They Make it .. I'll Break it ..

I seem to have an amazing ability to break pretty much anything on a bike. A wide variety of parts and brands ranging from the cheap to top of the line, ranging from the mundane to the unique. Nothing is beyond my amazing destructive powers! My friend Dan is sure I'm missing my calling, a bike product tester.

The List is long, but here are just some examples.
Roughly 6 Seats - From Bending and breaking rails to cracking the platform.
More Derailleurs then I can count, front and rear. Snapping off Arms, Cracking a Barrel clean in half, tearing off cages and so forth..
Beat a Chris King Headset loose
Snapped Crank Arms, pulled their teeth and put a hurting on many a BB ..

But the latest addition to the broken parts lists is a XT Front derailleur and the more worrisome part, my Chris King rear hub .. The last time I was riding I noticed that my gears were hoping a bit, they just seemed to jump up or down at random times. I figured it was just time to tune up the rear so I cleaned the drive train and started to adjust it. Unusually the gears seemed to work smoothly without any issues. Maybe it only happens during a high load? I adjusted it a little bit figuring I'd pay attention more when I went out this weekend. I adjusted the Front Derailleur and it seemed to be working better but the cage seemed excessively loose.

Last Saturday me and BJ were going to hit our normal loop around Loch Raven so I thought was tuned and ready to ride. As I'm loading up the bike I noticed the rear wheel seemed loose. I inspected the wheel, thinking it was just the cassette I remove the rear wheel grab the tool and try to tighten the cassette. Nope, that thing is on there TIGHT. Hmm... maybe the wheel was just cocked? I replace the wheel making sure everything is lined up and tighten it on up. The Axel is completely time but the body of the hub is floating around. Not good. I'm hoping the hub is just loose and will require a little tightening but it's not really looking so good for it.

I'm not messing with it anymore .. I'm taking it into the shop this Wednesday. Hopefully the ringdrive is just loose.. I'm hoping that .. but I'm pretty sure it won't be. That's just not how I roll.