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

Tony04

saccades wrote: »

My MTB has 500% range, how much more do you need?

My next road bike will be 1x

I guess a 50t set up with an 10t (I'd imagine if 1x is going mainstream it's going to be microspline that will do it) 50 t cassette would work. So you have you 5:1 ratio to grind away on flats and 1:1 ratio as your granny gear.

But I still cant see this working;
Big range cassettes are heavy to save weight you see aluminium rings being used on the mtb but these wear quicker, you can get away with this on the mtb as they're very scarcely used because you already have the smaller 30-36t chainring on the front.

On a road bike your going to be using the high cogs alot
presuming you have a big chainring so you'll have to use steel rings unless you want to pay to change your cassette alot.
The deore 12 speed cassette, all steel, weighs about 600 grams so youd probably have to have something similar on the road bike also your rd is going to be heavier because of the higher range, so you acctually wouldnt be saving weight, when you think about it.

Also on a road bike a 500% range cassette is going to be very jumpy and hard to find the right gear so I dont think it will take off.

Even though it's much more a pain to maintain I think for the wide choice of gears I'll be sticking with 2x.

Even for the maintenance benefits the cassette mightnt be as mainstream and therefore harder and more expensive to change

Saying that I did spin the other day around ncd when I didnt shift down on the small chainring although equally did 50k with 1000+ elevation the next day that I wouldnt of completed without the little ring

statto25

Very daft question but what direction do you turn the front dereilleur barrel tensioner on an internally routed cable? I would be sitting on the bike if you get me

grogi

statto25 wrote: »

Very daft question but what direction do you turn the front dereilleur barrel tensioner on an internally routed cable? I would be sitting on the bike if you get me

That's a regular thread, so Left to give it more tension, right less tension.

statto25

grogi wrote: »

That's a regular thread, so Left to give it more tension, right less tension.

Thank you. Ive always had external cabling so wasnt sure.

smacl

statto25 wrote: »

Thank you. Ive always had external cabling so wasnt sure.

If you're trying to tighten it, it will be a bit easier if you pull the front mech towards you while doing it to give you a bit of slack. Was doing this the other day myself and the in-line barrel adjuster was very stiff and a bit awkward.

Weepsie

Not quite maintenance, but mudguards on a disc frame.

Have also blummels for tour de fer but no matter how I mount it , the front at least seems to be a bit tight.

I've used a longer bolt and bent one of the stays a bit, but that pulls the other one a bit.

I think it's okay for now, but anyone other ideas or recommendations as I can easily stick these on another bike

irishrover99

irishrover99 wrote: »

I dropped my bike into a lbs yo have the BB changed. The new BB is a bigger size so it needed the front derailleur adjusted.
When I collected it, the guy told me that I could do with a new front gear cable. I thought nothing of it as it was perfect when I dropped it in.
So cycling home I changed gear and it went to the small ring fine but it would not go into the big ring without a lot of pressure and it kinda jumps into the big chain ring. So today I spent 2 hours fiddling about trying to the change the cable and eventually I got it through the frame but it made no difference at all. It’s still very hard to push into the big chain ring.
Can anyone give any ideas to why this happened.
I’m pissed tbh and looks like I’ll end up bringing it to another shop which will cost me more money.

So just to update this. I bought a new r7000 front derailleur and it solved the issue. There was already an in-line barrel adjuster(as some suggested) on the cable but it didn’t resolve the issue well enough.

Thanks for the assistance.

onlineweb

I was 20 km into a cycle when my rear wheel started to make noise. At first I thought it might have been a branch wedged in the wheel, but there was nothing there.

Then I checked the chain and disc breaks, they both appear to be operating fine.

However, I noticed that the wheel is wobbling slightly from side to side. Any ideas?

magicbastarder

when you say it's wobbling - can you actually wobble the wheel from side to side? or is the wobble caused by a buckle in the rim?
are all spokes present and reasonably tight? i.e. no obvious looseness?

onlineweb

magicbastarder wrote: »

when you say it's wobbling - can you actually wobble the wheel from side to side? or is the wobble caused by a buckle in the rim?
are all spokes present and reasonably tight? i.e. no obvious looseness?

