Ride Along 5/20 - Not a Good Idea Edition

Right then, so this is yet another bad idea of a video, so I might as well take a moment and spell somethings out. I am not wearing or using a stabilizing rig for these Ride Along videos. I am literally holding the phone in one hand, and swapping hands as needed to control gears or seat height. Which is fine enough on flat surfaces.

For this video I decided to keep filming as I hit one section of the single tracks trail, which is a, at least for me, complicated uphill climb through a forest. Keep in mind then that I'm taking the trail one handed.

As to the bike itself, well, it's a 2019 Trek. According to my current Fitness Tracker I have at least 2,555 miles logged, but I know the distance calculations are not accurate enough. I'm assuming, based on average distances, that there's another 2,000 miles on the previous fitness tracker of a different brand, and probably 500+ miles of untracked miles, suggesting I've put somewhere north of 5,000 miles on the frame. Probably more.

So, let's talk about some of the noises that are probably going to be apparent if you are watching this:

The fork, the suspension, and the crank are stock. The fork has a metallic bonk to it, and the crank has a noticeable grind at lower RPM's.

The Pedals are Race Face Atlas Pedals, which went on the same week the bike was purchased. They both have developed a noticeable bearing grind.

The gear cassette has already been replaced once after I managed to bend the steel on an SRAM XG-1230 Eagle. I want to say it was replaced with an XG-1275, but it's been too long. Given that cog #4 is stripping out on any incline with any torque applied I may be in the market for a new cassette, or maybe not.

I recently snapped the stock derailleur and because of budget/time, I'm pretty sure the replacement derailleur may have been a downgrade, and tuning it in has been... problematic. I don't know if Cog 4's inability to hold the chain is a result of damage I've inflicted on the cog, or my inability do dial in the derailleur just right.

So yes, I know, my bike is noisy, probably needs new parts, but right now it works.