replacing cassette and crankset

Barrett

New member
I have a Wicked Fat Chance that I've been riding regularly for about 10 years. I picked it up second hand and didn't know anything about Fat Chance bikes. It has been great fun to ride.

Now my chainrings are worn, and my local bikeshop wants to replace the cassette and crankset with something modern. Should I do that? I see folks on the forums here looking for original parts.

I'm not looking to spend a ton of money making this a museum piece. Should I feel guilty about ditching worn-out original parts?
 

mainlyfats

Member
I have a Wicked Fat Chance that I've been riding regularly for about 10 years. I picked it up second hand and didn't know anything about Fat Chance bikes. It has been great fun to ride.

Now my chainrings are worn, and my local bikeshop wants to replace the cassette and crankset with something modern. Should I do that? I see folks on the forums here looking for original parts.

I'm not looking to spend a ton of money making this a museum piece. Should I feel guilty about ditching worn-out original parts?

Shimano or Suntour?

For Shimano:

My suggestion to you would be to pick up an OE cassette and chain yourself on eBay. You can find NOS 7 (or 8) speed Deore or XT cassettes for not much more than what they retailed for back in the day.

If it's old Wicked, double check though that it's a cassette and not a freewheel that you need. If you're after a freewheel, I think you're stuck with IRD these days (meh, by all accounts). The best compatible NOS are the Sachs-Maillard, but they are expensive and rare in 12-28 or 13-30. You might find an old Shimano. Doubtful.

New OE NOS chainrings are tougher - often they are attached to a crankset - but the bike shop will definitely be able to fix you up with 110 5 bolt 7/8 speed Vuelta or Blackspire (or whatever - Velo Orange?) chainrings that will work just fine. Don't let them sell you a granny. No way you wore that out.

For Suntour:

Take their advice if the bike means a lot to you as a rider. Otherwise hang it up and put the very costly repair bill - for NOS Suntour replacement parts you'd be competing with some very deep-pocketed collectors on eBay - towards a new ride. New mountain bikes are great, too.
 

dubya

New member
Any pics? Many came with Shimano Biopace rings and you can easily find them for cheap online NOS or barely used. Assuming you're replacing parts so you can actually keep riding it and not building a collector/show bike that lives it's life hanging on the wall, you would be fine buying a new cassette/freewheel to replace the worn one as well as a new chain. You could get the 3 parts for under $60 probably (if you can install them yourself).

Personally I'd find Biopace rings on eBay, buy a new cassette and chain. The shop wants to talk you into buying new cranks and all that because they get to charge you for all the labor too.
 

Barrett

New member
Many thanks for the advice!

My bike's still at the shop, so unfortunately I can't take pics. It definitely had Shimano parts and a cassette. I'll talk to the shop about what they'd charge for replacing the cassette, chain, and larger rings. If they aren't charging too much, I'll probably pay them to do it because I don't have the necessary tools and have no experience with this sort of repair.
 
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