No, you only notice it moving from side to side when you spin the wheel.

Wheel, rim & spokes all appear to be ok.

Tony04

Thru axles/ qr skewer loose???

onlineweb

Tony04 wrote: »

Thru axles/ qr skewer loose???

Thru axle and quick release appear to be tight.

Type 17

Maybe loosen the thru-axle, jiggle the wheel (with the bike upright on its wheels), and then re-tighten the thru-axle.

onlineweb

Type 17 wrote: »

Maybe loosen the thru-axle, jiggle the wheel (with the bike upright on its wheels), and then re-tighten the thru-axle.

Unfortunately it didn’t work. It’s got worse.

Any suggestions?

Type 17

Cones have come loose?

Take a pic of two of the axle on the non-drive side - let's have a look at what we're dealing with.

What kind of noise is/was it?

onlineweb

Type 17 wrote: »

Cones have come loose?

Take a pic of two of the axle on the non-drive side - let's have a look at what we're dealing with.

What kind of noise is/was it?

Cones and the axle were ok.

It turns out that I need new ball bearings.

Effects

Looking for some advice on an issue with losing traction/power on my rear wheel. Seems to happen when I'm pushing hard, and hitting bumpy road service. Gears are indexing fine, so I don't think it's an issue with the derailleur/cogs. Could it be the freehub being worn out, so it's losing traction internally?

I haven't checked for chain wear, in case that could be the issue. I've order a wear checker anyway, but might not get it for a week or two.

According to Bikeradar:

A broken freehub is usually made apparent by the loss of power to the back wheel when pedalling. While many freehubs can be serviced, it’s easier to just replace basic Shimano models.

Had a few close calls, but then last Friday it happened when I was sprinting through a junction and I went down pretty hard. Scrapes and bruising from my ankles up to my shoulders.

Thinking of replacing the Shimano R500 wheelset for a CAMPAGNOLO CALIMA C17 WHEELSET to see if that will sort the issue out. Old wheels are out of true anyway, and seems like Shimano don't make these anymore. Do I need to worry about this:

*If the system weight is 82 kg or more, you should have your bicycle serviced more frequently to check the spoke tension.

I'm about 86kg before the bike weight. So close to 100kg in total when I'm carrying a pack.

cletus

Effects wrote: »

Looking for some advice on an issue with losing traction/power on my rear wheel. Seems to happen when I'm pushing hard, and hitting bumpy road service. Gears are indexing fine, so I don't think it's an issue with the derailleur/cogs. Could it be the freehub being worn out, so it's losing traction internally?

I haven't checked for chain wear, in case that could be the issue. I've order a wear checker anyway, but might not get it for a week or two.

According to Bikeradar:

Had a few close calls, but then last Friday it happened when I was sprinting through a junction and I went down pretty hard. Scrapes and bruising from my ankles up to my shoulders.

Thinking of replacing the Shimano R500 wheelset for a CAMPAGNOLO CALIMA C17 WHEELSET to see if that will sort the issue out. Old wheels are out of true anyway, and seems like Shimano don't make these anymore. Do I need to worry about this:

I'm about 86kg before the bike weight. So close to 100kg in total when I'm carrying a pack.

When you say you're losing traction, is it at the crank or the wheel itself. As in, the tyre is not holding traction on the ground, or it feels like she merging mechanical is slipping. If it feels mechanical, there could be wear on the pawl and ratchet, or perhaps even dirt in there

Effects

The tyre is holding traction to the ground alright. It feels like mechanical slipping. That's why I'm wondering if it's the hub.
If the chain was worn, it would slip on the cogs right?

a_squirrelman

Hi,
I have an issue where the chain won't go back up on to the higher chain ring. What I don't understand is that if I hop off the bike, lift the back wheel and pedal by hand it immediately jumps up to the higher one, which makes no sense to me.
Any advice on what could be the issue? I have two chain rings and my gf has the exact same issue on her newish bike, where she has three chain rings, and she can't get from the smallest to middle one.
Thanks!

cletus

Effects wrote: »

The tyre is holding traction to the ground alright. It feels like mechanical slipping. That's why I'm wondering if it's the hub.
If the chain was worn, it would slip on the cogs right?

