What is typically the best bolt to hold Park BBT-22 on to square-taper spindle? If one is trying to remove a stuck square-taper bottom bracket, it is hard to both hold the tool onto the bottom bracket splines and turn it at the same time. Many tools, like the Park BBT-22, have a hole so you can bolt it down using the crank bolt hole in the spindle, so you can just focus on turning it, or so you can just hold the tool in a vice and use the bike frame as a lever.

However, documentation seems fairly sparse about exactly which bolt one needs for this. Obviously it's like a crank bolt, but longer. But what's crank bolt threading? What length works best? This forum thread has the advice "Get an M8x1.0 bolt 40 or 50 mm long. Note the thread pitch is 1.0 mm, not the more common 1.25 mm that is usual on M8 bolts." Can someone confirm that is correct? It seems hard to mess up the threading, but the answer is from thirteen years ago, refers to a BBT-2 rather than BBT-22 (typo?), and it's not clear what length is optimal. Hoping someone has such a bolt in their tool drawer and can just measure, so I can order the best bolt (and I'm sure I won't be the last person to have this question).

There’s actually a tool made specifically for this purpose. For example, here’s a link to the Pedro’s version:

https://pedros.com/products/tools/pedal-crank-and-bottom-bracket/bb-socket-holder-ii/

They call it a “bottom bracket socket holder” so try that as a search term for others.


Shimano Nexus 3 clicking free-wheel-mechanism-like noise I have assembled a bike with new Shimano Nexus 3 (SG-3C41) internally geared hub. In the lowest gear the hub is silent. However in the middle and highest gear it makes a clicking noise similar to free-wheel mechanism while not pedaling. The clicking is faster in the highest gear at the same speed.

Have I made an error in assembly or is it normal for this model?

Can I somehow get rid of this clicking or at least make it quieter by greasing some parts?

Side note: I couldn't fit the original grips in my setup, so I have Sram 7.0 rear 8 gear grip shift controlling the hub. I tried setting the grip between the gears, so I'm almost certainly sure this isn't the cause of clicking, but just in case...

It is normal - cogs of 1st gear turn slower than that from 2nd and 3rd gear, so are overrun and click into hub housing. You can "silent" it a bit by opening the hub and greasing hub housing, where the cogs work.


Correct way to apply brakes Just to illustrate that there are better and worse ways to apply brakes, here's an example of a less-than-ideal way: I was biking on a borrowed bike and getting used to the brakes. The front brake lever was squishier than the rear. After skidding out and landing my hip on a stump, which lowered morale significantly for the next half-hour or so, I learned to give the front brake a harder squeeze to compensate for the squish. This was on a mountain trail and at the urging of my biking companion on that day.

So my question is this: How does one brake under certain circumstances? Are there times when all-front or all-rear braking makes sense, or is it always best to apply pressure somewhat evenly to both brakes, and are there different braking techniques on roads vs trails and such?

To reduce your speed significantly while on dry roads, I recommend front brake first and hardest, because the front wheel will have most grip. If you only want to lose a little speed (but more than soft-pedalling), and gently at that, e.g. in a group riding situation to prevent others running into the back of you, then rear-brake only.

On wet roads or loose surfaces you must avoid locking the front-wheel, so brake evenly and simultaneously front and rear. You have a chance of controlling a rear-wheel that is locked and skidding; that control is unlikely to extend to a locked and skidding front wheel.

If it is icy and extremely slippery, consider rear-brake only and don't go too fast to begin with!


Getting into biking -- choosing between choices I am brand spanking new to cycling and have been intensely researching what brand of bike to buy. Since I'm new and not leaping into any races anytime soon I know I don't need a track bike, but I also don't want something junky that:

won't be fun to ride
will break and cost me more money to fix it, and
be way too much bike for my needs.

So: I live in Atlanta (mildly to very hilly in parts but lots of flat trails and bike lanes on most of the city streets), won't really be commuting but definitely could see myself tooling around 10-15 miles on weekends for a good workout, and primarily will use my bike for that purpose -- fun and exercise (aren't we all?)

My question is -- how do I choose between the various options?  What to look at for a first bicycle; and as a beginner living in a big city, what are the main features I should look for?

Specific recommendations are off topic here, but my general advice would be to start out looking at the big, ubiquitous brands: Trek, Specialized, Giant, Cannondale etc. that your local bike stores offer. Those are are all 'solid' and dependable brands.

These brands offer a wide range of models at a range of price points. The local bike stores will have a good selection of models and sizes in stock, allowing you good choice and the ability to test ride many bikes to figure out what you want. Bike store staff will be able to give you plenty of good advice on picking a bike. You'll also have good post-purchase support and a good warranty.

If you have local bike stores that offer other brands consider them by all means. The most important thing is to be able to test ride a bunch of bikes to determine the style you want and the size you need.


Road bike for a 10 day trip in the Pyrenees and French rivera and other questions I am planning a 10 day trip covering roughly between 500 and 600 kilometers, starting in the Spanish Pyrenees and finishing in Nice.

What kind of bike do you recommend me for such a trip? Obviously I need something with gears since I am going to do a bit of cycling in the mountains. I prefer not to get a mountain bike because my idea is to keep the bike and use it in London for commuting.

My budget is in the £500 - £700 range and I would probably go for second hand since that way I can get something better. At this price range I cannot afford any fancy carbon frame ones. However, would I ideally want a carbon frame bike? I know they are much lighter but I obviously need to carry some stuff in saddles so I am not sure I want a super light one, do I?

Also, I'd be great if you give me any advice on saddles as I will need to get these as well.

Finally, is averaging 50-60 kilometers a day too much for 2 fit guys in their late 20s and early 30s? I am  more or less a seasoned rider although no expert and certainly not trained.

Cheers!

With no training in the mountains it'll be quite painful I suspect regardless of what bike you have.

If it were me I'd just take my road bike with panniers containing a bit of food etc. My Trek 1.5 2011 cost between 500-700 quid and is, in my limited opinion a fantastic bike.

I can't say that's the best solution, but I'd confidently take my trek up those mountains. Might be worth getting with a triple chain ring (3 cogs at the front) otherwise you might really struggle if you've done no training.

Saddle wise you stick with what it comes with and get some decent cycling shorts. Remember to keep back some money for:

Helmet
Cycling shoes/pedals perhaps?
Cycling sunglasses (think rims/easier for seeing)
Lock
Tools including cleaning stuff, pump, spare tubes etc.
Lights
Other things I haven't mentioned.

Good luck!! And get training, that'll make the biggest difference!


How does my tire pressure effect the tire's maximum load? So, I've very recently bought a brand new "Radius Targa"... The pressure I'm told to inflate my tires to (which it says on the side of the wheel) is 50 PSI, the only measurements I can find on the wheel to tell me anything about size or whatever is 26 x 1.95. I weigh just over 120KG, and the wheels say that at 50 PSI, the max load is 90KG... Does that mean that I should then increase the pressure, to increase the maximum load, or decrease it? I'm only using this bike for on-road/footpath riding, nothing offroad.

I weigh just over 120KG, and the wheels say that at 50 PSI, the max
  load is 90KG... Does that mean that I should then increase the
  pressure, to increase the maximum load, or decrease it?

