Will an 1/8' chain and cogs wear slower than 3/32' chain and cogs for single speed / fixed gear setup? Will an 1/8" chain and cogs wear slower than 3/32" chain and cogs for single speed / fixed gear setup? What about using an 1/8' chain mismatched on 3/32" chainring and cogs?

I don't remember where, but I read once that because a 3/32" chain is more flexible laterally than a 1/8" chain, it is more tolerant of imperfect chainlines.  This makes sense to me, but I haven't seen any numbers to support it.  So with an imperfect chainline you might see faster wear with 1/8".

I suspect the difference in wear is imperceptible, especially with a steel cog.  The combination of a 1/8" chain, imperfect chainline, and an aluminum 3/32" cog would probably be where you'd see the most increase in wear because you add a slight bit of play where the chain interfaces with the cog, but I still doubt you'd notice much additional wear.


Has a bike been made with a rear derailleur above the chainstays? The question title pretty much sums it up, but has a bike with an alternate drivetrain style like this been made?

This would mean a derailleur mounted essentially upside down with the tension pushing the chain upward. I could see where this would protect the derailleur and keep the chain out of the way from dust and debris more. However, I could also envision some issues with front shifting due the the chain coming up from the front chain ring as well.

Pictures would be much appreciated!

The derailleur needs to guide the chain into the sprocket - which means it goes on the bottom.

The tension pulley needs to go on the slack side of the chain - which again means it goes on the bottom (the top side of the chain loop has the drive tension).

If the drive train was reversed, you could do it. Put the drive wheel in front and steer with your butt - like this.

US Patent 6588786 has what you've described. Bonus: you don't have to steer with your butt - cables link the handle bars to the forks. I found this while googling for 'front drive bicycle'.

Here's another configuration:


Which tire is compatible with DT swiss c 1850 wheel Currently my bike Canyon Inflite SL7.0 has dt swiss c 1850 spline wheels which using Schwalbe 33-622 (28x1.3) size tire which is hard to find in India.
Also, I have done 50T chainring conversation on my bike. And use my bike only only Road. Is it possible to fit any lower width tire like 27mm ? Currently it is 33mm width.
Can you please suggest any alternative tire, or is it even possible to use a different brand tire on DT swiss c1850 spline wheels ?
Thank you.

By way of background, the specified bike is a cyclocross bike. The rims have an internal width of 22mm. The bike was, as the OP stated, delivered with tires that are a nominal 33mm wide.
However, note that nominal tire width often doesn't equal to actual width (you can measure using vernier or electronic calipers), especially since rims vary in width, and there is a trend to wider rims on drop bar bikes. For example, I have a pair of Boyd Altamont rims with an internal width of 19.9mm. They have nominal 25mm Continental Grand Prix 4000 S2 tires mounted. These measure just over 27mm in actual width (by calipers). I have a pair of DT Swiss CR1800 rims, with a 22mm internal width. The 35mm Panaracer Gravelking SK's measured about 37mm as mounted.
I suspect the nominal tire sizes may be based on width when mounted on a rim with something like 15-17mm internal width.
Now, there are two parts to the question.
Can you mount any brand of tire to the rims?
The OP seems to have a misconception that only specific brands of tires can mount to specific rims. Fortunately, this is wrong. However, that sentence needs to be qualified a bit.
If you are mounting clincher tires with inner tubes, then for the most part, there are no compatibility issues. In some very rare cases, manufacturers may specify a list of compatible tires. There's no such list for DT Swiss rims. This situation is very rare, and it exists with some modern, hookless carbon wheels that usually have wide internal width.
I think this is irrelevant to the OP, but if he was mounting tubeless clinchers, then there may be some issues. The tire and rim size specifications for tubeless clinchers are still under development, and without a specification approved by the International Standards Organization (ISO), there may be cases where some tires don't fit some rims tightly enough to seal properly. However, there usually isn't a clear list. Riders in this situation may have to rely on anecdotal reports.
As an example of the above issue, Enve stated that its latest wheels require tubeless tires, even if you use an inner tube, and it specifies that some tires are incompatible, e.g. the otherwise very well regarded Continental Grand Prix 5000.
What width tires can you mount?
There is a potential duplicate answer to this part of the question.
However, the information currently present in that answer cites information provided by the ISO as of, I believe, 2015 or 2016. If you go by the chart in the accepted answer, then a rim with 22mm internal width was rated as compatible with 35 to 62mm tires (NB: these were probably nominal widths, rather than width as mounted). In other words, by the book, the tires originally supplied with the wheelset were not compatible. The OP should have crashed by now due to a tire blowing off the rim. And yet, here he is, apparently alive and well. (NB: if you have actually experienced a tire blowout, now would be a good time to say so.)
I think the ISO guidance in this case is conservative. Also, even in 2015/2016, 28mm performance road tires were not that common, and 22mm rims may not have been common on performance road bikes. We don't know if this standard was proposed based on comprehensive blowout testing, or if it was based on testing some common tire/width combinations and supplemented by expert opinion.
In practice, a number of current generation performance road wheels offer internal diameters of 21 to 25mm. Riders would typically mount tires with nominal widths of 25 or 28mm to these. Based on that, I'd argue that the OP can likely mount a 27-28mm road tire to the rims, assuming he is using tubes. I would prefer not to recommend a narrower tire, erring on the side of caution. In any case, 27-28mm tires should be more comfortable than 25s, and they should have comparable rolling resistance.
I am still skeptical of road tubeless setups due to the still-evolving standards and the very high pressures we would typically use. On the off chance the OP is thinking about a tubeless road tire, I'd reiterate this caution. I would then recommend at least a 28mm tire, and I would recommend that the OP not exceed 60 PSI (4 bar). Jan Heine, an engineer and the CEO of Rene Herse cycles, recommends this this as a general pressure limit. Zipp's recent 303S wheelset has a 23mm internal width (albeit it's of hookless construction), and for a 25mm tubeless tire, they recommended 61 PSI front, 64 PSI rear for a 165 lb rider, lower for wider tires.


Convert 9 speeed Campagnolo Ergo Levers to 10 Speed A friend gave me a carbon set of campag record 9 speed ergos.  I would love to convert the 9 to 10 Speed and I understand it is possible.  I have read that some dealers will do it but the cost is almost same as new set of levers. Has anybody done it and was it difficult?

It is not too difficult to rebuild campy leavers - although a extra set of hands can be handy for one of the steps where you need to hold a spring in position (there is a trick to it). You can get the parts if you ask around local shops or online and you can convert from 8 to 9 to 10 speed provided the internals are the same type - you should be OK as you have the 9 speed ones, 10 speed and up may different. The G springs were about $10 when I last braught a set and I have seen the cam/ratchet part online for arount $50 - but that was a while ago, and in Australia.

Look up the book "zin and the art of road bike maintaince" or rebuilding ergoleavers section on http://www.campyonly.com/ (right at the bottom). On the campagnolo website there are manuals that include exploaded diagrams of all their components and part numbers, and when I last looked had the ergo leavers had listed the part numbers you need to change the number of speeds.


Differences between symetrical and asymetrical brake pads for cantilever / v-brakes What are the functional differences of the 'long tail' brake pads (more pad on one rear facing side of the post than the front side) versus the symmetrical (same amount of pad on either side of the post) brake pads for cantilever and v-brakes. Why would I prefer one type over the other?

If you take a symmetrical pad with a given size, it is subject to two forces while braking:

The braking pressure caused by cable action, directed perpendicularly against the rim. In frame-boss mounted brakes (UX, V-Brake, Cantilever), this generates a torque around the bosses, forcing the bosses and the frame to "open" and twist. This creates a "toe in" or "toe out", depending of the brake being in the rear or front.
The tangential force transmitted by rim rotation, which twists the frame and fork tubes inwards in the rear, and outwards in the front.

The second force being much greater than the first, it is advantageous to mount an ASYMMETRICAL pad with the tail always rearwards, so that the asymmetrical reactive force (due to the shape of the pad) tends to neutralize the "toe-in" (or out?) effect created by the tangential force of the rim motion.

One caveat! In narrow forks, the tail can interfere with the fork itself, thus making it difficult to open the brake for wheel removal.

Hope this helps!


Inner Frame Mounted Carrying Bag I've been thinking for awhile that having a bag on the inside of the frame of the bike would be a good place to store a few small things, such as a camelback bladder, shirt, etc. What I mean is a bag mounted where the yellow triangle is in this pic. For all I know, it's a common thing in bike shops, but I haven't been to one in a few years (unless you count Canadian Tire) and I've never seen anyone with something like it.

Would it be a good idea? Does it exist? If so, where could I get one?

There are many available.  Here is one example: http://www.ebikestop.com/axiom_cascade_frame_pack_black-BG6638.php

Attaches to the seat tube and the top tube, providing a triangular storage space.  This one also is padded to aid with portaging (if you have a big enough triangle).

I know some people who tour with home-made frame bags that take up the entire triangle.

These bags are a great idea because they keep your load close to your center of gravity.


Can PROMEND cleats match Fizik Shoes and Look pedals? I got a look keo classic 3 road pedals and I'm looking to buy a pair of Promend road cleats. Will these be compatible and fit my Fizik Tempo R5 road shoes? I've attached the picture of the pedals and the road cleats.

You know the debate between OEM and aftermarket parts in auto insurance and repair? There’s a bit of that issue going on here, but I would generally come down more on the OEM side.
Exustar and Xpedo are two companies that make pedals and cleats based on Look’s Keo system. I don’t know if these are/were licensed copies, where they went to Look and paid a fee, or if the Keo system is off-patent and no licensing was involved. Those two companies are well known, however. In fact, James Huang at Cyclingtips actually recommended using Exustar cleats with Look pedals.
I am not aware of Promend having such a history with aftermarket manufacturing. At a casual glance, I saw their stuff being sold on Aliexpress, so I’d assume they’re based in mainland China. I recently was browsing Amazon, and I saw a bunch of SPD-SL cleats being offered by off-brand manufacturers (I believe the SPD-SL patent expired recently, so this is presumably legal) as well. With any non-OEM part, here are the ways it could vary from the OEM version:

The physical dimensions of the part might not be identical. If you read the Cyclingtips article, Huang essentially says that the Exustar cleat has different dimensions than the OEM cleat, only in that case it’s an advantage. It eliminates the side to side rocking that some people have reported.
The tolerances of the part could be different. Tolerance is frequently used as a synonym for variance in this setting. Here, the parts might vary in size more than the OEM stuff, e.g. you have more cleats that are a bit too small, and fit sloppily.
The materials could be different. Perhaps the plastic is poorer quality and wears faster.

