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

Wildly Boaring · 12-06-2021 08:48PM

07Lapierre wrote: »

Gear shift cables...I'd replace those,as they tend to fray inside the shifters. If they do, getting the cables out of the shifters can be a pain. I'd replace the complete cables (inner and outer casing).
What about brake pads and tyres?

Tyres are good. Although got my first puncture in 4 years the other day.
Has new pads lately.

Shifter cables probably a good shout

Brian? · 13-06-2021 07:43AM

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Tyres are good. Although got my first puncture in 4 years the other day.
Has new pads lately.

Shifter cables probably a good shout

I’d recommend taking the rear up apart and greasing the wee thangs (the name escapes me now). As someone else said, clean and grease the headset bearing.

I would replace consumables like cables or pad unless they show wear.

Wildly Boaring · 13-06-2021 08:28AM

Brian? wrote: »

I’d recommend taking the rear up apart and greasing the wee thangs.

The rear up?

cletus · 13-06-2021 08:44AM

I'm going to guess he's talking about the rear derailleur and jockey wheels

Brian? · 13-06-2021 08:50AM

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

The rear up?

Rear hub. Sorry, auto correct

cletus · 13-06-2021 08:51AM

Brian? wrote: »

Rear hub. Sorry, auto correct

Ok, so adjusting my guess, the thingamajigs are the pawls

Brian? · 13-06-2021 08:52AM

cletus wrote: »

Ok, so adjusting my guess, the thingamajigs are the pawls

That’s the wee thangs alright.

Wildly Boaring · 13-06-2021 08:53AM

Cheers lads
Now I'm afraid this one is beyond my experience

Are we talking about opening up the rear hub altogether?

cletus · 13-06-2021 08:56AM

You could, it's not overly complicated, but beware of the not so old phrase, "If it ain't broke, fix it 'till it is"

magicbastarder · 13-06-2021 08:58AM

you'll need a special cassette removal tool to do that.

Brian? · 13-06-2021 09:16AM

magicbastarder wrote: »

you'll need a special cassette removal tool to do that.

Yep. I assume everyone has one, sorry for that.

Everyone who’s serious about cycling should have one in fairness. Taking the cassette off is the best way to clean it.

Wildly Boaring · 13-06-2021 09:27AM

Brian? wrote: »

Yep. I assume everyone has one, sorry for that.

Everyone who’s serious about cycling should have one in fairness. Taking the cassette off is the best way to clean it.

I have one.
Never take off cassette to clean.

Brian? · 13-06-2021 10:22AM

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

I have one.
Never take off cassette to clean.

I find it much easier that clearing it on the wheel. You can take it apart and really get it spotless.

positron · 13-06-2021 08:11PM

Here's a really stupid question. I noticed both my wheels have a slight sideways play. Looking at some GCN videos I thought I would try and re-greese the bearings if possible but with the wheels out, I can't see a way to get to the bearings. It looks like there's an end cap or something that wouldn't come off (doesn't have any indentation for spanners etc either).

The wheels are Specialized Diverge stock, DT Swiss something but the hubs says just " SCS-722 R.D". Any ideas? Probly one for LBS? Thanks!!

nicksnikita · 13-06-2021 08:14PM

positron wrote: »

Here's a really stupid question. I noticed both my wheels have a slight sideways play. Looking at some GCN videos I thought I would try and re-greese the bearings if possible but with the wheels out, I can't see a way to get to the bearings. It looks like there's an end cap or something that wouldn't come off (doesn't have any indentation for spanners etc either).

The wheels are Specialized Diverge stock, DT Swiss something but the hubs says just " SCS-722 R.D". Any ideas? Probly one for LBS? Thanks!!

Sometimes you insert an Allen key into both side of the hub to remove the end caps.

TaSeThat · 16-06-2021 09:22PM

Another silly question (sorry have not read the full thread). I have never replaced my chain (road bike) and had the bike about 4/5 years. I'm going to roughly guess that about 5-6k miles done on the bike. Is this bonkers or do you only change the chain when it breaks/give signs its on the way out. I do give the chain a degrease and lube every couple of weeks. I don't have that link measuring tool - if I do get one are they chain vendor specific or does the tool do all types of chains?
Chap in work told me he changes his chain and also the gear/sprocket thingy at the same time (I have a very poor knowledge of bike parts). If changing chain do you also have to change the gears (the cog thing on the rear wheel?)
Cheers in advance.

magicbastarder · 16-06-2021 09:30PM

a worn chain will wear out the rest of the drivetrain (rear cassette and chainrings). your colleague is being way overcautious in changing the cassette with the chain each time - unless the chain is toast and has worn out the cassette too.
if you've been looking after your chain, it's probably not too badly worn and probably hasn't worn out your cassette, but you won't know for certain unless you measure the chain wear - you can do this with a ruler as well as with a specific chain measuring tool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5okJdYrANt8

TaSeThat · 16-06-2021 09:40PM

cheers Magicbastard....er. I'll get the ruler out first thing in the morning. He mentions in the vid that if it's more than 1% with the tool (or more than 1/8 inch with the ruler) you have to replace the chain and chain ring, then he says "everything". Is that what he is talking about when he says chain ring - is that the cassette?

