth chainring for a 24, and swap out the 42 for a 39, to make the jump from small to middle chainrings less drastic. He has to order both parts, and doesn’t expect them in until next Thursday.

Sigh. That’s a long time to be without the bikes, but I went ahead and agreed to it. It’s supposed to be cold next week anyway.