(04-18-2013, 08:59 PM)RetFor Wrote: the bike is an old 27" fuji road bike with the drop down style handlebars. never been painted, so i can see it says 12 speed and it looks like it says xxx tourer on the side, its kinda rubbed out, and the first part is under the lock holder. after a quick google, im guessing its gran tourer. one shop i went to said they were the one it was originally bought from, when it was previously under different owners, and that it was pretty old. im not sure how much of the bike is original, i know at this point quite a bit has been replaced. originally it was a regular road bike, but i had someone revamp it with hybrid tires at one point. its possible he put on the mountain derailleur, i dont remember if it was replaced then or not. the shop guy i went to this time thought the crankset that was there previously was the original, but i doubt he still has it laying around as that was almost two months ago, i cant imagine he didnt throw it out by now. oh well. it was also two gears, though. the new one is a shimano fc-a050 (52 teeth). it does look like theres a bit of extra space between the body of the bike and arms of the crankset, but i dont know if its supposed to be like that or not, i dont remember what it looked like previously. theres 7 gears in the back.
as of now, i ordered the derailleur nigel recommended, im waiting for it and a chain breaker (that might take a bit to come from hong kong...) to come and then im going to try changing that and see how that helps.
the chain is relatively new, it was changed in the past couple years, i think, but i probably should check it for stretch, as i keep it outside, so it gets wet a lot. what do i need for that? if it is stretched, does it need to be replaced?
thanks again.
Yes as it turns out I located the year of the bike. It's a 1979 Fuji Gran Tourer (Color Frost Green). No other years before 1979 used Frost Green in the Mens Frame for Gran Tourer.
here's a pic of it in the catalog.
http://www.classicfuji.com/1979_11_GranTourer&GranTourerMixte_Page.htm
As you mentioned, the front derailleur is not original which is right since the altus derailleur came later perhaps in the late 1980s or early 1990s. At at least you'll be getting a road front derailleur this time.
If the original crankset looked like the one in the catalog, it's more likely it still have the original cup and cone bottom bracket which probably never got serviced. The original cranksets were Sugino Super Maxy Cranksets which normally used a 3S, 3SS, or 3T spindle. This can either give an equivalent length of todays symmetric bottom brackets of 121mm to 123mm according to Sheldon Brown's information on bottom bracket spindles.
The Crankset Shimano FC-A050 requires the use of bottom bracket spindle length of 110mm in length in order to maintain a chainline of 43.5mm.
Basically sticking with the original bottom bracket depending on what spindle you have down there. You'll increase your chainline by 5.5mm-6.5mm.
and If you have the still the original 27inch wheels that have a 126mm dropout spacing your chainline increases. It's possible you could have 700c wheels with 126mm or 700c wheels with 130mm dropout spacing. At lease I know you mentioned you replaced your axle since rear wheels that use a freewheel cluster are weaker at the axle point so I wouldn't do any drops off of sidewalks with your bike. Yes it would be interesting to know what tire sizes you're using now i'm guessing 700cx35 since the tread pattern looks like the same tires one of my hybrid bikes are using.
As for for your crankset sticking out now with a much greater chain line, this might be more of a concern if you tend to cross chaining often, meaning you tend to ride your big gear in the front and then have it also big gear on the rear and vice a versa. This tends to put more stress on your chain and gears and may pre-maturely wear down your drive train faster.
Personal and if you are my client I would make sure you are within reasonable specs. Hey I have my own IT Computer Consulting business and I like to take care of my clients. I dislike it when other previous IT specialists does a half baked job. Therefore, I would recommend that you replace your squared tapered bottom bracket.
either
http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-Square-Bottom-Bracket-68x110mm/dp/B005DTIG9U/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1366386930&sr=1-1&keywords=un55+110mm
$19.60
or
http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-BB-UN26-Square-Bracket-68x110-mm/dp/B0044ZE8GO/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1366386997&sr=1-1&keywords=un26+110mm
$12.10
make sure you select 110mm length
I would recommend the un55 since you tend to leave your bike out in the rain and it's sealed so once you install it you'll probably never have to worry about it in a long time. It's a better bottom bracket than the un26.
again it's up to you if you want to change your bottom bracket, but do note it probably needs to be serviced one way or another and why not replace it if it has never been serviced and you tend to leave the bike out in the rain. It's likely possible most of the grease is gone from the original and grinds a lot a with friction.
Again you need tools or get a LBS to do it. Personal I would get the tools since it'll be a long term investment since you can service your future bikes too which will save you money in the long run.
As for other grease recommendations, you probably already re-greased your rear and maybe front? See how the front wheel spins.
One more recommendation... since you tend to leave you bike in the rain... check if your seatpost and stem hasn't seized yet. IF it hasn't seized yet. Get it greased ASAP. The worse bondings are aluminum stems seizing to the steel fork. And if it's seized, A 2 litter of coke/pepsi can help with breaking the bond while letting it set for 7 days or greater.
As for your question concerning chain stretch, as your chain wears down from use, it kinda of stretches over time with more use. When it stretches to a certain point, the chain starts to damage/wear your gears at an accelerated rate. It normally wears down the rear gears faster than the front gears. As you continue riding with a stretched out chain that's beyond it's recommended point you won't notice anything while riding. By time you notice your gears slipping, it's too late. It's already done too much damage to your rear cluster. At that point you'll need to replace the chain and rear cluster (freewheel or cassette). It's rare that you need to replace the front crankset since that does not wear down as fast as the rear, but sometimes if you let the chain stay on too long you might need to replace the front chainrings too.... It just depends. Think of it this way, the rear has small gears than the front which means the rear gears does more rotations than the front gears especially if it is a road crankset. Therefore rear gears tends to wear down faster in most cases.
hope this helps.
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