Bicycle Maintenance and Repair Megathread: friction in the front, index the rear

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > The Great Outdoors > Bicycle Maintenance and Repair Megathread: friction in the front, index the rear

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

EvilJoven posted:

Edit: if you've never taken apart a freehub body to try to take that play out lemme tell ya it's a whole lot of work messing about with the stack of paper thin shims and itty bitty bearings. It sucks a lot. Just leave it unless it's causing problems.

I was thinking of having a look inside the freehub on my pub bike, cos I think one of the pawls is stuck down. It doesn't bother me too much so I probably won't now!

# ¿ Aug 2, 2020 17:49

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 20:05

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

CopperHound posted:

Can we get some Fs in chat for this tried and true workhorse:

Havana Affair posted:

Bad news: Shimano stopped making the un55 and the replacement un300 seems to be of lower quality. All the ones I've encountered have had pretty rough bearings out of the box. Really sucks if you're running square taper.

Thanks for the tip. The 113mm spindle version is already gone in a lot of UK places it seems. I just ordered one from halfords.

I have an unused one with a 122.5mm spindle that I can post out for �20+P&P if anyone is desperate.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2020 22:11

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

EvilJoven posted:

Or if you have a busted wheel you've yet to cut up or a snapped spoke laying around just make a pokey spoke with a grinder or file. A spoke ground down to a point is an incredibly useful shop tool.

So many uses for a broken spoke, I'd never considered this one. Everywhere I've worked on bikes uses the cheapest engineers' scriber on ebay.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2020 16:29

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

Pooper Hero posted:

Dealing with the links when waxing your chain all the time kinda sucks, so I bought the tool. It was cheap AF. https://www.ebay.com/itm/174361410218
A tool isn't needed, you can do the bulldog clip trick or use a brake cable, but those didn't work well for me.

You can also get a non-Park-Tool one for less than half the price, at least in the UK. I just got mine so no idea if it'll last.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2020 23:18

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

Just replacing my bottom bracket and I realised it's about 2mm too wide for the shell. Then I remembered the last time I did this at the bike co-op, I had the same problem, but although there was a 2mm gap on the non drive side, the drive side was in far enough that it basically was ok (no play, although there's some light rust, so I suppose some water got in!)

This is all a little confusing given I thought 68mm has been the smallest standard width for several decades (the bike is my 1997 Dawes Galaxy.)

What's my next move, dudes?!

# ¿ Nov 27, 2020 17:30

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

CopperHound posted:

Just bottom out drive tight, then do up the non drive side as far as it goes. If both cups bottom out easy there will be no preload on the bearings. If the gap is less than 2mm when tightened down all the way, just leave it.

That's what I did last time, but now if I bottom out the drive side, attempting to tighten the non-drive side pushes out the drive side, so I'm going to try a spacer. (I can't tighten to a point where there isn't play anymore - I could before, I conveyed that confusingly in the original post. Maybe the threads aren't great idk.)

Al2001 fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Nov 27, 2020

# ¿ Nov 27, 2020 18:53

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

Ahh that sucks but obviously makes sense if the entire bottom bracket has been moving around in the shell. Like a dope I just thought the bearings were worn so the spindle was moving a little at first, so I probably made it worse riding around. I'll check out those repair bottom brackets. Thanks, good tip.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2020 20:07

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

I'm not sure I understand still, and this is a part of bike mechanics I'd like to get straight. So I should push out the normal pins and then use a spare master pin (or quicklink) to reconnect the link?

# ¿ Dec 17, 2020 22:15

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

evil_bunnY posted:

Yeah, torx owns in general but as with everything else, quality/tolerances means more than what fastener type you use.

I'm halfway to rounding out the bolt on my Kryptonite flexframe bracket through a combination of my own laziness and them using fairly soft metal. Seems you have to take the whole thing off, pull the strap taut, then retighten the bolt, rather than just trying to tighten up the bolt til your allen key slips.

Interestingly these brackets work fine on my steel bike, but shake loose within a month when mounted on aluminium. By interesting I mean extremely annoying. Anyone have a fix for this?

# ¿ Feb 12, 2021 15:47

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

Bottom Liner posted:

https://bikepacking.com/news/tubolito-psens/

the dumbest poo poo (and they're not even accurate according to tests )

Well, no need for these any more *chops off thumb and index finger*

# ¿ Apr 26, 2021 22:20

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

Tortilla Maker posted:

The braking cables on my gardener's bike (Schwinn Impact MOS, circa 1990) snapped and he lost a few of the bolts holding the brakes in place.

Are cantilever brakes a bitch to put together? Seems like lots of small individual pieces that have to be adjusted.

