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

Paul_Mc1988

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Great stuff Paul. 2 ordered from Blacks. (Never heard of them before!). Thanks.

Glad i could help. I use an app called cycling bargains and it pulls from every English site crc, wiggle, Evans and a host of small ones you would never hear of. You can do a simple search and it nevet fails ams gives you the cheapest option first. Its literally save me 100s.

vg88

Got new tyres the other day as advised here so thanks guys!

I took the wheel off and realised a plastic bag got mashed up in the gears. I never noticed this took about 30 minutes to peel off, now I have at least 7kpm higher speed

North of 32

The shop I bought my bike from recommends an inspection after 500km. I bought it just over a month ago and I've done almost 500km in the last 3 weeks. 90% has been on roads and the rest on pretty easy gravel trails.

I've been keeping it fairly clean, lubing the chain etc - is 500km too soon for an inspection?

I'm quite keen to prevent long-term damage because I cannot really afford to replace or fix breakages.

Any reputable shop worth it's salt will be telling you to bring it back for an inspection/check after the bike has had a chance to "bed in" usually after a month or so many kilometres and should be free.

saccades

Wot he said, cables stretch from new and the gears/brakes will need tweaking.

A quick check of bolts and quick release stuff too.

Thargor

Thargor wrote: »

The cantilever brakes on my junk bike have gone to sh1t, it's an old Raleigh MTB. I have access to a few wrecked MTBs all with calliper brakes, what are the chances of me being able to swap them out? Easy or impossible? Just the front will do...

Weepsie wrote: »

You'd need to make sure they have enough clearance first of all. Maybe change the cables, and do some adjustment. Cantis are tempermental.

I might have an old pair of Tektro Oryx that I no longer use if they're of any use.

Type 17 wrote: »

You can convert to linear-pull brakes (v-brakes), because the frame bosses are the same, but be aware that the pull ratio of the levers is different, so you may need new levers too.

Well that was relatively painless. I just slid the brake levers and brakes off a wrecked MTB I found in a skip and slid them onto mine and its like a new bike, should have done it ages ago, plug and play

jamesd

Looking to fit a chain catcher to my bike, front derailleur is ultegra 6800 di2. (Braze on)
Looking at the install sheet it it says remove bolt that holds on front derailleur, I am worried now about lining up the mechanical when I'm bolting it back on again - I shouldn't have to do any adjustments since there is no cable since di2?

Paul_Mc1988

No once its in the exact same position you should be good to go. Put a piece of tape above and below to mark it and just peal of when done.

jamesd

Paul_Mc1988 wrote: »

No once its in the exact same position you should be good to go. Put a piece of tape above and below to mark it and just peal of when done.

Thanks very much Paul, will give it a try.

Roberto_gas

Lads what all things do i need to maintain my brand new bike ? Degreaser, chain oil are top two in my list...anything else ?

Milk_Tray

I have a TT bike and run an 11-25 rear and 52/36

I feel I need more gears on flats and down hill and losing speed from it- what do I need to upgrade is it the front sprocket/ crank? I presume it’s a new crank set but unsure what’s a good number to get

07Lapierre

Your spinning out a 52x11? Impressive! You can't get a 10 sprocket, so your only option is a bigger chainring..e.g. A 53 or more.

What chainset do you have?

CramCycle

As a matter of interest, what is your cadence like when your losing speed?

Type 17

Roberto_gas wrote: »

Lads what all things do i need to maintain my brand new bike ? Degreaser, chain oil are top two in my list...anything else ?

Track pump for weekly tyre pressure checks/top-ups.
Chain-wear gauge, to keep an eye on the wear, so you can replace the chain before it wears the cassette too much and you need a new one of them as well.
Light spray oil for non-chain parts that need occasional lubing - front derailleur pivots, brake pivots, etc (keep spray away from disc brakes - contaminated discs/pads = squealing).

CramCycle

Always handy to have a second bike as well :pac:

ED E

Roberto_gas wrote: »

Lads what all things do i need to maintain my brand new bike ? Degreaser, chain oil are top two in my list...anything else ?

In case you haven't already: Saddle bag with all the essentials. Practice with Co2 at home.

CramCycle

Rolled my bike into the office and went to hide it in a cupboard as people started filling up the stairwells with bikes and the fire marshals rightly went mental. When I put it up on its back wheel about a litre of water flowed out.

Its an alu frame, is there anything to worry about that i should take it apart and clean / dry? Or will just taking off the seat post and leaving it for a few hours be OK?

07Lapierre

CramCycle wrote: »

Rolled my bike into the office and went to hide it in a cupboard as people started filling up the stairwells with bikes and the fire marshals rightly went mental. When I put it up on its back wheel about a litre of water flowed out.

