Can I fit my normal brake levers to the curves of the dropbars? I ride Firefox Rapide 21S, a hybrid bicycle.
It has factory fitted flat-riser handlebars with Shimano EF500 levers for V-brakes with gear shifter integrated.

I am an unprofessional rider, I always liked riding fast, I gained knowledge about dropbars and actual road bikes after getting this one, as I realized I needed more to go faster.

I was recently thinking about fitting a dropbar to it and then mount my existing levers onto the place of hoods, as it goes beyond my budget to purchase them.

Will it be a good idea to do so?
Will it even work if I tighten it really hard so it doesn't slip?
Or, just not get into this mess and I'll be alright with fitting them on the flat portion of the bar?

I'm also attaching images of levers, but not dropbar(I haven't bought them yet).

Sorry, but fitting drop bars to a flat bike is a no-go.

The flat bar levers will not fit properly on a drop bar. You will probably not be able to reach the levers easily which is dangerous ! Reaching the shifters will also be difficult if not impossible.

The other reason is that frames designed for flat bars are longer than those designed for drop bars, as the drop bars extend the hands further forward. You likely find that the hand position on drop bars on a flat bar frame is too far forward.

If you want to get a somewhat faster more aggressive position but retaining you brake lever and shifter hardware, consider replacing your riser bar with a flat, slightly narrower one.


I have 27 inch wheels and need new inner tubes what size can I use I have 27 x 1 1/4 inch tires on my bike and need to buy new tubes. Can I use 700c or just 27 inch?

The size of the tube is usually written on the box.  Tubes stretch a bit so they fit a variety of sizes.  For a 27 x 1 1/4 tire you would need one that says 700x32 which is the equivalent new size of tube, although both the old system and new system are usually written on the packaging. This size is very common and you should be able to purchase the tube at any cycling store, or sports store that sells bikes.  If you don't have any in your area, you should also  be able to purchase tubes at any department store that sells bikes.

Also make sure that you get the right valve type.  Schrader is the same valve that is used on cars, while Presta is the only found on bikes.  An older 27 inch wheel will almost certainly use a Schrader valve.  You should be able to see the difference quite easily.  Also, there are different lengths of valves, although those are usually only found on Presta Valves.  This can be a concern if you have deep rims.  I try not to use valves that are too long for my rims because its sometimes difficult to attach the pump in these circumstances.  Although having too short of a valves can make it impossible to attach a pump.

Here is a picture of a box showing the sizes of tires that the tube is designed for.  This tube will fit tires from size 700x25 to 700x32, or in the case where you have older wheels like yourself, will fit 27 x 1.00 to 27 x 1 1/4.  It has a presta Valve.


Is a seat post with an integrated pump a good idea? I saw this http://www.premiumbikegear.com/biologic/convenience/postpump-seatpost.html and thought it seemed like a cool idea. But if it was really such a great idea, I would have expected to see more people using something like this?

Are there any major shortcomings from integrating a tire pump into the seat post?

A seat post pump would offer a type of convenience that may not be applicable to a wide range of riders.

High-end seat posts are made out of carbon fiber. Even many mid-range aluminum bikes have carbon-fiber seat posts. Using an aluminum seat post pump would negate the benefits of carbon seat posts.
CO2 canister pumps offer more convenience than a seat post pump. People who are looking to spend the most money on gadgets seem to gravitate more towards CO2 canisters than hand pumps.

In the end, a seat post pump probably has the most appeal for commuters, but they might be more interested in buying a cheaper pump than one that saves a bit of weight by being combined with a seat post. There's probably not a fatal flaw with this type of design, but there are reasons that it isn't as common as the basic frame pump.


Why is one screw in V-brake a lot tighter? I noticed that whenever tuning my V-brakes, I always have to tighten one of the screws a lot more than the one on the other side. I was wondering why this is the case. Of course this means the spring on one side is working a lot more than the other one. This difference seems to get larger very slowly.

I even bought a used bike a few years ago and the brakes were so bad I actually had to use holes in different positions to install the V-brakes (one in the middle, one in the bottom). Worked well enough, though...

So is there anything I am doing wrong when tuning the brakes? Is there a problem if I change one of the screws by a longer one if necessary?

I usually leave one screw untightened and just tighten the other one as necessary, to minimize tension.

I suspect the brake arm with the tighter screw needs a good cleaning of its internals. Try spraying some penetrating fluid like wd-40 in between the brake arm and the pivot and see if that helps at all. If cleaning (thoroughly, when taken apart) doesn't solve the issue I can think of a few alternative reasons your brake arm might not be properly moving:

The cable and housing can pull the brake arms to one side (adjust cable routing)
(suggested by @Argenti Apparatus in the comments)
Mount bolt too tight on 1 side
Spring incorrectly installed (unlikely)
one of the o-rings seen in the diagram below is incorrectly installed/seated

Are you sure your rim is properly centered in between the two brake arms? If not your wheel might need dishing or it might need to be centered on it's axle.


Chainwheel compatibility with Shimano Alfine (single ring) The chainring on my Shimano Alfine 39T crankset (FC-S501) is severely worn and needs to be replaced.

Can I replace it with any chain ring that has the same BCD, bolt count and teeth?

I am looking in particular at replacing it with a chainwheel from the 105 range (Y1M339000). Will it fit?

I am concerned mostly about the shape of the tabs not meshing properly with the spider, or does it not matter? Do all Shimano chainrings have the same cutout?

Shimano's 5-bolt road chainrings don't have special tabs or spacing, so you just need to match the BCD of the cranks and chainring. You should have no trouble there as they'll both be 130 bcd.


Are there any cleats (for SPD-SL) that convert the pedal to a regular flat platform for regular shoes? I have a road bike that use Shimano 105 PD-5800 SPD-SL pedals and they are wonderful when exercising. However I would like to be able to use the bike with regular shoes for more casual use of the bike, but I also don't want to exercise unnecessary wear and tear on the pedals by not using a cleat. Are there any cleats (for SPD-SL) that convert the pedal to a regular flat platform for regular shoes?

I know that this question is similar to this one but I ask for a special cleat that converts the SPD-SL pedal to a regular flat platform and not a hybrid platform. I want to keep my Shimano 105 PD-5800:s since I really enjoy them.

For a ready made part, see Fly Pedals.

This is essentially just a metal platform, which you bolt cleats onto, then clip them into your pedals. They are threaded with holes for 2-bolt or 3-bolt cleats, so should work with most mountain bike or road bike clipless pedals (including SPD-SL).

Note these are not yet available, but you can pre-order them from the Fly Pedals website. Some more details on Fly Pedals on Kickstarter - that page says delivery from end of July 2014.


Differences between starting a road bike vs a mountain bike? I'm having problems getting rolling on my road bike.

For some reason I have hard time hopping back into the road bike saddle.  It's the pedals spinning causing my feed to lose grip, or the bike tilting on my way up. That's what I've struggled with, and I can't quite figure out why it' so hard for me.

I ride a mountain bike and my feet have no issue hitting the ground and waiting until it's time to go again. That's not the case with the road bike, where I have to get out of the saddle when stopped.

I never had issues with a mountain bike but last year I struggled a lot on the road bike.. not with braking but with the actual complete stop and then starting again.  I’m about to get back in the road bike again for the season and am hoping to do better this time.   I guess I don’t understand why stopping / starting is so much harder than a mountain bike.

Does anyone have any tips/tricks in starting a road bike?

I ride a mountain bike and my feet have no issue hitting the ground and waiting
  until it's time to go again. That's not the case with the road bike, where I
  have to get out of the saddle when stopped.

You say you have to get out of the saddle when you stop the road bike. Is there a large difference is saddle height between your road and mountain bike? Are you staying sat on the saddle with a foot on the ground when stopping the MTB, but have to drop out of the saddle to get a foot down when stopping the road bike?

You should be able to reach the ground with your toes when sitting in the road bike saddle, without tilting the bike. You should be able to start sat in the saddle, one foot on the ground and the other on a pedal. Make sure you stop in an appropriate gear so  pushing down on the pedal gets you underway and able to lift the other foot of the ground.

Look at the saddle height on your road bike. It may be too high. Also your MTB saddle may be too low.


Cyclocross Rim Wearing with Rim Brakes and appropriate Solutions For Reasons that are not to be discussed here i did choose a cyclocross frame without disc brakes mounts and i am going to train/compete with Canti Lever Brakes.

Obviously, with all the mud and dirt that gets stuck to the wheels, the rims will wear off a lot quicker than the ones one my road bike (which maily rides pavement).

What are precaution i could take to prevent the rims from lasting less than one season?
Are there any recommendable cyclocross wheels where i can more or less easily exchange the rim once it is worn off?

Option 1: Mid-race bike change

Many cyclocross riders switch bikes mid-race due to build-up of mud and debris and the dirt emulsion which accumulates on braking surfaces. Ideally you would have an assistant to supervise your belongings in the pit/service area and rinse the bike you've returned to prepare it for another bike change later in the race.

Option 2: Thicker rim-walls

Some rims claim to have thicker braking surfaces. You may identify these based on the difference between the external rim width and the ETRTO bead width (e.g 622-17 indicates a 17mm bead width)

Option 3: Brake less

Improving your cornering at speed so you don't need to brake so much.


Freehub Seal Orientation "Axis Sport Disc" I've serviced my freehub, and on putting it back together am unsure of the correct orientation of the seal between the hub body and the freehub.

I have a 2018 Specialized Diverge E5 Sport, with a 12x142mm thru-axle "Axis Sport Disc" wheel. I can't find any information regarding the specific hub used. It has "Axis" written on it, that's all. I've searched for information regarding what this hub might be but I couldn't find anything.

Can anyone tell from these photos which way around the seal should be?

Whilst I'm not 100% sure if it's correct, the visible lip on the outside edge in photo 2 fits neatly into the hub body, so I have assembled it this way. It appears to work fine.


Rim brakes out of alignment and are unfixable I have a persisting issue where the caliper rim brakes which contact the metal part of the rim are too high and instead rub against the tyre on my front wheel.
Previously, this issue persisted when I first got the bicycle. I got the brake caliper replaced but this did not fix it. I then replaced the wheel which solved the problem and the brakes were making appropriate contact to the metal rim.

