Like Losing an Old Friend

There is one thing that I don't particularly like about fat-tubed aluminum bikes. They are sounding boards for every creak, rattle, or knock. This makes any sound amplified and harder to track down. I'll get my Jekyll silent for a short while, then after a dusty ride it'll be a cocophony of noise once again.

A few weeks ago, I had had enough.

I popped the bike into the work stand and began removing parts. I stripped the rear of the bike down to the frame, and then I went to remove the rear swingarm. One side of the pivot axle was just fine. The other--drive side--was not. The retaining bolt was cracked.

Huh.

I called down to my usual shop (Hutch's in Eugene, OR) and explained the issue. Since the Jekyll hasn't been in production since '05, we weren't sure if I could find a replacement. They, however, had one from another frame. The axle, while used, was in good shape. I was back in business.

The creak was still there.

Back onto the stand went the bike. When I replaced the pivot axle, I had pulled the cranks, but did not pull the bottom bracket. Nor did I pull the the forward shock mount. The creak could be eminating from either of those. Or the pedals. Or the seat clamp. Or the front derailleur clamp.

It was time to get serious. It was time to clean the bike.

Once again, I pulled the everything from the rear of the bike, the cranks, the swingarm and the bottom bracket. I started cleaning the grimed caked on around the main pivot and bottom bracket area and discovered a crack in the frame. Huh. "That's not good," I thought to myself. I better get out the camera. The crack was on the drive side, same as the damaged portion of the pivot axle. I think that the two are related, though I can't even begin to determine which failed first.

Once again I picked up the phone and called down to the shop. I emailed them the pictures--the one above and another higher res version so that they could zoom in better than you--and started the warranty process.

At this point I should note that I am a fan of Cannondale bikes. Even though this one is failing after 6 years of hard riding it has performed admirably as my test mule. All aluminum frames have a finite life. That's just the nature of the beast. That Cannondale stands behind their frames is reason enough to continue to ride then. Plus, I like the way they ride and the way they fit me.

I'll miss my Jekyll. I've ridden lots of places on it and hasn't let me down. The adjustability of the bike made it the perfect test mule for different components. If was reviewing a long travel fork, I'd adjust the angles to match. If I was reviewing a shorter travel fork, I could, again, dial in the angles to get the same, predictable, ride.

I look forward to abusing using the new frame for at least as long as my Jekyll. RIP Jekyll, you've been good.