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

velo.2010 · 16-05-2021 04:18PM

Don't buy cheap gear cable when replacing a worn cable!! I fell foul of that false economy after the sudden failure of a long lasting rear mech cable. Went into CSS and found only €30 cable sets on display — sure I wasn't paying that to replace one cable. Asked a mechanic for anything in the back and he came out and gave me a loop of cable for €1.50! I should have known... Cue continously slackening shifting for the past week or so.

I've ordered some quality Jagwire cable and hope that resolves the shifting issue. Oh, and bought some PFTE tubing on ebay to use as a cable guide to avoid the PITA that is running cable through internally routed frames.

Type 17 · 16-05-2021 04:38PM

All brake and gear cable inner wires (even good quality stuff like Jagwire) need pre-stretching before final indexing.

Feed it through the pinch-bolt, shift to the fully-pulled gear (big sprocket for RD, big ring for FD) then give the cable a stretch (with your hand on an exposed section, but you can use the shifter on fully-enclosed cables) and then pull the cable through the pinch bolt again, finish off with the barrel adjuster if required.

The €1.50 cable has probably finished stretching now, so if you don't want the hassle of changing it again, give it a final stretch to be sure and index it one more time, and it should stay set up.

16-05-2021 08:18PM

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice, managed to get the power meter with cranks and existing chainrings installed on the bike. Hopefully if the weather holds tomorrow I'll get a chance to try it outside :-)

The only difficulty I encountered was getting the drive side crank in all the way, I had to hit it harder than I would have liked using a DIY rubber mallet which I made by wrapping an old inner tube around a normal hammer.

Hope you don't mind but I've decided to give away the old cranks and spider to the first person that asked.

adrian522 · 17-05-2021 09:46AM

Ever since I dropped my bike in for its free 6 week service I'm having trouble with noise from the front derailleur. But worse than that yesterday it wasn't shifting onto the lower ring at times. A couple of times I needed to use my hand to push it in.

Any idea what causes this, is it an easy fix or should I drop it back into the shop?

Maidhci · 17-05-2021 10:42AM

adrian522 wrote: »

Ever since I dropped my bike in for its free 6 week service I'm having trouble with noise from the front derailleur. But worse than that yesterday it wasn't shifting onto the lower ring at times. A couple of times I needed to use my hand to push it in.

Any idea what causes this, is it an easy fix or should I drop it back into the shop?

I would definitely drop it back to the shop again before I would attempt to fix it. It should be very easy for them to make the necessary adjustments. Explain that the problem has arisen since the service etc. Have you used this bike shop before or do you know if they have a good reputation for servicing etc.

07Lapierre · 17-05-2021 01:40PM

Weepsie wrote: »

I'm living to regret this campagnolo groupset choice.

BB that came with it is English threaded, and so now I don't know which of the ultra torque BBS I need. There seems to be 2-3 options depending on age or model of crank.

I'd presume it just the standard one but still.

Regretting not buying the campy carbon brake pads from fat bloke on ear too.

I fitted these to a Ribble Frame (68mm BSA thread)
https://www.mantel.com/ie/campagnolo-record-ultratorque-cups

17-05-2021 06:22PM

Bit of a disaster today, although it's my fault for not checking everything was working perfectly before setting off. Ever since the reinstallation of the new cranks I'm having trouble shifting in the front chainrings the front derailleur drop's the chain in-between the big and small cog at first I was able to free it and get it back on but now the chain has jammed. I've attached a picture of what I mean.

putting a positive spin on things I managed to not crash and I wasn't too far from home.

07Lapierre · 17-05-2021 06:35PM

Weepsie wrote: »

I need the Italian thread which is out of stock and wiggle and CRC give conflicting information regarding it working with the 11 speed centaur.

Also, the centaur shifters are teeny. I'll be like zoolander and his anger about the tiny school

Can't see how wouldn't work with a cantaur chainset. I suppose you could ask the supplier you are buying from to confirm that they are compatible?