Without a history, I would assume that the Promend cleats will fit in your Look pedals. However, given the lack of history and the fact that they’re probably a low-cost producer, it’s more likely that they will not work as well.
I don’t necessarily mean this post as a condemnation of aftermarket parts in cycling. There are numerous known good aftermarket parts. Kool Stop pads for rim brakes are one - in fact, many posters flout this site’s rule against product recommendations in this one case, because they are objectively that good. For chains, KMC are known to produce decent chains. YBN is less well known in this space, but I have read good reviews of its chains and quick links. Jagwire does produce good cable sets. All these units are either more cost effective than OEM equipment and still perform close or equal, or in a few cases they may actually be better.
As to the cleats, I realize that the off brand stuff is half the price of the OEM cleats. Nonetheless, OEM cleats are still cheap, as are cleats from the known good aftermarket manufacturers. And they are one of your contact points with the bicycle, and you don’t really want your cleats squirming around in ways that they shouldn’t (I.e. exhibiting play) because the tolerances were poor or because the plastic was junk. Life is too short to use junk aftermarket cleats.
This is not a knock on manufacturing in China, either. The Macbook Pro I'm typing this answer on was made in China, and it was made quite well apart from the issue with the butterfly keyboards - but that was a poor design choice, and that originated with Jony Ive at Apple HQ in California. Most carbon frames are manufactured in China, and the cream of the crop factories produce really good frames. With high quality items produced in China, someone has researched which factories to use, they presumably do some of their own quality control in addition to any QC done at the factories, and they are willing to put their name and address on the Internet and to stand behind their products. Who on earth is Promend? Do they offer a warranty? My issue is more with products from anonymous sellers on Aliexpress.


Recessing Look Cleats A lot of SPD shoes (not SPD-SL) have the cleat recessed into the shoe so you can walk with it. Has anyone found a way to get Look Keo cleats to be recessed so they are better for walking?

I suspect this is not easy due to the way they clip in and the only improving walking things you can do are grip cleats and the cleat covers.

I doubt you will find a way to do this; it would require a shoe with a pretty deep sole to recess the cleats into (that's what SPDs do).

Note that the SPD-SLs are pretty similar to the Looks but much more walkable.


Nexus hub keeps getting misaligned I have a nexus 8-speed internal hub on a Civia Kingfield bike. It keeps getting misaligned -- the dots on the bottom don't line up.

In the past I have successfully adjusted it using the barrel adjuster, and it would work great again for a few months. I attributed the misalignment to cable stretch. However the past two times I did this, it quickly became misaligned again, and now the barrel adjuster is so stiff I can't turn it with my fingers in either direction.

I took it to the shop and they claimed there was dirt in the barrel adjuster and they said they cleaned it out, and they had adjusted it again so the dots lined up. The barrel adjuster turned easily again immediately after they did this. 100 miles later, and it's horribly misaligned again, and the barrel adjuster won't turn again.

Furthermore, the latest misalignment happened quite suddenly to me today. It was riding pretty well, a skip here or there but very rare, and then suddenly became completely terrible; no gear "sticks" any more, and the dots are quite far apart on the bottom.

Any ideas what's up? I am thinking I probably need a new cable and new housing, however when I mentioned that to the shop they said the cable was fine (though I have no idea how they checked).

The bike has about 2000 miles on it and only minor maintenance has been done so far (wheel truing, previously mentioned barrel adjustments, new brake pads, etc.).

It sounds as if you adjusted the barrel adjuster out too far, the last time you adjusted it, and damaged the threads on the adjuster.  When the shop cleans and lubes it, it is fine for a few days, and then gets stuck again, because the threads are cross threaded or stripped.  If the damage is relatively minor, it can act normal until it is under a little higher tension than average, and then "jump" out of place, whereupon it will be stuck, and out of adjustment almost immediately.

Of course, not having it in front of me, this is just conjecture.  You should find a shop you are confident in and explain the multiple issues, and ask them to find the problem.


Can anyone give me some information on this Peugeot frame I bought this weekend? I've been looking through old Peugeot brochures and searched the numbers on the frame but I cant find any pictures of any Peugeot bikes that look like this one. The chrome section with the flags of France bordering it the major differences. Peugeot bikes that I've seen usually have a checkered flag pattern where the French flag is here. In the Chrome section there is a long black and white arrow with another French flag in it. The guy I bought it from told me it was from the late 1970s. On the dropouts there is the number 85448 and on the bottom bracket shell is the number 57. From what I have read it's basically meaningless with how inconsistent Peugeot were with their numbering.

I have a peugeot frame of a similar age and have found it to be more bother than its worth.
There was a period when peugeot made an effort to make all of their compenent dimensions round metric numbers. This practice was not adopted by many other manufacturers so getting parts to fit that frame might be a hassle.
On my peugeot frame;
Steering tube internal diameter is exactly 22mm, so standard quill stems (7/8 inch, approxmiately 22.2mm) will come frustratingly close to fitting, but wont in the end.
Pedal threads are 14mm (I think), again, frustratingly close to standard (9/16 Inch approximately 14.3mm) but incompatible.
Seat post diameter is 24mm which seems to be a defunct size, thankfully smaller diameters are available so shimming is an option.
Not sure about bottom bracket threads or anything else because I shelved the project
I sincerely hope that your frame is not of this era because they are really nice from my experience. A friend lent me an approximately late 70s/early 80s peugeot for a while and it really was very pleasant to ride.
You might find these links useful.
http://www.bikeboompeugeot.com/
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/velos.html


Should "universal pedals" be avoided? Are universal pedal axles weaker than standard axles? If so, should they be avoided?

These are inexpensive pedals so let's focus on inexpensive normal, solid axles vs these universal pedals.

Each pedal comes with a 1/2 inch and a 9/16 inch adapter that must be screwed into the pedal body.

The left pedal adapter threads in with a left hand thread, the right pedal adapter threads in with a right hand thread.

Edit 4/10/2020

Would they be strong enough for any of the following applications?

Could these pedals be strong enough for some applications not displayed below?

The following bikes were chosen because they come from bike shops with roughly comparable inexpensive plastic pedals.

All the bikes are Trek because it was easy to find a wide variety of Trek bicycles. This is not meant as an endorsement of Trek.

Option 1: Trek Tag Along

Option 2: Trek cruiser

Option 3: Trek children's bike

Option 4: Trek 24 inch wheel bike

In context of the low cost pedals, you need to look at the user and how they ride. Would I trust them on a trials bike or downhill MTB?, no, but then I would not trust a cheap pedals with a one piece axle.  Would I trust them in a situation I would trust a similar pair of cheap one piece axles, absolutely.

In theory the two piece axle will be less reliable as it has another failure mode that does not exist on a one piece axle. However, the failure of the extra threaded join is probably much less likely than the pedal to crank join, due the thread locker. Therefore, the increased risk is marginal.

So the question is not 'should they be avoided because they have a two piece axle", its "Should cheap pedals be avoided"


Route between Durham, NC and Carrboro, NC? I've been googling around (Strava, mapmyride, local bike shops) and I couldn't find a recommended bike route between Durham and Carrboro (or Chapel Hill for that matter). If google map's suggestion is the best, that's fine, but it would be helpful for someone whose done it to corroborate.

Thanks.

I don't know where you want to start or finish, but here's some strava routes for central Durham to to central Carrboro

Red roads are more popular for cyclists, blue ones are less travelled, and white ones are rarely or never cycled.

Route between Durham, NC and Carrboro, NC?   This one is the most "popular" based on strava tracks, and is 22.8 km.

This path minimises elevation changes, so instead of 309 metres of vertical you only have 225 metres of climbs.

This is the most direct path but it appears to go down a main road, which may not be legal on a bike, in your area.

You can also find a number of strava segments in the area, using this link
https://www.strava.com/segments/explore#location/durham/type/cycling/min/0/max/5/surface/undefined/center/35.92059,-79.052797/zoom/14/map_type/terrain

Curiously, Google's suggestion is different again to any of these.


Mavic wheels out of true after 200km, is normal? I bought set of Mavic wheels, and today I noticed that the front and rear wheel is around 1,5mm out true after 200km of ride. Im curious whether it is normal.

I have pair of those

It is normal for a new rim to be out of true after first rides. Once the first service for the rim is done, it should remain true for thousands of kilometers.

It is recommended to check a new rim after 200-1000 km of riding.

I recommend using a professional mechanic to true the wheel. It is easy to overtighten some of the spokes, if you don't know exactly what you are doing.


Can you use an Alfine 8-speed "disc" hub with a non-disc wheel? I have a city bike with a Nexus 8-speed and I'd like to rebuild the rear wheel with an Alfine 8-speed. The only hubs I can find all seem to be disc mount hubs. My city bike has v-brakes. Is it ok to use the "disc mount" hub on a non-disc wheel? The description seems to say "disc brake compatible", which sort of implies it's possible but not required to use the mount, but I would like to make sure before purchasing the hub.

If the wheel is built with the appropriate rim (i.e., a rim with a braking surface) you should be fine. The hub simply has the mounts for a disc brake, one does not have to be mounted.


Can the back axle be replaced without removing the gear cassette? I'm about to replace a back axle for the first time, and I'm confused about whether I need to remove the cassette to do this properly. This is relevant because I don't have the tools to remove the cassette, so I'm wondering should I hold off on the job until I have those tools.

Here's the issue. My back wheel uses a cup and cone bearing system. I understand how tightening the cone works and I have all the tools, but the problem is that when the axle is inserted the cassette side cone is concealed by the cassette, and so it can't be tightened when the axle is in.

My idea for getting around this is to fix the cassette side cone on the axle using the associated nut while the axle is out, then put the axle in the hub, and then tighten the other cone and nut to finish the install. Is this reasonable?

(Sorry if this is a stupid newbie question, but neither my Zinn book nor the online articles and videos discuss the relationship between installing the axle and the cassette.)

