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

I changed the chain on my hybrid yesterday. It’s now making a rapid clicking noise when I pedal, a bit like the noise you get when indexing gears. It’s actually riding and shifting fine, it’s just noisy.

I think the new chain is one link shorter than the old one (my fault, I initially removed an outer link instead of an inner link). Both chains are SRAM 11 speed, although different models.

Any ideas? The whole drive train needs a good clean, so I guess it could be that, but it seems strange that a new, clean chain would cause a noise to suddenly start.

Type 17 wrote: »

Check the path of the chain between the two jockey wheels in the rear derailleur - there's a tab to prevent chain slap just below the top wheel, and it's easy to route the chain on the wrong side of it.

If you have, it's often easier to remove the lower jockey wheel and loosen the top one a tiny bit, so you can swing the inner plate of the jockey wheel cage around and re-route the chain.

That’s exactly what I’ve done, thank you. I’ll sort that out shortly. Currently watching the hurling!

Update: yes, that’s fixed it. Much better! Thanks again!

Changed the headset bearings back in September before I took out the winter bike - had it on the trainer the other day and noticed this gap between the frame and fork.

Is this a sizeable gap, and if so where did I go wrong? There doesn't seem to be any play/movement but I can't remember if the gap was as big before I changed the bearings and I have no old pictures I could double check against.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Type 17 wrote: »

Does seem a bigger gap than normal - does it turn ok - no heavy friction?

You might have intalled something upside down - maybe lay the bike on its side and remove the stem, and you can slide things apart without taking everything completely apart (or just fully disassemble it if you're happy to do it).

Have no reference for size of the gap - everything feels fine on it. Took it apart the other day and everything seemed to fit, but still a gap - will try again in a few

cletus wrote: »

There's a gap at the bottom of my headset too, I've posted the picture for reference. It is correct, and the seal actually angles back up (yes my bike is dirty, no I won't go clean it immediately )

That is quite a gap too...


I disassembled it and seen the order was; Fork - Bearing - Seal


So I tried; Fork - Seal - Bearing, which resulted in a tighter fit (see pic) but when I tightened up the headset, the steering was very tight and the headset wouldn't tighten properly.


I'm thinking the seal was getting in the way of the bearing seating into the crown race when compressed?



So I guess this means the gap is meant to be that big?



It just seemed counter intuitive as it is an ingress point for water and road crud, although in saying that when I serviced the headset back in August - I could have gotten away with only replacing the top bearing (sweat etc) the bottom bearing was in good nick so I guess this isn't a problem at all and a design feature? (Probably stop the bearings being crushed against the frame and fork?)

cletus wrote: »

The bearing shouldn't be outside the seal. Water washing across that gap is not the same as water ingress

So the seal should be put on to sit on the crown race followed by the bearing? It feels very gummy when the headset is tightened up

cletus wrote: »

So working from the top down, you should have bottom cup, bearing, dust seal, fork race

I'm an idiot - I had the seal the wrong way round, it's tapered on the crown race side, I had it that side facing up hence the gummy steering.


All sorted now, thanks for all the tips/help folks

The exact stack-height is not crucial on an A-head stem - once the top cap is not bottoming out on the top of the fork's steerer tube (too few spacers), and not so high that the upper pinch bolt on the stem is not clamping at or above the top of the (aluminium*) steerer tube, it will be fine.

2mm spacers are available, check with your LBS if you need one.

*This is more crucial on a carbon steerer tube - the clamping force shouldn't come too near the top of the steerer (many manufacturers specify that one spacer is kept above the stem, so it doesn't crack the top of the steerer)

Thanks guys, glad to have it confirmed from two sources.

You can remove the hoses from the old levers and you should be able to refit them to the new levers (if the mounting points are in a similar location).

The outer gear cable housings can also remain under the bar tape, but the inner wires will have to be withdrawn and re-inserted with the new levers.

Feeding inner cables through an alu or carbon frame isn't too bad if you use magnets - have a look at this video (you don't necessarily need the IR-1.2 kit, just some decent magnets) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msIyofUud3A

There is a fair difference:

Apart from that relatively sharp 'step' in the RS505 hoods, they are relatively narrow like non-hydro levers, whereas the R7020's (and the R8050's that I have on my good bike) are relatively wide and flat on top, which makes them a lot more comfortable on longer runs.