Don't think I can do V-brakes as he'd need new braking levers (and money is a huge factor).

They're more annoying than V-brakes to assemble and adjust but not *that* difficult. There's a ton of good videos on Youtube (Park Tool definitely have one.) As for the lost bolts, I'm guessing they're the ones that attach the main cable to the straddle cable. You could just order some cheap straddle cables from ebay - the bolts will be included (check the pics on the listing but they always have been in my experience.)

e: I looked at a few listings, and the bolt/bracket that connects the two cables is called the 'bridge', at least here in the UK. The straddle cable can also apparently be called the bridge cable/wire.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192177420932?hash=item2cbeaaba84:g:HJQAAOSwONBZCw72

Al2001 fucked around with this message at 19:43 on May 16, 2021

# ¿ May 16, 2021 19:35

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

Safety Dance posted:

I got my bike back from the shop a couple weeks ago, and the sidewall of my back tire is very lightly rubbing against the cafe lock in one spot on every rotation. Is this something I can fix by deflating the tire and kinda massaging out the high spot, or should I tweak the alignment of my rear wheel using the adjusters?

Work out if your tyre is actually bulging or your wheel is bent (out of true.) You might be able to do this by just observing it as it spins. Tyres shouldn't bulge, ftr, so if it's that you need to replace it. Either way, if it wasn't doing it before the bike shop had it, ask them about it.

They might have installed the wheel a tiny bit skew as well? That would cause more than a spot of rubbing though.

# ¿ May 25, 2021 18:05

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

Safety Dance posted:

The wheel looks pretty true. It looks like the tread / sidewall on the tire "wobbles around", for lack of a better term. It's a Metropolitan Palmbay C1779 in 28x2.00, for reference.

Not saying it's not the tyre, but I've never seen a tyre behave like this (others ~~might~~ have), and my bet would still be that the rim is slightly out of true, or maybe even the hub is a little loose (this would make the whole wheel feel loose if you lift it off the ground.) If you want to check the rim is true, you could tie a zip-tie or similar around one of the stays, level with the rim, postioning the end of the zip tie 2mm from the rim, then you can observe lateral movement of the rim in relation to the end of the zip-tie.

You're probably better off just taking it back to the shop though.

This video explains what I mean (along with truing): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hRnH2S3nng

Al2001 fucked around with this message at 21:43 on May 25, 2021

# ¿ May 25, 2021 21:35

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

Is bike-specific copper grease (anti-seize) the same as the car stuff? I ask because of the significant price difference!

VV Thanks! VV

Al2001 fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Jun 8, 2021

# ¿ Jun 8, 2021 14:52

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

All 3 workshops I've spent time in use hairspray for fitting rubber grips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xC9ekyWmQE

Sab0921 posted:

I got brooks grips for the aesthetics. No other reason, they are lock on, so I guess I'll defend that position to the death - the slide on grippers must pay for their crimes.

I just got some Selle Italia Eterna grips that look similar to some of the Brooks ones. They're quite badly designed: the grips themselves and metal end caps need to be bolted on separately (2 different allen key sizes, ofc.) The end caps are held on by the end of the bolt pushing against, and bending, a tiny metal shim, which pushes against the handlebar. Just seems overengineered and unnecessarily fiddly, especially if you need to remove/reinstall them.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2021 12:42

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

Giant Metal Robot posted:

After trying lots of ways of twisting the post, I pried it open a little to help get more penetration for my oil. The gap is less than .5 mm. And now I'm realizing I'm probably fighting aluminum oxide.

You could try semi-legendary Facebook group My Seat Post is Totally Stuck and All I Got was this Lousy FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/372288659621602

# ¿ Sep 12, 2021 16:32

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 20:05

Al2001: Apr 7, 2007; You've gone through at the back

CopperHound posted:

Sounds like some knackered threads to me. Maybe beyond what chasing can fix. Luckily these things exist and any bike shop should be able to order them for you:
https://www.jbi.bike/site/search_usd.php?x1=BOTTOM+BRACKETS&x2=SEALED+CARTRIDGE+REPAIR#BOTTOM+BRACKETS_SEALED+CARTRIDGE+REPAIR

Just returning to this post because I finally bought and fitted one of these (on the recommendation of my local bike co-op as well as CopperHound.) Problem is it always comes loose after a few miles of pedalling. I torque it as hard as I can by hand, and the second time I used blue Loctite as well, but it still came loose. Not sure what my next step should be. Red Loctite?

# ¿ Jan 4, 2022 20:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > The Great Outdoors > Bicycle Maintenance and Repair Megathread: friction in the front, index the rear