Unfortunately, I crashed the bike a few days later. I crashed the front wheel into a pole and I went over the hoods. The brakes had the same issue where they were too high and made contact with the tyres. I tried solving the problem by truing the wheel, despite not having a truing stand and doing it for the first time, I have the wheel which was not extremely out of true initially but improved it to as true as possible. However, the brakes are still misaligned. Unusually, the brake position is uniform across the entire rim and does not change position unlike what is expected in a crash where there will be a specific area where there will be an issue.
(I have done all adjustments to the brake caliper as possible and moved them to the lowest possible position)

I have scoured the entire internet for a solution and similar problem yet have failed to find one.

Is there a possible fix to this? I've tried to visualise what the causes are but the only thing I can think of is that the wheel was either hit on all sides and consequently uniformly shrunk in size which is obviously not the case.

That looks like the wrong-sized wheel:  a newer 622 mm wheel in an older fork designed for 27" (630 mm) wheels.

Per the great Sheldon Brown:

27 x anything except "27 five" and 609 mm Danish        630 mm      Older road bikes.


Thinner tires for my Mountain Bike I know little about all of this, so, go easy on me. I've got a mountain bike, fairly light in weight and rarely ever used for anything other than road use. The current tires say 58-559 / 26x2.35. Is it possible to go for thinner tires with the same Rim and how much will this affect the ride?

What you want for road use is slick tires -- tread and knobs are bad for road use. You have 26" (ISO 559) rims, so you need 26 x (something) tires where (something) is a number in decimal form (e.g. 1.75).

Going for smaller tires will lower the bike a bit, and smaller tires have to be run at higher pressure (so you'll get less cushioning). There will also be changes in rolling resistance (You may want to read the whole "Tech Info" column on the right side of the Schwalbe page).

As for how small you can go, technically you can mount pretty much any 26x(something in decimal) tire on, but the rim width should ideally be of the right width so the tire doesn't roll off or increase the risk of flats or rim damage.

I'd probably look at something with a puncture protection belt, like the Schwalbe Marathon Plus (26 x 2.00 will likely be one of the larger slicks they sell, and you can likely go narrower depending on the rim width).


What are the possible upgrades to a 95' Cannondale M900? Everything is original except for saddle, tires and forks. I have a sentimental attachment to this bike but would like to bring it into the 21st century.  I'm looking to make this a nice project bike but don't know much about the compatibility of new components on this model. Things I would like to upgrade are; Suspension forks, wheel set and tires, disc brakes, front and rear chainrings, shifter/derailer, crank arms, handlebar and any other related parts needed. Looking to create a real retro beast.
The bike had the stock rigid forks that I upgraded myself to RockShox JudyXC back in the day but those elastomer pistons are toast. Since it's been a while that I traded serious riding for changing diapers I figure It's time to take the bike out of retirement and make it something worth riding and passing on to my son when he goes off to college in a couple of years.
Any advice and/or guidance would be much appreciated.
Thanks

I had a similar era KHS Alite3000 - Most moving parts had been replaced from wear over its life, but pretty much original. AT 10.5kg, RockShox Judy's, XT components etc, it is a light, fast and agile bike. Like you, I gave up serious riding for kids, got back into it last year. The KHS, despite my fondness for the bike, has been given away in favor of a new bike. Like cars, bikes have moved a long way in 20 years, and the "practical" option is to replace it - especially if you ride off road.

The main reasons for me to replace rather than upgrade were cost exceeding the total cost of a new bike, no disk mounts and the old frame geometry not suitable for modern forks- back then 50mm was considered long travel, now 120 typical for XC.

If you really want to upgrade it, cheapest bet would probably be a "donor" bike. Getting decent forks with V brake bosses is next to impossible, so disks on the front would be easiest. Unless you got some second hand quality forks with V brake bosses.

What I would do is tune it up, replace any obviously worn out bits, and buy my son a new or 2-3 year old secondhand bike.


Finding a single speed kit for an old campagnolo from 1997 with screw on freehub I have an old Campagnolo from 1997 that I want to turn into an single speed.

My problem is finding a kit that will fit the freehub. The outer diameter of this freehub including teeth is 34 mm, but when I find a kit like this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/400876993505 the dimensions are off. The cog I bought from ebay has a smaller diameter that the freehub.

What should I be looking for when it's an old 1997 screw-on freehub? Would it be easier just to replace the freehub, and if yes, which one should I pick to make sure it's going to fit?

Measuring the freehub

That doesn't look like a screw on freewheel hub, that's an 8 speed freehub designed for a slide on cassette. I have the same one. Its the older design called Exa drive. When Campagnolo went to 9 speed the shape of the spines were changed and made deeper. This is why your conversions kit doesnt work , as its designed for the newer style freehubs. See the page below

http://branfordbike.com/articles/cassettes-and-cogs-pg60.htm

Unfortunately you cannot just swap the freehub body for a newer 9/10/11 speed one as the axles are different sizes. You either need to buy a newer style campagnolo hub, or you can take a cog from a Campagnolo 8 speed cassette and use spacers either side. You may find the chain jumps of the cassette cog though as the teeth are not as deep as a dedicated single speed cog.

If you're buyng a new hub/wheel for single speed you may even want to buy a Shimano one as they are cheaper and single speed cogs are more widely available in a range of sizes.


Threads visible on axle of rear fixed wheel See attached photo, I can see the threads on the drive side of my axel. Is this something that I should be worried about?

Edit:
Other side for reference

The two nuts inside the fork should be tightened against each other, as they are in the second photo. The outer nut is normally referred to as a lock-nut, because it's used to lock the other nut in place by being tightened against it.

This is critically important with open bearing systems, as precise adjustment of the cones on open bearings is what makes them work (and stops the balls escaping). With sealed bearings like yours it's less important, as the inner nut on each side effectively lock against each other via the two bearings and the spacer. Viz, there is continuous metal around the axle inside your wheel, so you can do those nuts up nice and tight. Caveat: there should be continuous metal. Obviously the manufacturer can save a few grams by leaving out that spacer, and in that case tightening the nuts properly will destroy the bearings. To find out, check that the axle still rotates freely when the nuts are done up.

The problem in your case is that you have a deep, strong axle nut on the outside of the fork that is done up nice and tight to stop the axle sliding in the dropouts of your single-speed. Unfortunately that big hefty nut is tightening against the skinny little locknut on the other side of the fork, rather than against the locknut plus nut etc assembly. You're likely to damage the locknut and may strip it, which would mean the drive side of your axle would be able to slide, dropping your chain.

You can avoid that if you never do up the outer axle nut very tight, but in my experience that inevitably leads to the axle slipping in the dropout, the rider doing the nut up tighter, and the locknut stripping or deforming.


Tightening threaded headset locknut I'm adjusting the threaded headset on my Brompton (if that matters). I read Sheldon Brown's and Park Tool's articles on this topic and followed the recommendations. I adjust the upper race so that there is no play in the headset and handlebars flop to one side when I lift the front wheel holding the frame. The problem is, when I tighten the locknut with a wrench while holding the upper race with another wrench I still have the upper race move slightly. Thus, I get too stiff an adjustment -- handlebars do not flop to one side anymore and I feel the front wheel rotate tighter than it probably should. How do I properly tighten the locknut then?

P.S. For now, I have managed to tighten it somehow, with trial and error and then more trial and error. But still I believe I'm missing something here.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, Practice, Practice. There is no magic bullet for dealing with this problem ( it's the same problem you'll have adjusting cones on a hub. ) Knowing just how loose to leave it so it's tightened correctly when you're done is something that comes with experience.

This tweaking required to get it just right is one of the reasons threadless headsets were invented. They take far less labor and effort to install.

One trick I've tried is to slightly overtighten and then use the lower wrench to tighten up against the locknut. Either way it helps if you keep pressure on both wrenches rather than trying to keep one still while tightening the other.


How to take a drink while riding? How do you drink while riding?  What would you tell a new rider who is having difficulty getting a drink without stopping or slowing a lot?

Assume the bike has bottle cages in the usual places, and we're not talking about hydration bladder backpacks.

Question is purely about getting liquid into the mouth, not what should be in the bottle.

Inspired by this comment  https://imgur.com/gallery/o95PAOs/comment/1167254453

I find that using my primary hand (my writing hand) is better than the other one.

Keep eyes on the road, you should not have to look to find your bottle.

I use my teeth to open the sippy valve, breathe in and then take a small drink and hold it for a sec before swallowing.

Sometimes I hold the bottle over the bars for 5-10 seconds to let the first mouthful have an effect, and then take a second drink.

When done I use my chest or my index finger to close the valve, and then put the bottle back in an empty cage (yes once I tried to push a bottle in where the other already was)

You should be able to put the bottle down into the cage without looking, although sometimes I take a quick glance if it doesn't go straight in.

Drinking on a climb is okay as long as its not too steep.   Straight and consistent is best.

If you're riding in a group, don't drink on the front cos you'll slow down and that will cause the whole bunch to loose momentum.  Wait till you rotate off the front before drinking.  Right at the back is ideal.

Never drink on a downhill or anywhere the road surface is a bit sketchy.  With a bottle in hand your control is lower, and gravel or sudden potholes need a lot of attention.

Improve by practising - same as most things in cycling.  Quiet ride make sure there are no cars around and nothing coming up that may be an obstacle, and have a sip.  Don't guzzle water, it will be bad for your guts and there's a chance of some going down into the lungs by mistake, inducing a cough.

I find that I often phlegm-up within 5 minutes of a big drink, so drink less but more often.


Tiagra 4503 front derailleur replacement I have a bike with a 4503 Shimano setup (Tiagra triple, 9 speed). The front derailleur is broken.

I can quickly get a 105 derailleur (5703) at the local bike shop. I just want to be sure that it is compatible with my shifters, and be sure I can get a clean shifting experience.

Differences between the old and new front derailleur:

Tiagra vs 105
9 speed vs 10 speed

Can anyone confirm the FD-5703 will work on my bike?

Not according to the Shimano compatibility documents.

Tiagra 4500 series appeared about 2006 and 105 5700 series appeared about 2010 so we need to look at the 2010-2011 archived compatibility document from here and search for 'FD-4503'. The charts say it is only compatible with Tiagra 4503 and Sora 3400 9 speed triple shifters.

