#18: Fixed!
I decided just to replace the front rings from the SuperLight 9/10 rings to SRAM Rival rings. It ended up being reasonable to buy a SRAM Rival crank @ $130, so I did that. I put the rings on and problem (of the chain skating between the rings) is gone….as a bonus upshifting from the 39 to the 53 is much much easier. I plan to use the Rival crank to upgrade from my Ultegra crank / b.b. on my old Trek.
After my ride on Sunday, I decided to take another look at my headset to fix that clunk. That problem was I must have been bottoming out the pre-tension bolt without realizing it (there was a gap before, but I guess it was not enough). Increasing the spacer above from 2.5mm to 5.0mm, then pre-loading the headset, and tightening up the stem fixed that issue. No more clunking. It was becoming difficult to stand on hills with all that noise, especially since I couldn’t be sure I wasn’t destroying my bike.
Ready to race!