The max load on a tire is restricted because higher load can cause a pinch-flat at a given pressure - and the max pressure is limited by the tire properties (and also by the rim strength).

So if you run your tires at maximum recommended pressure 50 PSI, you risk pinching the tube. If you inflate the tire more than 50 PSI, risk of pinch-flat goes down, but the manufacturer does not guarantee that the tire will not explode.

Ideally, you should have selected tires which are specified to bear your weight. In practice, this may be less of an issue because of at least the following:

the vendor might have indicated the "load" as load on just one wheel. Then, as said in the comment, your most loaded wheel is carrying just about 90kg.
1.95" MTB tires are designed for MTB, so there is probably less chance of pinch-flat while riding onroad.

So answering your question: the pressure should be increased, but the tire specification limits the maximum safe increase.


How has biking changed in the past 15 years? I am going to try commuting to work via bike and am really excited about it. The problem is, I haven't really ridden a bike in the past 15 years, when I was in high school. I used to love biking but it just was never really possible to bike to work until now. What are some big ways in which cycling has changed in the past 15 years or so?

A few differences off the top of my (mtb) head:

Materials:

Hydroforming of aluminium tubes
Wider use of carbon for frames and wheels, not just top end bikes and on aggressive mountain bikes

Technology:

Disc brakes, both hydraulic and mechanical disc brakes are standard
on mountain and hybrid bikes but slowly gaining momentum on touring,
road and cyclocross bikes
Electronic shifting on road bikes, Shimano D12 and other brands use servos to power shifting for more responsive and lighter changes
Clutch derailleurs on mountain bikes to eliminate chain slap
Dual chamber air sprung suspension, dual chambers provide negative pressure
Remote everything, cockpits are now designed so that all manner of adjustments can be made to a bike on the fly such as seat height and suspension firmness
Dropper posts on mountain bikes, while gravity posts have been around for years hydraulic posts are now common for dropping and raising saddles on the fly.
Thru axles are slowing taking over QRs as standard on mountain bikes and have less flex than QRs
Tubeless wheels, no longer do many wheels and tyre sets require tubes
Various different full suspension designs, but there's no best design
Tapered head tube on mountain bikes to provide more stiffness
Narrow-wide chain rings to support 1x drive trains
Press fit headsets and bottom brackets, while headsets are a bit older and been available 15 years ago there are now numerous standards of press fit bottom brackets
Through axle crankshafts (what's the right wording here?) BBs no longer have an integrated spindle and that is part of the crankset, again for stiffness

Geometry:

29" mountain bikes to roll over things better
27.5" (650B) mountain bikes to roll over things a little less better but to turn better
Slacker head tubes on mountain bikes for more stability downhill

Bike Types:

Cyclocross European mud racing on road bikes has become popular across the world and now most brands carry a cyclocross off road bike in their range, good on both road and gravel and hardy commuters
Enduro European gravity racing paired with climbing (either aggressive XC or mostly downhill racing however you want to look at it) has become a term to describe previous all-mountain bikes. Usually fluro colours with about 160mm of travel
Fat bikes large tired (wide) mountain bikes

Performing Enhancing Drugs

Apparently people no longer take them, it's no longer the in thing to do

The Olympics:

BMX became an Olympic sport

Safety

All mountain/endure helmets providing back of head protection


Does anyone know of a lightweight motorcycle style open face helmet for eBiking? I'm relatively new to eBiking as I had always been able to pedal my bikes until a couple of years ago. One issue I found was the wind chill factor during winter. You can go faster than normal with less energy required, meaning I have less internal warmth to fight off the cold and a higher wind chill factor, particularly on exposed shin and eyes.

My answer was to zip tie a light weight motorcycle visor to an old ski helmet. I know it is debatable as to whether a ski helmet is safe for cycling. see (Using a ski helmet for winter biking) for further discussion (I may have posted this question as a comment to that thread but further replies are blocked).

For myself I am happy that each type of helmet passes almost identical safety tests and the ski helmet has less open vents so in my mind makes it at least as safe. So far this set has done two winters with out any further mods of maintenance and worked well at keeping the wind and rain off my face. (I am thankfully yet to test its protection capabilities).

It works but is not completely aesthetically pleasing and the visor is always going to be a zip tied on addition rather than part of the design. (Could this be an issue in a crash?) Does anyone know of a similar type of product with an integrated full face visor that is already out there. I have looked at bike and ski helmets (no full face visors), paragliding/hangliding helmets (probably due to relatively small numbers made the few I've found that offer same features are £300+) and motorcycle/scooter helmets (feels too heavy at twice the weight).

for now when its cold I'll keep using but any other suggests are welcome. Thanks

Track racing helmets have a built in visor, but these usually only cover the eyes.

You can probably achieve what you want with a combination of a non vented helmet, wrap around glasses or goggles and a half-face mask or balaclava.

There are numerous bicycle specific helmets made for commuting or casual riding that have minimal vents, or closable vents. Some have cold weather liners that fit to the chinstrap to cover the ears.

There are half-face masks made for skiing, cycling or other cold wether use that are semi-rigid so that there is space between the mouth and nose and the mask.


Why do some disk brake pads use split-pins or bolts to retain metallic or resin pads? With Shimano disc brakes, there are two options for types of brake pads: resin or metallic. My understanding is that the metallic brakes generally have more stopping power while resin are more modulated and squeal less.

With that said, as far as I have seen, some use a split-pin to stay in place, while others use a bolt.

A split pin used on both organic-resin and sintered-metallic pads

This is strange to me: I feel less comfortable knowing my ability to stop is based on a bent split-pin rather than a screwed-in bolt! Is there some explanation for this?

My best guess is that the metallic pads create more heat, which could warp threads, but that's just a guess.

Some caliper models use the threaded style pin and some use the bent cotter pin type one. Several of the pad shapes are used in calipers of either type. Every Shimano replacement pad that is compatible with a caliper that uses the bent pin type retention pins will come with any replacement pin or pins that may be needed, plural because there are actually 3 length/profile variations of bent pin across Shimano calipers. There is no metallic versus organic distinction involved.

For the most part the calipers that have the threads are the more expensive ones, or at least that's how they've been doing it recently. To date I believe all the road calipers are threaded, but that's subject to change. On all these calipers the pin is considered part of the caliper and is re-used. If they're lost or damaged, a specific replacement has to be obtained; there is some overlap but it's not dimensioned the same across all the Shimano calipers that use threaded retention pins. If the threaded pin is lost or damaged, a bent cotter type one of appropriate length can be substituted without issue.

Neither style is subjected to braking loads in any way. The pin is a loose fit in the hole of the pads. Braking loads from the pad are entirely pushing on the lips of the caliper that the pads rest against. The pins are there solely to prevent the pads from falling out when you're not braking.


Is it possible to put a 700c wheel on to an old Raliegh road bike? I've been using a trainer during the winter months and went out on my bike the other day and half way round I got a flat!!!

I spoke to the bloke in a shop who said that using the bike on the trainer will wear the tyre out quicker. He mentioned getting an other tyre but said about the hassel of keep swapping them over.