To confirm we can search for 'FD-5700', we see it is only compatible with Ultegra 6703 and 105  5703 or 5603 10 speed triple shifters.

However, Shimano is notoriously conservative in its component specifications and compatibility recommendations, so someone may tell you that a 5700 triple front derailleur will work with a 4500 triple shifter - if the two derailleurs use the same actuation ratio they will be basically compatible.


Is there a limit to safe downhill speed on a bike I have a very steep hill on my route which levels out after about 2 km. The first quarter is extremely steep and shortly after I enter it the bike skips around a little bit and by the time I'm at the bottom I'm gripping the handle bars and working pretty hard to keep it under control.

Is this a normal issue or is it indicative of problems with the bike? It happens both with my mountain bike and the touring bike. Less on the 29'er mountain bike perhaps due to the wider tyres and less twitchy handling.

There is a lot of acceleration right from the start going down.

Clarification:- I'm not concerned with other people's safety or traffic, my question is more about at what speed does my bike become unhandleable and/or fall to pieces.

The maximum safe speed is the speed where you still have control you think is needed.

There are levels of control

Can you stop if a car suddenly reverses out of a driveway?
This is the highest level of control; it means we'd never exceed about 25kph (16mph) on the flat. Obviously we frequently exceed that, and so we're trusting that such intrusions into our "road space" will not occur on this ride.
Can you swerve to avoid a small child or animal that suddenly runs onto the road?
Since such intruders are notoriously unpredictable, we also need to brake and swerve. If I know there are kids / dogs on the loose, I slow down to that 25kph level, or slower. But if it's reasonably open road I figure it's reasonably safe to clock 40kph (25mph). I've encountered oncoming cars in my lane as I round a bend on a descent at this speed, and there's plenty of time to evaluate my options, brake, and take evasive action (time flows really slowly in such cases).
If the road is really clear, i.e. you can see well to the sides, and a long way in front.
In this case we can easily do 60kph (35mph). Around this point (and faster) some rider / bike combinations can experience shaking, which can be quite frightening. You need to experiment a bit to learn what's going on. In many cases resting your knee against the frame seems to dampen the shakes. In other cases I've had success relaxing my grip on the handlebars - this seems to suggest that it was my fear of death grip on the bars causing the wobbles :-)
Ok the road is clear, and you're feeling lucky. How fast can you go?
If we keep going faster, it seems we pass the zone where the speed wobbles occur. If you are not a pro (being paid to do it), and are not confident, or are just a sensible person don't do it. However, I can confess to cracking 120kph (70mph) on a descent on a road bike. I found that as I went faster the bike became more stable, I'm guessing from the gyroscopic effect of the wheels. The same effect seemed to make turns more difficult. The first time I also found it was extremely hard to see properly, since I wasn't wearing any eye protection. And it took over 400 meters to stop on the flat. We can be sure that if any of the above mentioned road intrusions occurred then I would have been toast.

After all that, given the pictures you've posted, I would recommend at top speed of 30 to 40kph (16 to 25mph), because it looks like a residential area. Even that may be too fast, especially because of the incline, which means your center of gravity is higher and so you have less braking capacity.


How much should the front wheel flex I recently changed the speedometer on my bike, and had some problems to adjust the magnet on the spokes as well as the sensor. (The spokes are flat, and the magnet that came with the sensor was intended for round spokes. And there's not much clearance between the fork and the spokes.) But in the end I managed to get it up and running with a couple of mm gap between the two.

However. When I accelerate hard or go up steep hills I notice that the magnet hits the sensor. Apparently the front wheel flexes significantly, even when I'm not standing up or pulling seriously at the handlebars. Is this normal? How much flex would one expect in the front wheel?

It's a new CF road bike and the wheels are 'FSA Team 30', decent entry-level aluminium wheels, according to most reviews.

The amount a wheel will flex will vary greatly depending on front/rear, spoke count, rim material and rider weight.

The pedalling force that drives the bike passes through the rear wheel, so it is not uncommon for carbon rear wheels to flex significantly when a stronger/heavier rider is climbing.

For an aluminium rimmed front wheel with spokes that are correctly tensioned and a rider not exceeding the weight limit for the wheel then several mm of flex are not normal.


A bike smaller than is recommended I have 180cm and the recommended size for me is 58cm or so, which i already have, a classic Peugeot racing bike. Works relatively ok but i found that i ride it better when i'm leaning forward and keep my hands on the lower side of the handlebars. And now comes the problem, i'm thin and i need more power than i have to ride this bike fast and long. However, the only bike i found to buy in my country and also to like it, is a 54cm with the reynolds 531 frame but i can't test it as it's not in my city (i do plan to test other bikes of 54 if i can find but for now i didn't).

So my question is, is there any reason i should not buy it? From the way i see things it shouldn't be any problem if i can pull the sit high enough. The handlebars are already a little lower which should be good. If i look to professional riders they also seem to have a smaller bike comparing to their body size, but this Peugeot is like controlling me.

Thanks.

To me "58cm or so" means, "58cm, maybe 56 or 60." It doesn't mean 54cm. If a professional has said you should be on a 58, you should heed that. 4cm in the wrong direction could place your knees too far forward of the pedal spindles and be less efficient or even cause repetitive stress injuries to your knees.

Instead, try fine tuning your current bike which sounds like is "almost right". You have several options to make the 58cm bike shorter: moving the seat forward on the seatpost, replacing the seatpost with one that has less or no setback, and/or swapping out the stem with one that has a shorter reach. If it's an old Peugeot with a threaded stem, you can also adjust the handlebar height.

The combined cost of making all of those changes to the 58cm would likely be less than buying a different bike.


Troubleshooting Ultegra Di2 I went for a ride in Zwift, afterwards, I thought I'd check for firmware updates, there was one, I flashed it, disconnected the bike from the computer. I then swapped out a cassette, went into change the size in the etube app again. It connected without issues, though I got distracted and had to step away for a bit.
When I came back, etube wasn't able to connect to the bike. I unplugged it, and tried to reconnect but still nothing. I thought maybe that the bike needed a charge, so I let it sit plugged into the wall for about an hour, this didn't seem to improve things.
Right now, I am not seeing any lights on the junction box, I tried crash mode without success. Are there any other troubleshooting steps I can try? The R8050 dealer manual wasn't super helpful.
I'm worried I may have bricked the system.

Turns out that an unnoticed connection from the e-tube app on my ipad blocks any type of connection via the e-tube app on my laptop, charging, or usage generally. So after you've checked all the connections, attempted crash mode, let it sit charging, make sure that you've 'disconnected' any device in the etube app that may have inadvertently connected.


Grease or anti-seize for alloy thru-axle-to-QR adapter? I've got a 26" front wheel with HB-M758 15x100mm thru-axle hub that I'll be using on a QRx100mm front fork. Going to install my alloy 15mm-to-QR axle adapter, it's a tight fit, which is good. Since the adapter is aluminum and the hub shaft is steel (I think), I'm just wondering if I should use anti-seize to lubricate it rather than standard grease.

Anti-seize is the best from the standpoint of corrosion resistance and it has washout resistance that surpasses the greases usually used on bikes. The reasons it's not used on bikes more are that it's messy, another thing to have, and it takes a pretty extreme or specific situation for grease to not be enough. Tradition plays a role too. You can use it here and in all other metal-on-metal assembly prep spots where you'd use grease otherwise. The parts won't mind, but it's up to you whether the messiness is worth it. I would never use it on thru-axle or QR shafts because of the mess factor when the wheel is out.


Straigtening a rim with 7mm deviation in a single section In a recent crash my front rim experienced significant sideways force. There was no burring on the lip of the rim, but the section was (eye-measured but perfectly drawn) (y is left-right deviation):

Firstly, I was surprised that the wheel isn't showing a similar kink on the other side of the circle.

Then I tried to straighten the bent section. First I readjusted all the spokes under the dent, plus a couple more on the edges. This reduced the kink a little. Then I went around the rim, "fixing" left-right adjustment, ovality and dish, while being careful for over- and undertightening spokes.

It didn't work. The spokes directly under the kink needed to be force overtightened and this still about halved the problem.

Next I loosened all the spokes and re-adjusted them. The end of the process was marked by the rapture of the nipple in the centre of the kink. The wheel was twice as true as before (measured by looking and handwaving) (so deviations are now 1/4 of those in the picture).

I have no intention of replacing the broken nipple. The hub sounds like an old alcoholic coughing. But for the next time: What is a good procedure for straightening a rim as shown in the picture?

You're describing the symptoms of a rim that's sustained an impact sufficient to warp the rim itself. In other words, if you took away the spokes and hub and layed the bare rim on a flat surface, with no spoke tension acting upon it, it wouldn't be very flat. But in a case like this there's nothing that happened to it that would also cause the spot on the other side to warp out evenly, like a parabola or potato chip or whatever. It's just tweaked.

When such damage is minor enough, it's possible to mitigate it reasonably well by truing it out. In this case, the truing process involves adjusting the spoke tensions to be unequal in a way that forces the rim to be straight. The limiting factor is if you push the spoke tensions too low on one side to achieve this, you have a wheel with a weak spot that may also have trouble staying true, and if you push the tension on the other side too high then those spokes will be extra prone to causing fatigue cracking on the rim. In contrast, a rim that's perfectly straight, round, and undamaged is made true by getting the spoke tensions as equal on each side as possible (although in reality there is some small discrepancy due to the seam, imperfections, etc).

The only way of fixing it is to bend out the warped spot. This used to be common in the earlier history of bikes, but is now a lost art in many parts of the world. Rims were also more often steel then, which lends itself better to actually getting fixed in this manner. There are various techniques for doing it and I am not an authority. Some people's technique involves first detensioning the rim to be able to judge things more accurately, but I've known old time mechanics with a lifetime of experience that believed in skipping that step, sometimes with the reasoning that the now-overtightened spokes on one side of the tweaked wheel will help the process go smoother, having the tendency to exert pulling force on the rim just where it's needed in just the right amount. The main apparatus I've seen for it is a pair of 2x4s between the ground and the workbench with a rim-sized gap between them. You insert up to the approximate line of the bend and bend it back.

Many nicer modern aluminum rims are made of fancier, higher strength, less ductile material with thinner walls than in the past. It's important to understand that trying to bend around such rims is an entirely different proposition from what used to be commonplace. You would find it takes way more force (and likely took more to bend it to begin with), and cracking it either in the process or after a little riding would be a much bigger issue.


