the 'there's no such thing as a stupid question' bike maintenance thread

Type 17

wheelo01 wrote: »

I think no may be about to prove the thread title wrong

Is a seized sealed bearing permanently seized?

Yep, it's toast.

In engineering terms, things like engine parts can be seized (stuck) due to expansion (overheating), and will still run when they cool down again, but almost always, they will have run when at least part-seized, and that's when they'll have been damaged.

Mercian Pro

Has anyone successfully managed to fully clean out and relube outer cables when replacing inner cables or should I just replace the lot? The cables are external but replacing the inners only seems a lot more straightforward.
Apologies if this was asked and answered before.

cletus

Honestly, I'd be inclined to change them all, if you have the tools. It shouldn't be too much extra work.

Edit - Is there a specific cable you're having trouble with or are you replacing them all

07Lapierre

Mercian Pro wrote: »

Has anyone successfully managed to fully clean out and relube outer cables when replacing inner cables or should I just replace the lot? The cables are external but replacing the inners only seems a lot more straightforward.
Apologies if this was asked and answered before.

If they were internal routed cables, I'd understand, but as you have external cables, just replace the complete cables. You could lube an internal cable, but your just "kicking the can down the road".

Invest in a good cable set (Jagwire). It makes a big difference.

Mercian Pro

cletus wrote: »

Honestly, I'd be inclined to change them all, if you have the tools. It shouldn't be too much extra work.

Edit - Is there a specific cable you're having trouble with or are you replacing them all

All except the front brake are a bit draggy so I'll probably do them all. I suppose I could treat myself to some new bar tape at the same time.

CramCycle

If you really don't want to, when you pull out the old cable, GT85 with the nozzle extender, and blast it out should do the job nicely.

Thargor

Ive been leaving the house when its dark and getting home when its dark all Winter and this morning coming out of Centra Id parked my bike under an ATMs floodlight and the chain was bright orange with rust, never had that happen before. Should I try salvaging it or just go get a new one? (chain not bike). I dont think there was anything wrong with it 4 days ago when I was fitting new mudguards, this seems to have happened very suddenly. The rest of the drivetrain is fine, a bit bizarre tbh. I had to get back to work in a hurry so I threw a load of wet lube on it and cycled it to work and it seems fine now but theres definitely rust under the oil.

cletus

It's most likely just a small bit of surface rust. A good clean and lube, and it'll be fine

magicbastarder

the rust is a result of the roads being gritted in the cold weather. the salt has done that; happened me too recently, posted about it here a week or two back.

MojoMaker

Chain off and soak, or good wipe and relube?

Seeing the same thing here, wondered what was up as last winter and winter before - no issue.

magicbastarder

this was my chain a couple of weeks ago:

CrowdedHouse

MojoMaker wrote: »

Chain off and soak, or good wipe and relube?

Seeing the same thing here, wondered what was up as last winter and winter before - no issue.

Looking at my weather station (in N Tipp) there was 13 days with frost (i.e. zero or below) this January compared to 3 days in 19 and 20, so more grit/salt probably.

.red.

I've a trek 1.5, I think a 2015. It's got tiagra levers but the brakes themselves are non branded and marketed as "Alloy dual-pivot"
As with reviews of the bike, the brakes are poor so I'm looking to upgrade.
It'll probably be second hand so wondering what my options are?
Should I be looking for tiagra calipers or can I look for a set of 105 or ultegra calipers and swap them?
Cheers.

magicbastarder

compatibilty wise, there's no concerns. the better spec brakes would be lighter and probably a little bit stiffer, so would give better braking feel, so whatever you can find secondhand, it then depends on your budget.

.red.

.red. wrote: »

I've a trek 1.5, I think a 2015. It's got tiagra levers but the brakes themselves are non branded and marketed as "Alloy dual-pivot"
As with reviews of the bike, the brakes are poor so I'm looking to upgrade.
It'll probably be second hand so wondering what my options are?
Should I be looking for tiagra calipers or can I look for a set of 105 or ultegra calipers and swap them?
Cheers.

Chainreaction have good offers on Tiagra brakes at times. I got a pair and I think they are great.

.red.

magicbastarder wrote: »

compatibilty wise, there's no concerns. the better spec brakes would be lighter and probably a little bit stiffer, so would give better braking feel, so whatever you can find secondhand, it then depends on your budget.

Thank you, is it just the calipers that would need replacing or would I be better off doing the cables too?

magicbastarder

well, unless they were recently replaced, you'd be as well off replacing them while you are going to be swapping the calipers.

.red.

.red. wrote: »

Thank you, is it just the calipers that would need replacing or would I be better off doing the cables too?

Cables are usually OK. No harm to check them while changing the calipers. What you could do is move the cable so the blocks touch the wheel with the brakes not pulled.
Then pull the brakes and see how much sponge there is in the cables. If they feel solid then housing is ok.
If the cable housing was cut badly you can have compression or springing at the ends. Remove housing and file end flat to cure.
I

Now my question.

I was kindly given a CUBE Attention Mtb. I guess 2012 ish. It had one serious issue (I had to rethread bb rhs to Italian thread) and all worn out consumable stuff but €250 later most are fixed. I'm OK with that it's a reasonable bike.