I have got an old Raliegh sprint with the old wheel size, I think it's 27 and 3/4 inch (not sure on that one!!) This however is too big for the trainer so my question is, Is it possible to get a new wheel which will be smaller than the one on the sprint to fit the bike and also the trainer. This will only be used on the trainer so it won't matter about the brakes.

Hope this makes sense!!

Sure.  So long as the hub is roughly the same width, and the chain is compatible with the sprockets, you should be able to put the slightly smaller 700c wheel on that bike.  As you note, the brakes will likely not reach, but that's not a problem on a trainer.

One potential problem is the rear derailer, but this wouldn't be as much trouble as going the other way, since your old derailer is likely not indexed.  The main problem is likely to be that the wider chain doesn't fit the sprockets well.


Life metrics for v-brake pads (time to replace, time to change) I ride my bikes quite frequently and need to use the brakes slightly harshly (because of the traffic light changes and cars at my front) as I approach some gradients worth 40 degrees downhill. My regular commute culminates to approximately 4 miles (with gradients and 5 days a week) and 0.25 miles (with gradients and 2 days a week). I have used simple tuning to maintain the v-brake positions along my front and rear rims and cable tensions for the brake cable (by adjusting the nuts near the brake levers). However, it seems that they don't stay put for more than a month or two. Additionally, I noticed this morning that my rear brake pads are almost worn out (broken and cracked edges). My question is, how do I determine how often the brake pads needs replacements? It would be fantastic if someone points suggests any side-effects such as brake cable wire damages and replacements etc.

Also, I recently puchased this set of pads with housings. Does anyone know if it is any good? My current brake pads are naked i.e. without any housings.

Thanks a lot!

It's difficult to give a general estimate on how often brake pads should be replaced, as conditions vary. (Including how often you ride, temperature, humidity, do you store your bike in direct sunlight, how old the brakes are, etc.) If it looks worn, replace it.

Adjusting brake tension via the screw nuts on the handlebars is the best way to make adjustments. As brakes wear down with use, you will need to make these adjustments to compensate. Needing to do this ever month or two seems within the normal range for how often you use your bike.

Another factor to keep in mind is that cables will stretch with use. If the screw nuts on the handlebars are at their limit, you will need to loosen the nut holding the cable at the brake to adjust the cable. (When you make this adjustment, make sure to reset the screw nuts on the handlebar).

Your recently purchased brake pads seem fine. I've found that a manufacture will include the housing even if it's not needed. Just be sure to toe-in your brakes slightly, and reset the handlebar screw nuts (and cables) as needed.


Rear derailleur hitting spokes in 4 largest cogs I did a big mistake and bought a cheap bike for casual use. On my first ride I fell down on to the right side of the bike. I am not sure if it is this fall or just that the bike is poorly assembled but as can be seen below the derailleur is not perpendicular and is too close to the wheel result in touching the spokes when I shift to larger cogs.

I have looked up videos on youtube and they seem to about bent derailleur hanger. However the gear system shown on you tube seems to be different than what is at my bike and I am not sure if it is really applicable in my case.

Any pointers on how I can fix this myself. I am  not keen to approach LBS since they will not been keen to work on this bike being cheaply bought etc.

Side view of the gear

Your problem is the thick sheet metal derailleur 'hanger' is in fact badly bent. On cheaper model derailleurs the hanger is built into the derailleur rather than the frame.

Don't ride it in this state, the derailleur getting caught in the spokes will smash it and probably damage the wheel too. Also the chain may catch in the cage with similar results.

You should be able to take the bike to a repair shop and get professional and courteous service, no matter what bike you are riding. Your money is as good as anyone else's.

If you want to address it yourself, all you have to do is bend the derailleur back. If you turn the bike upside down (on something soft that will not mar the seat or bars) you can look down the line of the chain. The derailleur cage should be parallel to the chainrings. Hold the derailleur at the top, not by the cage, you don't want to bend it.

You do want to be careful because the hanger will only be able to take so much bending before it get weakened.


Mountain bike, one road bike tire. Front or back? I have a road bike tire and was going to put it on my mountain bike since I use it to commute to work.

Should I replace the front or back tire? Which will give me the better performance?

For efficiency I would put the road tire on the back, as the rear carries more weight. However, front would be best if cornering traction was important.

If the MTB tires have an aggressive MTB tread pattern the mismatch would be best addressed by matching tires and getting another road tire.


10 speed chain on 11 speed cassette Recently I installed an 11 speed cassette and shift levers on my road bike (105 R7000), but I kept the 10 speed chain that I have.

It sort of works fine but on the third cog on the back the chain hops and skids even if I fine tune with a barrel adjuster.

Is it because a 10 speed chain is not compatible with an 11 speed cassette?

Should I buy an 11 speed chain?

Each greater "speed generation" of chain is narrower than the last, which is measured in the length of the pins. If you run a wider chain than matches the cassette, it will tend to ride up on the shifting ramps and be otherwise impossible to adjust cleanly.


New disc brake frame feels heavy at the back Just bought a Cube Attain, and it is heavier than the Felt F95 that I just crashed. I liked the feel of that bike, but wanted disc brakes for the hills I ride - tried upgrading the brakes on the old bike.

The new bike feels heavy at the back, is it that it has a bigger cassette (34 tooth), or the discs (hydraulic)? I doubt that it's the wheels as they weren't great on the old bike. Wheels are supposed to weigh 1740gms which doesn't seem too bad.

Bike is same frame size, with the same amount of exposed seat tube. Frame is aluminium again, with carbon forks - again, the same as the old bike.

Geometry is very similar apart from seat stays which are lower down seat tube than old bike. Through axles on new bike, and 142mm axle on rear.

Irony is that although I have a bigger cog on back, I need it to  get up the same hills I did on my old bike with 6 teeth fewer.

Anything I can do?

Cube Attain SL Disc in 2018 weighs 9.8 kg according to the maker, and has disks front and rear.  The brakes are

  Shimano BR-RS505, Hydr. Disc Brake, Flat-Mount (160/160)

The Felt is 9.54 kg and has rim brakes. Sadly is a little vague.

  Dual pivot w/cartridge brake pads, Sora STI levers

Shimano hydraulic calipers are 151 grams each, compared to 175g for dual pivot rim brakes.
Brifters are 200g heavier each than the comparable non-hydraulic brifter
A rotor is about 112 g plus bolts
Front hub for discs is 353g compared to 210g for the same thing without a disk mount
Rear hub for disks is 368g compared to 350g for a rear without disk.

Assumptions

Hose and Oil is probably on-par with inner and outer cable weight.
Caliper pads and hydraulic pads are probably about the same

RESULT: The cube's disk brakes weigh approximately 850 grams more than the felt's rim brakes weight.  That the whole bike is only 350g heavier will be down to weight savings elsewhere.

Another point is that the disks are both slightly further forward and further aft than the rim brakes, if everything else was equal.  The lengthening of the weight on the Cube will help on a fast straight, but will slightly resist turning more than the Felt.

But I feel there's something more to it than "heavy back end weight"  Lets look at the other significant difference.

Geometry

Here's a blinky between the felt and the cube.  I've tried to position the two wheel axles together, and the ground as the consistent third point.

