level grinding surface

I hadn't been planning on replacing the chain, cassette and chainring just yet but the severe skipping even when setting off slowly and accelerating gently pushed it forward. I hadn't been planning on replacing the rear mech just yet but the fact that it was grinding on the new chain and seemed possibly slightly bent (possibly slightly worsened by some sort of unseen-but-felt catching/tugging event yesterday evening) pushed that forward too. I could probably add a couple of links back into the chain as the limited recoiliness of the old mech is now no longer a problem, but I shall see how it goes like this, though the pain-in-the-arsiness of breaking this sort of chain (the "just squeeze it then push it apart" of the instructional videos not cutting it) means that doing this before it acquires too much muck would be wise. Whilst it is quite pleasant to be able to perform chain-related fiddlings that can be cleansed away by a light baby-wiping the pleasantness of riding something so fresh and clean far surpasses the pleasantness of observing it in the clean state: it is meant to be used, and not using it in order to keep it clean merely to gaze upon is at the top of a slippery slope which soon leads to repeating unsubstantiated personal slurs and simultaneously justifying a character trait mistakenly presented as a character fault.

Whilst I was expecting to be able to install the chainring I picked up at the Bike Station a couple of weeks back I was momentarily annoyed to discover that it shouldn't have been hanging on the 130mm BCD hook, being slightly less. Fortunately I'd recently removed the chainrings from the old bike before I returned it to the loft and was pleased to discover that the smaller of the two had 42 teeth and a bolt circle diameter of 130mm. It's also barely visibly worn despite having been active for thirteen years then retired for seven, but then as it was made from proper metal compared to the easily-ground-away cheese of modern chainrings it isn't surprising. The outer old chainring is about as worn as the new outer visible above, which implies I either used the old outer ring more than the inner or that the new outer is also made of proper metal, though it has the same non-proper-metal non-sheen of the inner ring. Although the (discounted) chain seems to only have been nominally more expensive due to being shinier rather than more durable and more resistant to rust it's still a chain, which are still normally made from proper metal. A nice proper metal chainring makes it a fair fight. I shall nevertheless start looking for a replacement almost straight away. It was slightly irritating to have to remove the crank to fit it but that in turn appears to have stopped the slight clicking which I'd thought might have been a pedal as it was no different under light and heavy loads.