Changing Groupsets

The Cycling pianist

Evening lads and ladettes

This is one for all the home mechanics out there. I've been slowly gathering tools and parts and am planning on dedicating Saturday afternoon to changing the entire groupset on my bike. Levers, cranks, cassette, the lot. I know I have all the tools required, and the cassette, shifters and crankset are all designed for the matching number of gears, as are the derailleurs. Besides that, any pitfalls to avoid? Also, those of you who have done it, what method/order did you use? I'm thinking of taking all the old parts off first in one go, then putting all the new parts on, rather than taking off the cranks and immediately putting on the new ones etc.

Thanks for any advice

countrykid

The Cycling pianist wrote: »

Evening lads and ladettes

This is one for all the home mechanics out there. I've been slowly gathering tools and parts and am planning on dedicating Saturday afternoon to changing the entire groupset on my bike. Levers, cranks, cassette, the lot. I know I have all the tools required, and the cassette, shifters and crankset are all designed for the matching number of gears, as are the derailleurs. Besides that, any pitfalls to avoid? Also, those of you who have done it, what method/order did you use? I'm thinking of taking all the old parts off first in one go, then putting all the new parts on, rather than taking off the cranks and immediately putting on the new ones etc.

Thanks for any advice

Strip it to the bone ...
Clean thoroughly ....
Re grease threads...
Re build

Crank...
Then mechs
Calipers
Levers
Run outer cables for length and cut carefully
Cable up
Tune up
Away ya go!

Important thing is not to rush if its your first build
Check everything is where it should be and how it should be fore tightening etc...

smacl

I found the most difficult was taking off the old BB, so would tend to get that over with first. Order I'd put it back together would be;

BB, cranks, shifters, rear mech, chain, cable and adjust rear mech, front mech, cable and adjust front mech, brakes, brake cables. Reason for this is that you can't adjust the rear mech if the front mech is on but not connected by cable, and you can't adjust the front mech without the rear mech connected by cable.

When cutting cable outers, I tend to leave a bit of old inner in them to minimise squashing. Also don't cut the inners until everything else is done. I find the turbo a useful way of checking the final gear adjustment.

n.b. I'm a youtube self taught give-it-a-go merchant myself, so if any actual mechanic comes on with better advice, go with that instead.

The Cycling pianist

Thanks guys

@country kid - yeah, stripping it down to the bone is the way I was planning on doing it, and that order seems to make sense

@smacl - don't get me started on bottom brackets. The one that's in it at the minute is a square taper that's been there for who knows how many years (it's an old frame that I'd like to keep, hence the shiny new groupset). Some brute force and ignorance may be required. And yeah, I'll be watching many youtube videos myself too

Thanks again guys!

Brian?

What groupset are you removing and installing?

The Cycling pianist

I'm removing a 20-something year old 105 Groupset and replacing it with brand new Tiagra. The way it's set up now, it just isn't mechanically efficient, the chainring and sprocket teeth are all rounded, the derailleurs are just knackered and the shifting is terrible. I know the rear hub will take a modern cassette and I know the frame is english threaded, so a new hollowtech bb should go in no problem

DaithiMC

The Cycling pianist wrote: »

Evening lads and ladettes

This is one for all the home mechanics out there. I've been slowly gathering tools and parts and am planning on dedicating Saturday afternoon to changing the entire groupset on my bike. Levers, cranks, cassette, the lot. I know I have all the tools required, and the cassette, shifters and crankset are all designed for the matching number of gears, as are the derailleurs. Besides that, any pitfalls to avoid? Also, those of you who have done it, what method/order did you use? I'm thinking of taking all the old parts off first in one go, then putting all the new parts on, rather than taking off the cranks and immediately putting on the new ones etc.

Thanks for any advice

I just did this before the New Year, and funny enough the thing I procrastinated about most was the handlebar tape! I agree with stripping and cleaning the frame thoroughly. Mark the positions of the old brake levers so you can be reasonably assured of getting your old fit back.

I started with the crank and chainset and then as I was on that part of the bike, the front derailleur so I could get the clearance correct to the big ring. After this I don't think it much matters and I did levers, brakes, back derailleur and when that was all on, the cabling. The internal routing I had was just one cable but I tried to pay close attention to taping the cable runs to the handlebars (I upgraded to Ultegra from Sora) and ensured that there was enough steering radius, etc. before tightening anything up.

As someone else said, take your time, don't overtighten anything and enjoy it, its very satisfying.

The Cycling pianist

DaithiMC wrote: »

I just did this before the New Year, and funny enough the thing I procrastinated about most was the handlebar tape! I agree with stripping and cleaning the frame thoroughly. Mark the positions of the old brake levers so you can be reasonably assured of getting your old fit back.

I started with the crank and chainset and then as I was on that part of the bike, the front derailleur so I could get the clearance correct to the big ring. After this I don't think it much matters and I did levers, brakes, back derailleur and when that was all on, the cabling. The internal routing I had was just one cable but I tried to pay close attention to taping the cable runs to the handlebars (I upgraded to Ultegra from Sora) and ensured that there was enough steering radius, etc. before tightening anything up.

As someone else said, take your time, don't overtighten anything and enjoy it, its very satisfying.

I have one cable to route internally, hopefully it won't be as difficult as I anticipate

crosstownk

I did the same over the Christmas period. I replaced a Claris groupset with 105.

I stripped everything back to the frame and then reassembled more or less in the order countrykid outlined.

While it's easily done in a day, I spent 3 days at it doing bits at a time. Removing the old BB was the toughest - I had to borrow a powerbar from a motor mechanic friend.

As stated, clean everything and grease where appropriate. Leave the bar tape for last, especially if it's white and be sure your hands are clean before touching the tape.

whacker00

Also a newbie to the bike DIY and you tube tutorials are the only way.

I am also looking at doing some changes but I have a small question. Will a SRAM rival chainset fit a hollow tech bottom bracket or is this a complete separate set up. Was looking to maybe go towards SRAM on a giant frame which currently has shimano groupset, is this a crazy idea

Thanks

The Cycling pianist

crosstownk wrote: »

I did the same over the Christmas period. I replaced a Claris groupset with 105.

I stripped everything back to the frame and then reassembled more or less in the order countrykid outlined.

While it's easily done in a day, I spent 3 days at it doing bits at a time. Removing the old BB was the toughest - I had to borrow a powerbar from a motor mechanic friend.

As stated, clean everything and grease where appropriate. Leave the bar tape for last, especially if it's white and be sure your hands are clean before touching the tape.

I spend far too much tim messing around with bikes for white tape. Black or go home thanks for the advice though, I have an 18 inch cheater bar if anything is really stuck

The Cycling pianist

whacker00 wrote: »

Also a newbie to the bike DIY and you tube tutorials are the only way.

I am also looking at doing some changes but I have a small question. Will a SRAM rival chainset fit a hollow tech bottom bracket or is this a complete separate set up. Was looking to maybe go towards SRAM on a giant frame which currently has shimano groupset, is this a crazy idea

Thanks

Fairly sure SRAM need their own bottom brackets but I'm not 100% sure. They do make their own though, so to be safe I'd use a SRAM bb with a SRAM chainset. As long as the threading is the same as your frame it should work fine

smacl

The Cycling pianist wrote: »

I spend far too much tim messing around with bikes for white tape. Black or go home thanks for the advice though, I have an 18 inch cheater bar if anything is really stuck

re the bottom bracket, check your thread direction is right before applying the cheater bar