Should do. Might be worth having a look at the freehub, if you have the tools

shanec1928

what is the name of the piece of plastic that you put in between the pads when you have the wheel off, for disk brakes

a pad spacer? like for if you have the wheel off while the bike is in the car or something?

EDIT: If memory serves there are ones specific to the different manufacturers and discs, but open to correction on that.

Type 17

Effects wrote: »

Looking for some advice on an issue with losing traction/power on my rear wheel. Seems to happen when I'm pushing hard, and hitting bumpy road service. Gears are indexing fine, so I don't think it's an issue with the derailleur/cogs. Could it be the freehub being worn out, so it's losing traction internally?

I haven't checked for chain wear, in case that could be the issue. I've order a wear checker anyway, but might not get it for a week or two.

According to Bikeradar:

Had a few close calls, but then last Friday it happened when I was sprinting through a junction and I went down pretty hard. Scrapes and bruising from my ankles up to my shoulders.

Thinking of replacing the Shimano R500 wheelset for a CAMPAGNOLO CALIMA C17 WHEELSET to see if that will sort the issue out. Old wheels are out of true anyway, and seems like Shimano don't make these anymore. Do I need to worry about this:

I'm about 86kg before the bike weight. So close to 100kg in total when I'm carrying a pack.

Sounds like the freewheel is dying - unless the wheels are in great condition (you mentioned that they're not), it's probably best to look at a new wheel-set.

shanec1928

Deleted User wrote: »

a pad spacer? like for if you have the wheel off while the bike is in the car or something?

EDIT: If memory serves there are ones specific to the different manufacturers and discs, but open to correction on that.

yes thats the one. must get a spare or two before i loose the first one:D

Effects

cletus wrote: »

Should do. Might be worth having a look at the freehub, if you have the tools

I think my toolset has what I need. But rather than take a look and possibly make it worse, I'll order a new set of wheels and then try and fix this set.

Type 17 wrote: »

Sounds like the freewheel is dying - unless the wheels are in great condition (you mentioned that they're not), it's probably best to look at a new wheel-set.

Yeah, time for a new set!

MojoMaker

Those Shimano R500s are dead even when brand new. Do your cycling future a favour and pick up something a bit nicer. Mavic Aksiums for €200 would be a nice step up from R500s.

Effects

MojoMaker wrote: »

Those Shimano R500s are dead even when brand new. Do your cycling future a favour and pick up something a bit nicer. Mavic Aksiums for €200 would be a nice step up from R500s.

Need something cheap and cheerful for bashing about on. It's on my commuter bike I use them, and they get a far bit of abuse. Decals easily removable is a bonus. The Shimanos were perfect for that.

Although I see Aksiums going for 150, which is only slightly more than the Campags https://www.rosebikes.com/campagnolo-calima-c17-wheelset-hged-2668759?product_shape=black

Nicer spoke pattern on the rear Campag wheel though.

woody33

Ok, say I've recently cleaned and lubed my chain, and then go for a short spin after it rained. Just on tarmac, maybe a bit of grassy verge. What would be a good way to remove any crud without doing a deep clean and relube? Two toothbrushes with a bit of what on 'em? WD40 ("never", I hear the chorus). Oil, maybe? Bring back the fully enclosed chain case, I say. Ta for any ideas.

crosstownk

Wipe with a cloth and relube if the chain is reasonably clean. Sometimes I just relube if recent rides have been in dry weather.

If in doubt, clean and relube.