It is possible to do this, at least with some cassettes/freewheels, either in an emergency where you don't have the right tools with you (but see here for a small cassette tool), or where you can't easily find the right freewheel remover for an old bike.

If you are at home, it isn't urgent, and you have a modern freehub, don't bother with this, just buy the proper tools first.

Use a cone spanner and normal spanner on the non-drive side to loosen that locknut, then remove the locknut and nut. If necessary (because the drive side locknut undoes and you can't reach the cone), hold the axle with a vice, or vice-grip wrench - you will chew up the thread, but you were going to replace it anyway. (If you have to reuse the cone and locknuts, undoing them over a chewed up thread may damage their threads, so try to avoid that.)

(If the axle is broken, you don't have to undo anything, just pull half out each side.)

Withdraw the axle and drive side cone from the cassette (this is where @Daniel's "in some cases the cone may be larger than the hole in the cassette" may make it impossible).

Clean the cups - it is a bit awkward doing one inside the cassette, but not impossible.

Tighten the drive-side locknut and cone against each other, hard. Insert the axle. Do up the non-drive cone slightly tighter than you want it to end up. Do up the locknut, then tighten the cone and locknut against each other. If it ends up wrong, undo, adjust, and repeat. It is tedious to do this without being able to use a cone spanner on the drive side, but it is possible. (You can put a spanner on the drive locknut, but if it becomes unlocked, you'll have to take the axle out and start again.)


Are there valve caps that show the tire pressure? I saw these valve caps for cars, set at 2.4 bar:

Is there something similar for bicyles? it would help less careful riders when it's time to pump more air in them.

These types of valve cap gauges aren’t recommended - either for cars or bikes. They work by bypassing the schrader valve in the tire and using a cheap spring-based pressure gauge in the cap.

First, they’re wildly inaccurate even on cars. By the time they show red, you’re riding on your rims.

Second, they’re cheaply made and a significant second point of failure. If the cap is just a bit loose, the o-ring gets just a bit of dirt in it, or the valve cap gets knocked the wrong way, they will start bleeding air. This is most likely why they aren’t sold in the higher pressures that bikes would need.

Finally, as @Argenti noted, many riders adjust their tire pressure depending on the road or trail conditions or their desired degree of ride comfort. Most bike tires can take a wide range of pressures, unlike cars which have a very narrow band.

Conclusions: I’d just get used to squeezing your tires (for the lower pressure of mountain bike and comfort bikes) and/or topping off regularly (especially if you have a road bike).


Bike trailer/grocery buggy combo I currently grocery shop either by walking and using a grocery buggy, or by bike with panniers.

The grocery buggy (like this one on Amazon) is very convenient, and carries more cargo more easily than my pannier bags. It's also far easier to carry groceries around the store, and up the elevator in my building.

I am looking for a bike trailer which can function as both a cargo trailer and as a grocery buggy.

I use a trailer that was for moving one or two small children.  As such it came with a third front wheel, and the drawbar folds underneath.

Not mine, but similar design.

So you could ride to the shop, park and lock your bike in the stand, fit the trailer's front wheel to make it a triangle, and fold up the towbar if required.  Now its a Pram/Pushchair/Stroller

Then do your shop, and after checkout put your stuff back in your stroller.  When you get to your bike, store the front wheel and deploy the towbar.  Hitch to your bike then ride off home.

The only gotcha for me is that stowing the drawbar requires tipping the trailer back a long way, so to deploy the towbar, the groceries have to be well-packed.

Also, the stroller is a little wider than a shopping cart/trolley.  It can store about the same amount.  Mine's got a slab of customwood as a floor.  Its possible the market may object to a non-shop trolley, but that's a remote chance.


How to find a fitting drivetrain I'm currently building up a new bike from a vintage Scott Windriver MTB frame. My plan is to install a Shimano Zee 10-Speed drivetrain because I don't really need more gears in my area, I want it to be durable and there's a huge discount on it. But I'm not sure about the compatibility with my frame.
The bottom bracket is 68mm BSA and the rear dropouts are 135mm apart from each other.
My guess is that I need a FC-M640 crankset. It comes with a 68mm Hollowtech II bottom bracket, will it fit?
For the rear mech I can also choose between "23-28t Close ratio" and "32-36t Wide ratio". Does this concern the number of teeth on the biggest sprocket of the cassette? I rather want to have lower gears so would the close ratio be the right option? How does it affect the choice of the cassette?
And - last but not least - will I get a hub that fits my frame, the cassette and the rear mech? I'm not sure about how common 135mm dropouts are nowadays.

Thanks for any help!

135mm quick release hubs are still common. 26” 135mm 10 speed cassette compatible wheels should be easy to obtain.

Make sure to get a Hollowtech BB that is specific to MTBs. These fit 73mm shells and 68mm shells with included spacers, and are compatible with MTB cranks. Road Hollowtech BBs only fit 68mm shells.

For the rear derailleur, "23-28t Close ratio" and "32-36t Wide ratio” refers to the size of the largest cassette sprocket supported. If you want low gears you want the wide ratio option and a 11-32, 11-34 or 11-36 cassette. Do some research or gear ratios to decide what range you need.


Air in hydraulic brakes after bleed Today I bled an Avid Elixir 1 after it had gone soft over the winter. I followed the directions in the Park Tools Big Blue Book completely, used an Avid bleed kit and opened a new bottle of DOT 5.1. The bleed went well and the lever had good pressure afterwards.

I went out for a couple of hours and came home and thought the brakes seemed softer. I stood the bike on its rear tyre and pumped the brake 10 times and by the end the lever was against the grip.

I checked both plugs and they seemed to have a good seal.

Any ideas on what I could have done wrong or could be wrong with the brakes to allow significant air into the system?

Your bleed was probably not perfect. It is normal. Pulling a perfect bleed is a bit hard for first timers.

Possible reasons for a not perfect bleed:

you did not fully reset the pistons before starting the procedure
you did not apply enough negative pressure and move oil from one syringe to another many times in order to remove all the air bubbles
you did not bleed the lever (push the lever all the way in and apply negative pressure on the syringe on the lever)
you introduced some air (and/or lost oil) between the time you removed the syringe and fitted the torx screw back in
you introduced air from the sirynge accidentaly (a bit rare)

My suggestion is to rebleed (not fully, but just enough to remove the air). Push oil from the bottom (caliper) using a 90% full syringe and pull from a 10% full syringe from above at the lever. While doing so, stop pushing from the bottom and continue pulling from above to apply negative pressure. You'll probably see 10-15 bubbles appearing at the top syringe.


Squeaky SPD shoes problem I have faced a very very annoying problem with my SPD shoes, and it happens on two pairs of shoes from different manufacturers (Shimano SH-AM7 and Northwave Outcross 2 Plus).
The problem is a very bad squeaky sound on every pedal stroke (on the pushing phase of the pedaling, when pulling it is quiet)

Well, to begin with, all shoes have similar construction. On the sole of a shoe, where the SPD cleat is bolted, there are basically two large holes. Manufacturer usually covers it with transparent film on the inside of the shoe. But this film adhesive is so weak it usually gets totally gone after you wash your shoes couple of times.
So what I do -- I put regular duck tape inside my show to cover the holes.

But after I do that -- this super ennoying squeaky sound appears which happens on every pedal push (in Shimano case, Nortwhave makes this sound even without duck tape)
I have tried lots of solutions. Like making holes in the duck tape, so that there is better air flow (doesn't help), I have wd-40-ed the pedal spring, thought it was the problem. But it is definetely the shoe, because when I pedal without being clipped in there is no sound.
I have removed the duck tape at all from my Northwave shoes, and the sound is still there! So it could be the insoles rubbing against the metal cleat hanger.

The only solution that worked for my Shimano shoes which I used a year ago, it was completely sealing the holes with silicon sealant used in plumbing. But it is a nightmare to remove it in case you'll have to.
But I haven't silicone sealed my Northwave yet, trying to find a better solution.

I just don't understand why manufacturers of the shoes make this terrible flaw in the consctruction. And since there are no thousands of squeaky shoes riders out there, it seems that there is some solution I don't know of.

Thank you for any help in advance.

The SPD cleat/shoe interface design is inherently "flawed" in the regard that there is a tiny gap and/or sideways movement between the cleat and the pedal's spring. The gap may increase as the shoe wear. So creaking/squeaking sound is quite possible.

Given that SPD is meant to be used for mountain biking, where there are many other bike-related sounds happening all the time (chain slapping the chainstay, rock strikes, brakes squealing, tires eating the dirt etc.), it is not the worst sound possible. It is usually masked by other events.

On a smooth asphalt road where riding is basically silent creaking SPD shoes are indeed quite annoying. But for road applications, SPD-SL (among others) is a type of a clipless interface with tighter tolerances and less chances for squeaking.

I do not think that holes in the sole contribute anything to the sound. You mention it yourself in your question, in fact. There are usually two or four holes found on the shoe's sole. Two of them are used to mount the cleat. The remaining two holes are then not involved in shoe's operation, they only provide an alternative mounting position.

Sealing the shoe with a silicone sealant to prevent squeaking is not as bad idea as you would think. For many people, cleats, once installed, serve as long as the shoes they are attached to. So you are unlikely to ever need to reinstall cleats; even if you do, it will happen once per maybe five years. Five years of silent operation and peace of mind is worth the trouble of removing the sealant during the maintenance.


Does the front derailleur limit chain ring size? Does the front derailleur have limits to which size chain rings can be used?

I have a groovy old 1988 Schwinn Prelude and for the most part it does just what I need. However there are some steep sections of excellent paths nearby that are a bit to much. Fitness is decidedly a factor ;)

I currently have a 2x6, I assume stock parts but I cannot be sure. Chain rings are 52-40 and cassette is 14-28. The aggressive old style. There aren't many options for changing the cassette, but I was thinking perhaps I could put a compact or even a gravel/mtb chain ring set on.

I use exclusively the 40t ring. I can count on one hand the number of times I've used the 52t. I mostly commute and go for leisure rides, so the racing set up is impractical. Can I simply switch the chain rings out for a 42-34 for example? Or will the front derailleur be unable to function properly?

The derailleur is mounted with a bolt on band so it is maybe possible to lower it on the seat tube slightly to accommodate the new rings.