Anyway the fork is a RockShox XC28 that was probably never serviced. I went looking for kits but am unsure:

Do I need this Wiper Kit
https://www.bike24.com/p2129554.html

OR
This more involved kit

https://www.bike24.com/p2132791.html

Neither come with fluid. Do I need that?

Any help appreciated. I would like to service it to keep it going rather than have it wear out from lack of maintenance and have to buy a new fork which would take the good out of the freebie.

.red.

magicbastarder wrote: »

well, unless they were recently replaced, you'd be as well off replacing them while you are going to be swapping the calipers.

Thanks again, I'll keep an eye out on the for sale forum and maybe put up an ad. Cheers.

Plastik

Fratello wrote: »

Now my question.

I was kindly given a CUBE Attention Mtb. I guess 2012 ish. It had one serious issue (I had to rethread bb rhs to Italian thread) and all worn out consumable stuff but €250 later most are fixed. I'm OK with that it's a reasonable bike.

Anyway the fork is a RockShox XC28 that was probably never serviced. I went looking for kits but am unsure:

Do I need this Wiper Kit
https://www.bike24.com/p2129554.html

OR
This more involved kit

https://www.bike24.com/p2132791.html

Neither come with fluid. Do I need that?

Any help appreciated. I would like to service it to keep it going rather than have it wear out from lack of maintenance and have to buy a new fork which would take the good out of the freebie.

Enter the code on the back of the fork crown on the rockshox trailhead website https://trailhead.rockshox.com/en/ and it will tell you what the exact spec is of the fork you have. You can search for the fork and relevant service kit product code in the parts catalog on the main website. Stick the code into google. Bike-components.de seemed to carry a lot of bits I was looking for last week. None of the kits come with fluid or grease - specs for which fluid & the amount will be in the parts catalog under the section for your fork also.

dahat

Simple question for those who know.

New bike means new wheel set & want to add RT900 rotors to them so should I get 140 or 160? Factory wheel set has 160 & in a hefty lad @ 95kgs if that’s an issue.

8valve

dahat wrote: »

Simple question for those who know.

New bike means new wheel set & want to add RT900 rotors to them so should I get 140 or 160? Factory wheel set has 160 & in a hefty lad @ 95kgs if that’s an issue.

Plenty stopping power in 160mm rotors, provided the calipers and pads specced with the bike are up to the task.


I see lots of bikes coming in with either the front or rear pads worn out, and the other pads relatively unused.


Practice balancing your braking by pulling both together, shifting your weight backwards, and obviously with a little less pressure on the front brake lever, to avoid locking up and any unplanned low-level skydiving.

magicbastarder

i find my rear pads wear faster mainly because there's more grit thrown at them and i need to clean them more often.

8valve

magicbastarder wrote: »

i find my rear pads wear faster mainly because there's more grit thrown at them and i need to clean them more often.

Everyone who has ever, at some point, done some low-level skydiving over their handlebars will favour their rear brakes.



Rear pads are generally used more for speed control when descending, and, as you said (thanks to our lovely 'soft' climate) get a lot of 5hite thrown at them.

Tony04

Id say 160 at that weight as it will give you more stopping power, also more heat dissipation as heavier riders brake harder so another advantage in your case unless you tend to use your front brake alot more, or you bike is fitted to have more of your weight on the front . You usually see bigger rotors up front as when you brake your weight goes forward so you have more stopping power there.
If you are sizing up youll need 140 to 160 flatmount adaptors.
Also i personally prefer the xtr rotors over the dura ace as they a bit lighter, you see them being run on pro bikes aswell.
That being said i run 160 140 on my road bikes and they stop fine but then again i am 66kg

CramCycle

While I use both, I would always favour my front brakes as they have the main stopping power on the road. My fronts wear through a lot quicker on both rim and disc brakes. Use my rear more off road to control technical descents but all in all, I would have thought that any bike on the road with proper brake usage will always wear through the front pads quicker

Weepsie

Front wears quicker, back squeals like a big. It's the opposite when I had canti's I found.

MojoMaker

Not on discs myself but always favour the rear brake, especially in the perennial Irish winter weather. Changing out rear pads about twice as often as fronts.

Swiss Stop excellent, but the price for excellence is longevity - 3 months in the wetter months and they're off.

dahat

Tony04 wrote: »

Id say 160 at that weight as it will give you more stopping power, also more heat dissipation as heavier riders brake harder so another advantage in your case unless you tend to use your front brake alot more, or you bike is fitted to have more of your weight on the front . You usually see bigger rotors up front as when you brake your weight goes forward so you have more stopping power there.
If you are sizing up youll need 140 to 160 flatmount adaptors.
Also i personally prefer the xtr rotors over the dura ace as they a bit lighter, you see them being run on pro bikes aswell.
That being said i run 160 140 on my road bikes and they stop fine but then again i am 66kg

Dura ace are for pure look, black in the rotor on a black bike, shameless but ya know.

Bike is default 160 rortors so shouldn't need additional parts & going on your advice i'll get 2 x 160mm.