Break that down more - here's the older 2013 Felt with a wire on the centerline of the frame:

And the same for the more recent Cube

Finally, here's the two wire frames superimposed, kinda.

From that, we can see the seat tubes are pretty much identical.  Downtube and chainstay are very similar (allowing for distortions in two different photos)
The seat stays are significantly different line, but that's probably going to have more impact on compliance over bumps rather than handling.

Sherlock Holmes once said something about eliminating all the possibilities and whatever remains must be the cause.  So if its not the backend, perhaps its the front?

Notice the head tube on the felt is steeper.  And quite significantly at 72.5 degrees on the felt vs 73.5 degrees on the Cube.  (assuming a 56cm frame on both)

This leads to the Cube having just about double the trail.  And we know that:

  More trail equates to slower steering. Making a bike feel more stable like it’s steered ‘with your hips’ (leaning).

Upshot

The newer bike's geometry at the front makes for more stable and solid steering.  You'll be more planted and confident at speed and on descents.  The trade off is slightly more effort is needed to turn, with slightly more commitment required to initiate the turn.  But the bike will want to straighten up by itself.

I suspect the Cube is much easier to ride no-hands than the Felt ever was.

Go with your gut - either return it now if you think you'll never like it.  Or give it a 500-1000 km of riding to get acclimatised.  I know I take double that and more to get really at home on a bike.   Check out some hill descents that you may have logged in Strava or whatever from the Felt, and compare them with efforts on the Cube.

Links

Cube https://www.cube.eu/en/products/road-race/attain/cube-attain-sl-disc-blackngreen-2016/
Felt 2013 http://2013.feltracing.com/South-Africa/2013/Road/F-Series/F95.aspx


What is the best way to attach a Presta Valve? I attached a public bike station's Presta valve today - lost all the air in my tyre in the process and it got completely deflated.

Harshikerfuffle,
I believe you mean to ask what is the best way to attach the presta valve to the pump.
All pumps are a little bit different.  Some of them you insert and pull the lever up to lock the valve in place,  some are the opposite, and you push the lever down.  I have a compact pump that you screw into place, and on my air compressor, the presta valve doesn't lock into place at all, you just hold in on there.  Some pumps have a shrader hole and a presta hole right next to each other.  Some pumps are switchable and you have to take them apart to switch.  There are quite possibly others out there that I've not encountered.
I'm sorry to hear about your mishap, but hang in there.  It comes with practice, and we have all been there.  To be honest, I was very put off by presta valves at first, because I was unfamiliar with them.  I kept a shrader adapter on my valve for the first several months because I didn't know how to use the presta side of my pump.
Keep trying.  If there is anyone at that particular bike station some other time, I suggest you ask them to show you.  Who knows, maybe that pump is a particular pain in the rear.


SR Suntour CR9 suspension cartridge removal How does one remove the cartridge of a SR Suntour CR9 cartridge? This video shows how for other types, but the CR9 doesn't have the bottom bolt (you have to go in deep on the left side and unscrew a 5 mm allen bolt).

On a side note; when they "break the cap screw loose from cartridge shaft", they seem to be turning clockwise, which would make it tighter? I don't get that...

The CR9 seems a bit different. I undid the top cap, took out the splined gear (to which the knob attaches), and unscrewed the hollow 5mm allen bolt. What is left is a cartridge with a top cap:

If I undo the aforementioned bolt at the bottom of the left tube, I should be able to pull the lower legs down (can't do that yet; missing the long allen key)? But how can I pull them down with this top cap in the way?

Is that supposed to come off? I tried to get it off, but didn't want to yank too hard.

The ultimate goal is to re-grease the bushings and re-oil the wipers of the lower legs; nothing elaborate.

To answer my own question; I used a bearing puller carefully, and it came loose. The cap was only pushed over the rod for about 1 mm, so applying some force by hand may have been enough.


City Bikes vs E-Bikes with baby trailer We moved the Denmark where the bicycle roads are extremely good and there are only a few hills.

Our house a bit far from the center so my wife and I will need to ride like 8-9km to city center quite often. And most closest market is like 1-2km far from us. And most important we have our daughter who is 11 months now.

I am looking for a bike so far this site makes most sense to since I don't have any experience with bikes. And it seems City bikes fits me(and my wife) most.

But I am using a road bike(similar to city bike) now I have some problems like;

Just cycling 6km every day and back. I am being tired very much and extremely slow(where google say 20 mins it takes 40 mins  ).
Even there are not many I am having problems with hills.
I expect everything will be much more harder when I add the baby trailer.

So my questions are,

1- Should I prefer an E-bike over a city bike because the problems I
   listed?

2- Is it possible to mount a baby trailer to an E-bike?

First, a city bike is a style of bicycle with sit up and beg styling, generally a single gear or internal gear hub with chainguard (although derailleurs do exist), full fenders, and a step through design. They are also often very solidly built which is a euphemism for heavy.

An electric assist can be added to any style of bicycle: city, folding, mtb, road, touring, etc.

So if you like the city bike styling, you should be able to find an electric assist city bike. Or road ebike. Whatever you like. Note that Europe restricts motor output and top speeds, so it's really best to think of it as electric assist.

Second, you should be able to add a trailer to most electric bikes but you might need the bike shop's help. For example, I have an electric assist folding bike and drag a trailer that is the same design as child trailers and uses the same hub-mounted hookup mechanism. Unfortunately, the rear hub axle of my electric assist is much thicker (12mm) than the hub axle of standard bikes so I had the option of either:

drilling out the trailer mount adapter with a bigger hole so it could fit the larger ebike axle
using an alternate chainstay / seat stay style mount
using one of the pannier / rack holes  on the rear dropout

I ended up with the third option as it was the easiest. All these should be doable in conversation with your bike shop. Also, since you are likely buying a new child carrier, you have two other options:

Bicycle mounted child seat - either in front of you or behind you
trailer that attaches to the seat stem (thx Willeke)


New wheel for 700x23c tire I need a new wheel for my bike. I do not know how to tell what the rim size is. My tire size is 700x23c. It is my back wheel. I tried to have it trued which started breaking the rim. Rim finally broke all the way and is unusable now. I have asked local bicycle shops all they want to do is quote price of rim. I know I can find a cheaper wheel online if I knew what to look for. Any help is appreciated.

Fortunately 700c is a standard size that describes most road bikes.

As regards rim size, check out Sheldon


Shimano BR-T4000 not compatible with frame pivot stud I tired to replace v-brakes on my random cheap frame as spring regulation things started to fall apart. For replacement I picked front+rear set of Shimano BR-T4000 v-brakes because v-brakes are so simple and compatible with each other, right?

New vs five year old no-name part

pivot boss/stud(?)

shallow hole (about half of old ones depth) in new brakes prevent them from fully setting in, which also causes that spring spike(?) to only go halfway in

and stud is not reaching all the way through its slot (lacks ~5mm)

Fork is aluminium (or at least not reacting to magnets). Pivot stud is steel, but does not seem wrench-friendly as thick part is oval instead of segmented. Random old non-name v-brakes I somehow had on shelf are perfect match, and all around Internet I only see studs same as one I have.