As Criggie says front derailleurs have a maximum chainring difference and min and max tooth counts. the more modern a derailleur and shifter is the more important this is. With an old friction shifter you can probably push this quite a lot.

The bigger issue is the 'bolt circle diameter' on the chainrings and crank. It's probably wide enough to preclude a ring much smaller than 40 teeth, if you want a smaller ring you'll need to find an alternative crank.


Gates Carbon drive on a Trek FX-S5 (Commuter) I've been looking at the Gates Carbon Drive and was interested to know if it would it be possible to put a Gates Carbon drive system on a Trek FX-S5 ? I'm planning to use the bike mainly for commuting to work. So want to avoid the Oil/Grease/Chain mess without getting into a Lycra suit.

No. Installing the belt requires a frame with chainstay or dropout that can be split so that the belt can be installed.

For avoiding dirtying your clothes, there are solutions like chain guards, reflector straps or plain old rolling up your pants or stuffing them into socks.


Does it make you safer to use lights during the day? My bike light, the Cygolite Metro 360, has a "Daylighting" mode which flashes very brightly and is intended to be used during the day. Similarly, many tail lights have flashing modes. Obviously one should bike with lights at night. But is it advisable to bike with lights on (in flashing mode) during the day as well, to alert cars to your presence? Or does it not make much of a difference? If there are any scientific studies or data on this, please reference.

According to Safety effects of permanent running lights for bicycles: A controlled experiment. (Madsen JC1, Andersen T, Lahrmann HS.) they give about a 19% reduction in crash rates. There's a copy of the paper in Scribd as pdf. Every reference I've been able to find appears to refer to this one study.

  The incidence rate, including all recorded bicycle accidents with personal injury to the participating cyclist, is 19% lower for cyclists with permanent running lights mounted; indicating that the permanent bicycle running light significantly improves traffic safety for cyclists

Wikipedia has a few articles, starting with daytime running lights (reports largely positive results) and bicycle lighting which gives a link in Danish that appears to refer to the Odense study above but claims 32% reduction.

  Daytime running lights improve cyclist safety significantly A large-scale experiments with daytime running lights on bicycles among 4,000 cyclists in Odense shows 32% reduction in cyclist accidents. The result is so striking that Councilman

Wikipedia Daytime Running Lights links to Google books copy of OECD, International Transport Forum (2013), Cycling, Health and Safety, but I can't copy'n'paste out of it so here's an image:

A BicycleForums anecdote resulted in a largely positive discussion, and there's this rant that concludes they're essential. The Australasian College of Road Safety amongst others is strongly support of them for motor vehicles so it's fair to assume bicycle riders would gain something from the practice.

FWIW I'm convinced. I have dynamo lights on my commuter bike that I never turn off (they have standlights so they go off a few minutes after I stop moving).


Switch to a larger sprocket on child bike with coaster brakes I bought two used bikes for my children, both with 16 inch wheels.  I was surprised to see that one child has to pedal much faster to go the same speed as the other child, and discovered the two bikes had different sprocket sizes.

Is is common and reasonable to replace a smaller sprocket with a larger one, or should I just try to find a different bike?  I assume I will also have to replace the pedals and chain.

You should only need to replace the sprocket, nothing else. If you put on a smaller sprocket to get higher gearing/slower pedalling you need a smaller sprocket, not a larger one. You may need to remove a chain link.

Those parts should be standard, the same as on an adult bike, and any bike shop should be able to make the switch. Coaster brakes are common in Europe on adult commuter bikes and in the US on "beach cruiser" type bikes.

You're looking at a cog like this:

Which is about $7 on Amazon, so probably $10 or so from a bike shop, plus labour. You could swap it yourself if you're a little confident - just take the wheel off, use a screwdriver to pop the lock ring, swap the cog and put the lockring back (beware: the lockring is a spring and likely to go flying). With an o-ring plier they're easy enough to reinstall or you can use a couple of screwdrivers to push it on. The only hiccup might be if you need to remove a chain link to get it to work, in which case you will need a chain tool as well.

The main issue is 15-20 minutes of the mechanics time, which will cost you. It will be cheaper if you pop the wheel off before taking it in, or at least make sure it's easy to do so (but if that's tricky you probably want the mechanic to do it all anyway).


Does this wear pattern on my shorts indicate an issue with my position on my road bike? My last three pairs of bib shorts have all worn out in exactly the same place (see picture). The latest pair started wearing after about 5 rides. I average about 100 miles a week. Do you think my position is off? I feel like my sit bones are in the right place on the saddle when I'm riding and I don't have any discomfort. I've had a bike fit. The shorts are all high quality (at least expensive) Specialized and Pearl Izumi.

Bike: 2013 Specialized Roubaix SL4 Expert Compact
Saddle: Body Geometry Toupé RBX Comp

Here is a picture of the saddle and the clamp from above. I'm holding a level to show how the clamp extends past the saddle. I think that is what is causing the wear.

It looks like your saddle is positioned quite far back, relative to the post.

Swapping the seatpost for one with more layback (offset) should allow you to keep the same saddle position relative to the bike but clamping the rails further back, where the saddle is wider.

Clamping further back on the rails may also reduce the risk of bending the rails.


Do calorie estimates for rides include Basal Metabloic Rate? It looks like I burn 100 Calories per hour on average. Do activity trackers report the extra burn due to the activity, or the total including the base.

To put it in other terms, if it says 800 kcal for an hour's ride, can I eat an extra 800 kcal or only 700?

Using my two Garmin devices, I lay down for 30 minutes watching a film.

Both recorded an average heartrate of 60 bpm. The 810 gave 35 kcal, the 910xt 45 kcal

So 70 - 90 kcal per hour : 1680 - 2160 kcal per day. It looks like the BMR is included in the figures, so that I have to subtract 100 kcal an hour or so to estimate my additional expenditure.

Garmin Connect shows the same figure as the device. Syncing the data over to Strava, it turns out that Strava doesn't estimate Calories without a GPS track or power data. So it looks like I'll have to try the next experiment in the garden.

Upate - I've finally gotten round to sitting still in the garden for 10 minutes with the 810 and a heart-rate strap. The result - Garmin Connect shows 16 kcal - my BMR, whereas Strava showed 0 kcal. So it looks like Strava only shows work based on the track data.

Update - I freewheeled down a 4 minute descent with my Vector pedals measuring no power input. The Calories consumed as displayed on the 810 did not go up at all. So it looks like the Garmin is inconsistently not including BMR when it has a source of power data.


How can I use a bent seatpost to move my cruiser's seat farther back? I realize this isn't everyone's taste, but indulge me for a moment...

I just bought a beater cruiser bike on craigslist, and I'm trying to move the seat farther towards the rear of the bike for a more "relaxed" riding position.

Some questions:

Is there a name for this kind of modification? I'm just calling it a "bent seat post", but I might have better luck Googling if I knew what this was called.
Is it safe to cut handlebars for this kind of seat post? A local mechanic told me they wouldn't support a person's weight, but some of the examples below appear to be modified handlebars.
Is there some other material I can use? Someone suggested water piping, and I'm looking for more alternatives.
Can a seat post like this be purchased? I'm guessing no, but you never know.

Some examples via Google:

subtle bend

welded joint

After some more searching, it looks like I'm looking for a layback seatpost, and they're available for purchase on eBay.


What to know when changing the damper? I have the RockShox MONARCH RT3 damper on my enduro bike. I want to upgrade the damper to a one with remote lockout since I OTB'ed twice while touching the lockout under my seat.

What do I have to know if I want to upgrade it and can I do it by my self?

Two important aspects are; the intended use the frame was designed for and the shock measurements.

Intended use:
Frames are designed for specific use in mind regardless of what you want to do with it. This design accommodates specific types of shocks. Whether Air, Coil or a combo or a 'piggy-back' shock. Some design are more flexible. For example my enduro design will struggle to get a Cane Creek Double barrel in. But then I've also seen many where people have mounted shocks upside down or back to front because it works.
Be realistic, measure the space available while sprung and also when compressed.

The shock's (and parts') size.
Two key measurements here. Eye-to-eye (length of the shock) and Stroke (the amount of displacement) length.

Eye-to-eye is measured from the middle of one mounting eyelet to the middle of the next.
Stroke is the difference in shock length between fully compressed and fully extended. In other words the total movement the shock can accommodate. This is not the bike travel figure but instead the movement that gives you the bike travel.

Those are your most important 2 measures.
However, take note of the mounting hardware. The bolts have a specific width and does the  bushings/spacers. You need to know if the new shock comes with mounting bolts/kit that will fit. You may be able to reuse the old set if they compatible. You may also need to use a bearing tool to get them out. But it varies.

Yes, you can do it yourself. You need to remember to release all the air/compress the coil etc. If you haven't done this before, you best ask your LBS if you can have a look while they do it for you.


How do I remove the axle protector after shipping I recently purchased a road bike, and while assembling it I found a piece of plastic to protect the bottom of the fork legs. A mountain biker, I always used different protection for that part and am not sure how to get it off I tried pulling fairly hard, and I'm a decently strong guy, but am I just being wimpy? It seems to be a solid piece of plastic except for some rectangular holes underneath the legs. Is there something I'm missing? After some research, this is what the part looks like:

After growing somewhat impatient, I grew a pair, set the fork (protected by the guard) on the ground, set my foot on the protector, and pulled up on the legs as hard as I could. It came off, but as a cautionary note to anyone else with this problem, I took a brake to the shin. Watch your shins


Upgrading Cube Aim 29 2013 I'm thinking about upgrading my bike Cube Aim 29 2013.
Current configuration described here.
The bike is completely ok for short rides, but for longer rides doesn't feel comfortable. So I'm going to change saddle and pedals, but I also want to make it more suitable for off-road rides.

I'm considering Shimano components. Is it reasonable to buy something like XT M785 10 Speed Double Groupset? Or SLX level components would be enough?

Regarding the frame - it is in good condition and Cube uses the same frame for their higher-end hard-tail bikes.

Don't buy that XT groupset for that bike to solve those problems - it wont work.

XT is great, but it won't make your  bike more comfortable, and it wont make it better off-road. Worse, it wont work for that bike since it has V-brakes, and that groupset has disk brakes.  They are not compatible.

To make it better off-road you need (in this order) better forks, disk brakes,  better components (lighter and stronger) and lighter frame.