Presta valve letting all the air out when I screw it back in I'm getting frustrated with my bike's Presta valve.
I spent 20 minutes before the air would move into the tube, all undone by screwing the end of the valve back in which temporarily releases air. I reckon it was 1.5 seconds of air release getting the end of the valve screwed back in.
Any tips on how I can avoid losing air?

If you press down while screwing in, air will be released. The nut on the top of the Presta valve does not need any downward force to close.
If you are not pressing down while screwing in or find a lot of force is needed to turn the nut at the top of the tube, then your valve may be damaged. At that point, it is best to get a new inner tube/valve.


Leaking oil from front suspension I have bought a used Trek 4300 bike and after a few days I noticed leaking oil from front suspension fork. Oil leaks only from one leg (opposite to disk-brakes). I would like to know more about construction of front-suspension. Is this a serious problem? Is it possible to refill suspension with new oil? What kind of oil is used? How much oil is used?

While this may in fact be a serious problem which needs attention, it can also be normal. The first thing you need to do is define what you mean by leak.

If it is a thin and light coat of oil on on fork stanchion, this is very likely normal.

If it is a puddle, pool, or drip of oil on the fork leg, this is more than likely a problem. It can be a failed fork seal, or a a damaged damping or lockout cartridge.

Both of these can be caused by over compression of the fork. It could also a be a defect in the fork, which should be replaced. Do you have an LBS you trust? If so, take the bike to them and ask.

Be aware that there are other things that can cause this that may not be damage. How do you store the bike? Do you hang it up on the wall by the wheel or set it upside down on the bars and saddle?

Leaving the fork in a position to have oil draining against the seal can allow it to seep through, but that is normal. I know this is a bit ambiguous, but there is no way to give an answer with certainty without seeing the fork. Post a picture of the leak, and we can be more helpful.


How to deal with fog, condensing on the outside of glasses? I had a particularly foggy commute both ways today.  I was having to wipe the glasses lenses every 10-20 seconds as traffic permitted to maintain some semblance of visibility.

I already wear a cap with a brim/peak/visor under my helmet, but the fog is light enough to flow under with air-flow - its not like rain that would fall more downward.

Short of "wipe lots" what can be done to keep fog from depositing on glasses?

Dishwashing liquid, cheapest and best way to lose that extra liquid.

If you have a yellowish lens they make a difference with seeing contrasting low light.


What does 'Dahonesque' mean? I've seen the term Dahonesque used to refer to some folding bikes, what does it mean? What is the connection between "Dahonesque" bikes and the Dahon company?

Dahon is an American bicycle company founded in 1982 by David T. Hon (Da Hon). They are famous for their folding bikes, which are manufactured overseas.

Dahon officially markets under its own brand name as well as through affiliated brand names such as Yeah, Biceco, and Novara.

But in the years after the Dahon came out, people noticed that very similar-to-identical folding bikes were being sold under other (often unknown or house) labels. These were often not the newest models, but a generation older and with some changes such as different grips, locking mechanisms, or gearing.

It's unclear whether Dahon officially licenses their older designs to other companies to market under their own names; whether these are "excess" but official frames that have been repurposed or made during a "ghost shift"; total rip-off designs using the original plans; or, simply "inspired" by the Dahon design. Given the variety from perfect-clones to off-copies, most probably all of the above.

Because of the family connection and resemblance to Dahons, these folding bicycles that appear to use the original Dahon designs are called Dahonesque.

Note 1: some people also use the term Dahon-clone to refer to exact copies.

Note 2: The Tern Company was founded by the wife and son of David Hon (the Dahon founder). The first Terns were definitely Dahonesque, but recent models show considerable genetic drift, perhaps enough to make them their own species.

Finally, let's play, Spot the Real Dahon!

From top to bottom: Dublin Explorer (a £99 copy); the real Dahon Curve; the Fnhon VG2018 - an unlicensed clone; the real Dahon D9.


Is it possible to upgrade a 6 speed mountain bike to 7 or 8 speed? I ride a Hero Sprint, MTB, with 6 gears in rear and 3 in the front. I am thinking about upgrading my 6 gears to something like 7 or 8. Is it possible, if yes, how much does it cost, and what are the plus and minus points i might face if i did that?

Yes, you can upgrade your mountain bike.  However its a slippery slope of knock-on upgrades that can cost more than a nice, lightly-used bike.

For starters, you can't generally slap on a cassette or freewheel with more gears, because they're wider.

So the first thing to do is measure the "Over-Locknut Dimension", or OLD.  This is the horizontal distance between the locknuts on the hub, and is equal to the gap between the inside surfaces of the rear dropouts.

  This is measuring a rear hub that has no axle in the way.  This is 130mm

 This is measuring the rear dropouts using a ruler.  Lower tech but just as good.  This one is 126mm

If you have a steel bike frame, is slightly more options than an aluminium or carbon frame, because it can be cold-set (aka slightly widened at the rear dropouts) to fit a wider hub.  Can't do that with aluminium or carbon frames,

If you have a steel bike you can increase about one size, so 126mm to 130mm or 130mm to 135mm.  Then you have to align the rear dropouts again, using alignment tools like these half-axles showing minor tweak required.

If you don't realign the dropouts, the wheel will wander easily, even hard pedal presses can pull the wheel out of alignment.

Once you have a wider hub, you can fit a wider cassette (don't bother buying a hub that takes a freewheel - that way lies bent axles and wallet-tears)

So you need a cassette, which will require a new chain.  Generally speaking 6/7/8 speed chains all use close to the same width, but you want an unworn chain to help prolong the life of your cassette.

Then check out the front chainrings for wear.  They wear slower than the cassette, but if the chain is making bad contact it could be time for new chainrings.

You will very likely need a new right-hand shifter too.  Your six-speed unit will have 6 indents/positions, and it won't handle the extra gears.  If you have a friction shifter it might work, or it might not.

While changing all this stuff you may as well install new cable inner wires and outer tubes too.  A cheap set costs about a happy meal.

Once that's all done, you need to reindex your gears, and might find that the 6 speed rear derailleur doesn't have enough range.  First try backing out the limit screws, but if you still can't get the chain to reach the biggest and smallest cogs then you're up for a new rear mech.

SUMMARY

Minimum

Hub
Cassette
Chain
Shifter
Wires

Maximum

Entire wheel
Rear derailleur mech
Chainring(s)

So yes its possible, but can be financially bad idea.  If you have spare parts from another bike, it becomes more cost-effective.


Increasing front axle dropout size I'm trying to find a front fork. My front axle bolt measures 3/8. The closest forks seem to have a 9mm dropout which is .525mm too small. Should I file down the dropouts to fit the extra .525mm or keep searching for the unicorn, a fork with 3/8 dropout

Most nominally 9mm forks fit 3/8" without issue. There are exceptions, usually road forks, where it fits a 9mm too snug for a 3/8 to go in. Usually the difference won't be that full .525mm though.

Filing it to fit is always going to be an at-your-own-risk judgment call, but generally it is totally fine on a steel or aluminum dropout. When I do it I'm careful to count strokes, distribute the strokes evenly, and try to apply even pressure, with the goal of altering the dropout and fork alignment as little as possible, and keeping everything symmetrical. It's important to understand that you really want to avoid inadvertently making one dropout deeper than the other one, because the fork can't really be aligned properly if that happens. It's still a good idea to put dropout alignment tools on afterwards, but if you don't have them, just be careful with how you do it and go slow, particularly on aluminum dropouts. I wouldn't tend to recommend doing any such thing to carbon dropouts.


Construction hints for a sociable dicycle? I'm thinking of building a dicycle, specifically a sociable one like the picture below but pedal powered. Has anyone seen one in real life, or better yet, tried to build one?

The broad design is easy enough, I can get ordinary wheels from the local racing/historical scene. It's the drive and handling that concern me. I suspect I will need an adder-subractor gearbox to balance the pedal power and allow it to be ridden solo, but I've never built one except using Lego so I'm not sure how big it'll need to be.

I'd really appreciate tips from people who've built one before.

Some thoughts - but not really an answer.

Fundamentally its a RWD tricycle with no front wheel.

Drive  shaft drive.
I'd be exploring a driveshaft that runs horizontally under both seats, and using a tricycle-style open differential in the middle.

There is a shorter jackstaff drive axle that runs from the rear diff up/forward to the half-shafts through a closed differential. Otherwise this would not be rideable solo.

Drive  chain drive.
For this you'd have a chain from a front pedal axle to the rear axle.  This would allow conventional bike components to be used for chainrings and rear cassette, and even deraileur gearing.  However you'd want to incorporate two more freewheels out by the wheels themselves, to allow for skid steering

In this case both riders will pedal at the same cadence, and the spare cranks will rotate when riding solo.

Some excellent concepts of "chain drive to two wheels" show up in this answer https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/a/38875/19705

Final drive
To get drive up from the under-seat cross axle up to the wheel hub, you're probably looking at another chain on each side.  Good thing about this is the gearing could be swapped out as required.

Steering
Steering would be achieved by skid-steer, braking the inside wheel on the turn so the outside wheel drives around.  Ideal turning circle would be twice the horizontal wheelbase or width.  Brakes would be best as disks attached to the wheel hub, outside of all the chains.  That way any drive failure will not stop you from braking.

Brakes
I'd contemplate a pair of motorcycle-sized disk brakes, one per side.  Possibly use two bicycle calipers per disk, and connect each pair to each seating position.  That will give a redundant braking solution.

Visibility
Too much framework and it will be difficult to see around.

Roll-around
Gerbilling will always be an issue, so put in a pair of three point racecar harnesses in case you end up inverted.   Likewise, racecar seats would be appropriate rather than bike saddles.

Off road gerbilling would be awfully dangerous - even flat-land there could still be an obstruction that catches part of the frame, or part of a rider.

Safety
You might want to consider drag rails at the back in case of "wheelie" when taking off, and possibly a front outrigger too (Though this would need a wheel or a skid/ski to prevent digging in)

You require wheels to be larger than the maximum "size" of any rider so that no part of the riders comes outside the "can" shape.

Other
The passenger's hands will be bored.  Consider adding a cupholder.

