Gear Update - December 16th, 2021

In this post I describe the changes to my gear since I published Gear Update - November 13, 2021.

Bags for Sunglasses, Goggles, and Reading Glasses

I've bought many pairs of Adidas Supernova sunglasses (now discontinued) because eventually they need to be replaced. Each pair of sunglasses comes with a cloth bag useful for cleaning the lenses. I use three of those bags to hold my sunglasses, goggles, and reading glasses. Unfortunately the bags allow the contents to fall out, so I installed cord locks on all three bags to solve that problem.

Before and after installation of cord lock

Toiletries

While staying in hotels I have collected and emptied a few small shampoo bottles which I am now using to replace larger bottles in my toiletries bag, which has been fuller than I wish it were.

I have replaced a two-ounce bottle of tooth powder whose label says "Up To 200 Brushings". The smaller bottle can hold enough tooth powder for 70 brushings.

I've replaced a 1.69-ounce bottle of saline with one of the small bottles which can hold three quarters of an ounce of saline.

In the rear outside pocket of my trunk bag I've carried a 3-ounce bottle of Dawn which I've used as shampoo as well as for general washing. I'm now using one of the small bottles to carry shampoo in my toiletries bag.

At least for short trips I will replace the 1.75-ounce tube of Aquaphor with a 0.35-ounce tube.

Theses changes reduce the crowding in my toiletries bag and makes it easier to pack in the right outside zippered pocket of my trunk bag.

Cassettes

In Gear Update - November 13, 2021 I wrote that I had been using a 12-15-17-19-21-24-28 cassette and planned to use a 13-16-18-20-22-24-26 cassette on a new rear wheel I will build for rides other than touring. I also wrote that the two cassettes have no cogs in common, despite the fact that they both have a 24-tooth cog. To avoid that I decided to use a 13-14-16-18-20-23-26 cassette on the new wheel for non-touring. (Click on the links for the cassettes to see a gear calculator.)

In the instructions for my Shimano Dura Ace FH-7400 freehub I saw the following:

I don't know why but I've always oriented the cogs (sprockets) the other way. I installed a 12-15-17-19-22-25-28 cassette with the cogs oriented according to Shimano's directions and was able to backpedal while on the 25-tooth cog and the large chainring without the chain jumping to the next smaller cog. Previously I had tried 25-tooth cog as the next-to-largest cog but couldn't use it because of the backpedaling problem. With the cogs oriented according to Shimano's instructions I can even backpedal while on the 28-tooth cog and the large chainring without the chain jumping! Of course I avoid that combination, but this shows how important the orientation of the cogs is. I think shifting is now smoother due to the correct orientation of the cogs.

You can see the slight but significant asymmetry of the cogs in the pictures below.

With the tooth number up, the teeth do not touch the surface

With the tooth number down, the teeth touch the surface

I'm now using a 12-15-17-19-22-25-28 cassette for touring and a 13-14-16-18-20-23-26 cassette for non-touring. The two cassettes have no common cogs. The shifting between the first and second cogs would be smoother on the touring cassette if I were to swap the 12-tooth and 13-tooth cogs, but I want the maximum range of gears for the touring cassette.