I agree with what others have said here: sell it, and upgrade the whole bike.  If you really can't do that, only go for SLX.


Seat shim dimensions for Brompton I have seen a great seatpost online that i would like to fit to my brompton. The only trouble is that the OD is 31.6mm instead of 31.8mm.

The  Brompton seat mechanism uses a plastic shim to help the seatpost rise and lower smoothly.

Anyone know the dimension of the brompton seattube and if it is possible to buy a new shim and fit to brompton frame so that I can fit this seatpost properly?

thanks!

It might fit perfectly as is. If for some reason it doesn't fit perfectly, you could make a shim out of a soda can (which is about 0.1 mm in thickness). I don't think anyone makes a commercial shim of that size.


Can I swap freehub bodies? Background I have an 8 speed 26" freehub/cassette based wheel on my MTB.   It runs a 7 speed MTB cassette with a spacer and 7 speed shifter.  It works fine.

I also own a 20" folding bike that has a 6 speed freewheel.  I wish to increase the gear range from the current 14-28 freewheel to both larger and smaller.  However 6speed freewheels are expensive and only available in 14-28 or very similar ranges.

I also have a loose hub with a 7 speed freehub.

My plan is to put the 7 speed hub onto the MTB and use the 8 speed hub on the folder, with a new wide-range MTB cassette like an 11-32 or 11-34 and a new 8 speed shifter.

I understand that the folder's 20" wheel needs a complete rebuild onto a cassette-based freehub hub.

Question Do I have to take the 8 speed hub from the MTB wheel (meaning two complete wheel rebuilds) or can I swap the 7 and 8 speed freehub bodies off the hub, which will mean only one wheel rebuild ?

Similar to Can I replace a 9spd freehub with a 7spd one? but not quite the same

Cheap 14-34 Shimano 6spd freewheels are still being made.

As for freehub body swapping, there are a couple things at play. One is the compatibility issues with swapping freehubs at all, and the second is issues related to hub spacing, axle spacing, and wheel dishing with making the swap in question if it is possible.

Across manufacturers, there is no real freehub swap compatibility (barring cases where two different OEMs use the same Joytech hub etc). Within manufacturers there can be some. Many Shimano hubs use the same spline pattern and dimensions at the interface between shell and freehub body, and can have freehubs interchanged. Many of the common 8/9/10 Shimano freehub bodies are very close to dimensionally the same. (One sticky point here is that they can look dimensionally identical but usually need their cone/dust seal/spacers etc to be that of the hub they came from. You should assume that's the case unless you want to play games making it work right.)

That said, there are a couple exceptions to this within Shimano (completely different shell/freehub body interfaces), and 7 speed hubs are where at least one I know of can be found. So even if both freehubs in question are Shimano, it depends on the specific hubs models.

Secondly, if both are interchangeable Shimano freehub bodies, 7-speed freehub bodies are shorter, so to get the spacing back to where you started on the MTB wheel you'll have to add spacers on the left side and then re-dish the wheel. (I recommend doing it this way, because then you get more total spoke tension. You don't get all the strength benefits of a 7-speed hub because it will still have the flange spacing of an 8-speed hub.) And then on the folder hub, you'll need a longer axle.

Also I should note that just respacing the folder's existing rear wheel to 7-speed, swapping axles if needed, and then redishing it is another possible course here.


What is this cable/hose management clip? (picture) I've purchased a RockShox Reverb seat post, and its come with these delightful little Cable/Hose clips.  Since my bike frame only comes with built in cable clips for the brakes and shifters, these little guys allow you to attach your cables to existing cables.  Problem is, I don't know what they are called or where to buy more because I'd like some more :D

Anyone know what these are called and where I can buy more?

Bike parts.com lists them as Sram rotating dual line hooks # BPC 147851.


How do I get started riding on rollers? I want to train on rollers, and I figure once I get rolling it will be pretty easy, but how do I get my wheels turning fast enough to keep me upright before I fall over?

Until you get the hang of it, set up in a hallway, where you can brace yourself on the walls around you until you get up to speed and while you learn your balance.

Other than that, you just have to keep trying.


Babies on Bakfietsen: How young is too young? When is it safe to transport a baby on a bakfiets? How does one know when a child is old enough for this?

By "safe" I mean, protecting the child's brain from damage due to road vibration, pothole jolts, etc.

And by the baby would be strapped into a car seat anchored in the box of a bakfiets cargo bike.

that's me in the picture above! Hi, all.

I carried both my babies by bike-- they came home in-arms onboard pedicabs, and started in the Yuba rig pictured quite young (baby #1 at 7 weeks, baby #2 at 3.5 weeks).

The American Pediatric Association says babies should not ride on bikes until they are one year old and can support the weight of their head + a helmet while sitting upright in a child seat or trailer. They vaguely cite vibration damage to the spinal cord as reason to refrain from carrying them younger, though if anyone can show me the study that indicates that a baby in a car-seat onboard a bike suffers more jostling than a baby in a stroller or a baby-carrier, I'll give you $50.  I've searched, including PubMed and other scholarly databases, and it appears that the APA's finding is based entirely on speculation rather than scientific analysis. Which makes sense, as Dutch infants travel this way all the time without a rash of bike-based brain injuries. I am unconvinced by the APA's recommendation and, for my own children, have chosen to ignore it.

Any form of travel is going to involve some bouncing; once you decide that your baby will benefit more from leaving the house than from being safe inside it you are exposing him to some danger. Auto accidents are the leading cause of death for children in the US, remember. So get over this notion that bike travel is this exceptional form of risk for your baby.  We put some foam under the strapped-down car seat to add a bit of extra suspension, and were as careful as possible to choose the smoothest available line while riding, but ultimately, some bouncing is going to happen. And that's probably fine (add caveat here where I am not a doctor nor a lawyer, just a mom with two healthy-and-clever-so-far bike-carried kids, ymmv).

So my feeling is, as long as your kiddo is reclined and secured, even the littlest babies are safe on bikes, as long as the bikes have competent riders and safe places to ride.

Nota bene: a baby in a car seat should not wear a helmet: the extra material under the back of their head would put unsafe strain on their neck and defeat the purpose of the reclined & secured position. This means that, in states with a child (or universal) helmet law, carrying a baby on a bike is de facto illegal. I feel that strapping a baby to a big seat-shaped piece of styrofoam rather than a little head-shaped piece of styrofoam provides similar protection, however, the letter of the law in my state (and maybe yours) disagrees. I'm grateful to have never had to take the issue to court, and haven't heard of anyone else doing so either. But, something to keep in mind.

For another perspective on this issue, see: http://totcycle.com/blog/baby-on-a-bicycle.html

Also, the SF Bike Coalition's Family Biking Guide has a great section on biking with infants: http://www.sfbike.org/?family_guide


New Shimano 105 hydraulic brake loses pressure I have a brand new bike with about only 25 miles on it. On a ride today the rear brake (Shimano 105 hydraulic) became spongy, letting me max out the lever but giving on about 25% of braking power. I don’t see any sign of fluid leakage.

Any theories on what could be wrong? Could it be something with the mechanism? With the initial installation? It seems too early to be in need of a bleed.

Thanks for your advice.

UPDATE: Brought into bike store. They initially planned to do a bleed, but then determined that the brake lever assembly itself had failed and needs to be replaced.

Unfortunately, bleeding it is the first thing to try.

It's common for new bikes out of the box with hydraulics to require bleeding. Shops do it frequently during assembly, or good ones do at least. Factories don't do it consistently perfectly. There are a bunch of possible reasons, mostly boiling down to time.

Shops handle a lot of bikes and have their own time pressures. Letting a new brake through that needs a bleed is an easy mistake. That rear hydraulic STIs veer towards a long and not-the-firmest lever stroke anyway doesn't help.

Checking torque on the hose fittings at each end is also prudent, but probably not the problem.

The STI bleeding procedure has some steps involving lever positioning that need to be followed to do an exhaustive job. It's not difficult but it is different from MTB systems. Hopefully you'll be able to get it done under warranty by a judicious mechanic. If not I recommend following the procedure exactly for your brake from the dealer manual you can find at si.shimano.com.

Defective ceramic pistons are hopefully not the problem, but they do happen with the Shimano road hydros. If pad/piston movement doesn't seem right after bleeding, that's the next thing to investigate. The telling symptom for issues with them is stubborn or inconsistent piston movement combined with a crunchy feeling when resetting the piston. There are questions here about this.


Itinerary suggestions for a weeklong trip along New York and Vermont Borders I'm starting to plan a weeklong trip in July in Northen New York/Central Vermont. I want to find a place where I could establish a basecamp: set up my tent and leave my car, and then bicycle different 50-ish mile loops every day. Maybe mix it up a little with a good day hike as well.

I've never been to this area before, so I'm a little unsure of good options. So far the following areas look appealing:

State Bike Route 9 near Ticonderoga. Perhaps into Green Mountain National Forest.
In Adirondack Park - Maybe basecamp near Indian Lake (more routes highlighted).

If anyone knows of 'must see' or 'must avoid' areas, I'd really appreciate a heads up!

It's not central Vermont but I can vouch for the routes in this PDF in the Northeast Kingdom. I did a modified version of the "Around the Block" ride and threw in some of the many gravel roads in the region (and across Vermont) that make for superb touring routes.


How do I know which spokes to get for my wheel? I have a hybrid bike and under description for Spokes it says "Stainless PG"...but when I look for spokes there are a multitude of sizes, thicknesses, butted, double-butted, etc.!

How do I know what to get for my bike to replace a broken spoke?

There are two ways to determine spoke length:

Measure against a broken or existing spoke and because this is cycling there is a special tool for it - the spoke ruler! Most LBS have them for correctly measuring spokes. If you are measuring with a standard ruler measure from the center of the J bend to the end of the spoke.

Use a spoke calculator. There are a number online such as ProWheelBuilder that already have a number of standard rims and hubs built in and selectable. Otherwise you need to make a number of accurate measures of your rim and hub (or search them out online).


Cycling training - 220km in 4 weeks I have 4-5 weeks to prepare myself for a one day, 220km ride on a road bike, flat terrain (Germany, Ruhr Valley). This year my max is 70km (I could ride 100km, I'm doing bike rides since 2 weeks ago, have done only 3). I'm training since 5 weeks.

