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

Not that I'll be recording any phenomenal numbers on it but I have a notion that I want to get a power meter(probably will wait until I stumble across somebody getting rid of a second hand one), the crankset I currently have is FC-RS500 Crank 50/34 172,5mm.

Besides aesthetics, is there any reason I couldn't get a 4iiii or stages on a 105 left side crankset and use it to replace the left crank I already have.
e.g. would a difference in weight or maybe shape/angle between left and right cranks cause a problem?

mickdw wrote: »

Query re road bike tyres.
Anyone any experience of roadbike tyres cracking heavily at only a few weeks old?
I bought some cheap tyres in halfords and pretty much immediately cracked, they looked like they were 10 years old with the cracking that was on them.
I took wheel and tyre into halfords to show them and didn't get a good response from them. All the guy said was that they looked like they had been left outside or flat for a prolonged period. Neither of which occurred.
Are the cheaper end of things known for this or are any particular brands known for this?
Is it a case of - buy cheap, buy twice or is it possible these were very old stock or something like that?

Do you have any way of proving when you bought them? Either way, under consumer law, they may not be "fit for the purpose intended", so if you're sure that they're too new to be cracked, then push it further (there may be a batch number stamped inside the tyres, which would give the manufacturer an idea of when they were made).

UV in sunlight does degrade rubber, but it usually takes a few years. Over the years, I've seen cracking occur earlier than expected (in both car and bike tyres), but it seems to me that it's a "bad batch of rubber" thing when it happens, rather than a cheap vs. expensive thing.

Cracking on bike tyres isn't a critical issue, BTW, unless it's very severe (serious enough to expose the nylon plies, and allow them to get damaged), or you're using the tyres' grip to their limit (the rubber gets harder, so grip is a bit reduced).
Cracking on car tyres is a serious thing though - rainwater and especially salty water from winter roads, can get into the steel plies and rust it out, leading to catastrophic failure when the forces are at their greatest (motorway speeds :eek:).

mickdw wrote: »

...These are significantly cracked. The side wall is cracked similar to what you would see in a 10 year old car tyre and the running surface has wide cracks where I can see the nylon threads through.

Wow, if these are a few weeks old (to you), they must have been hanging in the window for ages - can you take a photo or two?

These went like this after about 6 weeks. They are maybe 3 or 4 months old now in total.

Any tips on removing a stuck freewheel? I've tried a bar on the wrench that's on the tool, but I'm beginning to round the tool rather than get any movement!

Question for a road bike maintenance guru. I know it's not easy to diagnose without actually seeing it, but any suggestions would be welcome...

I have a strange issue where the chain isn't properly shifting at the front. It only happens when I go from the big chainring to the small one (10 speed double). Instead of catching the small chainring, the chain seems to 'sit' on top of the teeth on the small chainring before engaging a few seconds later.

When I'm on the bike what happens is that the pedals spin for a short while before engaging.

I thought this was all down to the front derailer, so I replaced it. I have a brand new one, and I've installed it pretty good. The shifting is clean and crisp from small to big, and also from big to small - with the exception that I'm still getting that weird spinning thing.

Ever come across this before?

All 105 components btw. And the chainrings themselves don't look overly worn - I replaced them earlier this year.

Any help appreciated!

seven stars wrote: »

Question for a road bike maintenance guru. I know it's not easy to diagnose without actually seeing it, but any suggestions would be welcome...

I have a strange issue where the chain isn't properly shifting at the front. It only happens when I go from the big chainring to the small one (10 speed double). Instead of catching the small chainring, the chain seems to 'sit' on top of the teeth on the small chainring before engaging a few seconds later.

When I'm on the bike what happens is that the pedals spin for a short while before engaging.

I thought this was all down to the front derailer, so I replaced it. I have a brand new one, and I've installed it pretty good. The shifting is clean and crisp from small to big, and also from big to small - with the exception that I'm still getting that weird spinning thing.

Ever come across this before?

All 105 components btw. And the chainrings themselves don't look overly worn - I replaced them earlier this year.

Any help appreciated!

Maybe I have it wrong, but are you saying that the rollers of the chain aren't engaging between the teeth of the chainring? If so could it be a stretched/incorrect chain?

