Refurbished Sram X.O carbon rear mech

When I've decided to switch back from Shimano to SRAM again the first task was to pick up all the necessary parts. Since I'm still on a 9 speed system the only option that I preferred was the 9 speed version of the legendery Sram X.O rear derailleur. Just after a short time on the Internet and after a couple of phone calls I managed to pick up this beauty here and to top that, it was the carbon cage version! Happy days! :)

It has it's time served indeed but there was nothing that a little T.L.C couldn't get sorted. However I had to face a pretty tough task during the process: the tensioner spring was broken. I've had a replacement one allright, but I have to say that it is a savage thing to get that little strong spring fitted back into the super tight body of a rear mech! I'll be honest here: I couldn't even get it done myself without the help of Tomek, the excellent mechanic from the ThinkBike workshop! Hats off Tomek, thanks a lot man!

And there it is, the broken spring

And that's about the size of the room that we could work with...

...whilst we tried to fit this extra-mega-super strong little spring.

But after after all the cleaning and messing about with the spring I ended up with a rear mech that is in a perfect shape. I'm sure it'll serve me for a long time unless an univited rock tears off the carbon cage...but I will do my best to avoid that to happen! :)

All cleaned up & ready for action

Refurbished Dura Ace (RD-7700) rear mech

After a little digging and some research I managed to pick up this second hand Shimano Dura Ace RD-7700 rear mech this afternoon. I was looking for something nice for the cyclocross bike and I think I can't get any better than this! 

The mech is in a very good condition, there's only some cosmetic damage on the side but mothing serious. So once I got my hands on this bad boy the work to bring it back to perfect working order has started. 

Needs a bit of cleaning

I took the two jockey wheels out and started to clean then properly, also got the bolts and the plate a good bit of a scrubbing because I needed to get rid of the dirt fully before I put them back together. 

Nice & clean now, ready to be put back together

When I was done with the jockey wheels and the plate also I got the tensioner spring cleaned and also lubed all the adjuster bolts before I fitted everything back to it's place.

After all the work was done the display on the scale shows some very friendly number :)

Now, since the general condition of this mech was next to perfect the work I had to put in was about 15 minutes and I ended up with a great and refreshed rear deraileur that is going to serve me well. It is ready for action, the last step is to fit it on the bike and test it out in the rough conditions after it's easy life on the road! :)

Refurbished XTR front shifter

I went over to my good friend and team mate Richie Felle's place yesterday to pick up the used XTR front shifter that he offered to me before. He has raced a season with this shifter on his race bike and he has no use for it anymore. All it needs just a bit of a work to get it back to 100% order.

When I collected the shifter it was already taken apart so it saved me a bit of a time in deed. So I just checked all the parts in the bag and the first thing I seen is: one of the screw is missing that hold the bottom cover plate in place. But everything else was there and they were in good condition.

After I have checked all the parts I realized all they need is just some cleaning and lube and they will be absolutely perfect for long time. The most "problematic" bit was the inside mechanism of the shifter, all the springs and inserts were quiet dirty, the previously picked up dust got built up inside.

Just a quick weight check on the scale and let's get the things started! :)

All the loose parts on the scale (1 screw is missing)

It took me about 20 minutes to clean the inside, the outside shell, adjuster bolt and spring, and all the hiden spots. After all this the shifter was ready to be put together. 

The refurbished Shimano XTR  SL-M970 front shifter ready to be fitted on the bike

It is ready for action and I can't wait to get it fitted on the bike, possibly I will have some time this week to do some work on the bike. Thank you Richie for this sweet bike part, I know it will serve me very well! :)