Side slope - most roads have a degree of slope to assist water running off.  Even pathways and sportsball courts are generally not completely flat.  So your ride will be canted in one or the other directions almost all the time.  Whether its worth allowing the seats to rotate or not may be over-engineering.


Alternative for Schwalbe Kojak 35-584 tire I bought a Canyon Commuter 7.0 bike. It has 27.5 inch DT SWISS XR331 rims and Kojak 35-584 tires. It seems as if Schwalbe is the only manufacturer having a 35-584 sport tire. Do you know of any alternative for this tire that will fit my wheels?

You don't need to replace the tire with a tire that is exactly the same ERTRO. And while ERTRO's are probably the most accurate tire measurement, they still aren't all that accurate. One manufacturers 35-584 can be slightly wider/narrower than another's.

See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

Unless the bike has very tight clearances ( unlikely for a Commuter bike) you should be able to use any tire in the range 30-584 to 40-584 ( or even larger). The only important number in the ERTRO designation is the rim size (i.e the second number).

Panaracer makes some good relatively cheap 650B ( or *-584) tires[1] that would likely work well on that bike if you don't want to stick with Schwalbe. Schwalbe has a pretty nice range of 650B tires in "road" widths.

If you search for 650B Road tires, you should get a pretty good selection of tires that will work for your bike.

[1]- Col de la Vie or Pasela.


Garmin Edge Touring - Quality of the maps I currently have a Garmin Edge 200, which I like quite a bit. But I would like a GPS that has mapping capabilities. I don't need the training features. I'm curious about the quality of the maps in the Garmin Touring. It looks like they are based on some sort of open source maps. Does anyone have this unit and can comment on the quality and accuracy of the maps?

The Edge Touring comes with a preloaded "Garmin Cycle Map". This is based on OpenStreetMap, so you can check the OSM website to see how good coverage is for the areas you are interested in. In general, OSM is rather good for roads in most of Western Europe, and much of the USA. Many areas also have lots of cycle paths and trails mapped. It is often more accurate and up to date than other maps. Plus if something is wrong or missing, you can edit the map to fix it.

The Garmin Cycle Map is designed specifically for cycling, so highlights relevant features, eg cycle paths. If using the navigation, it is designed to route you along paths or minor roads where possible. And it contains height data, so it can show elevation profiles or route to avoid hills.

Note you can download other OSM based maps in Garmin format for free, then put these on the Edge instead. These are available in a variety of different styles, which you may prefer. Also they may be more up to date, which is useful if you are adding of editing things on OpenStreetMap.

Or you can buy other maps from Garmin, eg City Navigator, then use these on the Edge. These can be expensive, depending on how large an area you want. And City Navigator only contains roads, not paths etc.


Bottom jockey wheel on rear derailleur keeps skipping chain Basically the angle between the bottom and top wheels is too great causing the chain to skip to the outside of the bottom wheel under force. If I use the higher adjustment screw on the shimano derailleur to align them better the top wheel is then not aligned with the smallest sprocket.

I'm a beginner and had an attempt at working it out but probably missing something obvious.

From the the photo of the derailleur it's obvious that the derailleur cage is not parallel to the sprockets and wheel. The bottom run of the chain returning to the crank is leaving the cage at angle.

The derailleur hanger that attaches the derailleur to the frame is bent and causing the misalignment, and I think the cage may be deformed as well.

There are special tools for realigning the derailleur that a bike shop can use, but it's possible to improve it by hand. From the back of the bike look down the chain. The cage should look parallel to the chainrings. You can grab the derailleur and bend it back into alignment.


Attaching kid trailer to rear triangle Have a cube aim sl MTB and a kid trailer that's designed to attach to the rear bottom side of the rear triangle with a clamp. The problem is that the clamp is not big enough to safely attach to the bottom side of the triangle since it's quite square and big, as can be seen in the picture below:

Question: is it ok for the bike and trailer to attach the clamp to the seat stay since that tube is a lot slimmer.

I had a similar trailer clamp it was terrible, I ended up buying a hitch that connects to the axle and removed the clamp. I attached a length of aluminum tubing with some holes drilled in it in place of the clamp. I slip the tube over the axle hitch and then use a hitch pin to keep it all in place. Its on my other bike currently but the hitch looks like this. I find this a way better system than the clamp.


Ultegra 2X cranks with M8000 group and 11-42t cassette? Will an Ultegra 50/34 front crankset work with a Shimano XT M8000 Shadow+ 11 Speed Rear derailleur and 11-42t cassette?

In general 'road' cranks don't work on mountain bikes (I assume that's what you are trying to do here).

Road cranks have a shorter axle than MTB cranks to work with narrower bottom bracket shells.

Also, MTB chainstays are designed to accommodate smaller chainrings than road bikes. Larger chainrings will interfere with the drive side stay.


Trainers: Fluid or Mag I'm looking at getting a trainer because I have next to no time to get on the road and want to start up with Carmichael's Time Crunched Training Program. Part of the program is to ride do high intensity intervals at low RPM.
I like the idea of a fluid trainer being the quietest due to training at night with a young one in the home. Also that I don't have to modify the resistance as I'm riding, but my concern is whether I can do high intensity training at low RPM on a fluid trainer. I've read that the resistance increases when the fluid thickens. And that the fluid thickens by the speed of the wheel in the chamber, so I assume that spinning at a high gear would allow for this, but I just want to ensure this is possible before ordering one.

Using bikecalculator.com, I have a 165lb rider on a 15% grade at 12kph (units, oy!) needing roughly 500W. I'm pretty sure that most decent trainers can generate that, including the SuperMagneto Pro that I use. (My power meter and trainer road have told me that I've hit those numbers, however briefly). Like you've indicated, the progressive resistance is generated by speed, so you need to use an appropriate gear combination (big/small) that lets you pedal slow, but spin the wheel at a greater multiple of pedal stroke.

Power Curves:

RoadMachine: http://www.kurtkinetic.com/powercurve.php

SuperMagneto Pro: http://blog.trainerroad.com/cycleops-supermagneto-pro-added/


What bike should I get? For forests and city mainly So right now I've got a hard tail but I'm not really happy with it. At the moment I'm only riding my bike in the city even though I am planning on riding it in the forest and parks as well. My question is what bike to get. Should I get an enduro bike, downhill or whatever is best for the above mentioned categories.
That being said, I don't have any mountain biking experience but I know how to ride it well.

Or should I keep my bike which I am using right now?

I hope you guys can help me and thank you already so much for your help!

Have you got a suggestion for a new bike? price range up to 700 Dollar/Pound/Euro please

I don't think there is anyone who can tell you what you will like.

It's all about the test ride.
If there is any way you can rent/borrow or test ride at the bike shop lots of different bikes to get a feel for the differences in the different kinds of bikes it's the best way to know what you want/need.

It's all about trade offs and the best way to know is to get out and try things. Build up your knowledge of how different bikes feel so you can make an informed decision.

Sometimes you can get something you really like by going to wider or narrower tires and a different seat.


Ultegra 6600 right shifter lever alignment Have a set of Ultegra 6600 SL shifters that I'd love to put to use, but encountered an oddity with the right hand (rear) outer shift lever. It appears the lever return goes too far and so as a result, it's out of alignment with the smaller inner lever. It doesn't impact the quality of the shift, but because of the over-rotation on the return, I can only shift 2 clicks with one "sweep" instead of the normal 3 clicks.
Nothing is gummed up and nothing appears obviously broken.
Here is example of issue:

Here is example of the shifter next to a normal one:

Nothing is offset when looking at it from the front.
if I further disassemble, it looks like the problem is the alignment of one of the metal rings that is attached to the lever. The top blue circle is the problem shifter (two "Tabs" not aligned"), the bottom blue circle is the properly functioning one (two tabs aligned):

Close up of the correct one:

I am not sure what to disassemble to fix the alignment, as everything that I could see be easily disassemlbed has been done so.  Anyone encounter this before or have suggestions?

The misalignment may be caused by damage to inside of one of the shifter mechanism components you circled on the photo. They all stack up on a center post, and some have interlocking components to align everything just right.
If one of these components is damaged (i.e. stripped out, chipped, etc.) it would not stop at the correct position, and keep rotating past the intended "stop" position. This is the most likely scenario, since the area you circled is not part of the 10spd detents; those are the smaller teeth closer to the front of the shifter body. If it is a little floppy when you first push it (no cable attached), this may be the case.
There may also be a damaged bit of plastic that stops the lever in the correct position. I'm not 100% on the 6600 levers, but the mechanism is very different from what is in 6700+ levers that are currently out on the market. This was the last generation of this design before Shimano redesigned it completely.
Echoing the advice above, I would not recommend trying disassembly/repair, unless you already have  a backup shifter ready to use. Most shops, as a rule, will not attempt to repair this either. If something is broken, it will probably fail  completely at some point in the future.
WD-40 is definitely not great for the shifter. The grease Shimano uses in them hardens up if they sit for too long; you basically have to disassemble these shifters and scrape off the old grease with a pick or flathead screwdriver. WD-40 won't dissolve the grease; it's a hydroscopic solvent that will absorb water and anything dissolved in it, and eventually gum up again. Plus, it gets everywhere!


How much flexibility is normal for steel frames? I have an 1980ies steel road bike which I used to ride clipless pedals on. I have recently switched to platform pedals for commuting and found out that when I'm coasting and move my feet left and right, I can flex the frame a little bit. The flex is so strong that I can tell only by looking at it that the BB is not aligned centrally under the top tube / seat tube. When I quit the pressure, everything goes back to normal again.
Steel frames are known to have some flex, but is this normal?

It's hard to tell how much flexing is happening when you're on the bike due to your movement when pedaling, particularly if you're not smooth.

The answer is "some" (all frames will flex a bit when you ride), but putting a number or picture to it would depend to some extent on how much weight and force you have on the bike and the frame type and stuff too. For example, a 300 pound rider can probably get the same frame to flex a lot more easily than a 100 pound rider (assuming they fit, etc.)

I'd also check is if the frame has any damage (e.g. cracks, dents, etc.) that is causing it to flex more than normal.


Need help choosing rims for fixed gear I have a Specialized Langster (really old model i think), and it got ran over, well the rims did, and I don't know which ones to get. I wanted to buy the rims and the spokes separate.

I would like some velocity b43's but I cant find them anywhere. How can I find out what rims I need?