Are new brakes broken/malformed/fake? Get another brakes? Use adapter part? Or should I just get new fork with replaceable studs?

Edit:

When compared with clean classic cheap v-brakes difference in depth is more visible:

Length of bore in oldies is ~2cm while new ones are ~2.5cm, wider part is respectively ~6mm vs ~3mm.

(yes yes, got new cables as well :)

Nothing is wrong here, just put the brake arms on and torque down the bolts. Your old brake arms are the type that pivot directly on the stud, and the new ones are the type that overhang the stud and have an integral pivot of their own. Use more torque than you would on the other type, because with integral pivots there's no risk of mushrooming the stud.


Going to one chainring: realign cassette farther in by redishing wheel? The plan: move spacers around on the rear wheel to get the cassette about 8mm farther in for better range of access from the small chainring; re-dish wheel for proper alignment; shorten the chain a little bit; remove the front derailleur. Maybe remove the big chainring.

Am I missing anything in this plan?

UNNECESSARY DETAILS:

This is an old steel road bike frame with a franken-drivetrain: 8 speed Campy cassette with a Sora rear derailleur and an SRAM chain. I'm going shell out and buy a nice road bike for training and long rides, and my plan is to make this older bike a lock-up commuter. I'd like to avoid sinking money into it, as it faces good odds of being stolen at some point in the next four years.

The main problem I have is the front derailleur is an endless pain. If the chain gets even a little dirty the shifting becomes very fiddly: dropped chains or sometimes stuck on the big ring. None of the parts are worn or stretched. I think there's just a certain amount of incompatibility in the mismatched drive-train parts. (Maybe I'm wrong.)

Using it as basic transportation & commuter I don't even really need the large chainring. It seems to me that it should be possible to move some spacers around and get the cassette about 8mm farther in so more of the gears are properly usable from the small chainring. Then I'll have enough gears to never be annoyed. And if I maybe switch out the indexed shifter for a friction bar-end shifter I'll barely have to do any maintenance; no indexing worries. Just clean the drivetrain maybe once every 7 weeks.

You definitely don't want to redish the rear wheel. The dishing is to center the wheel between the locknuts. It is necessary to accommodate the cassette, but it is more of a function of the hub than the cassette or the cassette position.

If I'm reading the right you'd like to convert to a single chainring in front and adjust the chain line (to center the single chainring on the cassette) so that you can utilize all of the cogs on the cassette while maintaining reasonable chain deflection.

The usual way to do this is by adjusting the length of the bottom bracket axle, but since you'd like to minimize spending on the project you're wondering if you can do this with the cassette. As best I know the only way you'll be able to do this is to drop on cog from the cassette and replace it with a spacer, so that you're moving the cassette relative to the chainring.

I think you could do that, but you may want to start by just using one chainring and see if you're happy with the bike in that configuration. You may be running with more chain deflation than would be ideal, but it should work. Then if you like it consider your options for improving the chain line.


Inflating My Bike Tyres and just bought a bike and needs to inflate the tyres. I bought a muddyfox trade pump - see attached pics- but still can't fix the air pump head into my wheel. I guess it could be the wrong size or fit, can any one help what to do and how to do this?
Thanks

That pump is set up for another sort of valve (Presta, you have Schrader). You can probably switch it by unscrewing the end, removing the rubber part and putting it back in the other way round. You might need to turn round a plastic or metal part as well.


Bike rests on brake cable while racked I bought a new bike and when I put it on my bike rack in my garage the arm of the rack sits on the rear brake cable, putting some tension on the cable. Could this cause brake problems and if so what can I do to mitigate this?

Could this cause me to have brake problems

Yes: The weight of your bike will pinch the cable and slowly cause the cable to lose its structural integrity and become damaged: They are designed to take stress along them (tensile strength), not laterally (shear strength)... hence how they can withstand huge amounts of force from braking yet can easily be cut with cable cutters by most healthy people.

  what can I do to mitigate this?

Don't pinch the brake/shifter cables between anything. If your rack pinches them, adjust the rack or get a new one.


My rear wheel is wobbling much after around 3 months of use. Is there any fix that i could do it or should i replace the wheel? So i checked the few available solutions. But in my case when I hold the wheel and shake it sideways it is not wobbling it is firm. But when I ride I can see the tyre wobbling and it looks like the sprocket is moving, it is like the sprocket is not firm on the axel? not sure what the problem could be.

If the rim is moving side-to-side when you ride your wheel is out of true and needs truing (i.e. the spoke tension has to be adjusted). It’s especially noticeable with rim brakes because the rim will start to rub on the brake pads during some parts of its rotation.
If only the tire is wobbling: Some wobble can be normal, if it’s worse the tire is probably not well seated in the rim. You can try inflating it to maximum pressure (or even slightly more) and see if it “pops” into the correct position. Release air until you’ve reached your desired riding pressure afterwards.
If the cassette or sprocket looks like it’s wobbling: Sometimes it just looks that way, but make sure it’s tightened (cassettes need up to 40Nm of torque, which is quite a lot) correctly.


Changed chainset, bottom bracket, wheels and cogset and find these parts left over, and the rear wheel clicking? I just changed the crankset, bracket, wheels and cogset (my first bike repair obviously) on my specialised tricross, and after my victory tea realised I had these three bits left over, and not sure where they're supposed to go? Also the back wheel clicks when coasting forwards? Many thanks for your help in advance

Please see better quality pics below. The parts are Shimano claris (at least the crankset is, not sure about the bracket) and the wheels are Aksiums. Thanks

There are several (five) questions in your post, and it is hard to answer all of them at once. Comments seem to answer some of them, and I would refer to manufacturer's manuals of respective parts you've installed for identification purposes.

The third thing (silver ring) is Mavic's spacer for 10-speed Shimano cassettes placed on their freehubs. If you use 11-speed cassette, then you don't need it.


Roadmaster Chromium Edition rear wheel falls off I've not really maintained a bike since I was young (loooong time ago) and just got one second hand but the rear wheel slips off on hard uphill rides?

Im sure its something simple so sorry if its a stupid question but the bolts are as tight as I can get them, is there something missing that I should be doing? Ive added some images if needed!

Thanks for any help :D

As @ Daniel R Hicks has suggested you need the proper hardware. From the photo it appears you have conventional/automotive nuts. You need flanged nuts or oversized washers with a serrated face or both. The oversized washers are thicker and have a larger overall diameter but the correct size hole for the axle.The dropout is the slotted section of the frame that the axle slides into. You may have an issue with the condition of the dropouts. If the rust has pitted the frame enough, the hardware may be biting into the high spots resulting in insufficient grip by the nut. Clean the clamping area with some emery cloth, wire brush or a file then clamp the nut tight. The Park Tool BlueBook has a torque value of 22-33 footpounds as a guideline. To give you a comparison that is about 1/3 of what you would tighten a cars lugnut.


shimano 14-34t megarange casette not shifting to first gear I bought a new deraluier and it wont shift to the first aka largest aka closest to the wheel / dropouts gear its about two inches too high. So it (the deraulier) knocks into the largest easiest cog. I've fiddled with the B screw already tightening it all the way in. But the deraulier jockey wheel keeps rubbing against the first gear cog on the cassette.