Although, as stated above, it might be that the FD is either preventing the chain from moving in enough or maybe moving in too much - enough to cause your issue but not enough to drop the chain.

Possibly not much help to you, but I had a similar issue with a 9 speed chainset used in a 10 speed setup a while ago. It worked perfectly fine with the stock Shimano chainrings, but when they wore out I got them replaced with Stronglight 9/10 speed ones, and that behaviour started. Given the disparity between the chainset and the rest of the gearing I eventually bit the bullet and bought a cheapo 4600 chainset on CRC, and the problem went away, so I guess it's worth checking did you replace like with like in terms of chainrings, and this that they have the same spacing?

It does sound like a cable tension issue to me too.

This video is great for setting up front derailleurs/cables. Did you change your cable when you changed your front DR?

seven stars wrote: »

I didn't replace the cable, but I had to release it completely and then reattach it.

Seems strange that I'd be getting the exact same behaviour both before and after loosening the cable and then reattaching it to the new derailer's cable bolt. If it was just down to cable tension then that would (presumably) have to be just a coincidence - which seems unlikely. But I dunno.

I appreciate the suggestions though - thanks for everyone's input.

If the problem is that the derailleur wont return to the lowest point by the power of it's own spring when the cable tension is released (shifting down in this instance), then it's most likely a sticky cable. It's probably worth replacing the cable and housing anyway, especially if the bike has seen a full winter already. I'm no expert btw - this is just something I picked up from somewhere.

Macy0161 wrote: »

Going to have another go one of the other nights, but no joy with this method either! Haven't given up, but just ordered a new one in the meantime!

Freewheels are relatively cheap, so if needs be, you can tap open the outer cone (left hand thread), spill all of the bearings onto the floor, and put the inner part directly into the vice and try to unscrew that. (Note that if the chain and freewheel are well-worn, you'll need a new chain as well as a new freewheel).

PS: Is it a decent/rare/special wheel? Why do you need to remove the freewheel?

Well, nothing to lose then

Give a good jerk at the rim (anti-clockwise, right? :pac:;)), and don't be shy, the force of pedalling is what tightens the freewheel, so it you can expect it to be very tight - I've had (ropey, old) wheels come close to collapse/implosion before the f/w came loose...

It's not the end of the world if you can't save the freewheel - just don't injure yourself or break any tools trying - I broke a (cheap) vice with a stuck freewheel a few years ago.

Type 17 wrote: »

Well, nothing to lose then

Give a good jerk at the rim (anti-clockwise, right? :pac:;)), and don't be shy, the force of pedalling is what tightens the freewheel, so it you can expect it to be very tight - I've had (ropey, old) wheels come close to collapse/implosion before the f/w came loose...

It's not the end of the world if you can't save the freewheel - just don't injure yourself or break any tools trying - I broke a (cheap) vice with a stuck freewheel a few years ago.

No, not really bothered about the freewheel. It was actually as much to have a stab at doing the bearings. This is on my commuter, which is a Carrera, so no components really worth much but have a medium term restore plan on my old 5 speed "racer" that me mam kept!

Just a comment/update - my bike was creaking like a pig, every time I got out of the saddle. The LBS could find nothing wrong with the bottom bracket...but the creak kept on.

Eventually, I opened, greased, and replaced every bolt I could easily get at (stem bolts, headset pinchers, seatpost collar, chainring bolts, wheel quick-releases). Not the bottom bracket (beyond my skill/courage grade).

The creak went away.

My guess is that the stem bolts or pinchers were the root cause - when you stand up, you not only put pressure on the bottom bracket, you also pull on the bars.

So, just a confirmation that bottom bracket creaks sometimes aren't BB, and that simple approaches can help, sometimes.

Type 17 wrote: »

It's not the end of the world if you can't save the freewheel - just don't injure yourself or break any tools trying - I broke a (cheap) vice with a stuck freewheel a few years ago.

Just on this, on my new wheel and freewheel, should I be putting grease/ anti seize paste/ something else before fitting the freewheel? Or is there no real way of avoiding the constant tightening pressure (from the massive power I obviously put out)?