As @Batman said in a comment, the main thing is to get the spoke count right. So count how many spokes each wheel has (they could be different). Next, measure the width of the rim. You'll need to take the tires off first. And look at the tires to see what dimensions they say they are.

Next, you'll need to make some tentative decisions. I recommend keeping things as they were, unless you have a good reason to change. Do you want similar width rims, or wider / narrower? Do you want deeper profile rims? Do you want to use a similar lacing pattern? Are you going cheap or $$$?

Now take the mangled wheel(s) to your Local Bike Shop and see what rims they have that match your criteria. Get them to double check your spoke count, and to recommend what length spokes you need.

Finally, since you mention getting rims and spokes, who is going to build these wheels? Building them yourself is not hard, but it can be a slow job if you haven't done it before. Most people just pay an expert.


How I can remove this freewheel (without "destroying" it)? How I can remove this freewheel (without "destructing" it) ?
By "destructive removal" I mean this:
https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/freewheel-destructive-removal

P.S.
I found this tool:
unior tools
But it seems to me to be overpriced (95$),
UPDATE:
I found some indian tool online, which I assume should be much cheaper.
But I didn't find meanwhile, from where I can buy it online.
link to video
link to shop

Take the wheel to a bike shop. With the tool, its only a 5 minute job.


How can you identify if a Shimano rear derailleur is medium or long cage? I have a 2013 Shimano XT rear derailleur. It is part of a 2x10 drivetrain. How can I find out if it is a medium or a long cage one? The picture below shows the derailleur.

The picture is a RD-M780-SGS long cage.

Shimano have three codes for rear derailleur length:

Short - SS
Medium - GS
Long - SGS

I'm not aware of where this is printed on the RD though so not so helpful.

However Shimano only have one non-clutched XT Dyna-Sys (10 speed) RD the RD-M780-SGS (long cage 43t capacity). The clutched (shadow+) RDs come in GS (medium 35t cap) and SGS (long 43t cap).

Saint derailleurs come in SS (short 23t cap with cassette extender) and GS (medium 37t cap with cassette extender) for more gravity focused 1x set ups.


Can someone help identify my bike frame? I needed to replace my old fixie frame with something lighter, and with a standard BB shell. So I came across this one online. The seller bought it off a friend who stripped and painted it, so any knowledge of its provenance won't come from there.

What drew me to it was the fork. Clearly quality steel rather than piece of pipe bent into shape like you see on cheaply built single-speed frames.

It has a serial number on the BB shell (Y5K2698), but googling for this only points weakly to it being Japanese, possibly built for the American market, possibly in 1985. But I suspect it's rather more recent than that.

There are no bosses for shifters, cable stops or eyelets for panniers or fenders, only one set of bidon cage bolts on the downtube, and the seatstays attach to the side of the seattube rather than under the seatpost clamp. The dropouts are semi-horizontal and about 20mm deep. No engravings on the dropouts as far as I can see [edit: dropouts are marked as Tange, so I guess the whole frame is tange steel]. Purpose-built for fixed or single speed I would guess, due to the lack of bosses or derailer hanger, but curious that it has forward facing horizontal dropouts rather than track ends.

Here's an image of the whole bike, and here's a gallery of details (sorry- I should have stripped it for proper photos of the frame only, but I just took some snaps on my way out the door to work!).

If anyone can help I'd be grateful for your knowledge. Won't change anything of course; the bike is still a pleasure to ride irrespective of its provenance.

I think it's a 1980 Sekai 2400 model, all the hardware is upgraded and it's been painted for sure due to no decals.
I have one similar and still trying to date it. but serial is very much the same


How much faster does a mountain bike go with slick tires vs. knobby tires Let's say a person has a mountain bike. How much faster would this person go (on long roads, not commuting) when using slick tires (the kind commonly used on road bikes) vs. using knobby, mountain bike tires? Assume that the power output is the same in either case.
Note that this is related to this question: How do on-road mountain bike speeds translate to road bike speeds?

Assuming everything else is the same, the wattage lost to best-rated road tyre test is 7.0W
Lowest-loss MTB tyre is 19.1W
Gravel tyre is 20.8W
Touring bike is 17.1W
And the Fatbike is 36.9 W
None of these tyres is great at anything but having a low rolling resistance - this is gained by sacrificing tread thickness and puncture protection.
There are plenty more reviews and tests at the same site.  Whether its real-world doesn't matter too much - each one is tested the same way for consistency.

Then the second part is "how fast do these wattages allow?"  Using http://www.bikecalculator.com/ and presuming a 75 kg rider, 10 kg bike riding at 150 Watts, will roll at 28.26 km/h (approx)
If this speed was done on the fatbike tyres, then moving to the touring bike would save 39.6 Watts, essentially increasing the rider's input power by that much, and returning a speed of 30.96 km/h
Likewise, going to the fanciest road tyre would result in 32.18 km/h
Since a bicycle has two wheels, losses are doubled.  Some of these tyres will cost hundreds of dollars too, and may be tubular.
A common GP5000 from Continental is measured at 10W, resulting in 31.82 km/h, only 350 metres/hour slower than the costly Vittoria.


Changing SRAM Apex brifters to flat bar - which is it possible to get hydraulic brake levers and trigger shifters to match? I've got a Tempest gravel bike from Planet X that came with drops and the Apex HRD groups. It works well but the whole drop handle bar positioning is a very literal pain -- I ended up with crucifying back pain while touring East Germany last summer.
I want to change to a Jones bar (like a riser bar but with greater choice of hand and body positions) yet can't find a simple way to transfer the brake and gear shifter. The only option seems to be to change the entire Apex drive train, which is very expensive.
Any advice?

The SRAM Apex line includes flat bar trigger shifters.

I don't think there are flat bar brake levers compatible with Apex hydraulic calipers, so you'd be looking at getting separate MTB levers and calipers. SRAM MTB and Road levers and calipers are not compatible with each other - see this answer.


Torn. Want to support LBS but they don't carry what I really want I live in a small town with one bike shop.  It is a good shop that I like a lot.  I am riding an bike that I built 15 years ago but I take it there and spend money on parts and maintenance.  I bought my kids 20" there.  When I can afford the bike I want to replace my bike I will almost certainly buy it from them.  But now I want to buy my elder son a 24" bike.  He is not a really powerful, aggressive rider.  The trails around here involve a lot of climbing.  I really think he would benefit from having a light bike.  There is one bike company that makes really light kids bikes (24" bike  <20 pounds).  The lightest 24" bike from the LBS is closer to 27 pounds.  That is a pretty big difference for somebody that weighs 65 pounds.

I'm just curious about how other people feel about situations like this and what they might do.

I had the same problem with my current MTB - I talked to the guy at my favorite LBS (I have a number of specialist but large chain bike shops close by, hes a small operator), and told him what I wanted (He stocked the brand, not the model, and it was end of season so stocks were short supply). I had seen it on the internet for a significant discount, told him that. He made a few phone calls and said "I cannot get one, and even if I could, I could not get close to that price. I am more than happy to assemble it for you if you need (clearly he was meaning for a charge)".

The LBS makes money from selling bikes, selling spares and servicing bikes. If you want to support your LBS, (as already suggested in the comments) ask him if he will order one in, and tell him what you have seen at what price. If he cannot or will not order a bike in, he should be more than happy to service it for you and will still sell you parts and accessories.


Frame maker identification Anyone know the manufacturer of this frame?
Many thanks

That looks to be the logo of Redline bicycles: https://www.redlinebicycles.com


Can I ride side by side with another cyclist in Switzerland? When I ride on the road with someone (in the country), I try to ride on his side, and then when a car comes, I pull back in. This way, we can talk and have more fun during the trip.

Sometimes, I don't have to time to do this, and I get honked, or overtaken really close (like to give me a lesson), and I feel that I'm not in my right to be side by side with another bike.
Anyway, the Swiss law seems to be on my side but I feel it can be subject to interpretation.

What do you think? What do you do in my situation?

Here are the rules written on the Swiss Touring Club (TCS) website:

French

  Les cyclistes ne peuvent rouler côte à côte que dans certaines situations et pour autant que le trafic n’en soit pas gêné :

  Groupes de plus de 10 personnes
  Sur des itinéraires cyclables balisés ou des routes secondaires
  Sur les pistes cyclables
  Dans les zones de rencontre

  Excepté dans les situations mentionnées ci-dessus, les cyclistes doivent rouler les uns derrière les autres.

English

  Cyclists can travel side by side only in certain conditions, and if they don't disturb the traffic:

  Groups of more than 10 people
  On cycling itinerary and secondary roads1
  On cycling lanes
  In meetup zones

  Except in the above situation, cyclists must ride one after another.

1:This is where the situation I'm describing takes place.

So as you see, it is subject to interpretation. What is a "secondary road"? What do they mean by "disturb the traffic"?

The relevant law text in Switzerland is on admin.ch (quoting German version, the French and Italian versions are also available at that link and just as legally binding. I'm not translating it, but very roughly summing it up below):

  Art. 43 Motorräder, Motorfahrräder und Fahrräder; Hintereinanderfahren

  (Art. 46 Abs. 2 und 47 Abs. 1 SVG)

  Die Führer von Fahrrädern und Motorfahrrädern dürfen nicht neben andern Fahr-rädern oder Motorfahrrädern fahren. Sofern der übrige
  Verkehr nicht behindert wird, ist das Nebeneinanderfahren zu zweit
  jedoch gestattet:

  a.
  in geschlossenem Verband von mehr als zehn Fahrrädern oder Motorfahr-rädern;

  b.
  bei dichtem Fahrrad- oder Motorfahrradverkehr;
  c.
  auf Radwegen und auf signalisierten Rad-Wanderwegen auf Nebenstrassen;

  d.
  in Begegnungszonen
  Die Führer von Motorrädern dürfen weder nebeneinander noch neben Fahrrädern oder Motorfahrrädern fahren. Radfahrer und
  Motorfahrradfahrer dürfen nicht neben Motorrädern fahren.

I understand this to mean that any condition a-d is sufficient to allow exactly two (motorized) bicycles side by side, with the caveat that you aren't ever allowed to hinder the rest of the traffic.

Probably there is some other law somewhere defining what exactly is meant by hindering traffic, but I couldn't find it on the spot.

