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

magicbastarder

is there a simple list of chemicals which you should not get near disc brake pads? i.e. would even something like a detergent cause issues with contamination; i was wondering as i was cleaning the bike earlier if i can be overcautious in cleaning the bike near the brakes.

any tips on looking after a steel frame? my latest purchase has mountings for racks and also a couple of unthreaded holes - should i tape those up to keep water out, or leave them uncovered to let the water out should it get in?

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cletus

Some idle thoughts and questions here. My bike currently has Sora STR300, 11-34t cassette with a Sora R3000 derailleur, 48/32t chain set, also with Sora R3000 derailleur.

I've been wondering what would the next step up on the Shimano ladder be, and would it be worth swapping it out on my bike.

I won't be buying a new bike any time soon, so no n+1 suggestions, thanks

gaffmaster

cletus wrote: »

Some idle thoughts and questions here. My bike currently has Sora STR300, 11-34t cassette with a Sora R3000 derailleur, 48/32t chain set, also with Sora R3000 derailleur.

I've been wondering what would the next step up on the Shimano ladder be, and would it be worth swapping it out on my bike.

I won't be buying a new bike any time soon, so no n+1 suggestions, thanks

The next step up would be Tiagra 10-speed, but the better groupset upgrade would be Shimano 105 R7000 11-speed. It's fairly costly to upgrade the gearset though, as you'll need new shifters too. If you're thinking of upgrading a component on your bike, the best money is spent on wheels. Campagnolo Zondas get recommended on here a lot, and they're great value upgrade. Also - much easier to do yourself at home than a groupset swap.

cletus

gaffmaster wrote: »

The next step up would be Tiagra 10-speed, but the better groupset upgrade would be Shimano 105 R7000 11-speed. It's fairly costly to upgrade the gearset though, as you'll need new shifters too. If you're thinking of upgrading a component on your bike, the best money is spent on wheels. Campagnolo Zondas get recommended on here a lot, and they're great value upgrade. Also - much easier to do yourself at home than a groupset swap.

Thanks for that. The Zondas are road wheels, it seems. What's the maximum width tyre you could run on them?

gaffmaster

cletus wrote: »

Thanks for that. The Zondas are road wheels, it seems. What's the maximum width tyre you could run on them?

Sorry that was silly of me to assume you were on a road bike. What type of bike are you thinking of upgrading?

grogi

cletus wrote: »

Some idle thoughts and questions here. My bike currently has Sora STR300, 11-34t cassette with a Sora R3000 derailleur, 48/32t chain set, also with Sora R3000 derailleur.

I've been wondering what would the next step up on the Shimano ladder be, and would it be worth swapping it out on my bike.

Shimano road lineup is: Tourney, Claris, Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra, Dura-Ace.

But it is completely not worth upgrading. Shimano is horrible in recent years when it comes to compatibility - they gradually change the pull ratio on the rear deraileurs. You'd have to go all in and upgrade the brakes to hydraulics as well, shifters and RD.

What's easiest to upgrade is wheels and chainset. You can get an Ultegra chainset for less than €100 if you look at ebay etc - that would give you a significant weight reduction.

cletus

gaffmaster wrote: »

Sorry that was silly of me to assume you were on a road bike. What type of bike are you thinking of upgrading?

It's a gravel bike, currently running 40mm tyres

gaffmaster

cletus wrote: »

It's a gravel bike, currently running 40mm tyres

Zondas won't be ideal in that case. I'm sure someone with gravel bike experience will suggest a better upgrade.

cletus

grogi wrote: »

Shimano road lineup is: Tourney, Claris, Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra, Dura-Ace.

But it is completely not worth upgrading. Shimano is horrible in recent years when it comes to compatibility - they gradually change the pull ratio on the rear deraileurs. You'd have to go all in and upgrade the brakes to hydraulics as well, shifters and RD.

What's easiest to upgrade is wheels and chainset. You can get an Ultegra chainset for less than €100 if you look at ebay etc - that would give you a significant weight reduction.

What benefit would the ultegra chainset offer?

grogi

cletus wrote: »

What benefit would the ultegra chainset offer?

