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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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mvt

I Can deal with anything on my bikes except bottom brackets which always baffle me.

I have a Trek with 105 cranks & I think an octolink BB.

I would like to replace both with a new 105 compact crank & am unsure as to the compatible BB?

Also, if I do this would the same BB be compatible with a sub compact crank?

One last question, would anyone have a online source for a largeish quantity of biodegradable chain degreaser, say a gallon or so ?

Thanks in advance.

Rezident

magicbastarder wrote: »

are they SR2 wheels on it? this ad for a pair shows rim tape.

https://www.carousell.sg/p/giant-s-r2-wheelset-109871287/

yes they are SR2 wheels but no rim tape. It was supposed to come tubeless, but the compressor at the bike shop broke apparently, so they put in normal tubes, which suits me as the whole tubeless thing looks way too complicated for me, but now they keep bursting.

Yep from that photo, it looks like they need rim tape, now why does cycletribe.ie have no rim tape?

Type 17

TerryDi2Center wrote: »

Make sure whatever you plug it into is capable of supplying at least 1.0A... otherwise you can experience issues like these.

And note that many laptop/desktop computers will limit the power output (amps) of the USB ports, so even though the LED will initially light up on the Di2 charger, the PC will cut the current to a really low level after a few seconds, to protect the motherboard - this will keep the LED on, but the battery won't be charged, no matter how long you leave it.

Best use a dedicated charger (that can provide at least 1.0A, as TerryDi2Center says)

LollipopJimmy

Thanks for that, thing is it's rarely charged and plug tops are a commodity in this house. I'll park the one that works offside

padjocollins

deRailleurs, cassettes, chains and the like were a bit of a black hole for me and i suspect a lot like me.
I've moved on to belt drives, gear hubs, hydralic brakes and hard to puncture tires . different game. I can even do some maintenance on the low maintenance bike https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/75398/carbon-gates-belt-drive-need-to-have-lower-gears-to-get-up-steeper-hills-best . Just need to go lick myself I suppose

Great feeling to be able to fix/replace small things on your bike

nicksnikita

LikeTheseOdds wrote: »

Was cleaning my bike today and degreasing / lubing the chain.

I think I may need to replace my chain and get some new tyres for summer.

The chain was in the biggest at the front & and the smallest and largest at the back.

Took a couple of pics of nicks my tyres have picked up.

Fair to see they all need replacing?

E: Approx 1500km done on bike.

I'd be changing those tyres. Puncture waiting to happen in my experience..

EDit

EDit wrote: »

You might be right. Just looked at Shimano website and it seems the short cage R8000 ultegra derailleur can accommodate up to 11-30, so it is possible that my bike (2019 Giant TCR Advanced Pro disc) has the short cage version. Annoyingly, the giant website and all booklets that came with the bike don’t mention cage size. I’ll have to try and find out if you can tell which cage you have from it’s length/dimensions

Edit: just found out that the plastic part between the 2 sprockets has the size written on it (ss = small; gs = medium). Mine has ss, so is small.

Have decided to swap over to medium cage rear derailleur and to stick on a new chain...

online videos i’ve seen suggest that you determine your chain length by putting the chain on the two largest cogs (front and back) but not through the rear derailleur and pulling tight, then adding two links. Is this the best method or are there better ways to determine the optimal length of the chain?

magicbastarder

nicksnikita wrote: »

I'd be changing those tyres. Puncture waiting to happen in my experience..

i've cycled on worse. as mentioned by someone else, as long as it's not through the weave of the tyre, they should be fine.

magicbastarder

EDit wrote: »

Is this the best method or are there better ways to determine the optimal length of the chain?

another method is to go small-small, with the chain running through the RD, and pull the chain tight enough so that it's not fouling against the RD.

LikeTheseOdds

magicbastarder wrote: »

i wouldn't be too worried about those nicks, but it's worth deflating the tyres so you can pinch them and open up the nicks to pick out anything which might be caught in them; the 4th pic has a nick which looks like it could still be occupied.

you should be able to pick up a chain wear checker in many shops, i think i paid under a tenner in halfords. based on this article, it's probably near the end of its life though:
https://cyclingtips.com/2019/08/bicycle-chain-wear-and-checking-for-it/

edit: should have refreshed the page before typing!