ASVZ Rennvelo (cycling club of several large Swiss universities) has the following in their introduction document for people interested in joining one of their riding groups:

  Die  Fahrer  am  Ende  der  Gruppe  weisen  auf  von  hinten kommendem  Verkehr  hin  mit  dem  Ruf  «Auto!»,  was  heisst,  dass
  jetzt  in  einer  Spur  gefahren  werden  muss  und  nicht  abgelöst
  werden  darf,  bis  der  Verkehr  sicher  überholt  hat.  (Gemäss
  Verkehrsregelv erordnung  Art.  43  darf  «[...]  in  geschlossenem
  Verband von mehr als zehn Fahrrädern [...]» nebenei nander gefahren
  werden.)

So they are interpreting it in a careful way: You should not ride side by side (to switch to the back of the riding formation) if there is any (motorized) traffic overtaking you.

On the other hand groups like Critical Mass or Vélorution stretch the law in the other direction and regularly ride in large groups (20-600) with 3-10 riders side by side taking up to 3 regular lanes and no one to my knowledge has ever been taken to court for that. Police on bicycles recently showed up at such events so they are well aware of them.

Basically I think this boils down to: Only do it on official cycling roads (marked by brown/red signs, no or little motor traffic) and in large groups. That large group should have someone more experienced who can tell when it's okay and when not.


Will an innertube for 700x35c-44c be ok for a bike that says it needs size 700x45c? I need to replace my innertube and took a photo of the tyre mark to show the guy in the bike shop for the size. It says 700 x 45c. I bought the innertube he gave me based on this and only checked the size when I got home (yes I know, stupid me), size 700 x 35c - 44c. This range is obviously smaller (but only just) than what my tyre asks for.

Hopefully it's not a problem but wanted to check before opening the packet in case I need to return it.

What do you think? Thanks for your help in advance
Angela

44c versus 45c is not enough to worry about.
You can use it.

Not that you would need to do this but after you have stretched it you should not try and put it in a 35c as it would be hard to do so without a fold in the tube.


Unidentified "Sigma Mount Compatible" Bike Computer Just got this used bike computer, only knew it fits in a Sigma type "Twist Lock System" mounts.
No markings on the front or sides only a serial number stamped on the back.

Really hope someone can shed some backlight :)

 calories, kcal display

 temperature readout (C / F), Min and Max memory

 just battery plate markings on the back...

Settings mode

 set Kg / Lbs (default Kg starts at 65)

 preset Total Distance (2 bikes)

 service 'feature' (default: 600) range: 200-999, also settable for bike1 and bike2

Electronic board

 readable series "E30370-01"

All in all looks like a good piece of hardware, also seems to have some data connection with battery removed (Vcc, Vdd, Vpp) would be very interested if/how it's PC link-able.

Edit:
With data from sigmasport's service website, made a makeshift product history, still it's not on the list...

SIGMA make a connecting pod with USB connection to the PC. It takes the bike computer via twist lock. They have their own data suite for reading and archiving data from the bike computer. You should find it on their website.


How should I lubricate my Shimano freewheel? I have a Shimano freewheel (MX-30) that came with my bike from new.  Unfortunately the internals got all gunked up and it stopped working (never engaged and became free both ways).  I have bought and fitted a replacement part, but I would like to know how I should lubricate / maintain the freewheel so that this does not happen again.

I love ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid) for freewheel (not free hub) lube. What I do is lift the bike-- if someone can help you with this, it's a bit easier-- so that you can rotate the pedals (and make the back wheel spin). Ideally, the bike should be tilted to the non-drive side about 45-60 degrees. With the back wheel rotating, you can see where to lubricate. As Sheldon puts it:

  Look inside the smallest sprocket. The sprocket will be stationary,
  since the wheel is coasting, but you'll see an inner part of the
  freewheel that is spinning with the wheel. Drip oil onto the crack
  between the turning part and the stationary part. Gravity and
  capillary action will help work oil into the freewheel.

BTW, thought I should add what I keep my ATF in for cycling purposes. I have some old plastic bottles that once held printer ink. They look similar to this:


Obtaining the optimum chain line Ok I have a number of variables at play here and I'm trying to obtain the best chain line possible this is on my polo bike so not super important but if there is a way I can do it I'm willing to put the effort into it.

Being a polo bike it is treated as a single speed and with my setup I've strived to created a more functional polo bike with a 2 cog freewheel. Hence I can ride my bike to the court on my commuter gear, take a 15mm wrench out of my bag slam the wheel and use my polo gear on the same freewheel.

rear hub is a Primo son of a bomb which I believe is 120mm spaced with a 2 speed suntour freewheel.

My rear track ends are 135mm.

Up front is a deore triple crank with a rageface 32tooth (74BCD) chain ring on the utmost inner ring. I had to space this out away from the crank spider with 2mm chain bolt spacers to stop the master link rubbing. The chainring as about 5-7mm of space between it and the chainstay.

Current BB (unsure)

So with all these metrics is it possible for me to workout a BB length and rear spacer set to get a straight chainline?

We can make this easy... Lets assume your frame is totally straight and not bent in anyway.

Measure front chainline.  Chainline is the distance the chain is from the bike's centerline.  You will need an inexpensive machinist's scale .  A machinist scale is just a small 6" long ruler. On a machinist's scale the zero mark is exactly at the edge of the scale.

Measure the front chainline from the edge of the seat tube.  To that number add the radius of the seat tube.  My seat tube is 28mm in diameter, half of that is the radius. My front chainline is at 14 + 34 = 48mm

For the rear chainline you measure from the inner edge of the dropout to the gear. You know the width of your rear hub (135mm) and you subtract the measurement.  (oops.. my rear hubs are 135mm yours are 120mm, right?  Obviously you should use your measurements! ) In my case, the chainline to that center gear is 135/2 - 24.5mm (from photo) = 43mm   Remember the chainline is the distance between the chain and the CENTER of the bicycle.

Obviously my bike is using a derailleur so I'm not freaking out about a slight mismatch.

Does that help?  If you know where you are, you can then make changes to the front crankset with shims to adjust chainline a bit. Depending on which hubs you use, you can do some spacing work at the rear as well.  Easiest combo is a multigear hub used for a single speed with a Surly hub spacer kit.  That makes it all easy.

That cheap machinist scale takes all the guesswork out of the conversation.  Do note, because of how cranksets mate to the crankarm and bottom bracket, its almost impossible to pre-determine chainline from parts sitting on a table. You have to install them on a bike to the correct installation torque, then do your measurements, then take it all apart to make adjustments as necessary.

And Sheldon Brown, although he has passed away now (sigh), is still your friend.

http://sheldonbrown.com/chainline.html

One more comment: Are you really trying to use a 120mm wide rear hub on a 135mm frame?  I don't think that's a clever idea.  5mm off, okay.  That far off, you risk bending the frame.  Yes, you could convert that 120mm wide rear hub to an effective 135 with spacers and a long axle.  If you are going to do that please purchase SOLID axles intended for a 135 hub.  With the loading from a 120mm wide hub a hollow skewer axle probably won't cut it.


Rear Flat Tire Repetition Mystery I have this mysterious problem with my rear hardtail wheel. Here's how it goes: I put in a brand new tube after getting a flat, works fine for a ride, next ride get a flat, change tube, get a flat next ride... and the constant theme here is that the tube rips right around the valve.
Now what happens is rather odd: I notice the like squishy part between the rim and the tube is shifted around the valve - so I have to force the valve in the rim hole. The tube works fine when out of the wheel, but when installed leaks.

Running stock wheels so I may just need to upgrade wheels, but the bike is pretty entry so.

Thanks in advance.

New rim strip (squishy thing) and check the valve hole for sharp edges or burs. It sounds to me like your rim is cutting tiny holes in your tube at the valve stem, a semi common occurrence.

A new rim strip SHOULD cure the issue, but i would check the rim as well just in case. I've seen rims come from the factory with metal burs left over on the valve holes where they were drilled, especially cheaper entry level rims like weinmann 519s etc

Rim strips don't last forever. With repeated changing of tubes and tire they get stretched and shifted around and do their job less well. Their job is to protect the tube from any sharp edges of the rim and where the spokes are attached,the nipples can be rather sharp from the screwdriver or tool that was used when the wheel was built. (yes they could have chose a different word but it really is spoke nipples)

It is also a good idea when changing a tube to run your hand on the inside of the tire to make sure there are no thorns stuck in the rubber waiting to pop your next tube, but it sounds like you have narrowed it down to the valve holes.

Finally, when installing a new tube be sure that the valve comes through the hole straight, at a 90º angle to the rim surface. Otherwise when you inflate it and introduce pressure, the base of the valve is pressed into the valve hole of the rim which can be rather sharp.


Microshift levers with Ultegra brakes I have a 2012 Felt F95 (as shown at: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-f95-2012/) and I wanted to upgrade the brakes to Shimano Ultegras.  I was wondering if these are compatible together.

I believe all drop-bar road bike brake levers designed for caliper brakes use the same cable pull ratio, so yes you can fit Ultegra calipers.

Personal opinion follows ...

I'm not a fan of installing individual components of a level many steps up from the rest of the components on a bike. You may not see the full performance benefits of the high-level calipers because the lower level Microshift levers will be the limiting factor.

The Felt F95 has no-brand calipers I believe (at least the 2017 does, your link to Wiggle does not work), so even Claris or Sora level are going to be better. You may as well save a little money.


How to cut carbon handlebars Last year, I installed carbon bars on one of my mountain bikes and I'm finding them too wide. I've been told that taping over the points you're going to cut at will prevent fraying/roughness, but what type of hacksaw blade should you use? Any other tips?

At the shop we generally use a "normal" hacksaw blade. I'd go with finer blade (more teeth per inch) if there's an option. Go slow and smooth (long low pressure strokes) and keep the blade perpendicular to the bars. The tape will probably help but do take care removing the tape or you might cause the fray you're trying to avoid.

There are special carbon cutting blades. We tried these and switched back to hacksaw.

Happy Riding!


