Cranks off to measure the bottom bracket, eh? Put them back on and the clonking noise has stopped? Maybe that wasn't the problem?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Stuff
Today's most unsatisfactory and wholly rubbish bicycle maintenance
(216 posts)-
Posted 4 years ago #
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@IWRATS but at least you have four spares now
Posted 4 years ago # -
@gembo
I have a strategic bearing reserve.
Posted 4 years ago # -
The torpedo has been off the road for nearly two months, having completely worn out its brakes, brake cables and cable housings within 11,000 miles. Then it needed a new rim, after the original one fell to bits. Much money was exchanged with a velomobile company in That Germany, and I have built a new wheel, rebuilt the brakes, installed new housings and everything, and…
I was finishing up the cables today and had just made a start on fine tuning the tension, when one of the barrel adjusters broke in half. That's a €1.30 part, which is incompatible with regular brake levers and is not a Sturmey part, but is a common Dutch part. It has therefore also cost me another fortnight in time spent waiting, and €14. Though to be fair, I ordered two pairs* and not just a single unit.
I swear this infernal machine has required more hours of wrenching and more expense than any other bike I have ever owned. I was so fed up I went inside and ate chocolate, and then took something else to bits.
* You don't have to have a maths degree to realise that the postage costs from HollandBikeShop exceeded the value of the item. But could I find them anywhere else? Could I [rule 2].
Posted 4 years ago # -
Bled tandem rear brake after shenanigans last week upthread. Braking still mediocre. So that’ll be the pads contaminated with wd40 after all.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@unhurt, you may have also contaminated the pad transfer layer on the rotor as well, so new pads may only partially fix. You'll need to abrade this off and bed in the rotor again.
Posted 4 years ago # -
2 years ago rubbish bike maintenance really.
Off I went for State Approved exercise this early morning. Got about 1/2 a mile from home before an attempted upshift to the big ring resulted in an unpleasant tearing feeling and the shift lever jamming between the middle and big ring.
I took the shift lever off (Ultegra friction bar end) to find that the outer cable had...exploded for want of a better word, with the wire strands pulling through the cable guide into the body of the shifter.
I'd forgotten to include the plastic ferrule when I changed the cables 2 years ago.
Doh.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Logged onto CRC to check on my bottom bracket shipment. I bought four for £2.99 each. Lifetime supply.
Oh, four items sitting in my basket.
I forgot to click 'purchase'.
Click on basket.
Four discontinued items removed.
I have forgotten the measurement.
Cranks off again.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Had my first ever puncture today - alas was without a kit so wheeled it home. My rear tyre was rather worn so decided I would go wild and upgrade to a marathon plus at the same time.
Much, much swearing later it's still not fully on.
Posted 4 years ago # -
CycleAlex
It may help to lean the tyre against a radiator for a while, then use Pedros tyre levers.
Good luck.
Cheers
ColinPosted 4 years ago # -
@cycle Alex if no pedros maybe 4 standard leavers they are a booger
Posted 4 years ago # -
Many thanks for the tips! After even more swearing, in the end zip tying one side of the tyre meant I could get it on. Now to hope the puncture resistance is as good as claimed and I never have to do that at the side of the road...
Posted 4 years ago # -
M+ tyres aren't invulnerable but they are the next best thing.
I think Greenroofer has a magical tyre lever that attaches to the axle or works like a GIANT CLAW or something like that. I just use Pedros levers and 30 years of brute strength training in my thumbs.
Posted 4 years ago # -
I have one of these, not bought from here and not this brand, but undoubtedly from the same factory in China.
Bbb Cycling Unisex's BTL-78 Easy Tire Tool for Bikes, One Size
Yes I can wrestle a Marathon Winter onto a 16" Brompton wheel (or a Marathon Plus onto a 700C wheel) using brute force and my strong thumbs, but I can't be bothered with the effort. This just pops them on in no time, with no messing around.
£10 very well spent (and light enough that you could carry it round in your pannier in case you have a puncture away from home [unlikely])
Edited to add: and there's no risk of accidentally puncturing the tube, which there will be if you use tyre levers to get the tyre back on.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Cycle Alex, as this was your first time you can't be expected to be experienced. First thing is to carry a spare tube as you'll never get a patch to stick should it be wet and it is quicker just to change a tube; repair the holed one later.
There are numerous videos on YouTube that could demonstrate the technique (but they don't all give correct advice).