Type 17 · 17-05-2021 07:07PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Bit of a disaster today, although it's my fault for not checking everything was working perfectly before setting off. Ever since the reinstallation of the new cranks I'm having trouble shifting in the front chainrings the front derailleur drop's the chain in-between the big and small cog at first I was able to free it and get it back on but now the chain has jammed. I've attached a picture of what I mean.

putting a positive spin on things I managed to not crash and I wasn't too far from home.

The chain shouldn't be able to get in between the rings like that - do the crank manufacturers say that you can use Shimano rings? (I presume so, given that those rings have a Shimano-unique bolt pattern).

Is there any way to get them closer together? (remove spacers, etc)

Brian? · 17-05-2021 07:10PM

adrian522 wrote: »

Ever since I dropped my bike in for its free 6 week service I'm having trouble with noise from the front derailleur. But worse than that yesterday it wasn't shifting onto the lower ring at times. A couple of times I needed to use my hand to push it in.

Any idea what causes this, is it an easy fix or should I drop it back into the shop?

Drop of oil down the cable outers and on thr derailleur spring

ednwireland · 17-05-2021 07:15PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Bit of a disaster today, although it's my fault for not checking everything was working perfectly before setting off. Ever since the reinstallation of the new cranks I'm having trouble shifting in the front chainrings the front derailleur drop's the chain in-between the big and small cog at first I was able to free it and get it back on but now the chain has jammed. I've attached a picture of what I mean.

putting a positive spin on things I managed to not crash and I wasn't too far from home.

i had that happen out in the burren once, que sitting at the side of the road taking chain ring apart to get the chain out. at least it was a nice day. never happened again

17-05-2021 08:10PM

Looks like I will be getting more use out of my DIY rubber mallet, I suspect I put the inner chainring on back to front.

There is an image here in this thread that explains what I mean.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/chain-getting-stuck-between-chainrings/

cletus · 17-05-2021 08:22PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Looks like I will be getting more use out of my DIY rubber mallet, I suspect I put the inner chainring on back to front.

There is an image here in this thread that explains what I mean.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/chain-getting-stuck-between-chainrings/

At least it's a relatively easy fix, and it's all a learning curve

CramCycle · 18-05-2021 08:47AM

adrian522 wrote: »

Ever since I dropped my bike in for its free 6 week service I'm having trouble with noise from the front derailleur. But worse than that yesterday it wasn't shifting onto the lower ring at times. A couple of times I needed to use my hand to push it in.

Any idea what causes this, is it an easy fix or should I drop it back into the shop?

Check the chainring bolts if its a Shimano 4 bolt, they sometimes are not tightened enough and if one or two come loose shifting becomes intermittent in its success and a chain can drop between the two. The sooner you check it the less likely you are too do any other damage to it.

RebelButtMunch · 18-05-2021 08:49AM

Maidhci wrote: »

I would definitely drop it back to the shop again before I would attempt to fix it. It should be very easy for them to make the necessary adjustments. Explain that the problem has arisen since the service etc. Have you used this bike shop before or do you know if they have a good reputation for servicing etc.

Yeah I'd bring it back too, it sounds like it could be a cable that's not tightened properly

Brian? · 18-05-2021 08:59AM

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

Yeah I'd bring it back too, it sounds like it could be a cable that's not tightened properly

If it's not shifting down it's because there is too much tension on the cable or the cable tension isn't released because it's catching somewhere.

adrian522 · 18-05-2021 09:02PM

Brian? wrote: »

If it's not shifting down it's because there is too much tension on the cable or the cable tension isn't released because it's catching somewhere.

Sounds likely I think as tightening the cables is pretty much what they do during these 6 week services.

tdf7187 · 20-05-2021 03:25PM

Can anyone help me with this, the gap between my rear derailleur and cassette seems far too large. Everywhere I look online says the gap should be between 5 and 9 mm depending on the bike, it is much larger than that on mine. I tried adjusting the gap adjuster ("B Screw") to little effect. Gear change functions ok, could be a little smoother:

hesker · 20-05-2021 03:35PM

tdf7187 wrote: »

Can anyone help me with this, the gap between my rear derailleur and cassette seems far too large. Everywhere I look online says the gap should be between 5 and 9 mm depending on the bike, it is much larger than that on mine. I tried adjusting the gap adjuster ("B Screw") to little effect. Gear change functions ok, could be a little smoother:

What happens if you remove b screw altogether

Chain might be too long. Can you post a pic from a bit further away

tdf7187 · 20-05-2021 03:37PM

^ Removed B-Screw, screwed it back in but only a few turns. Distance now better but still slightly too big, approx 1cm maybe a little more.