Which size SKS Bluemels will fit my frame - 35, 42, 45? I'm thinking of getting full mudguards for my road bike, the Triban RC 520 , (details here)
, and the manufacturer's page tells me that it comes with 700 x 28 tires and the frame is compatible with tires upto 36mm.
Searching for SKS Bluemels, I find the following sizes useful : 35 mm, 42 mm and 45mm. The 35 is good for 20-28mm tires and the 42 is good for 25-35 mm tires , it appears. The 45 seems a bit overkill for 28-38 mm.
I think I should go for the 42 mm ones for upgradability to bigger tires later, but since the frame is compatible with upto 36 mm tires only, would these "42 mm" fenders fit ?
(perhaps this is a silly question , but I'm buying online so want to be sure that they will )
Or is this measurement of the mudguard width not the same as tire width and so I can go ahead with the 42 mm ones ? For that matter, will even the 45 mm ones fit ?
NOTE : I have seen 24683 , but the question here is slightly different - what I ask is if the mudguards bigger than 35 will even fit.
EDIT 1 : Will these from Decathlon fit too ?
EDIT 2 : My bike has disk brakes, so there are no rim brake calipers in the way.

Choosing a maximum size for a given frame is not an exact science. It's done by either mounting or approximating the widest size tires you want to be able to run and then using a caliper or ruler to see what you've got to work with in terms of vertical and side to side clearance.
Your bike looks like it shouldn't have trouble with the 45mm. That's probably the number to choose, unless by some chance there's clearance for 50s.
Two things people often under-consider in the abstract:

7mm total overhang in width gets thrown around as a bare minimum, and you can see SKS follows this line, but it's really pushing it in practice. In addition to being barely adequate for spray, it makes preventing rub finicky in day to day use. How easy they are to live with is actually one of the bigger factors in choosing a width. A 28 in a 45 does not look funny or perform badly. It's actually great.
Wider means more wrap means the tire can be more sunk in means wider may function where narrower won't even if it's not needed for coverage, if vertical clearance is limited.


I can't track down the source of chain skip - what might it be? Last summer it come to light that my bike is suffering extremely bad chain slip, to the extent I feel it is unsafe. From what I can tell, it only happens in the 50t ring, and the 34 may be ok, but it's been a while since I've been on this particular bike, so I'd have to verify.
Near come off the bike a few times moving off from a stop if I was pedalling out of the saddle, so I got a chain checker and I noticed that it was badly worn; the tool slipped right into 1% and who knows how long it was like that given my attitude to use things until they break. Maybe 10-15k miles on the chain. It didn't fix it. So I installed new cassette on there 100-200 miles later, and again, it unfortunately, didn't fix it.
I've reassessed the chain length, and this seems O.K. from what I can gauge (big-big combo - chain has good tension, and I'm not quite able to turn 2 links back on each other to make a Z, indicating that the chain is probably the right length), so now I've reached somewhat of a brick wall. I can't keep throwing money at the thing, especially considering my next step would be to replace the large chainring, but given the cost of FC-9000, it would be quite annoying if it were not to work. Is this a likely fix?
A friend suggested sticky pawls, but when I shoved a club mates disc wheel & cassette on there, I had the same thing, so that probably rules out the possibility of the freehub assembly going bad.
If there is anyone out there with ideas/advice then it would be greatly appreciated. I can get high-resolution photos of the teeth/drivetrain condition if it helps.
EDIT; just shoved it in the workstand and noticed the rear gears were very hesitant to go 25>28 in the big ring & adjusted accordingly. I could've sworn I indexed the thing when I last used it though. If that is the case could this add new cables and a blob of marine grease to the RD springs to the list of culprits?

Factory new:

Does the large chainring show much wear? I don't think it is the culprit but it needs replacing when it is worn. If the old chain was very worn like that it could have caused wear here too. You could think about chain suck but IME this is quite violent and it jams up the drive by pulling back on the chain; if you look for it you can tell when its chain suck. Check it out, but to rule it out.

As you say the problem is bad moving off from a stop, I would strongly suspect the pawls of the freewheel mechanism in your hub as this is when torque is high on the cassette. I've had the same problem before, it's pretty terrifying when the pedals slip and you lose your balance in traffic. I had mine replaced and instant fix.

You did explore this with club mate's wheel, but I would be pursuing it again with another different wheel and you should at least get into the hub and clean, inspect, grease. Check the wear on the rim and see if it isn't time for a new wheel anyway, otherwise check out the cost of replacing the freehub. You've done the chain and cassette, good, but now you need to take it further.

I think (from reading your post) you can judge the indexing and RD behaviour competently enough and this problem isn't super common despite all noisy, badly adjusted, worn out drive trains there are in the world.


Bicycle is Having a hard time Shifting -- especially gears 13 and 14 21 speed commuter bike. Raleigh 2011 brand.

After my gear shifter cable was broken, I took it into the shop to get it fixed. (4 days ago). Ever since, when shifting, it takes forever to actually shift and often does quite 'violently'. Shifting way past the trouble gears (past where I can currently handle) or way lower solves the problem. But that's not a good solution obviously.

Is there anything that I can do to fix this problem? What did they mess up at the bike store?

The cable needs adjusting.  A new cable will tend to stretch and go out of adjustment, so they should provide a free adjustment after replacing it.


How to hold rear derailleur sprocket arm extended This is about inserting a chain, either a new chain or reinstalling the old one, like after cleaning as in my case.  The rear derailleur arm is fighting me of course because of spring tension.  The chain in my case has a master link now.

Is there a tool, or something I can make, or some trick to hold the RD arm extended while I get the new chain on and the master link clipped?

A third hand would be great but that's a project for the future.

Thanks.

Assuming you've trimmed the chain to the right number of links already...

First, put the gearing in small-small, whatever that is.

Thread the rear first.  Use a short length of old spoke through the end of the chain to stop it pulling through.

Then thread the front.

Pull both ends together at the bottom of the chain-path and use a double hook of old spoke to hold them together with a small bulge of slack chain is upwards at the joint.

Stop here, and check that your rear chain-path is correct.  The little tongue in the middle of the cage is a common culprit.  If not right, rethread.

Do up your master link or pin according to instructions.  Then check for a stiff link at the joint.


What bike computer (speedometer) to get for mounting on the rear wheel? I'm looking to get a bike computer, primarily for the speedometer function. I use my bike on a trainer most of the time, and I'd like to get "speed" from that, so the sensor needs to be on the rear wheel.

I'd prefer not to spend too much, but my budget is pretty high. Right now, the only feature I want is speed, but I'll learn to use any other useful features.

I've read this question, and gotten some interesting data, but I don't really care about whether the unit is wired or wireless. It just needs to reach the back wheel and be reliable.

I've decided to go the cheap route - I got a Cateye Enduro 8 (which is wired, but not long enough) and I'll modify it to extend the wire.

If I start using my bike more (or I break the Cateye) I'll look at getting something like the Garmins @zenbike mentioned.


Is my bike capable of swapping for longer cranks? I have a cross-check at 52 cm with a casual drop handlebar set up. It's a relatively square frame compared to other bikes I've ridden in the past. The cranks feel very small, like I'm not using my whole range of motion to pedal. I'd be curious to run longer cranks.

The problem is that because of the short wheel base, on turns it's possible for me to accidentally kick my tire when I adjust my clip position to a relatively comfortable position.

Is my frame simply too small to fit longer cranks?

Yes, your bike is capable of using longer cranks.
Longer cranks will likely cause more toe overlap, which is generally expected and widely tolerated on small-framed 700c bikes. Here is Sheldon Brown's opinion of toe overlap, from his online glossary:

On many bicycles, especially those with smaller frames and full-sized wheels, it is possible for the front fender or tire to bump into the rider's toe or to the toe clip. Some people worry a lot about this, but it is rarely a significant problem in practice.
The only time it can happen is when the handlebars are turned quite far to the side, as only happens at very low speeds.
Many, many people ride bicycles with fairly severe overlap with no practical problems, sometimes having to make a slight adjustment to their pedaling habits at very slow speeds.
On smaller-size bikes with full-sized wheels, it is usually impossible to eliminate overlap without causing adverse fit/handling issues.


Which gears combinations shouldn't be used? Is there any general rule or recommendation to avoid usage of certain gears combinations (for 2xN and 3xN gears systems)? Do they differ for mtb and road bikes?
I know that it's recommended not to use biggest front chainring with big chainrings on cassette (and opposite) because parts will wear faster and I will loose a bit of pedaling efficiency, but I'm not sure, if I should avoid 2 or 3, or even more biggest (smallest in opposite case) chainrings on cassette.

This is an old chestnut from the days of 5 speed freewheels and chainrings without shifting ramps. With modern hyperglide cogs and the relatively slinky thin modern chains, cross chaining is simply no longer an issue. While there are very few studies on this, the one I've seen suggests that there is no loss in mechanical efficiency for cross chaining at the angles typical of most bikes.

In general for a given gear ratio, big/big is more mechanically efficient than
small/small. So the only science out there suggests that cross chaining on the big
chainwheel is actually more efficient.

http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/home99/aug99/bike.html

Use the gears you like, check your chain wear and replace your chain often and the expensive bits of your drive train will last a long time.


Bushings vs bearings - maintenance difficulty I consider purchasing a full suspension bike with a linkage using bushings, instead of bearings for the pivots (Ghost Path Riot). A review says:

  The bushings are said to wear out quick, two to three new sets should be in your tool box during a full season of racing, but it makes for a very light and compact frame design.

I don't care to maintain my bike a bit more, considering that bushings cost less then bearings. But I know that changing bearings in the rear linkage requires a set of tools (presses for each bearing diameter), that's it's among the small number of repairs I don't do it myself. Is it the same with bushings, or maybe they require a cheaper generic tool, so I could invest a few bucks and replace them myself?

Bushings and bearings are nearly identical in terms of the replacement procedure. Personally I think bearings are the better option because bushings typically are manufactured and supported only by the bike manufacturer. This means when the bike becomes discontinued, most of the time, so do the bushings.

If you need a bearing replaced, you can typically look on the dust seal and get an equivalent Wheels Manufacturing Bearing.

As far as a specialty tool (for bearings), in a pinch, you can

Use a flat head screwdriver and tap the bearing out side by side
Press the bearing in with the correct sized socket from a socket kit

The press you would need can either be borrowed from an Auto Parts store, or use a long bolt, and a nut with a washer to make a "homemade" press.

See this video

The actual tool looks like this

For bushing replacement, unfortunately you do need a specific tool to get those guys out.