Weekly:
- gym strength training 3x a week
- 2x a week interval trainings (spinning, swimming, etc)
- 1x a week long bike ride

The plan is to increase that long bike ride each week by some serious amount, hoping that the gym and interval trainings will help me achieve the goal.

Is this achievable?

I would say that you should definitely work more on long bike rides and less on strength training. You can always wimp out on the hills and put it in an easy gear.  If the max you have done is 70km, then you really need to work on the distance part of it.

Another important thing to train for is how to fuel yourself during the ride.  Most moderately fit people could probably do 70 km without worrying about how to properly hydrate and eat during the ride. But when you get up around 200 km, you really have to think about how to eat and drink in the correct amounts so that you don't "bonk" when you are out on the road.


Bike weight different from spec sheet I just bought a brand new Canyon Endurace SL from the Canyon factory and started ridding it for about 10 days. On the spec sheet is only 7.6 Kg so I was pretty confident when a friend lifted it to check the weight. My ego and pride scatter to pieces when he said it was rather on the heavy side. And he was right, it does feel way heavier than I can recall.

Back home I get the balance out and check it for myself, and it displays something like 8.7Kg.

So where does all this extra weight comes from? My pedals are less than 500g a pair according to Shimano, a 40g bottle cage, two 35g lights for safety and a speed counter on the from rim (no more than 40g I assume). That doesn't sum to more than a Kilo. Can water get caught in the frame and/or rims after a wet day or a thorough wash? Did Canyon deliberately lie on the specs? Can my bike sneak out and feed itself over grease and power gels overnight?

I guess it's just my brain playing tricks on me...

There is some variance in the manufacturers' claimed weight. Due to slight differences in the manufacturing process of the individual components, it is possible that the claimed weight was legitimate. If they weighed the smallest frame available and mated it to the lightest set of the specified wheels, the lightest saddle, etc, they could produce a bike that is lighter than anything that would come down the normal assembly line. Many brands specify that they don't list weights because of these variations. Some brands actually advertise the weight but don't specify the details such as frame size, was the frame painted, was bar tape installed etc.


Group riding etiquette I generally ride alone. Recently while riding along at my normal pace, a very large group ride caught me. By large, I mean at least 50 riders.

By virtue of the magic of drafting, by the time about ten riders were past me, I had no problem at all keeping pace, even having to ease off to avoid crowding the rider in front of me. I kept as far to the right as possible (there was a curb) and a bike length behind the rider in front of me. There were riders to my left and directly behind me so it wasn't really safe for me to do anything but keep riding in the pack. After about two miles, we came to an intersection where I continued straight while the group turned right.

One of the riders rather pointedly suggested I should have pulled off to let the group through. I get that I'm an unknown quantity, but it should have been obvious that I was riding safely and really I had nowhere to go since there riders directly behind me.

Question is, did I really mess up? I do have just as much right to the road as the group ride does.

There are a number of problems in your situation, including the behaviour of the groups, which I will breakdown as the following:

A group of 50 is excessively large and it sounds like they also did a poor job of passing.  This is one of the primary problems of large groups, they are hard to move in unison and the club/organizer should have broken the group into smaller more manageable groupings.
When a group is passing another slower road users, such as the OP, the group should have given the OP a very wide berth to:

keep the OP safe as they were not involved in the group;
make it clear that the group is separate; and
make it difficult for the OP to inadvertently get mixed into the group.

The OP needed to decide whether or not they were part of this group, and if not, make it clear and in both actions and vocally, to the group, that they needed space. Speeding up made it more difficult for the group to pass, which prolonged the interaction and increased the probability of a future routing conflict. [This one may generate a some controversy, but I explain further below.]

Personally, I believe by far the biggest issue was with how the group was behaving, they can't expect some random person on a bike to be versed in group riding, and they forget that they are sharing road with other road users.  That said, as someone with a large number of years experience in group riding, I would have attempted to removed myself from that situation ahead of time by asking riders in the group to let me through so I could go straight or asked for guidance.  Expecting someone who is being overtaken to just pull over and stop is arrogant to say the least.

Most people in that situation wouldn't have had that experience or necessarily known what to do;  however, there is still an element of personal responsibility as the OP allowed themselves to integrate into the group (likely because it made riding easier), without known what was really expected.

  "By virtue of the magic of drafting, by the time about ten riders were past me, I had no problem at all keeping pace"

It is clear that the OP was knowingly benefiting from some type of draft, which ultimately made it more difficult for the group to pass and prolonged the OP's exposure to the group. The OP made the decision to speed up, they could have easily kept their original speed (e.g., brakes) which would have allowed the group to pass quicker.  You can't get a free draft (or partial draft) allow yourself to be somewhat integrated into the group, then suddenly do what you want. Groups don't react well to sudden changes. That said, this is a relatively small transgression as most people suddenly finding themselves in this situation won't be thinking of these nuances. Rather, the onus is really on the large group doing the passing to make this work safely.


Replace Shimano MT500 Caliper I'm not finding a huge amount of information online about doing a caliper (only) replacement. My rear Shimano MT500 is having issues and I urgently need to get it working, therefore I've purchased a brand new caliper of the same model.

I can't seem to find information on best practices on how to do it though.

Should this be as straight forward as draining (?) the oil from the brake system, unscrew the rear caliper from the hose, attach new caliper to the hose and run Shimano oil through the system/bleed?

Are there any gotchas to look out for? Can I expect the unscrewing the hose/attaching the hose to be a simple process?

Normally when you disconnect a brake hose (eg to install a new caliper), you are well advised to replace the 'olive' with a fresh one to ensure a quality seal. Shortening the hose also needs a new connector insert but you don't say you're doing that in the question.

I would treat this as an installation of a brake and follow the relevant steps in the dealer's manual, noting that Shimano states that "This dealer's manual is intended primarily for use by professional bicycle mechanics."

You shouldn't lose much fluid out of the hose if you disconnect only one end at a time and don't squeeze the lever, then I would give it a bleed as per manufacturer's instructions to remove any air. I don't know if the new caliper came with any fluid in, but by doing a full install and bleed it will fill up and purge any air you might introduce.


Changing 23mm tyre to 25mm - considerations? I got a L size Opus Allegro 4.0 (2014) which came with Vittoria Zaffiro tyres 23-622 (700*23c) on an Alloy Shimano Asoo WH-R501 wheelset 622x15c. I'd like to fit a wider tyre to improve my experience and feel when I am on bumpy roads.

I'd like to know what parameters I should consider when I fit a wider tyre (say a 24 or 25) on the current wheels/innertubes and, what are the limitations of my current set up if I don't want to change all at the same time (i.e., bike frame, etc.)

The two things to consider when increasing tire size are compatibility with the rim width and frame/fork clearance. Inner tubes fit a range of tire sizes.

15mm rims will easily take 23 or 25mm tires. Check that your frame has sufficient clearance for an extra mm or two on either side (some tires are a bit wider than specified width) at the brake calipers, fork crown and chain stays. I'd be very surprised if the frame does not have clearance for 25mm tires.


how to strip the paint from a bike yourself? How can I strip the paint from a bike frame?
I tried using a sander and it left really annoying scratch marks on the frame.

Is it possible to use a chemical paint stripper to completely remove the paint from the frame?

I do not plan to repaint it after stripping the paint.

John Allen has a page on refinishing a bicycle on Sheldon Brown's website. You need some covering on the frame to protect it, though. For aluminum, it is recommended to use chemicals and not sandpaper (due to particle embedding), but for steel, sandblasting is fine. The main issue with chemicals is fumes.

There are also several related threads on bicycles.SE such as this one and this one.


What should I do on the trail when I get mud caked in my chain, derailleur or cassette? I took my new fat bike out for my first mountain ride and immediately got caught in mud. Before I knew it my entire drive train was caked in mud. (me too!) Thick, heavy, clay-like mud. A few minutes later, I was testing out the gears in a parking lot and the next thing I know my chain got stuck and ripped off the rear derailleur.

I've seen advice on how to clean my bike, how to ride in the mud, what kind of equipment is best for the mud, etc. Of course, avoiding mud for safety and environmental reasons is great advice. What I want to know is "what should I have done differently?" What do you do if you're on a trail and you get mud in your drive train?

Mountain bikes weren't invented last time I had this problem.

Since you're already covered in mud, wipe much of it off with your hands. Be careful to keep fingers out of the parts that bite.

Use a stick where it's dangerous to poke your fingers, and get mud out of the derailleurs.

Depending on the kind of mud, and water availability

dunk the whole bike in a puddle or such.
use your water bottle to hose mud out of the important bits.
urine works too ...


Do expedition bikes offer advantages over standard touring bikes? I have seen a few bikes marketed as "Expedition Bikes". They seem to be designed for the purpose of touring off-the-beaten-track. Typically they have 26 inch wheels and either butterfly or flat bars, though I have seen a couple with drops. Some even have internal hub gears. The one defining characteristic seems to be the 26 inch wheels though.

What is the advantage, specifically, of the 26 inch wheels over 700c when on an 'Expedition' type tour? And more in general, are there other advantages to buying (or building) an Expedition Bike rather than just modifying an existing road tourer?

You should find that on those bikes everything is a bit stronger and heavier than a standard touring bike. Not only are they expected to carry more weight, they're designed to be ridden into places where failures are more difficult to recover from. As well, because they're designed to be ridden off road they'll usually have a lower top tube for better stand-over height, and there are fewer compromises in building a frame like that with smaller wheels.

Smaller wheels are stronger than larger ones, mostly laterally but also weight-for-weight vertically (shorter circumference means more material per unit length). This is most obvious with the 306 and 406 wheels used on trikes, but applies also to larger wheels except that the differences are smaller. Larger wheels mean the axle is higher, but also the top of the fork crown and so on, so you're adding the change in diameter to the frame height, not the change in radius.

Decent 26" tyres are more available in small towns. With a 700c or 27" wheel you may find that you have a choice of flimsy, skinny tyres and nothing else. (thanks Batman). In a pinch you can tour on cheap MTB tyres more easily than cheap 700c tyres, because a cheap, skinny tyre is going to puncture more easily and not deal with touring loads as well. I've seen a lot of bike shops in small towns in the first world that have BMX tyres, 26" off-road and city tyres, and 700c "race" tyres, all cheap unbranded tyres. It's not a choice between an expensive good brand and a cheap one, it's a choice between two widths or styles of the cheap one. If you have a choice. Or wait a week or more for mail order, because your order goes by air to a major city, then road to a minor city, then bus freight to where you are. Ideally you'd always carry a spare tyre, but in practice that just means you're waiting to replace the spare rather than the currently wrecked tyre.