Its an alu frame, is there anything to worry about that i should take it apart and clean / dry? Or will just taking off the seat post and leaving it for a few hours be OK?

Yes, remove the seat post, turn the bike upside down and drain any water out.
Remember to re-grease the seatpost when refitting!

Type 17

Bottom bracket unit may be water-damaged, but it’s either properly sealed and it’s ok, or the damage is already done, and you’ll need a new one soon.

CramCycle

Type 17 wrote: »

Bottom bracket unit may be water-damaged, but it’s either properly sealed and it’s ok, or the damage is already done, and you’ll need a new one soon.

Tis sealed and only a few weeks old, it was only out in the wet once, another 100ml came out when I took out the seat tube.

Type 17

Then the BB is probably fine, but long-term, water sitting inside a frame sits in the lowest part, the BB shell, and no seal lasts forever...

North of 32

I recently went through a large puddle and since then there's been a creaking in my bike when I put a lot of torque through the right pedal, but only when I set off.

The sound seems to come from the big ring/right pedal/right crank/bottom bracket area. I don't think it's the front derailleur and the sound is definitely not coming from the rear of the bike. The sound stops once I get going. It's only there when I'm setting off, not while I'm cycling (as far as I can tell)

It's puzzling. I have lubed the chain since but it has not improved. Any ideas?

Paul_Mc1988

Iv been considering replacing mine also due to a creak from the left side but i dont have a clue about BB standards. Generally if im replacing something i like to give it a bit of an upgrade. From the giant website it has a shimano BB-RS500 Press fit. Its running a 105 groupset. Anyone point me in the direction of a upgrade or what i can put in?

magicbastarder

North of 32 wrote: »

It's puzzling. I have lubed the chain since but it has not improved. Any ideas?

might sound a little odd, but put a tiny drop of lube around each spoke nipple. just in case it's a spoke flexing a little where it meets the rim. has fixed creaking for me twice previously.

07Lapierre

North of 32 wrote: »

I recently went through a large puddle and since then there's been a creaking in my bike when I put a lot of torque through the right pedal, but only when I set off.

The sound seems to come from the big ring/right pedal/right crank/bottom bracket area. I don't think it's the front derailleur and the sound is definitely not coming from the rear of the bike. The sound stops once I get going. It's only there when I'm setting off, not while I'm cycling (as far as I can tell)

It's puzzling. I have lubed the chain since but it has not improved. Any ideas?

Remove your rear wheel..clean the frame dropouts and the wheel axle ends. Put a drop of oil on your little finger and apply the oil to the dropouts and the axle. Do this for the front wheel also. Refit your wheels, make it sure they are tight and I bet it solves your problem.

Wishbone Ash

I'm a bit puzzled!

I changed the cassette and chain (10 speed) on one of my bikes today - something I've done countless times.

When I tightened up the lock nut, there was still a bit of play in the sprockets even though I used the 1mm spacer provided. I fitted a second spacer and this time it tightened up as normal.

I took it for a test ride and it appears to be working fine but I'm a bit perplexed. I never had to use a second spacer before and I've used several types of cassettes (Tiagra, 105, Ultegra). Any ideas?

Milk_Tray

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I'm a bit puzzled!

I changed the cassette and chain (10 speed) on one of my bikes today - something I've done countless times.

When I tightened up the lock nut, there was still a bit of play in the sprockets even though I used the 1mm spacer provided. I fitted a second spacer and this time it tightened up as normal.

I took it for a test ride and it appears to be working fine but I'm a bit perplexed. I never had to use a second spacer before and I've used several types of cassettes (Tiagra, 105, Ultegra). Any ideas?

Was there a spacer missing from the last few cogs?

North of 32

North of 32 wrote: »

I recently went through a large puddle and since then there's been a creaking in my bike when I put a lot of torque through the right pedal, but only when I set off.

The sound seems to come from the big ring/right pedal/right crank/bottom bracket area. I don't think it's the front derailleur and the sound is definitely not coming from the rear of the bike. The sound stops once I get going. It's only there when I'm setting off, not while I'm cycling (as far as I can tell)

It's puzzling. I have lubed the chain since but it has not improved. Any ideas?

Turns out the noise was coming from a dirty drive train. After a thorough clean the noise disappeared.

Wishbone Ash

Milk_Tray wrote: »

Was there a spacer missing from the last few cogs?

Do you mean the normal plastic spacer between the smaller cogs? They are all present and inserted correctly. (Otherwise the chain wouldn't have changed sprockets properly).

dahat

If I try to move the crank arms there is some play which seems like a BB to me, safe to assume this?
It seems to be a BB72, tcr advanced 1.

Any idea on lbs charges for a replacement? Headset last week and bb this week.... Gggrrgghhhh