Better make sure you buy a chain that comes with a quick link.
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CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Stuff
Today's most unsatisfactory and wholly rubbish bicycle maintenance
(246 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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I have a bike that mostly lives on the turbo trainer. Something has felt wrong with the pedals for the past week or two. While it felt odd, when I was riding it I couldn't feel any play in the bottom bracket. I decided the cleats might be worn.
On Saturday, for the first time, I got off the bike before I rocked the cranks back and forth and found a lot of play. Like a lot lot.
Ho hum. Wrestled the bike off the turbo and put it on the stand.
Removed the cranks. Removed the bottom bracket. I had to stand on the spanner to get it to come loose. Replaced bottom bracket with one from my parts drawer. It was a no-name brand ('Prowheel') in a Shimano box, but seemed to be used (and I hadn't written a note on to say why).
I put the new bottom bracket in and replaced the cranks. When I loaded the bearing it either had too much play or it was binding. Clearly, the bottom bracket that I had carefully put back in a Shimano box was also defective.
Removed the cranks. Removed the bottom bracket (didn't have to stand on the spanner this time). Replaced bottom bracket with one from my parts drawer. It was an Ultegra one, but I'd written on the box 'LHS Bearing U/S??'. I seemed to recall that actually when I'd written that in 2022 I thought the bearing was broken after I'd taken it out of my audax bike, but then realised that the weird intermittent ticking noise that started on the Glen Ogle bike path was actually due to a broken mudguard.
I put the new bottom bracket in and replaced the cranks. When I loaded the bearing it seemed OK, which was lucky, as I did have another (brand new) bottom bracket in my spares box, but might have had a sense of humour failure at that point.
Moral of the story. If you are going to retain previously-used parts 'just in case' then take care to label them properly so that, three years later, you know if they actually work or not...
Posted 1 year ago # -
That BB from the parts drawer would have made a great PY Xmas gift.
Posted 1 year ago # -
-1 cursed bottom bracket
My parts box could definitely use a few Scrolls of Enchantment...
Posted 1 year ago # -
On that note can I interest anyone in a Bontrager crankset? Could not possibly comment on the invidious effect it has on the driveside bearings to the point I have returned to square taper
(-2 cursed crankset... to go with the bottom bracket)
Posted 1 year ago # -
Due a miscalculation of scale not seen since the Vl'hurgs, I've just spent the evening fitting a 9 speed chain on a 10 speed cassette/mech and wondering why I can't get it to run smoothly.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Got on my tourer and went to work followed by the Big Shops. While riding, idly wondering why the steering occasionally felt a bit odd and suspected the headset needed a rebuild.
Bought all the things. Full panniers. At the bike racks loading them onto the bike.
Looking at the downtube.
Looking at the GIANT CRACK going almost all the way round the downtube with about 1.5" of aluminium still holding it together.
Bother. Mystery of strange steering solved at least. I am sad to lose this bike as it has many memories attached.
Any recommendations for Old Skool touring frame with canti bosses? The Spa Cycles one looks like it might do very well.
Posted 3 months ago # -
“Any recommendations for Old Skool touring frame with canti bosses?”
Well if it was me I’d spend some time on eBay…
Steel, probably 531 (or similar), whatever size is yours.
Brand, well many options - mass - Dawes, Raleigh, Claud Butler and the like. Generally reliable, that said, I’ve had a Galaxy shear at the head/downtube lug while I was riding along the canal.
Random of course. I ride 70yo steel frames without worrying.
Or a well known or less well know small framebuilding name. Some like Mercian are ‘collectable’, which affects the price.
Other names including F. W. Evans, Condor and many bike shops don’t actually build frames and have had them made, generally, by small producers.
Frames with bosses are necessary for cantilevers, but good quality (mainly Shimano) dual pivots can be as good as or better than some cantis.
If you want ’shiny’ a quality respray and new decals by someone like Argos in Bristol.
Enjoy the hunt.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Also
If you’re looking for an actual “Old Skool touring frame“, anything before mid ‘70’s would probably have had 27” wheels.
Until fairly recently choice of tyres was poor and generally low quality. Now there’s a reasonable number of ‘quality’ 700x32c tyres available as 27” as well.
Alternatively you could fit 700c wheels and have room for fatter tyres (plus mudguards).
Some brakes have enough adjustment for 27” and 700c wheels.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Not so Old Skool as all that :)
The wheels I'll be reusing are 700C and I use cantilever brakes because of the extra-wide clearance which allows me to adaptively fit ice/trail tyres and mudguards without worrying overmuch about fouling.
V-brakes and dual pivots (even the long drop kind) tend to sit rather closer to the tyre to make this entirely easy.
I do run V-brakes on my fixie but it is touch and go getting the ice tyres running freely sometimes and the cable is veeeery close to the mudguard.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Anyway, I'll check out eBay - I gave up on it for bike parts some years ago as it got weirdly expensive. But the bike that just broke was largely built up from eBay parts, 24 years ago.
