Sometimes, even at the highest levels of the sport, pro mechanics have to come up with solutions to unanticipated problems that would do Gilligan proud. This year at the CX World Cup in Hoogerheide, our own AT solutioned the crap out of what could have been a race ruiner for one of the Canadian national team athletes.
The Problem:
1. The athlete’s derailleur hanger threads are almost completely stripped, and with a Dura Ace Di2 rear derailleur, there is a good chance it’s going to tear itself right out of the hanger during a shift.
2. The Norco Threshold has a fairly unique derailleur hanger, and this is what you get when you try to find your local Norco dealer in Tabor:
“Sorry, no dealers were found in the area. Contact one of our International Distributors for more information about Norco Bicycles in your area.”
Not encouraging.
The Solution:
Materials:
1 x Look cleat screw
1 x 1mm washer
1 x bottle blue loctite
1 x tap set
Here’s what happens when you have a pro mechanic, and very expensive derailleur that needs to be functional in short order for for Cyclocross Worlds.
See the brand new threads going into the back of the mounting bolt?
Here’s the final result. It’s not perfect, but pretty impressive for the timeframe and materials at hand. Not only that, it was solid enough that even though replacement hangers arrived with the athlete’s entourage in time for the World Champs in Tabor the following weekend, this setup stayed in place. It’s also something I can’t certainly say I ever would have thought of. Brilliant.
The only drawback was that the smallest cog on the cassette had to be blocked off to avoid chain rub on the screw head. Given what the mud looked like from my computer screen, I don’t think he was really looking for that 11 tooth cog.
Nice work buddy.