Today I did something to my bike thread...

JJJJNR

Recently upgraded my rear MTB brakes from cable to hydraulic and the much improved stopping power is great, only issue I have is that they are too good, for example before when hitting a downhill trail on my cable brakes, I'd have a good bit of travel until I'd hit full wheel lock, today while out i only had to slightly hold them down and I'd get full lock, resulting in bad slides and falls. I'm totally new to bike maintenance and bike is locked away now, but can I increase the travel on the hydraulic ones the same way as before with the cable.

Lumen

JJJJNR wrote: »

Recently upgraded my rear MTB brakes from cable to hydraulic and the much improved stopping power is great, only issue I have is that they are too good, for example before when hitting a downhill trail on my cable brakes, I'd have a good bit of travel until I'd hit full wheel lock, today while out i only had to slightly hold them down and I'd get full lock, resulting in bad slides and falls. I'm totally new to bike maintenance and bike is locked away now, but can I increase the travel on the hydraulic ones the same way as before with the cable.

Look up "free stroke adjustment". Or do you want more progressiveness once the braking starts?

JJJJNR

Lumen wrote: »

Look up "free stroke adjustment". Or do you want more progressiveness once the braking starts?

Yeah more progressive braking, it's a feast or a famine at the moment, impossible to get used to.

dvntie

Today i did this to my bike :(

iwillhtfu

Oops.. How'd you manage that?

Seweryn

dvntie wrote: »

Today i did this to my bike :(

Rival? Yes...

Same thing happened to me about a year ago. They rarely last more than 30k km. Got it replaced by the manufacturer, but I had to buy a new set of shifters first, as I couldn't stay without the bike for more than few days, and it was over 6 weeks before they sent me the replacement.

dvntie

Seweryn wrote: »

Rival? Yes...

Same thing happened to me about a year ago. They rarely last more than 30k km. Got it replaced by the manufacturer, but I had to buy a new set of shifters first, as I couldn't stay without the bike for more than few days, and it was over 6 weeks before they sent me the replacement.

Yep Rival indeed only approx 18k up on them so not happy
Question now is whether to go for the same again knowing what i know now

Seweryn

dvntie wrote: »

Yep Rival indeed only approx 18k up on them so not happy
Question now is whether to go for the same again knowing what i know now

I would go Apex or Red.

dvntie

Seweryn wrote: »

Rival? Yes...

Same thing happened to me about a year ago. They rarely last more than 30k km. Got it replaced by the manufacturer, but I had to buy a new set of shifters first, as I couldn't stay without the bike for more than few days, and it was over 6 weeks before they sent me the replacement.

How did you contact sram by the way their website is pretty thin on the contact details

Seweryn

dvntie wrote: »

How did you contact sram by the way their website is pretty thin on the contact details

I posted the broken shifter to a bike shop and they took the care of it.

Plastik

I had the same thing happen a RHS Rival shifter once upon a time. Had it replaced under warranty by Planet X but took an absolute age. The next time (if) it happens again I'll be ditching the Sram shifters for Campag 10 speed http://velonews.competitor.com/2008/03/bikes-and-tech/can-you-run-campy-shifters-with-a-sram-drivetrain-sure-why-not_73404

€100 quid for a pair of Campag shifters, 80 cheaper than Sram Apex http://www.merlincycles.com/campagnolo-veloce-10-speed-power-shift-ergo-levers-black-55934.html

Then warranty at your leisure and sell the them.

Sarz91

Finally decided to bring over the Winter bike with me to the U.K. Grew tired of using an 8 speed 2300 groupset and was missing Campagnolo even if it was only for the Winter. Thanks to countrykid that's no longer an issue. Stuck a Veloce groupset on it along with a brand new set of Khamsins. I think it looks a whole lot better. Still ugly, but better.

What it was:



What it is now:

cdaly_

Built a dynohub wheel for my upcoming new bike. Secondhand Schmidt SON20 hub laced to Mavic A719 touring rim with DT Swiss Competition spokes. Took it out for a very short test spin this evening and all seems good. I'll run it on the commuter this week and try it out at the weekend for 200k...

Mec-a-nic

Back in the spring, I was forced to upgrade the dynamo setup of my commuter and was pleasantly surprised with the output of the new LED lamps - I can actually light up the road with the 75lux output, and of course be lit front and back all the time. Since the clocks went back, cycling my tourer in the dark with crappy battery lights wasn't any fun, so I had the opportunity to build up a dynamo lighting set from scratch, so here's what I did in case it helps anyone trying similar:

Dynamo: you can spend €24 on a standard Shimano, or €200+ on a SON - I went for the (upper) middle, a tiny SP PV-8 direct from the manufacturer.
Lamps: The Herrman H1S is very small, bright and cheap so went with it again. Back mudguard light was a reliable B+M Seculite. Both have capacitors to stay lit for 5 mins when you stop moving.
Assembly: A Mavic A119 rim was procured (thanks finnaldo, sorry Yarisbob ) and the wheel built up with DT Swiss Comp spokes. The front lamp was mounted on an extra length holder to clear under the canti brakes and once it was wired down the fork to the dynamo, it becomes the central point for the system. The rear reflector was replaced with the B+M and the wire run inside the mudguard and up to the headtube. The front lamp has tabs to complete connections and operates the lights manually, or via an automatic brightness sensor (my default).