The smallest aka High Limit screw is already correctly adjusted I believe and I just had the deraliuer and hanger replaced so they are straight.

As the picture below shows (the deraliuer is too high, not enough vertical distance between the hanger/dropouts and deraliuer jockey wheels.

The gears are currently on (1/3 in front) and (2/7 in back) the largest cog easiest gear to ride in is 1, which I can't switch to.

I have a 7-8 speed SHIMANO ACERA RD-M360-SGS for $30 AUS
http://www.cyclingdeal.com.au/buy/shimano-acera-rd-m360-7-8-speed-rear-derailleur/RD-M360

Please help

What does "two inches too high" mean?
And by first gear, do you mean the smallest (i.e. hardest) sprocket/cog?

If so, (actually, even if it's the largest cog), the screw you first want to adjust (before making changes to the B-limit screw) is the high (or low) limit screw.
These are the screws that define the limits of the derailleur in terms of how far in (towards the wheel) or out (away from the wheel) the derailleur can travel.
They are usually marked with "L" and "H" symbols on the derailleur, and are likely close to each other.

If your L/H limits are fine (which you can test by pushing the derailleur by hand to the limit positions) and you still have a problem dropping into the smallest cog, there are a few possible solutions.
First is to make sure your main derailleur spring(s) isn't rusty... give it a cleaning and lube, which might help it go into the fully relaxed position (and thus help get that chain down onto the small sprocket).
Since you say it's a new derailleur though, the spring is probably fine.
Even with new derailleurs, however, sometimes they just can't get into the relaxed position enough for smooth and consistent shifts into that small cog.
In these cases, a (very much non-official) solution is to take off the derailleur, find a thin washer that matches the dropout size, and thread the derailleur back onto the hanger with the washer in place (between the derailleur and the hanger).
This basically moves the derailleur's base position slightly outward (away from the wheel), helping to get the chain onto the small cog.
You'll have to readjust the L/H limits again when using the washer method.
Note too, that the washer must be quite thin, as it takes away from the available threading between the derailleur and the hanger.
This weakens the derailleur's attachment point and can lead to shifting flex or a greater chance of full on derailleur failure if you snag it on branches, debris, etc.

Hope that helps.


What is this tool for? Likely something to do with cables? I found this thing in a box of bicycle tool mix I got some time ago. In the end this was the only one I could not identify, so I am asking here: What is this thing and what is it used for, please? I think it might be somehow used to manipulate with the cables. But since I do not know the name of the tool, I can’t look up for more info

Thanks!

That's a spoke wrench, for turning spoke nipples.  The benefit of this design is that, as opposed to the kind with an arm coming out each side of a central body, the force from your fingers is spread over the faces of the disk, meaning you can apply more force and it hurts less.

I'm not certain, because I haven't used it, but it also seems like it would be easier to keep your grip on the wrench; the other kind is prone to being fumbled and dropped as you turn it (at least when I'm the one turning it, it is).

Here's an example: https://www.amazon.com/KLICKfix-Rixen-Kaul-SPOKEY-professional/dp/B003ZRWA4Y/


Best E-reader for a touring bike? OK, folks, since today is April 1st and April 1st is pretty much the start of the cycling season here in Tropical Southern Minnesota, I figure it's the ideal day to ask this question:

What is the best E-reader to use on a touring bike?  What will mount well on a drop bar, withstand the vibration, and not jiggle so much that you can't read it?

Oh, and it would be nice if it had some sort of bracket to hold it upright, so you don't have bend your head down to read it.

(I realize that "specific product recommendations" are off-topic on Bicycles SE, but what attributes should I look for?  Humor me!!)

Just to be clear

For hysterical reasons it should be noted that this question was first posted on April Fools Day.  I'm not enough of an idiot to use such a reader on my bike, no matter what my wife may say.  (Using one in my car, however, is a different matter.)

How's this for ultimate lounging - you could add a projector that projects onto the sail, not only could you read ebooks while you cycle, but also watch the occasional movie! very nice ergonomics, no need to strain your neck.


Is this an unsuitable cassette lockring tool? I can't get my lockring tool to fit my cassette's lockring. The tool is about 1mm i diameter bigger than the lockring, although they have "hills and valleys" that line up.

Here's the lockring:

Here's the lockring tool:

Here's the tool in the lockring before I try to engage the lockring with the tool:

And here's the tool nestling on top of the lockring, but it doesn't fit in at all:

The lockring says "LB SHIMANO" on it. The tool says it's compatible with Shimano Hyperglide. Do I have the wrong tool for the job?

I think thats a Shimano freewheel, rather than a cassette.

A Shimano freewheel needs a tool like a Park Tool FR-1 (or FR-1.2 or FR-1.3), which has 12 splines and a diameter of around 23 mm rather than the Shimano cassette tool (Park Tool FR-5 or its variants), which also has 12 splines but a diameter of around 23.4mm.

See this link from Park Tool on how to remove it.


Measure seatpost diameter on frame / Raleigh granada 1986 Yesterday I saved a Raleigh granada frameset from 1986. It's in ok condition but without any of the original parts.

The plan is to build it up with leftover parts. So no original restauration on this one.

I tried to figure out the seatpost diameter by measuring the hole in the frame with a calliper but I couldn't be sure it was a 27.0 seatpost. Do you know? Or are there any other more reliable way to measure?

Sorry for the bad image but that's all I got. It's just drying up after being carefully cleaned.

I ordered a 27.0mm seatpost and it fitted perfectly!


thin-soled cycle touring shoes I am looking for the type of "cycle touring shoe" we had before cleated, clipless became the norm.  I have used clipless 'touring', i.e., non-racing, shoes without the cleat but the soles are thick to accomodate the inset cleat.  The old cycle touring shoes had thin soles and without the heavy lugging of modern clipless shoes meant for cleats.  Most cyclist don't use cleats.  Why can't we find cycle specific shoes for non-cleat use?  How about in the rest of the world where faux racing styles don't dominate as in North America?

The Quoc Pham shoes are nice: they do recessed-cleat "touring" ones, but also plain leather shoes with thin, fairly rigid soles, suitable for flat pedals or toe clips & straps.  They seem to have a US distributor, Mission Workshop.

I've seen the Dromarti ones advertised as well, but don't know about their distribution.

These Exustar ones are apparently useable if you just leave the cleat cover in place.

Finally, Vittoria have the 1976, and seem to have a few US distributors, so they might be worth a look.


How do I fold a bicycle tire? I have Race King (continental) 2.2 MTB 28" tires that I need to store until it's winter and snows again. They are foldable, and I planned to store them in their original boxes, but how do I properly fold them so they fit in the boxes like they did when they were new?

I've tried to just fold them, but they don't fit in the boxes. I need a good description of how to fold them, and pictures are welcome.

If you can't figure out how to fold it back like it came, you can try a method of looping it 3 times to fold it in to a smaller size which works for non-folding tires as well.

How to fold a tire

http://home.comcast.net/~mandmlj/tirefolding/index.html

or a video version of this method from sheldon brown

http://sheldonbrown.com/video/tire-folding.html


Difference between road & mountain drivetrain Basically MTB and road bikes have different brand parts  (like deore / XT; Sora / Utegra etc).