Posted 3 months ago # -
“I gave up on it for bike parts some years ago as it got weirdly expensive“
Yes
Obviously depends what you want to buy, but for many things it’s become much more of a buyer’s market.
Some things still go for prices I don’t understand.
Another thing is that there seems to be an increase in “Buy It Now” - so if you know what you are looking for, use the “Save this search” option and tick whatever form of notification you want to receive.
Posted 3 months ago # -
I would appreciate any help that the hive mind can offer regarding a maintenance problem I have, namely: how to remove an M5 countersunk head screw which is stuck in the frame of my eMTB. (It is one of the retaining screws for the rear derailleur hanger.) The screw head has a 3mm hex drive socket, but said socket is quite badly rounded out (cause unknown, possibly during initial setup?) and none of my hex drivers will bite on it.
I have heard of forcing a suitably sized sacrificial Torx bit into a rounded off hex socket to get sufficient torque on the screw to shift it. Maybe using a clamp or a press (I'd rather not have to take a hammer to my bike frame!) Does anyone have any experience of this trick? Or any other ideas as to how to get the damned thing to turn?
I did wonder whether the application of a heat gun to the area might help, given that aluminium (the material from which the frame and the hanger are both made) has roughly double the coefficient of thermal expansion to that of steel, which is what the screw is made of.
I also wonder why manufacturers choose to use such small hex socket heads on assemblies which are (a) intended to be disassembled and replaced, and (b) in locations which are quite likely to be exposed to water, dirt and grime, and therefore at risk of seizing. There should be a law against it. (It's also quite annoying because there is a decent amount of clearance around the head of the screw in question, so it doesn't actually need to be countersunk.)
Background: having found some damage (cause once again unknown) to the wee nubbin on the derailleur hanger that the B tension/gap screw bears on, it looks like a replacement hanger is in order (apart from anything else, the damaged nubbin might explain some occasional slight hesitancy/sluggishness in gear changes). Fortunately I have been able to locate a source for replacement hangers - it is not a UDH, and hangers for this VooDoo frame aren't widely available. There seems to be just one third party manufacturer producing the required part, and even more fortunately they had some in stock. Unfortunately what should have been a fairly straightforward remove and replace job is now stalled due to the stuck screw.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Another maintenance query; why won't my bike pump unscrew from the inner tube without releasing most of the air I just put in there (with 2 cranky rotator cuffs)?
It screws on smoothly, but coming off it seems to seize up.
I really don't want to buy another pump. Last time I got one that worked once and never again.Posted 2 months ago # -
See this as an opportunity to buy a Lezyne pump. On the pump valve you screw on to the inner tube valve there is a little button you press to Release The Pressure. This allows you to Get Up Offa That Thing and Dance Til You Feel Better
Posted 2 months ago # -
Does the pump get stuck on all tyre valves, or just one? If all, I'd start by looking closely at whether there's anything stuck in the pump valve. If just one, I'd probably just replace that tube.
Posted 2 months ago # -
I've replaced the tube, which experiments (ie, finally filling it and then trying to cycle to work but having to give up after 5 mintues) showed was properly punctured, and the problem still seems to exist on the new tube, but less so.
We've decided to get a standing-type pump for at home, but I still need a 'take it with me' pump, so will look up the lezyne thing.
Many thanks to the random cyclist yesterday at Tesco's who loaned his tire levers to a complete stranger, because despite suspecting that I'd need to buy myself a new inner tube, I did not think to bring mine with me.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Lezyne Thing
Or
Lezyne Thing of Beauty
Allegedly made from a single block of metal both moderne and olde fashioned at the same time. No faffing like the modern pumps as you have the pump valve. But the Release The Pressure Button does exactly that then you can dance until you feel better.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Just to be contrary, I think Lezyne products are poor for ergonomics, and, in the manner of current Hope brakes, 'excessively designed' in materials and machining, and consequently excessively expensive. They are very nicely made, yes, but a pump isn't the world's most complicated accessory, nor should it be a shelf queen: they get dropped, trodden on and bashed, they get chucked into panniers, they get covered in mud and rain and snow.
The Topeak Road Morph, Mountain Morph, Turbo Morph, Mini Morph et al are all along the same lines: a baby track pump. I used my Edinburgh Bicycle one just yesterday while on my commute home. If something is going to pretend to be a track pump it needs a) a handle you can get two hands on in some fashion, and the handle mustn't hurt while you're using it; b) a flip-out bit that is suitably long to actually put your foot on; and c) to deliver a meaningful amount of air each time, and not shirk 90psi.
It helps if it has a pressure gauge, and it really helps if said gauge is actually readable whilst in use. With the Edinburgh Bicycle one I have, the gauge is upside down because it's integral to the chuck and the hose is too short to have the tyre valve higher up when it's in track pump mode. Handheld, the gauge can be perfectly readable, but if I'm pumping freehand, high pressure is not what I'm aiming for!
Posted 2 months ago # -
Man the Canuck nearly bought the beautiful Lezyne and now they just aint sure. How they gonna release the pressure and dance til they feel better now?