Weight reduction. Going from Sora you can probably cut ~300g.

magicbastarder

going by this link, closer to 170g; ultegra is listed at 674g for a compact arrangement.
http://retao.hatenablog.com/entry/2014/04/28/231436

magicbastarder

main issue you have if you were to try going S/H is the gearing; you'll see less stuff on the market which matches the gearing you're looking for.
what's your budget? and what are the wheels already on it?

cletus

So, the questions being asked are not even questions I've asked myself yet. I don't think weight reduction is a benefit I'm necessarily aiming for. I'm a non competitive, non club member, for the most part solo rider, with some plans to do some bikepacking.

@mb: the wheel that are on it came with the bike, no idea what they are, they have the bike branding on them.

Regarding gearing, I suppose I had a vague idea of moving from 2x9 to 2x10

No idea of budget yet, basically a case of look at proposed cost, and decide 'too much' or 'doable'

Tony04

Microshift advent x 1 x10 gravel looks very nice if your not running hydraulic discs has all the range you need to climb anything/still pick up speed on the flats, thebgear ratios arent close so you cant fine tune it if you like but dont do you need that if your not competitive.
1x saves weight is alot easier to maintain easier to clean less chain slap and better chain retention looks nicer also imo.
If you want to keep 2x id go second hand or try and get stuff on sale the nice thing about gravel bikes is you can kind of give them franken groupsets and it works dont rule out mtb stuff

8valve

tomasrojo wrote: »

If it's a screw-on freewheel you only need one specialised tool: a nut that slots into the splines that surrond the axle. Then you need a ring spanner that fits that nut, and an awful lot of force to unscrew the freewheel. I used to use my legs to get enough force. It usually came free very suddenly but I managed to never injure myself.

Kinda late to the party on this but my go-to method for removing screw-on freewheels is the place the appropriate tool face up in the jaws of a bench-vice, tighten the vice as much as possible without crushing /deforming the toool, then drop the wheel (with freewheel attached) onto the tool and, gripping the wheel rim at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock, turn the wheel anticlockwise to loosen the freewheel...has never failed me yet, as it gives you lots of leverage.

Tony04

Just read the rest of the thread, wheels are probably the best upgrade especially as you get the 11 speed freehub in case you want to upgrade to 11 speed later
Dt swiss g1800 or c1800 or nice also mavic aksiums or hunts
Youd be talking 200/300 quid
I wouldnt suggest going used as used wheelsets can easioy be picked up buckeled etc
Also you might have to get adaptors if youe not using thru axles

Paddigol

Quick question - if I'm swapping out current handlebars on road bike for a new set, other than stem are there any compatibility considerations I should be aware of? Will be getting a new stem anyway to match the bars I'm looking at.

Large bottle small glass

cletus wrote: »

Some idle thoughts and questions here. My bike currently has Sora STR300, 11-34t cassette with a Sora R3000 derailleur, 48/32t chain set, also with Sora R3000 derailleur.

I've been wondering what would the next step up on the Shimano ladder be, and would it be worth swapping it out on my bike.

I won't be buying a new bike any time soon, so no n+1 suggestions, thanks

If your riding is all Irish gravel (i.e. lot so of muck) and backroads, keep what you have, and just maintain it; chain, bearings and cables.

Sora is perfectly adequate and the whole weight saving is boll1x in the main. There is a strong traditions in the UK and elsewhere of people doing your type of riding on much older technology.

https://g.co/kgs/isGgEd

9 speed will be a more rugged drivetrain and cheaper to maintain.

Having a bike your are not precious about is a big plus for your type of riding

Invest in improving your cycling, be that technique, navigation, night riding, a can do attitude whatever.

The only thing that might be beneficial considering your riding would be nice tyres set up tubeless

cletus

Large bottle small glass wrote: »

If your riding is all Irish gravel (i.e. lot so of muck) and backroads, keep what you have, and just maintain it; chain, bearings and cables.

