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I'm off to N India soon for 5 weeks with my Sonder Broken Road, using panniers and front roll and new tough 29er wheels. It will be a mix of tarmac and gravel/ rough roads. The Broken Road has the ability to change the effective chainstay, but I'm nervous of fiddling.
Has anyone done this and how does it feel?
It should move the effective weight of the pannier's further forward and make it be less twitchy in theory and we wont be riding single track. It looks like all I have to do is under 2 bolts either side, lengthen the position guide screw, then do up all 4 bolts again. Presume they are best done up with loctite?
Any feedback welcome
If you don't get a reply on here try speaking to Sonder about it. Try the customer services, i've always found them really helpful, and great with advice.
I've only ever used grease on the sliding (aluminium) dropouts of my (steel) Kona frame (this morning), but titanium might complicate that. They've never budged. It's surprising how much difference moving the dropout can make to the bike's handling.
as the broken road has sliding drop outs (As you describe) and you leave in 5 weeks, i would move them now and start playing around to find a position that is most comfortable, as it is only an allen key you can always move them back
Same as sliding dropouts in many singlespeeds or hub gear bikes.
As you say is correct, you generally don’t need to threadlock the clamping bolts but it’ll do no harm and if you’re rarely adjusting them you may as well.
Not done it on a broken road but my old SS that I rode for 10 years had similar sliders. You can notice the difference but it’s slight, I can imagine many people might not even notice.
ravingdave
Full Memberas the broken road has sliding drop outs (As you describe) and you leave in 5 weeks, i would move them now and start playing around to find a position that is most comfortable, as it is only an allen key you can always move them back
Definitely move them now. If you're running 12 speed (or 11, but to a slight lesser degree) you'll need to have a good look at the b-tension to make sure everything is still happy. They'd be nothing worse than doing the ride with gears that are slightly out!
I had a Kona Explosif with sliding dropouts that I used as a SS. I really struggled with the dropouts sliding forward, the rear wheel auto-ejecting, and being dragged forward under the BB, sending me over the bars. Power I can now only dream of!
I replaced the 5mm or 6mm Allen heads with 13mm Hex heads and did them up B'strd Tight. That solved the problem.
It wont be your b-tension. It’ll be your cable length as you're effectively shortening the cable by lengthening the stays. B-Screw is fixed by the cassette gap.
Tighter cable / shorter cable will mean you cant shift to smaller gears and may find you cant drop to smallest sprocket.
With s bit of luck you’ll have enough barrel adjustment. If not then slacken the cable a little and reset the gears.