Posted 2 months ago # -
Just whack a few extra psi in and take the chuck off the valve smoothly. :)
Posted 2 months ago # -
Not so much today's unsatisfactory bicycle maintenance as most of the past 12 month's. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.
My Kona Sutra was making my knees hurt. Turned out Shimano's engineers think Q-factor is make believe roadie nonsense, and in their infinite wisdom fitted big, wide, Deore cranks and an external BB to Kona's 73mm BB shell. That is a stupid combination. I first messed around with swapping cup spacers from left to right but all that did was hurt my other knee more. What I needed was narrower cranks – you know, like they used to make.
I got hold of a lovely, vintage Shimano Exage non-compact chainset from about 1991, and borrowed the bottom bracket from Annie the Blue Bike who happens to also be from 1991 and also has a 73mm shell. I then discovered the BB spindle wasn't long enough, because the Kona has wide chainstays to accommodate knobbly tyres and its 142mm rear hub, and the LH crank was within 2mm of striking the chainstay under no load.
Is it even possible to buy a 73mm shell square taper BB with a spindle longer than 122mm? Well, in fact it is, you can get 127mm. I figured an extra 2.5mm either side was all I needed for it to work. And get this: Halfords even makes one, but I had to visit three stores to find one in stock, and even then had to explain to the guy which one it was I needed, and why external BBs are different from cartridge square taper. I ended up physically pointing to the one I needed.
New cranks on, and hey presto! Narrow Q and happy knees!
For about a month. Then the bike started clicking every pedal revolution, or almost every revolution, on each of the chainrings.
- I thought it must be the pedals, so swapped them for other SPDs but the noise carried on.
- I decided it must be the chainring bolts, and found two of them loose, so I bought the rinky dink prong tool to hold the back of the bolts, and tightened everything, but the noise carried on.
- I decided it must be the crank tapers creaking, so I replaced the left-hand crank with the Deore DX one from my blue bike. Nope.
- I replaced the entire chainset with the Deore DX one. Nope. And the 8spd Middleburn chainring really didn't like being used with a 9spd chain.
- I put the Exage chainrings on the DX cranks. Nope.
- I pulled the cheap Halfords BB and found the shell was already going rusty, so I replaced it with a proper Tange-Seiki BB that is a lovely thing and remarkably also comes in 127mm. And…nope.
- Maybe it's actually the chain that's worn out? I measured it and some of it was close to the 1% elongation so I replaced it with bog standard Sram 9spd. Success! For about a fortnight.
- For about 50p from The Bike Station I got hold of two Biopace middle rings, because Biopace is stupid and cool and works with anything up to 11spd. I put the less ovalised one on. Nope, still clicking! WTF?
- I checked the crank bolts again and one of the bolt spacers crumbled into dust. Bugger it. So I jury-rigged an alternative. Nope.
- Now I really am running out of possibilities. Maybe if I just ignore it all it'll go away? Hah! Nope.
Well shoot, if the bike didn't just start behaving itself after that…! And the drivetrain has been perfectly quiet ever since.
Posted 2 months ago # -
All's well that ends well?
Posted 2 months ago # -
Arell and Gembo, I was all set to make a decision and now I need to think again!
Clearly, a nap will help.
Posted 2 months ago # -
The bike shop cannot service my e-bike because it has a throttle and is therefore an e-moped, and their insurance will not cover them.
Website says it is an e-bike becauase of the various limits on the throttle (bike shop says these limits are higher than e-bike).
Confusing. Especially as I didn't realise it had a throttle when I bought it, and never use it because I read the instructions before coffee, got confused, and never looked again.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Sounds ‘unfortunate’
But very interesting…
Posted 1 month ago # -
@the canuck
I can put you in touch with BTR business 'Joe's Bike Garage'. He could assess your predicament and advise. Email via Google mail on LB site is best.
Posted 1 month ago # -
Thanks, LB. I will put that on my September list. There's nothing wrong with it, but I like to have an annual service of my normal bike, and even though I really only use this one 8 weeks of the year, a check up wouldn't hurt.
I'll also email the company to ask if they have any recommends.
Posted 1 month ago # -
With throttle, whether it’s classified as ebike (EAPC) or e-moped depends on whether manufacturer obtained ‘type approval’: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electrically-assisted-pedal-cycles-eapcs/electrically-assisted-pedal-cycles-eapcs-in-great-britain-information-sheet#power-assistance--twist-and-go
Posted 1 month ago # -
@the canuck - a throttle can be used to provide electric assistance to an e-bike in the UK, but only up to 6kmph (3.73mph). This is under assimilated EU Regulation 168/2013.
An e-bike with throttle control that provides e-assist at speeds above 3.73mph and up to 15.5mph needs "type approval" from the UK vehicle certification agency. No approval then it is classed as a moped. Any kind of electric assistance above 15.5mph and it is a moped.
Mopeds need to be licensed, insured, and taxed, Moped riders need a licence and to wear a motorcycle helmet.
Posted 1 month ago #
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