Another factor is ease of building a frame that will accept fat tyres with the wheel size. Once you add a 2.5" tyre to your 700c wheel the frame gets quite large (29er MTB frames), which makes designing for low stand-over height harder and all the stresses on the frame get larger because the tubes are longer making for longer levers. The differences are small, but they add up - a slightly longer lever needs a slightly stronger tube, so now you have a longer tube that's also heavier per unit length, and overall the 10% extra length means a 25% heavier tube.

You are also more likely to find disk brakes on expedition bikes, because again they're more robust. Not necessarily the caliper and rotor, but the wheel as a whole. If you get a buckled wheel, with disk brakes the critical question is "does the buckle clear the frame" (ie, does the wheel go round), but with rim brakes it's "can I adjust the brakes to clear the rim" (that ignores "do the brakes still work like that").

The reason you see Rohloff hub gears on expedition bikes is the same. Sure, they add cost, but they are reliable. Not only do you lose the low-hanging, fragile rear derailleur, the straight chain line and high chain-ground clearance means chains last longer. The hubs go 5000km between oil changes and 150,000km or more before needing replacement. As a bonus you get a stronger wheel from wider spaced, symmetrical flanges (that are also taller). Again, it might be 1kg heavier, but when you're loading 50kg or more of stuff on the bike, do you really care?

.

The motivation for a lot of this is that it's all very well saying "I'll just get a lift to the next town", but if you're riding the Birdsville Track in the off season (recommended to avoid getting run over by tourists) you might wait several days for the next car to arrive. And they might not be able to carry your bike as well as you. So not only do you need enough food for 500km, you need water for at least a week (2-3 days between water supplies, plus a reserve). Then you have to get a lift back to your bike with parts, fix it, and ride on. Much better to pay a bit extra and get a bike that doesn't break in the first place...


Handlebar re-alignment I have just bought a new bike. However it was delivered with the handlebars at 90 degrees to the front wheel. How do I align them? The bike is a Carrera Vengeance ebike.

As abdnChap says rotating the stem around the steerer tube can be accomplished by loosening the stem bolts.
However, you may need to re-adjust the headset bearing pre-load if you loosen the stem bolts, and the pre-load may not have been set properly when the bike was assembled.
To pre-load the bearings the bolt in the top-cap is tightened to pull the fork upwards slightly before the stem bolts are fully tightened. There should be no play of the fork or bars in the head tube, but the bars should turn freely. You can check for play by applying the front brake, holding the bars and rocking the bike backwards and forwards.
This Park Tool video shows how to install a stem and includes alignment and setting bearing pre-load. The pre-load adjustment procedure starts at about this point.


Is there a roadside workaround for a freehub that won't engage reliably? I had a lucky escape from a long walk on Saturday: 50km from home or 20km via a train, my freehub suddenly wouldn't engage - the pedals span as freely forwards as backwards.
I tried dropping the back end onto the ground to try to shake things loose, spinning the pedals hard both ways, etc. and had just given up and started scooting towards the station when the hub started clicking, so I checked and it worked - most of the way home. If I kept the pressure on it stayed engaged but struggled to re-engage; luckily when it gave up again I'd reached  rolling terrain so I could walk up and roll quickly down.
When I opened the freehub body, it had more mud than grease in it, and the balls look corroded though I won't be sure until after some more aggressive cleaning.  I haven't gone axle-deep in water on that wheel, and don't use a pressure washer but do use a hosepipe.  The seals were undamaged, and it's a Deore XT, just over a year old.
Is there anything that can be done at the roadside to keep going with a slipping freehub? I have quite a lot of tools, oil, and grease, and I can take the cassette off for access, but removing the freehub body from the hub takes a 10mm hex key (which I don't carry) and opening it takes a custom tool like a giant screwdriver, plus lots of leverage.  Would it have been worth trying to get some oil inside by lifting the seals?  Is there a creative workaround? I tried a friend's suggestion of cable-tying the big sprocket to the spokes and treating it as a very fragile variable-gear fixie, but the first gentle pedal stroke snapped all 3 cable ties at the edges of the sprocket.

Use strong cable ties or wire/cable to tie the biggest sprocket to the rear wheel spokes. This will eliminate the freewheel, so be very careful when slowing down or going downhill.
If cable ties are too weak, shifting or brake cables should work nicely. If you don’t have any spares you could even scavenge the front derailleur shift cable.
However, I think this problem is best treated with preventive maintenance and should announce itself quite early. If the sound of your freewheel changes or you notice it engaging slowly or failing to engage occasionally you should open it and lube it.


My chain is catching on a part for which I don't even know the name A couple of days ago I was riding my bike and when I hit a hill and was shifting down through my gears, the chain slipped off the gears. I hopped off the bike and walked it back home, flipped it upside down, and got the chain back on the gears. I figured maybe I was shifting too quickly through the gears or something.

Yesterday I went out to ride again, and shortly after I started - this time on fairly level ground - the chain slipped off again. I put it back on the gears again and rode a bit farther, but yet again it slipped off.

This time when I took it back home (and yet again got the chain back onto the gears), I tried to carefully troubleshoot what was going wrong. I noticed that my troubles always started when I tried to take the left shifter to 3rd (it's an 18-speed mountain bike) or 1st. When shifting to 3rd, it wouldn't transfer to the gear (stayed on 2nd) and when going to 1st it would come past 1st next to the pedal hub. It might help for me to mention that the right shifter was going through all 6 back gears just fine through all this - so I was getting the idea that my problem had something to do with the left shifter only. After manually applying the chain to the 3rd gear, I slowly turned the pedals and noticed that the chain was rubbing up against and sometimes getting stuck on the part in my photo that I've highlighted with a red circle and for which I unfortunately do not know the name (since I'm a bike noob).

My best guess as to the function of this part is that it supposedly helps guide the chain into the front gear set (at the pedals) - but in my case it seems to be interfering with the chain's movement. My questions are as follows:

What is this part's name and function?
Should I remove it or adjust it?
How can I best go about this?

If I had the money I'd just take it to a bike shop and watch them fix it, but I'm broke so unless they'd do it for free that's unfortunately not an option. As I've already indicated, I'm a total novice at bike ownership so I'll appreciate helpful, constructive replies. I look forward to getting this resolved so I can get back to riding. Thanks for your time.

--------------------- EDIT ---------------------

Operating perhaps prematurely, I tried adjusting the positioning of the derailer to stop it from inhibiting chain movement. I noticed the whole assembly was attached to the post via the screw highlighted in the following picture:

I carefully loosened this screw and then very slowly rotated the derailer away from the chain until it had about a millimeter or so of clearance. I then tightened the screw and tested functionality. Now the pedals ran smoothly with the front gearset in 3rd. I took the right shifter down a couple of gears to verify its continued functionality (all was well), and then I tried taking the left shifter down to 2nd. To my dismay, the chain transferred to 1st gear instead - so I believe my configuration is still amiss.

Here are two better shots (with the bike in upright orientation, post-adjustment) of the derailer:

The part is a front derailleur. It job is to shift the chain between the front gears. Change gears while looking at it, you'll notice it moves and pushes the chain between sprockets
You need to adjust it, removing it would actually require more effort since it will need you to delink the chain somewhere. Also, removing would remove your gear shifting functionality.
What you're describing is a common thing that happens to drive trains over time. The cable attaching your gear shifter on your handle to the derailleur near the pedals, has either stretched if it was low quality, or slipped a little at the derailleur. The fix is quite simple. All you need to do is locate the point at which your cable attaches itself to the derailleur(you can do it by following the black tube coming out of your shifter on the handlebar, along the frame of your cycle and ending somewhere opposite the derailleur on the other side of the cycle) It looks somewhat like this- .
Shift your bike down to the first gear. Then locate the screw that holds the metallic cable coming out of the aforementioned black tube and loosen it enough that the cable can slide around just a little(In the image above its the screw which the right end of the double arrow is pointing at).
This is the tricky part, you might want to ask a friend to help if you don't have fancy tools. Move the derailleur like as if it were shifting the chain to the second gear.This might bend your chain a little, that's OK. Notice the stretch of cable visible and marked in the picture would have become noticeably slack. While still holding the derailleur in its forced position, pull your cable taught by pulling the end beyond the screw. Hold the point where the cable is attached with your fingers while letting go of the derailleur. Make sure you don't let that point move, it will take some effort, they make the springs rather tight. Now slowly let the cable loose again by moving the attachment point in the direction the spring is pulling it till the derailleur is exactly centered on the chain, a little closer to second gear position wouldn't hurt though. Holding the attachment point in position, tighten that screw holding the cable.
As a safety measure so that the next time your cable loosens, the chain doesn't fall off, you could adjust the minimum position screw as described below-
Flip the bike right side up. On the top of the derailleur attachment, you'll find two small identical screws right next to each other. Something like this-

These screws prevent your derailleur from moving beyond its maximum and minimum positions, it seems in this case one of them came loose and shifted letting the derailleur push the chain off the sprocket.
With the cycle in third gear, locate which one of the screws is closer to the obstruction below it (You can tell what this obstruction is by forcefully trying to shift past the third gear like as if there were a 4th gear. You'll notice the obstruction in question is pressed against the end of one of the screws when you do this). Once you've done so, pick the OTHER screw and tighten it till the point that it just touches the same obstruction when the cycle is in first gear.

You're all set to go now

EDIT:
Since I'm a noob to this forum and don't have commenting privileges yet, I'll put my comment to your update post here.
I only saw the original post which is why i was confused about what was wrong and I mistakenly assumed it to be the extremely common problem of the cable slipping a little due to use.
What you did in the update to your post was actually the correct solution, just not enough. Loosen the screw holding the derailleur to the frame and turn it a little more till the derailleur is inline with the chain(not just clearing it). If the inner edge of it is touching now, follow my instructions above for changing the lower limit, but change the upper limit instead (ie the screw which is closer to the obstruction in the top gear) till the derailleur is centered on the chain in third gear.