Result: I've now a lighting setup that doesn't draw attention (when not moving), just works without me having to remember torches/batteries and provides resistance training with the few hundred extra grammes weight. Adding a USB recharging point is an easy, future upgrade.

dvntie

So finally got round to rebuilding my hybrid as a "frankenbike"
50/34 front and 11-32 rear with rival wifli rear and front mechs and rival apex shifters.
Setting up the disks off the road levers was challenging to say the least but good fun
Before and after pics below

Alek

Yesterday installed ghetto tubeless for the next cyclocross race (maxxis mud wrestlers on mach1 820 rims with split tubes). Used compressor to seat the bead - nothing exploded, no sealant splashed on the ceiling, both tyres sealed completely within 5 minutes. And neither them or the rims are tubeless specific

They still hold 80psi now after 24h, tomorrow I'll reduce to 40 and give them a test ride in Phoenix park

Eamonnator

dvntie wrote: »

So finally got round to rebuilding my hybrid as a "frankenbike"
50/34 front and 11-32 rear with rival wifli rear and front mechs and rival apex shifters.
Setting up the disks off the road levers was challenging to say the least but good fun
Before and after pics below

Huge improvement, looks real well.

cdaly_

dvntie wrote: »

So finally got round to rebuilding my hybrid as a "frankenbike"
50/34 front and 11-32 rear with rival wifli rear and front mechs and rival apex shifters.
Setting up the disks off the road levers was challenging to say the least but good fun
Before and after pics below

Did you replace the brake calipers with road ones? If not, you probably should as the pull ratio is different and road levers will not work properly.

dvntie

cdaly_ wrote: »

Did you replace the brake calipers with road ones? If not, you probably should as the pull ratio is different and road levers will not work properly.

Nope left the same discs and calipers on as before I did change the cables and casings tho.
Pull ratio feels really good on them and they bit pretty quickly too so didn't feel the need to swap them out

Alek

Alek wrote: »

Yesterday installed ghetto tubeless

Today I've reduced the pressure to 35/40psi (I'm 94kg with the bike) and gave it a spin around Phoenix Park rooty trails - quite hard but not too technically, I was avoiding tight turns at speed.

No burps at all (although dry leaves stuck in the fork make exactly the same sound!), tires felt super soft and compliant, definitely more grippy too. Perhaps the pressure was a bit too low, as I could feel roots touching the rim a few times. But more likely its my technique

Haven't noticed much difference in speed, but this one may be due to the initial enthusiasm. So far it looks good - no pressure lost!

colm_gti

dvntie wrote: »

So finally got round to rebuilding my hybrid as a "frankenbike"
50/34 front and 11-32 rear with rival wifli rear and front mechs and rival apex shifters.
Setting up the disks off the road levers was challenging to say the least but good fun
Before and after pics below

I like that....grand CX bike right there

cdaly_

cdaly_ wrote: »

Built a dynohub wheel for my upcoming new bike. Secondhand Schmidt SON20 hub laced to Mavic A719 touring rim with DT Swiss Competition spokes. Took it out for a very short test spin this evening and all seems good. I'll run it on the commuter this week and try it out at the weekend for 200k...

Lights fitted today. Shiny shiny on the way home...

NeedMoreGears

cdaly_ wrote: »

Lights fitted today. Shiny shiny on the way home...

Same here. Two front and one of the back lights just gave up the ghost. Got myself a 350lumen niterider lumina for the front and fixed (hopefully) the back light with some insulating tape - cycling that back road from baldoyle to portmarnock with only a little flasher on the front is not something I want to try a second time.

Also fitted a new tyre on the back as it was getting a bit slidey in the last week or two.

dvntie

dvntie wrote: »

Today i did this to my bike :(

Update on broken shifter
I brought it down to the lads in Halfords in cork (where bike was bought). They sent it back to SRAM even though it was out of warranty.
A new one will be out to me in the middle of Jan :-)
I have to say the lads in Halfords realy went above and beyond here and i just want to put it on record that they do some great work contrary to the opinions posted here on occasion

dvntie

colm_gti wrote: »

I like that....grand CX bike right there

That's the plan ;-)

Spudmonkey

More like I did something to my bike this month. Took a few weeks but finally finished my specialised allez sport triple paint job. Was originally white with black decals and looking a bit tired. Forgot to take a before photo and the after ones are a bit ****e. Happy with the end result though.

dvntie

cdaly_ wrote: »

Did you replace the brake calipers with road ones? If not, you probably should as the pull ratio is different and road levers will not work properly.

Playing with this today again and I'm tending towards your thinking here. The travel on the rear caliper is just too long gonna have a peek on eBay to see if there's anything suitable. Still tho even with a pair of 28s on the wheels it rolled almost as well as my road bike today. That said tho the extra 4 kg really told on the hills ;-)

SomeFool

dvntie wrote: »

Playing with this today again and I'm tending towards your thinking here. The travel on the rear caliper is just too long gonna have a peek on eBay to see if there's anything suitable. Still tho even with a pair of 28s on the wheels it rolled almost as well as my road bike today. That said tho the extra 4 kg really told on the hills ;-)

Avid BB7's

dvntie

SomeFool wrote: »

Avid BB7's

I'll have a pair of BB5's for that mtb project in a few days ;-)

granty1987

Bought a secondhand Fuji Tracks little while ago and Iv been doing a few bits and bobs to it.
Installed the front brake, the Fizik Arione saddle, bit of elbow grease and built two new wheels which was a first for me.

Really enjoyable experience. I used the original BLB Track Hubs, bought the pair of Halo AeroTrack rims on the cheap, some DT Competition spokes and two Michelin Pro4 Endurances to finish it off.

It's now weighing 9.5kg which seems light enough to me for a steel frame bike. Shame I have the U Lock mount on it.. Also kinda like the blow torch effect on the seat tube!