What are the main differences between the 2 types, that will make it incompatible?
Are there things that do differ, but not affecting the whole system, so I can change only one of them to improve my commute?

I think this is quite a broad question, so I'll highlight a few parts of the bike:

Seatposts/saddles: Probably interchangable

Forks: You wouldn't want to swap them, and chances are a beefy mountain fork wouldn't go into a road frame anyway, even if you could get the right headset.

Gearing: Road bikes typically have higher gearing than mountain bikes

There are larger chainrings on the crankset on a road bike - typically 52/39 or something or a 50/34 versus a big ring in the low 40s or 30s on a mountain bike.

The rear cassette is often smaller on a road bike as well (you won't see a 36t big rear cog on many road bikes, unless they're touring bikes).

Front derailleurs: FD's need to be shaped to the number of chainrings (typically 2, less so common 3 on a road bike vs often 3 on a mountain bike) as well as the size of the chainrings. For this reason (and in some cases the amount of cable pull needed to move the front derailleur) you can't mix road cranksets with mountain front derailleurs and mountain cranksets with road front derailleurs. On a mountain frame, you probably can't clear a road double if you were to mount it on, and you may have derailleur mounting issues when putting a mountain crankset on a road frame in some cases.

Rear derailleurs: Until 10 speed, you could swap them around when you stuck within the brand (then they introduced different cable pulls introducing shifter incompatibilites, so road shifters have to be paired with road derailleurs and similarly for mountain). The mountain rear derailleurs can shift larger rear cogs than road ones.

Cassettes: You can interchange them if you want in a lot of cases (touring road bikes often use big rear cogs).

Shifters: The front derailleur needs to be matched to road/mountain shifter. Rear derailleur will need to be matched if >=10 speed. Friction shifters always work.

Wheels: Mountain rims are often wider to support wider tires at lower pressures and are usually built to be more robust. Your hub widths are often the same, but mountain axles can cause compatibility issues (not just your usual QR) with different frames. Note 700c = 29". Often wheels built for tougher road riding (e.g. touring) use mountain bike hubs.

Tires: Mountain tires are typically fatter than road tires.

Cables/Cable Housings: You can use the same types.

Handlebars: Mountain and Road bars have different diameters, so brake levers and shifters designed for one will not fit on the other.

Brakes: Typically, road brakes (mechanical disc brakes for road, caliper brakes, cantilever brakes) are short pull while mountain brakes are often long pull (v-brakes, mechanical disc brakes). This means you require a travel agent or special levers to run v-brakes or certain mechanical disc brakes on a road bike. Hydraulic systems are quite new on road bikes. Since you can't mount the levers onto a mountain bar, exchanging them is somewhat moot at this point.

Racks+fenders: These are wheel size and disc/not disc specific. Read the directions on the rack+fenders.

Generally, road stuff is lighter than mountain stuff. Probably less durable in a crash though.

Now to part 2 of the question: What can you change on a bike to improve your commute? This question has been asked on SE a bunch of times, but typically the answer for commuting on a mountain bike is to lock out your suspension if you can (or switch to a rigid fork) and fit slick tires. You could also try a smaller cassette if you want, but other than that, you're going to want to get a new bike. If you have a road bike, you sometimes will want to fit a big cassette so you have lower gears available (you may need a new chain, and to make sure all the capacities of the derailleurs are within spec, else you may need a new rear derailleur) and bigger tires to make things more comfortable.


How much should a wallet friendly entry level road bike weigh? Just bought the Merida Scultura 100 and it weighs 8.5 kgs. Am slowly beginning to realize the importance of bike weight when it comes to average speed.

A "wallet friendly" entry level bike should weigh as little or as much as your wallet allows.

The key here is entry level. For the vast majority of people in the market for a entry level bike (and most racing cyclists), the weight of the bike is not the limiting factor. All things considered, 8.5kg is not absurdly heavy for a bike, it's actually a shade lighter than my current racing bike, which is more than capable on hilly and flat races.

Bottom line, lightweight and wallet-friendly are usually mutually exclusive when it comes to bikes. Don't worry about the weight, and enjoy the ride.


Should I leave the water bottle tip open or shut while in the cage? When I'm riding (all road, never trails) I leave the tip on my water bottle shut. When I take a drink, I pull the tip open with my teeth, squirt some water, and then bump it against my slightly-opened teeth to shut the tip again.

I do it because the tip of my bottle will often get dirty, and I'll have to wipe it off with my shirt before drinking. If I leave it open grime would get inside the tip of the bottle.

It is a bit tedious, but I'm now used to it. Is this standard practice?

To quote David Richerby: You're over-thinking this.

Most people close their bottles most of the time.

I'm not one to worry about a little "gunk", but I close my bottle more than half the time. I almost never wipe it (heh, I almost never wash it :-)

Not fanatical about it though. If I'm taking a quick swig before a corner then I'll just jamb the bottle back, whether the top's open or closed, before I get to the corner.

That can happen a lot, because I drink a little, often.


'Best' Gear inch to start with on a fixed gear? Moderatley hilly area For a starting fixie rider, what is there a 'best' Gear inch to start with?  Moderatley hilly area.

I'd start with a 70 gear inch ratio for a while and adjust from there. Then change your rear cog by one tooth at a time till you figure out what works for you. I would stay within 65 to 75 gear inches for most on-road riding. You could get away with 75+ gear inches if you lived In a flat area or were just a beast of a masher.

The problem with fixed gears in hilly areas is that you'll have to spin very quickly when going downhill.  Keep that chain tight and your momentum will help on the climbs.

I prefer to ride slightly higher (about 74 gear inches) since I live in a hilly area and want to be safer when spinning on decents.  It may take a few weeks to get used to riding fixed, but your legs will adjust quickly, so don't be too hasty to switch things up.

Also, consider the skid patches with your setup. You don't want to have a setup with only 2 skid patches and wear down your tires too quickly.  http://www.Bikecalc.com has a good gear inch and skid patch calculator to help figure it out.


What position of saddle is best? Almost all cyclists who ride road bikes set the seat so high, and when they're in the drops their body can be almost parallel with the road, reducing air resistance. However,their legs can't reach the road from the saddle, and their head is pushed down and it could be dangerous in some situations. With a low saddle position, I feel comfortable and can easily reach the road from the saddle, and my head is upright. When I want to be more aerodynamic, I can drop my upper body and push my rear behind the seat. So why don't cyclists use a low position seat?

Road cycling position is generally a performance position (although not always) and can be viewed as a  compromise between three components:

Power - different positions will allow you to output differing levels of power depending on your biomechanics.
Aerodynamics - some body positions reduce your power, but can reduce drag even more therefore allowing for higher speeds.
Comfort - The position needs to be sustainable for long periods of time.

Depending on your goals you tend to weigh one category more heavily.  For example, endurance riding tends to be more upright which prioritized (3) at the cost of (2).