Sora is perfectly adequate and the whole weight saving is boll1x in the main. There is a strong traditions in the UK and elsewhere of people doing your type of riding on much older technology.

https://g.co/kgs/isGgEd

9 speed will be a more rugged drivetrain and cheaper to maintain.

Having a bike your are not precious about is a big plus for your type of riding

Invest in improving your cycling, be that technique, navigation, night riding, a can do attitude whatever.

The only thing that might be beneficial considering your riding would be nice tyres set up tubeless

Thank you. Unbeknownst to myself, this was the response I was looking for. I recently put on a new set of tyres, not tubeless, but I've been slowly leaning that direction.

Also, that book has just been added to my Christmas list

CormacH94

Best quality deep drop brakes? Have 105 5700 STI's for wondering what my options are for deep drops?

Options seen to be;
TRP (very pricey)
Ultegra 6700's (I think they come in a deep drop?)
Tektro's (I think I have rebranded version of these and they are quite spongy)

Type 17

There are Shimano R450/451 long reach callipers, and their lighter(?) 105 version, the R650

Biker79

I prefered Shimano long drops overall, although the sponginess of the Tektros does grow on you. It's a different feel, but no real difference in braking power once set up correctly.

CramCycle

I used the Tektros for years without issue, in fact it was them in the other thread about your fastest speed I was using. I really had no issue with them and would be surprised other than the feel if there was any actual difference in terms of stopping power.

lissard

This might be something that has already been posted in this thread but the Park Tool YouTube channel is just amazing. I have just watched a 30 minute video on how to set up an internally routed dropper post and it was just so comprehensive and clear. Think it will be my go-to source for all maintenance videos in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/c/parktool/featured

magicbastarder

yep, their bar tape wrapping video is the one i used, it was the clearest and most comprehensive.

Type 17

Apart from the clarity and simplicity, I love how they overlay graphics on the video where required, which helps explain what the voiceover is referring to - the rear derailleur video is a great example (link starts at a graphic-heavy section)

cletus

I've said it before on here, but oftentimes when I'm doing a job I'll have the Park Tools video playing even if I'm not watching it. I like to have Calvin talking in the background.

Now, on to my weekly stupid question. Picked up a Shimano 9 speed chain today and, perhaps stupidly, assumed it would have a master link. It doesn't. It does have two pins, though.

The stupid question is, can I buy a masterlink and put it on? Are there particular sizes for different speed chains?

Sort of a bonus stupid question. Came across a guy on a different forum who claimed that he always completely degreases a new chain, dries it and then relives before first use. Necessary?

Type 17

cletus wrote: »

...question is, can I buy a masterlink and put it on? Are there particular sizes for different speed chains?

Sort of a bonus stupid question. Came across a guy on a different forum who claimed that he always completely degreases a new chain, dries it and then relives before first use. Necessary?

Yes, you can use a master/quick link if you press out the open outer-plate link on the new chain, so you're left with an inner-plate link at both ends.

Quick links are different widths, so definitely get a 9-speed one.

I've degreased new chains and I've just lubed over the shipping-lube (only there to prevent rusting in transit), and I couldn't see any difference in overall chain-life. The factory lube is nothing special though, so do lube a new chain before (or shortly after) first use.

cletus

Fair play type 17.

Here's a question. Have you ever asked a question on this thread

Type 17

cletus wrote: »

...Have you ever asked a question on this thread

No, when I needed to ask questions, there was no internet, so I asked all my questions of mechanics in bike shops in the 1980's

07Lapierre

Type 17 wrote: »

Yes, you can use a master/quick link if you press out the open outer-plate link on the new chain, so you're left with an inner-plate link at both ends.

Quick links are different widths, so definitely get a 9-speed one.

I've degreased new chains and I've just lubed over the shipping-lube (only there to prevent rusting in transit), and I couldn't see any difference in overall chain-life. The factory lube is nothing special though, so do lube a new chain before (or shortly after) first use.

I've never lubed Any new chain before I've fitted it. I find the lube on a new chain is always the best. It's probably because The lube is applied to the individual parts during the manufacturing process, so it gets to the parts of the chain that can't be reached once it's assembled.