The main points are to ensure that the bead of the tyre sits deep in to the well of the rim as this gives you the maximum amount of "slack" to get the tyre over the rim at the opposite point - you achieved this by using the zip tie. The second, related, point is that the last bit of the tyre to go on over the rim should be that at the valve as the valve itself can prevent the bead sitting fully in to the well of the rim. With some tyre/rim combinations this is not vital but in the case of a Marathon it makes all the difference. Next time (and there will be one) will be easier as the tyre will be a bit less stiff due to flexure in use.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I have spent two hours in two separate unsatisfactory bike maintenance sessions turning two (or possibly three) fast punctures into two slow punctures and now I have run out of patches and have no spare inner tubes and am ready to give up. At the moment the slow punctures are at the stage where the tyres can be pumped up each morning and last a trip into town and back. I expect they will need to turn back into fast punctures before I'm going to tackle them again.
I have never managed a roadside repair unaided. A small folding track pump is a good investment if it allows you to pump up a failing tyre long enough to get some way towards home, rinse and repeat until you're home. A good full body exercise that may well prepare you for the next CCE skipping championships.
In my experience, marathons plus are great against broken glass, but big enough thorns (I'm looking at you blackthorn) go straight through the rubber protective layer and lodge into your innertube, disrupting any attempt by slime or similar to form a seal. Round here, if you see any farmers cutting hedges, you quickly find another route.Posted 3 years ago # -
Cockburn hill out of Balerno has had hedge cut in a /T\. Style (section) I am wary
Kevlar not tested on blackthorn
Just bullets
Temporary Traffic lights west of my house on a70 on too quick a cycle to get through on bike, installing city fibre rather than fixing terrible surface.
Leaves Glenbrook Road as only good route out of Balerno, and it is a good route.
I once cycled 8 miles home from Salisbury Centre near commie pool to Balerno on back wheel that was flat, I pumped it up to start but air dissipated so really just marathon plus rubber. I stood up a fair bit as was too late at night to start faffing with repair.
Posted 3 years ago # -
The other advantage of Marathons over Gatorskins or Armadillos is that the tyre is significantly deeper-treaded (so wears through to the carcass much more slowly) and much stiffer, so they won't bottom-out and dink the rim as quickly when they get a leak.
I usually start at the valve and work away from it in both directions so that it doesn't get shuffled and stretched against the hole.Posted 3 years ago # -
I got a load of bits to address the SUNLIT Uplander's mechanical deficiencies;
1) The eight-speed drive train is wholly worn and gone. Rear shifter ratchets out of index. Dead.
2) Having been rear-ended by a BMW the rear wheel had been roughly hammered flat/round but could not be relied on for anything adventurous.
3) Bottom bracket making alarming noises.
I chopped the hub out of the rear wheel and as I picked up the spokes I counted them and oh that hub is a 32-holer whereas my new rim is 36. Rats. Checked the hub and it is showing wear so ordered a new one without too much regret.
Fitted my seatpost to madame IWARTS' bike in the meantime.
Posted 3 years ago # -
My carefully-glued front section of the front mudguard fell off on the way to the shops the other day. Fortunately it snapped just forward of the bracket, so the useful dear section is still firmly-attached and rideable. It'll be caused by the light bracket wobbling above it, so I'll have to finally get round to bending another pannier fixing-strut so that it goes round the side of the fork rather than underneath the crown.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Amusingly I can't get the SUNLIT Uplander's new drive train to go into first gear so it remains an eight-speed for the moment.
The 36t sprocket may simply be too big for the rear mech - I shall increase the b-tension with the relevant screw and see if that helps. Mech hanger looks straight.
New back wheel rides a treat. Not a clonk or a pying to be heard.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Yeah it was the b-tension screw. Now posting in the wrong thread as the SUNLIT Uplander now has;
1) New main bearing
2) New 22t chainring
3) 9/3 speed shifters
4) New rear wheel and hub
5) New rear mech, cassette, cables and chain
6) Service pack for USE suspended seatpost
7) New brake rotors front and rear, new pads on the rear
8) Fresh hydraulic oil in the front brakeShe makes no noise and every single gear is accessible. It's been a while since I could say that.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Just spent two hours trying to index the new rear mech on my dads old rock hopper. After giving up and removing the chain and going back to the start I have concluded the mech and the shifter are not compatible.
When I tension the cable for 1st the mech won't release enough tension to move to the 8th (smallest gear) visa versa if I don't tension the cable when the shifter and mech are in the smallest sprocket the shifter won't pull enough cable to move the mech more than two thirds up the block.
Bah.
Posted 3 years ago # -
You're welcome to the 8-speed shifter off the Scaffolding Bike. Indexing's a bit worn, but you should get access to all the cogs on the cassette.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Shifter and brake lever are integrated sadly. Thanks though
Posted 3 years ago # -
You can have the brake levers too I think.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Nah, I'll just an appropriate rear mech. Should be quicker than mucking around with brakes.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Nae bother pal.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Other than ensuring maximum transference of lube and muck from chain to hand during routine maintenance, what are the advantages of horizontal dropouts?
Posted 3 years ago # -
You don't need any other chain tensioning device?
Posted 3 years ago #
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