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

Broke a spoke on my back wheel, now the little bit at the bottom has got caught in behind the casette. I cannot get it out myself, its properly wedged in there and means the freewheel is also not working.

I am in the sticks for a few days, specifically have today and tmoro off work to go cycling. Called the nearest lbs, said he couldnt help me with wheels/spokes, directed me to a larger place but its 60k away. I guess i have to take the cassette off but no idea how to do that

Where abouts are you? If you're near me I can do it for you, otherwise there may be other boardsies close enough to you to give a dig out.

Any experience on Shimano press fit bb's, how long they last? That ticking noise has appeared again, similar to which was on my other threaded one. I do further investigations though. It's done approx. 10k kms already.
I was able to re-grease my threaded bb, is this possible with the press fit at all?
Despite of saying this, the old bike is clocked up 30k kms with a clicky bb, with no play on the pedals.

Firstly I know very little about bike maintenance etc. My son has a Carrera Hellcat that I've been told needs a new chain and cassette with repair quote being 200 plus. Can it be turned into a fixie ( bike shop says no )? Any other options besides recycling? Thanks.

I didn't think people like you existed any more. I'm stunned. I'll follow up tomorrow as I need to recover first. Thanks..

how humid is the bike lock up?

After the Ring of Beara my rear tire suddenly went from being in fairly good nick to ready for the bin and I'm scratching my head somewhat as to why. The pictures show pretty much the state of it all the way round. I did check them just before going to Beara and there was a tiny patch something like the more minor patches wear in the 2nd/3rd images, but I thought I'd chance it (it was fine when there). Given the conditions on the day I was too glad to get off the bike so didn't pay any heed at the time as there was the important matters of hot shower, pints, and rugby to be attended to.

Obviously this is headed for the bin, but I'm curious if anybody has any insight as to why they might have deteriorated so rapidly. They're Vittoria Rubino 28mm tubeless, and don't have huge milage on them - probably 4000km tops - but that'd be over 2+ years as circumstances have seen me either on the turbo or using the other bike a lot of the time.

Trying to get the replacement seated has been a fruitless exercise despite soapy water, removed valve cores, several track pumps, skinned knuckles, the children learning some interesting swear words - but that's a whole other story

Traction seemed fine - not that I'd have probably noticed anything anyway with the howling crosswinds and rain on the day. Road surfaces weren't anything out of the ordinary. I'm down in Waterford, but thanks anyway. I have a second tire lying around which I'll try to see if it's more amenable, otherwise I'll throw a tube in it for now so I don't miss another weekend.

it looks quite even all the way around - and the fact that you'd seen one worn patch, even if it was small, suggested the tyres were worn beyond their useful life at that point. could have been a fraction of a mm of rubber on the tyres which didn't take much to wear away.

I reckon this is the most likely scenario. Despite the low total mileage over the past couple of years, they've had a fair whack all told post Easter

what tyre pressure had you inflated it to?

I usually run them around 60-65psi which seems to be fine in terms of comfort and rolling resistance. It probably would have an impact on lifespan than if I were running say 75psi but if it's ultimately a tradeoff for taking the sting out of the washboards that pass for roads I usually take, that's fair enough.

I'm having woeful trouble with shifting, my gears.

I have replaced the cable and there's a new chain and casette on, I also changed the jockey wheels!

I can tune it as well as I like but it won't consistently shift well. At best I can have it shifting well into all but either the hargest or lightest gear.

Do the springs in a derailleur become jaded and need replacement, it's tye only thing left to change.

I only changed the cable as I felt that it wasn't readily slipping back through the housing. Is it pulossible that the derailleur isn't pulling hard enough to shift down the cassette?