There was indeed. A little piece of glass. 1st attachment. 1 in the rear too, I got that out as well!

CramCycle wrote: »

I suspect your chainring is worn quite well but its hard to tell, can you take a pic without the chain on it?

The tyres look grand

Took some pics when i got my bike back today.

Type 17

EDit wrote: »

...putting the chain on the two largest cogs (front and back) but not through the rear derailleur and pulling tight, then adding two links. Is this the best method or are there better ways to determine the optimal length of the chain?

magicbastarder wrote: »

another method is to go small-small, with the chain running through the RD, and pull the chain tight enough so that it's not fouling against the RD.

The official Shimano method* for road bikes and most hybrids is to put the chain on the big front ring and smallest rear sprocket, feed the chain through the RD as normal and then size it so that the bolts holding the two jockey wheels are vertical.

*Shimano only recommend this method for drivetrains with largest rear sprockets of 32 teeth or less - for MTB and other setups, especially if trying something unorthodox (eg; mixing groupsets, trying extra-big cassettes, etc), I use both of the other methods above, to be doubly-sure before closing the pins or speed-links.

nicksnikita

LikeTheseOdds wrote: »

There was indeed. A little piece of glass. 1st attachment. 1 in the rear too, I got that out as well!

Took some pics when i got my bike back today.

Chainring looks fine - not excessively worn

Effects

Had an issue last weekend, and seems I've shorn off the threads on the left side crank on a Tiagra 4700.
Am I right to think you can't buy them individually?

CramCycle

Effects wrote: »

Had an issue last weekend, and seems I've shorn off the threads on the left side crank on a Tiagra 4700.
Am I right to think you can't buy them individually?

You can buy them individually, SJS and the like will have them. Consider this though:
1. You might pick up a 2nd hand crankset which will fit which is probably cheaper 2. Personally if you have the cash, you might get the whole crankset (therefore two new chainrings) for very little more.
3. Last option is to get the crank retapped, CSS done this for me years ago for €20 so worth a try if cash is tight.

Effects

It's got ridges, if that's what they are called, and that's what's worn, as opposed to the threads of the hex bolts that hold the crank in place. So not sure if it can be tapped.

I think to replace the whole set is about €70. It's on my daily bike, which gets a lot of abuse, and I only run it on the smaller front ring anyway.
Have some kind of slippage problem that I haven't got to the bottom of yet either!

CramCycle

Effects wrote: »

It's got ridges, if that's what they are called, and that's what's worn, as opposed to the threads of the hex bolts that hold the crank in place. So not sure if it can be tapped.

I think to replace the whole set is about €70. It's on my daily bike, which gets a lot of abuse, and I only run it on the smaller front ring anyway.
Have some kind of slippage problem that I haven't got to the bottom of yet either!

Ah, I presumed it was the pedal part. Not sure if they can be done or not. Here are prices for you

Whole crankset €80 from Rose (34/48, others sizes are more 170mm), Bike 24 and others will also have them for similar prices
Left Crank €60 from SJS

At least if you order the full one you can tick the chainrings off possible reasons.

cletus

Effects wrote: »

It's got ridges, if that's what they are called, and that's what's worn, as opposed to the threads of the hex bolts that hold the crank in place. So not sure if it can be tapped.

I think to replace the whole set is about €70. It's on my daily bike, which gets a lot of abuse, and I only run it on the smaller front ring anyway.
Have some kind of slippage problem that I haven't got to the bottom of yet either!

Put up a picture, should be easy tell if its repairable

CramCycle

Also, while the right arm of this set isn't compatible, the left arm should be:
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/shimano-fc-e8050-crank-arms/rp-prod198744?gs=1&sku=sku798745&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=PLA+All+Products&utm_medium=base&gclid=Cj0KCQjwi7yCBhDJARIsAMWFScOTztTkl8fK27sz_6JZu2koTkUXEwUijUgWtFHMPGGpt4jwvfyA5WcaAhRJEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&mx01=a&mx02=a

Although I accept no responsibility if I am wrong.

Effects

Here's a few images. Seems the bottom bracket might have been too wide, so full contact wasn't made, putting more pressure where contact was made.

cletus

Tapping only refers to circular threads. They are splines that are worn. They might be broached or machined. Either way, your not repairing them

Effects

Splines. Good to know what they are called!