Yeah was thinking you meant chain too long rather than too short.

ARX · 20-05-2021 04:25PM

Weepsie wrote: »

An update on this and as I had feared but dared not say, lbs thinks the threads have basically come unbonded from the frame.

My bike is dead, long live my bike. I just bought a campag groupset for it an all. This is incredibly poor timing.

fat bloke might have a spare frame lying around that he's not using ...

hesker · 20-05-2021 04:37PM

tdf7187 wrote: »

^ Removed B-Screw, screwed it back in but only a few turns. Distance now better but still slightly too big, approx 1cm maybe a little more.

Yeah was thinking you meant chain too long rather than too short.

Put the chain on big ring on front and second biggest on back and post a photo. The der should be fairly stretched out in that combo.

Do same for small small to see how wrapped the der is

tdf7187 · 20-05-2021 05:20PM

hesker wrote: »

Put the chain on big ring on front and second biggest on back and post a photo. The der should be fairly stretched out in that combo.

hesker wrote: »

Do same for small small to see how wrapped the der is

Type 17 · 20-05-2021 05:50PM

Chain is a few links too long - the official Shimano check is put the chain in the highest gear (biggest ring, smallest sprocket,) and the small silver bolts for the jockey wheels should be vertical, one above the other, or close to it.

tdf7187 · 20-05-2021 05:58PM

Type 17 wrote: »

Chain is a few links too long - the official Shimano check is put the chain in the highest gear (biggest ring, smallest sprocket,) and the small silver bolts for the jockey wheels should be vertical, one above the other, or close to it.

Ah ok thanks. Edit: do you not mean lowest gear?

Wishbone Ash · 20-05-2021 07:41PM

The right cleat on one of my shoes is losing tightness on longer rides. It's not becoming visibly loose but requires about quarter of a turn of the bolts to tighten it again. It's not a big deal when solo but very annoying to others on a group ride as it begins to squeak (especially when climbing or out of the saddle).

I'm reluctant to use Loctite or similar products in case I won't be able to remove them again when required. I've never had this problem before. I can temporarily stop the squeaking by moving my heel slightly to the right (but it naturally drifts back to proper position).

Any advice/tips? Thanks.

Brian? · 20-05-2021 07:45PM

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

The right cleat on one of my shoes is losing tightness on longer rides. It's not becoming visibly loose but requires about quarter of a turn of the bolts to tighten it again. It's not a big deal when solo but very annoying to others on a group ride as it begins to squeak (especially when climbing or out of the saddle).

I'm reluctant to use Loctite or similar products in case I won't be able to remove them again when required. I've never had this problem before. I can temporarily stop the squeaking by moving my heel slightly to the right (but it naturally drifts back to proper position).

Any advice/tips? Thanks.

Use blue loctite and it'll be ok to remove. Don't use red

Speedplay cleat screws come pre coated in loctite, I'm surprised more don't

Wishbone Ash · 20-05-2021 07:58PM

Brian? wrote: »

Use blue loctite and it'll be ok to remove. Don't use red...

Great stuff thanks. I didn't know there are different types.

Brian? · 20-05-2021 08:22PM

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Great stuff thanks. I didn't know there are different types.

Yeah, the blue stuff isn't hard to break at all. I've used it loads over the years in industrial settings.

MangleBadger · 20-05-2021 08:34PM

So my new wheels finally arrived. Spent the afternoon fighting with tyres and tubes. Forgot to put some rim tape on so punctured a tube. Also put the tyres on the wrong direction. Finally they’re ready to be mounted.
Open my new rotors and pads to find out the rotors did not come with lock rings. And my old wheels are 6 bolt.
Hopefully I can pick some lock rings up locally tomorrow.

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

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