Nala Straight Carrot wrote: »

Is there a maintenance for dummies guide out there on the internet anywhere? I've had my bike about 10 months now, dropped it into a bike shop in the summer for a service but have done nothing myself except pump up the tyres now and then. What's the bare minimum I should be doing?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/park-tool-big-blue-book-of-bicycle-repair-bbb-3/rp-prod109887

also loads of videos here (click on where is the problem - top right)
https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/

Not sure the right thread, but is kinda a maintenance question, and I'm definitely stupid....

I'm looking at cross bikes for the missus, and she's also looking to use it on the direct drive turbo. Bike is looking like a sram 1x 11 speed set up - will it just put it on the turbo with the 11 speed road cassette that's on there?

riclad wrote: »

...should I just oil the chain every few weeks?
is there oil or grease recommended for bike chains?

Yes.

Some more info on minding a chain (probably the most annoying aspect of bike ownership):

If the rollers on the centre of each link are grey, things aren't too bad.

If they're silver, the chain is too dry and needs oil.

If they're black and shiny, you're putting too much oil on, back it off a bit - use the colour of the rollers as a guide - you may only need to lube every few weeks during a dry summer, but a few times a week during a wet winter.

If the shape of the plates that make up each link is hard to see, the chain is dirty and needs to be cleaned off and re-lubed. A dirty chain wears prematurely, as the dirt/oil forms a kind of grinding paste inside the links.

Rust on a chain is not an issue in itself, but usually only happens if a chain is too dry, and riding a dry chain wears it out prematurely.

When you lube a chain, dribble the oil on (never use a spray, it goes everywhere) at the sides of the links as you rotate the chain backwards. Wipe the excess off - the oil doing the lubing is inside the links, most of the oil you can see on the outside is just attracting dirt.

Buy a simple chain-wear tool and keep an eye on wear - if you change a chain nice and early, you won't also need to change the cassette/freewheel, but if you wait too long, the worn chain will also have worn the teeth of the cassette and you'll need one of them too (usually almost twice the price of a chain alone). The more sprockets you have at the back, the more expensive the chain/cassette parts are.

Suitable lubes and chain-wear checking tools are available at your LBS or online.

I've always used finish line. They do a wet lube and a dry lube. "Dry" lube basically means that it's less viscous and will evaporate / wash away relatively quickly. "Wet" lube is much thicker, more like cooking oil and in my experience is basically impervious to weather.

I tend to go with the wet lube year-round; once you've applied it once it's never coming off really, so trying to clean it off and start again is a nightmare.

But if I replace a chain in the spring, then I'll stick with the dry lube for six months or so because it creates far less mess.

That's the trade-off really - do you want to apply dry lube before every ride (especially in wet conditions), or would you rather be able to top it up once a month but have a very dirty and oily chain?

Is the tyre-bead mounted correctly all of the way around the rim?

If you pump up a flat tyre with the weight of the wheel on the ground, the tyre-bead often gets stuck in the valley of the rim, rather than seating in the lip just behind the brake-track. Try letting it down fully, and then pump it up, either with the wheel/bike lying flat on its side, or with an assistant holding the wheel in the air until the pressure seats the bead fully (over about 20 PSI).

The only way a badly fitted tube will lead to flat spots in a (correctly-seated) tyre is if the tube is multiply kinked back on itself and sections of it are actually flat because the kinks cut off the air. (You only get this if you put the wrong-sized tube in a tyre - I've seen 700c tubes crammed into BMX-sized tyres with this result).

To get a flat spot in a tube by twisting it, it would probably have to be turned over two rotations (720 degrees) on itself within a few cm's, like the way you would wring out a cloth - unlikely, IMO.

Suggestion: if it was a wrestle to get the tyre on, perhaps the tyre-bead got bent - this would make the tyre sit consistently badly in the same place afterwards - a slight kink in the wires can be straightened with your fingers, but if it's a sharp kink, check that none of the wires has broken after straightening.

seamus wrote: »

I...... do you want to apply dry lube before every ride .......

Just a comment. Dry lube contains a solvent, so its often recommended to shake the bottle and to allow a few hours for the solvent to evaporate after application before using the bike. (It may be better to use after a ride than before)