Yesterday I spent some time on my bike, a Giant Talon1 with BBSHD. I have had it on the road for almost a year and a while ago it slipped a couple of times on the smallest cog and it has done 4,800km so I thought it was time for some serious maintainance.

I also wanted to regrease the motor and had bought a gasket a couple of months ago. So I pulled the wheels off and gave everything a good going over with degreaser which I hadn't done for a while as I had planned an overhaul at the 12mth mark. I had a new chain and cassette ready and I also had inner and outer deraileur cables as the shift was sticky in places.

I thought the chain was shot from the slipping and distance travelled but thought I would check with the guage, wich I hadn't done for a while, and it was good. I was surprised. I checked all round and it was in the middle of the guage so I thought I would keep it on. I gave the cassette a visual and the smallest cog didn't look any different to the others so I kept that on too. Most of my riding is on sealed roads pulling a cart containing 2 small dogs. I replaced the cables and that was simpler than I thought it might be, and put everything back together and lubed the chain and bits of the deraileur.

I pulled the cover off the motor and couldn't save the gasket so it was good I had bought one. Not many of the "how to's" on youtube mention that. I also decided not to go over the top with packing as much grease as I could either. So I cleaned out as much of the old grease as I could and put in the new and even smeared some on the gasket so maybe I mightn't have to replace that next time.

Gave it a test ride and all was good. Today on our trip to the beach, I'm retired, the bike felt great. Really smooth and it felt like it had more power. In many places I was in a lower PAS level than usual. Hence the title - is it in my mind or does it really make that much difference? Also I am wondering how far I will go on this chain and cassette.

The phot is from a while ago but every story needs a picture.