Brian? · 16-06-2021 09:40PM

TaSeThat wrote: »

Another silly question (sorry have not read the full thread). I have never replaced my chain (road bike) and had the bike about 4/5 years. I'm going to roughly guess that about 5-6k miles done on the bike. Is this bonkers or do you only change the chain when it breaks/give signs its on the way out. I do give the chain a degrease and lube every couple of weeks. I don't have that link measuring tool - if I do get one are they chain vendor specific or does the tool do all types of chains?
Chap in work told me he changes his chain and also the gear/sprocket thingy at the same time (I have a very poor knowledge of bike parts). If changing chain do you also have to change the gears (the cog thing on the rear wheel?)
Cheers in advance.

Change your chain if it’s stretched as the other poster said. There’s a weird idea that you have to change your cassette at the same time, this isn’t true. Only change the cassette if it’s worn, pretty easy to see wear on a cassette

Edit for clarification: cassette is the gears on your rear wheel. Chainrings are your “front “ gears.

magicbastarder · 16-06-2021 09:47PM

yeah, if you've a decent regime where you change your chain before it gets too worn, it's a general rule of thumb that you change the cassette after three chains, and change the chainrings after three cassettes.

magicbastarder · 16-06-2021 09:51PM

positron wrote: »

Here's a really stupid question. I noticed both my wheels have a slight sideways play. Looking at some GCN videos I thought I would try and re-greese the bearings if possible

funny enough, i've a slight bit of play in my back wheel, i'm off to look for videos on how to deal with this specific issue (i don't think i need to completely disassemble the hub to address it, might just be a case of tightening up a preload cap for all i know)

TaSeThat · 16-06-2021 09:52PM

Thanks again Magic and Brian. I'll give the cassette a good look at also in case.

hesker · 17-06-2021 07:12AM

Brian? wrote: »

…..pretty easy to see wear on a cassette.

Easy to see wear sometimes but you can have wear to the point that the cassette is unusable and the cassette still looks fine.

I posted a thread last year on my experience with an 11 speed cassette that I bought second hand. It looked fine but a new chain skipped on it under moderate load.

07Lapierre · 17-06-2021 07:26AM

hesker wrote: »

Easy to see wear sometimes but you can have wear to the point that the cassette is unusable and the cassette still looks fine.

I posted a thread last year on my experience with an 11 speed cassette that I bought second hand. It looked fine but a new chain skipped on it under moderate load.

Agree…can never understand why you would buy a used cassette. No way of knowing if it will be ok with your chain.

hesker · 17-06-2021 07:47AM

07Lapierre wrote: »

Agree…can never understand why you would buy a used cassette. No way of knowing if it will be ok with your chain.

Believe me it is lesson learned. I thought I could tell wear by looking at good resolution photos and that’s my point. You can’t.

TaSeThat · 17-06-2021 08:48AM

Another follow up question which again may be stupid. I measured the chain links and looks like they are as in the vid link, more than an 1/8 inch out from the centre link after measure about a foot down the chain. So looks like I'll definitely change the chain and to be sure the cassette (it has been a few years and nothing touched/changed on the bike so probably worth doing).

So my stupid question - my bike to work scheme has probably come around again. The original bike cost me about 1200 (so probably around 600 net cost to me). With the cost of a chain, cassette and possibly the chain ring (definitely the first 2 anyway and possibly disk brakes that also have not been touched) would I be better off buying a new bike. I may get more bang for my buck now than I did 5 years ago, plus I'd be getting a new bike with guarantee/warranty and 3 month checkup. I could list the current bike for about 450-500 to cover 95% of the net cost of a new bike.
I'm not trying to be lazy, honest, just seems to make sense unless I'm overlooking something. FYI the bike is a Canondale FSA I think it says.
cheers in advance

seamus · 17-06-2021 08:51AM

I used to be great for stripping bikes down and cleaning them. Don't have time for that now though. Drivetrain gets cleaned when I replace the chain and cassette. If I've been on a particularly mucky ride, I'll wash everything down to get the road grit off and give the moving parts a blast of lubricant. That's about it.

magicbastarder · 17-06-2021 08:59AM

TaSeThat wrote: »

I could list the current bike for about 450-500 to cover 95% of the net cost of a new bike.

would you point out at sale time that the bike possibly needs a major drivetrain overhaul though?

magicbastarder · 17-06-2021 11:00AM

youtube was clearly eavesdropping. it just suggested this for me to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-7SWfQeqXI

i wonder - if all say 16 tooth sprockets from shimano cassettes have the same silhouette (and this may not be the case), surely it'd be easy enough to make a cutout in plastic using a brand new cassette, to compare with the cassette several months or years later?

or even just compare a fresh sprocket against the worn one?

07Lapierre · 17-06-2021 11:43AM

TaSeThat wrote: »

Another follow up question which again may be stupid. I measured the chain links and looks like they are as in the vid link, more than an 1/8 inch out from the centre link after measure about a foot down the chain. So looks like I'll definitely change the chain and to be sure the cassette (it has been a few years and nothing touched/changed on the bike so probably worth doing).

So my stupid question - my bike to work scheme has probably come around again. The original bike cost me about 1200 (so probably around 600 net cost to me). With the cost of a chain, cassette and possibly the chain ring (definitely the first 2 anyway and possibly disk brakes that also have not been touched) would I be better off buying a new bike. I may get more bang for my buck now than I did 5 years ago, plus I'd be getting a new bike with guarantee/warranty and 3 month checkup. I could list the current bike for about 450-500 to cover 95% of the net cost of a new bike.
I'm not trying to be lazy, honest, just seems to make sense unless I'm overlooking something. FYI the bike is a Canondale FSA I think it says.
cheers in advance

I hate telling people not to buy a new bike but no...your bike is easily repaired. drop into your LBS and get a quote.

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

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