Rowley Birkin QC

I'm very much a fair weather cyclist and I've never really done any maintenance on my road bike, Kelly's Arc 3.0. I'm also taking the thread title at face value.

I bought one of these Park Tool Cyclone Chain Scrubber after noticing my chain looked a bit (a lot) grubby.

I don't have a bike stand and don't really fancy taking the rear wheel off. Can I clean the chain with the wheels in place? Beyond running the chain through the gadget, is there any other easy maintenance I can do to it?

Thanks! I did have a look at the first page but there didn't seem to be a sticky list of questions.

magicbastarder

park tools have a video on chain cleaning, and i think it features that very cleaner:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuwS_nSevy4

nicksnikita

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

I'm very much a fair weather cyclist and I've never really done any maintenance on my road bike, Kelly's Arc 3.0. I'm also taking the thread title at face value.

I bought one of these Park Tool Cyclone Chain Scrubber after noticing my chain looked a bit (a lot) grubby.

I don't have a bike stand and don't really fancy taking the rear wheel off. Can I clean the chain with the wheels in place? Beyond running the chain through the gadget, is there any other easy maintenance I can do to it?

Thanks! I did have a look at the first page but there didn't seem to be a sticky list of questions.

Hey... I have the same chain cleaner. You can clean and lubricate the chain with the wheels in place.

Fill the scrubber with your chosen cleaner, stand the bike against a wall, put the scrubber in place and turn your pedal crank arm backwards for 30 or 40 revolutions. I use citrus degreaser first if the chain is very dirty then do a second run with warm water and fairy liquid and it will be sparkling.

When it dries, apply your choice of lube.

Then look up how to remove rear wheel and clean the cassette - you'll hate how filthy it looks in comparison to the chain :-)

cletus

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

I'm very much a fair weather cyclist and I've never really done any maintenance on my road bike, Kelly's Arc 3.0. I'm also taking the thread title at face value.

I bought one of these Park Tool Cyclone Chain Scrubber after noticing my chain looked a bit (a lot) grubby.

I don't have a bike stand and don't really fancy taking the rear wheel off. Can I clean the chain with the wheels in place? Beyond running the chain through the gadget, is there any other easy maintenance I can do to it?

Thanks! I did have a look at the first page but there didn't seem to be a sticky list of questions.

There's lots of things you could do, depending on your time, inclination and tool selection, but if your just tipping around doing a bit of leisure cycling, wash and lube the chain every so often, and leave everything else alone. If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Rowley Birkin QC

Super, thanks everyone! I don't have much space where I'm based at the moment but will have access to a workshop and shed over the coming months so will be back for more maintenance tips and when I break something! :-)

CianRyan

Does anyone have a lead on spare parts for lower end legacy Shimano groupsets?

I have 2006/7 era Tiagra levers and the hoods are simply manky/falling apart from my acid sweat. As I'm.not about to buy a whole new groupsets, I was wondering if there's anywhere that does replacement parts for older bikes?
Or alternatively, would any newer hoods be likely to fit?

I'm thinking of buying a new bike next summer so I don't won't to drop a bomb on what is already quite outdated.

8valve

CianRyan wrote: »

Does anyone have a lead on spare parts for lower end legacy Shimano groupsets?

I have 2006/7 era Tiagra levers and the hoods are simply manky/falling apart from my acid sweat. As I'm.not about to buy a whole new groupsets, I was wondering if there's anywhere that does replacement parts for older bikes?
Or alternatively, would any newer hoods be likely to fit?

I'm thinking of buying a new bike next summer so I don't won't to drop a bomb on what is already quite outdated.

There's a crowd called Hudz, who do reproduction hoods for shimano stuff in a variety of colours. You might be able to find something in their range?

CianRyan

I had a quick looks, seems I am no longer catered for.
I'm starting to think I may need new levels just to get new hoods, if I can get 9 speed 105, I'd probably get a front derailleur and crankset to complete the set, the rest is 105 now.

LollipopJimmy

CianRyan wrote: »

I had a quick looks, seems I am no longer catered for.
I'm starting to think I may need new levels just to get new hoods, if I can get 9 speed 105, I'd probably get a front derailleur and crankset to complete the set, the rest is 105 now.

Have you tried the antiques roadshow? :pac:

Ebay is potentially your only friend here tbh