Can wheels with XDR and hyperglide drivers be swapped on a bike without readjustment? I have two wheels I hope to use on the same bike, which is set up with an 11 speed, Rival 1 groupset.

The wheel currently on the bike has a Hyperglide driver and a SRAM PG-1130 cassette.

The (proposed) 2nd wheel has an XDR driver, and an XG-1150 cassette.

Both are 11 speed, and nearly the same ranges: 10-42 and 11-42. Will I be able to swap wheels without readjusting the derailleur?

Yes you can get two wheels to be identical, or close enough, to be able to swap wheels without adjusting anything. In theory the hub/cassette spacing should be identical so you shouldn't need to adjust the derailleur.

For shifting the critical spacing will be from the inside face of the frame dropout to the smallest cog.  This spacing can be adjusted by adding thin shims to the freehub body to move the cassette slightly to the right. Both of your wheels will support this.

The procedure to adjust the shifting:
Adjust the derailleur for the first wheel and then replace with the second wheel. If shifting on the 2nd wheel is slow to the smaller cog, then the fix would be to move the cassette farther left but this is impossible. So your 1st wheel needs a cassette shim. This will move the cassette slightly to the right.

If OTOH the 2nd wheel's shifting to the larger cogs is slow, then the 2nd wheel should get a shim to push the cassette slightly right.

Alternatively you may find the two wheels are almost identical and you only need to make a very slight adjustment to the derailleur cable tension when moving from one wheel to another. I have this issue with two sets of 11 speed wheels and an Ultegra setup.  The difference is roughly 1 full turn of my cable adjuster - very minor.

Similarly there are shims available for disk rotors. The spacing between rotor and pad is very small so there is little margin for manufacturing tolerances.


Testicles chafing on legs - are my bibs too loose or too tight? Some context - I have a pair of bib shorts that fit me well though could certainly be tighter without causing discomfort. I have a good bike fit, and I can do 100km+ rides without saddle discomfort.

A few months after I got the bibs, this chafing began little by little. My testicles rub against my legs as I pedal, and I end up with a sore/raw spot on the outside of each one. I begin to notice this after about 40km on most rides.

I have tried different 'positioning', but they end up back in the same place (does this mean my shorts could be too loose?).

I never had this issue riding with normal shorts, nor with my old pair of padded shorts that were too loose for me.

I've found I can alleviate this somewhat by pulling my bibs down a bit, simulating looser bib straps. It seems that the tighter the bibs are, the less space there is for my junk, and the more my testicles are pushed out into my legs.

So, are my testicles supposed to touch my legs, at least during part of the crank rotation? And should I get an even tighter pair of bibs?

I've been resisting resorting to chamois cream, I'd like to solve the root issue if possible.

"we're all adults here..."

In my experience, when riding with bib shorts or cycling shorts, they have to be pulled up, way up.  And they should be a snug fit around your lower body - the shoulder straps are more forgiving.

Ideally your pants cloth should be in contact with your skin all the way up your thighs and right up to where the skin turns around and comes back down as the scrotum.  (sorry I can't find a medical name for this crease in the skin.)

This should leave two layers of cloth between the boys and the thighs.

Chamois cream might help, but you won't know till you try it.  Vaseline / Petroleum Jelly is worth trying if you already have some (most households do) but its not as good as the proper product.


What tricks do you use to avoid damaging cables when adjusting the gears? I was trying to adjust gears, and being my first time, I ended up damaging the cable. I mean that I "smashed" it, the threads became apart, and it was dangerous to deal with it. I replaced the cable, but I would like to avoid the problem in the future. Is there any trick, apart from being careful? I'm thinking something like coating the cable with a bit of glue. Is it ok?

I put the cable in, find a length that's 'approximate enough', and crimp the cable end onto the cable before I clamp it into the derailleur. This will prevent the end from fraying, like you say, and becoming difficult to deal with. It will get flattened under the derailleur clamp, but this can't be avoided.

If you don't crimp the end in first (or leaving it long is another way, but it doesn't always work), then you will have to deal with the frayed cable and sometimes need to wind it back together to get it into the cable end.


Will a 650x23 tire fit on my 26" rim? I have an MTB that I have been riding in the city for many years. As such, slick tires suit me well and I have been using a set of 26x1.25 tires for the last 3-5 years but they are starting to show their age, especially after I got caught in the rain last week and the water cleaned off all the dirt and dust. I noticed a number of small punctures that looked like they were stretching out as well as what I can only describe as spider veins (though not cracked)

For some reason, 26" slick tires in widths less than 1.5 are harder and harder to find locally nowadays. I saw one tire listed online as 26x1.0 / 650x23. Are these size equivalent?

There are around 8 different rim sizes that fit tires all called "26 inch." Many are obsolete. The tires all have different Bead Seat Diameter (BSD) and are thus not interchangeable.

The ones you are most likely to see in your local bike shop are as follows (largest to smallest):

26 x 1-3/8" = BSD 590mm. Often found on middleweight 3-speeds.

650B (aka 26 x 1-1/2") = BSD 584mm. Mostly found on French or French-style touring or sport cycles. It has found new life as the new "27.5"er MTB size.

650C (aka 26 x 1-3/4") = BSD 571mm. This uses about the same rim diameter as the 26" tubular race tire. Occasionally used on small racing frames.

Last but not least,

26" mountain or cruiser (aka 26 x 1.75") = BSD 559mm. THIS is the most common size in the USA for the last seventy years, and the size you need.

You can ignore the old inch-based designations if you wish to avoid confusion, and use the ISO sizing standard instead. It is printed on the side of every tire made since about 1964, and consists of two numbers: the tire width in mm, and the BSD in mm. So if you want a 26 tire that fits your mountain bike rim but is only an inch wide, you should look for a tire marked 25-559.

Personally, I do not like tires that small for city riding, as they must be kept at very high pressure, and even then, they are prone to pinch flats. I prefer tires at least 1.25" (32-559), and am riding a 1.75" (47-559) tire right now.


Swap Bottom Bracket bearings or replace entire bottom bracket? I've recently acquired a 2007 Specialized Allez. As I was dismantling the bike for service, I discovered that the bottom bracket bearings are in rough shape. They aren't smooth at all. I took apart the bottom bracket cartridge and I've pulled out the sealed bearings.

Is it typical to replace bottom bracket bearings? Or do people usually just replace the entire bottom bracket cartridge all together? Looking on sites like Performance Bike, they don't seem to carry bearings at all.

Also, if I decided to replace just the bearings, do I simply need to find a good quality set of bearings that are the same size as mine (in this case 15mm x 32mm x 9mm)?

Without specially fitted tools, it is very difficult to install new bearings in a cartridge bottom bracket. Usually, the act of pressing the on to the BB spindle puts enough side load on the bearing to damage the new bearings.

If you want to give it a try, yes, you can just go to your local bearing house and match the bearings by the numbers printed on the rubber seals.

The normal procedure is to replace the cartridge, but the bearings are cheap, so it's worth a try, even if it's just to learn that it doesn't work out.


smallest cog of cassette rubbing on seatstay I built up a NOS late 90s steel frame with a similar era Campagnolo Chorus 9 speed groupset. Has gone well, except the stays/dropouts don't seem to quite like a 9 speed cassette. The second smallest cog (14T) rubs a tiny bit and the smallest cog (13T) rubs a lot, so as to be unusable. I've set my limitscrew to keep me off the smallest cog and have done lots of km that way, but I'd really like to use the smallest cog and am trying to work out how. I tried swapping the hub spacers, but on this particular hub, that would have moved the dish way too far to the side. So basically I'm trying to figure out the cleanest hack (bonus if it's cheap as well) to get the full cassette usable on this frame.

I've attached a picture for clarity.

Oh also, OLN of the hub (a fulcrum racing 7) is 130 and it fits without trouble, but given the age, it's possible it was originally a 126, though I think the paint job is original so perhaps not (I took off the paint around the dropouts, when I, er, discovered this problem).

Add a spacer and re-dish. Or move some spacers from the non drive side over the the drive side (if they exist) if you don't want to open up the frame (that will require opening up the hub likely). 1mm is not a big deal. You will also have to fiddle with the limits on your derailleur and adjust shifting accordingly.

Or get a different cogset with something smaller like 11. There are lots of options for cogsets... unless you are being really perticular about the groupo. I don't know Campy stuff that well but on Shimano the smallest cog is always seperate. You could simply swap that... the jumb might reduce shifting performance but you'll get more function than you currently have.

Last option (maybe should be first) is simply to move the wheel up or down if it has dropouts that accomodate that. You'd have to adjust brake pads if you did that but that would be the simplest.


Shimano Rear Derailleur Max Capacity I need to get a new rear derailleur. My chain rings are 53/39 and my cogs are 28/11 so if I am not mistaken I need a total capacity of (53-39) + (28-11) = 31. I need a 11 speed compatible rear derailleur. I was thinking about getting a Shimano 105 5800. On their website they say that the capacity of the SS is 32. Should I go for it or get the GS since the capacity is 37?

There is also a spec for the maximum size of a rear cog.  The 5800SS allows a 23 to 28 tooth largest cog, so you are OK.  The GS allows a range of 28 to 32 teeth for the largest cog.  I would suggest you decide based on which direction you are more likely to want to change-if you go to an 11/32 cassette you need the GS, while if you go to tighter gearing you need the SS.  These are the specified numbers and you can often make it work over a little more range.


Heavier riders on bike trainers? I'm 300-350 pounds (136-158 kg). Is this too heavy for trainers such as a Tacx Neo or Wahoo Kickr? Their specifications say 250-275 pounds, so I'm interested in options for heavier riders.

Trainers that clip onto your rear wheel aren’t a good option if you’re over their weight limits. They support much of your weight on your rear axle quick release and this can put a lot of stress on components that aren’t designed for this type of static loading. If your bike breaks or the trainer breaks, you don’t have any grounds for a warranty claim or a liability claim if you hurt yourself.

A stationery bike is a much better option as they’re often built more sturdily. Check on Craigslist, they’re often quite cheap especially in the spring when people are clearing out their garages.

Or, go bike outside. There’s almost no unbikeable weather, even Minnesota in the winter — or Minnesota in the summer. (Wink)