Saddle height tends to have the biggest impact on (1).  Too low and you do not use all of the power stroke of the quadricepts, too high and you start leaving the power stroke and can over extend your hip and knee. The most powerful and efficient saddle height leaves a small bend in the knee at the end of the pedal stroke. This lets you use your quadriceps to the end of their power stroke without over extending. You will not be able to reach the ground easily while remaining on the saddle.

Therefore to answer your question:

  When I want to be more aerodynamic, I can drop my upper body and push my rear behind the seat. So why don't cyclists use a low position seat?

You may be able to change body position to maximize aerodynamics (2) but you are still sacrificing power (1) and will be going slower than someone who first maximizes power (1) then gets as aerodynamic as possible. Finally, a low saddle position can affect hip flexion (making your hips and knees flex more) which can be further affected when getting the body into a lower position, therefore you could also be affecting comfort (3) which makes the position unsustainable in the long run.


Does Cycling Cause Erectile Dysfunction and Sterility While some of my friends argue that cycling causes erectile dysfunction and sterility (because the testicles are held tightly  close to the body by the padded shorts and because of the constant rubbing of the testicles against the saddle) others contend that it improves sexual performance and enhanced control over premature ejaculation  through strengthening of the pelvic floor muscles.

I'm confused by the diametrically opposite views.

What is the scientific position?

Thank you for your help in advance.

I'm confused by the diametrically opposite views.

My answer will attempt to explain why you may see "diametrically opposed" views on these types of subjects.

For a summary of evidence on ED and male fertility see answer: Can cycling adversely affect male fertility?

Quality of data

The strongest scientific inferences come from studies where you can randomly assign treatments to your experimental units (i.e. people in this case). The randomization is key as there may be all sorts factors (some we may know about, others we may not) that may impact the measured response (e.g., prevalence of erectile dysfunction).  Randomization will, on average, even out these effects.

The problem with epidemiological studies - studies of  health and disease in human populations - is that it is generally not possible to randomize treatments, instead researchers rely on "natural experiments" to do the treatment randomization for them.  For example you cannot go out and gather a random selection of people from your population then assign them a treatment such as cycling for the next 6 months at a rate of 0, 5, 10, 20 hrs a week, so that you can measure the rates of erectile dysfunction (ED) or changes in sperm count.

Rather you must rely on people who have essentially self-selected these treatments.  Are there other factors associated with whether or not a person may be chose to ride 0, 5, 10, or 20 hrs per week?  You bet!  Could those factors also be linked to ED or sperm count - sure.  If we know exactly what factors could be influencing the response we can potentially control for these statistically.  The problem is that their may also be factors we simply don't know about, termed lurking variables, and there are numerous examples where they have mislead interpretation until discovered.  A simple example is that shark attacks are correlated with ice cream sales - sharks love ice cream!

Furthermore, you also rely on subject self-reporting, which can result in issues such as reporting bias.  For example, ED has been a long discussed issue in cycling circles.  As a researcher interested in ED and long distance extreme cycling you survey a bunch of riders after a long event.  Then ask them to self diagnose these issues. The fact you (as a subject) have heard about these issues before, and now you have a researcher asking pointed questions can bias your response.  That time you were thoroughly exhausted and just wanted to sleep could get categorized as impotence (because you are concerned), when in fact it might just have been exhaustion.  We don't know because most of us are not trained physicians who can accurately diagnose these issues.

Interpretation

All of these different factors can result in spurious results (a "statistically significant" effect that is essentially a fluke) in studies, especially small studies.  Since this is a "sexy" topic any study finding an effect (spurious or otherwise) will quickly make the media rounds, which will quickly make the facebook rounds and have people talking.  Once a "fact" is out there it can take a long time to repeal (don't get me started on vaccination - the single study often quoted as evidence against vaccination was long shown to be a fraud study).

These factors can quickly lead to diametrically opposed views getting air time and the general public being confused.  For a great overview of this see John Oliver's rant on science and science reporting.

What can you do

View any single study with great skepticism - it could be flawed or the results could apply under a very strict set of conditions.
Look at the effect size - some times it may be significant, but the size of the effect is small.
Population averages do not necessarily translate to individuals (aka ecological fallacy;  (e.g., the population may ride BSO with horribly uncomfortable saddles, that aren't set up correctly)
Finally, look for "meta" studies that are over viewing the current state of knowledge  looking for the weight of evidence.  For example if 20 studies exist and all point to a large ED then I would be pretty damn concerned.

The other related answer (Can cycling adversely affect male fertility?) does have one such study (Leibovitch and Mor, 2005), that suggests:

  Urologists should be aware that bicycling is a potential and not an infrequent cause of a variety of urological and andrological disorders caused by overuse injuries affecting the genitourinary system.

Unfortunately the full article is behind a pay wall so I have gotten my hands on it yet.


Are Suntour XCM30 forks adjustable with lockout? I have a couple of issues I could do with some answers, I hope you don't mind me asking all in one go.

I have a Carrera 29er that came with Suntour XCM30 Forks, the store that sold it has the specifications listed as :

Adjustable - NO
Lockout - NO

After looking on the Suntour website I found what I think are the ones in question but they list them as :

Adjustable - Yes
Lockout - Yes

Suntour Website XCM

So to keep this from getting too long :

Are my forks adjustable?
Can they be locked out?
If so, can it be done with a basic toolkit?

Attached pics of my front end and the spec sheet from the store the bike came from.

Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 5

After experimenting this morning it turns out they have preload but no lockout.

I will experiment with the preload over the next few days.

This question can be probably be closed now.

Thanks for the assistance in the comments.


Bike left out in triple digit heat I've recently relocated to Arizona.  The place I am currently staying has no indoor storage for my bike, so I have to leave it outside, all day, every day, baking in this ridiculous 100+ degree weather.

Is this going to cause any long term damage to the bike, and are there any extra maintenance steps I have to do to compensate?

The problem that will affect your bike is not directly heat, but UV radiation from sunlight, and that does not only happens when the sun shines directly on the bike, scattered light from the sky and nearby objects will also have an effect.

UV radiation degrades polymers, plastics, rubber, and similar, sort of toasting them, making them dull, less flexible. I mention polymers because most likely that is what the bike's paint is made of, so yes, leaving the bike out in the sun all the time will cause all sort of problems to bike, from cosmetic damage to deterioration of seals, rim brake pads, hoses, cracking of derailleur pulleys, evaporation of lubricants, etc.

My recomendation is that you find a way of building a small shelter for your bike where it can sit not only in shade but in a very dark shade, covered from direct and indirect light. What Im suggesting looks a lot like a big dog house, probably made of wood and sheet metal (probably even lined with some insulating material), it doesn't have to be fancy.

Second alternative is some soft cover, like the ones used for motorcycles, but it has to be a high or medium quality one, a cheap cover may actualy do more harm than benefit. In particular, a cover should let humidity shed out, because otherwise the vapour will suround the bike, later condensating and causing corrossion in the most hidden and unlikely places.

I don't think any maintenance will compensate for all day, every day exposure to heat (and UV radiation), because radiation may reach deeper into the material than any conditioner, which almost sure is applied as a liquid or as a paste, thus acting only at surface level. It is also very difficult to thoroughly cover all the affected parts, not to mention laborious and time consuming plus that it would be necessary to perform it in a regular basis. It is more time and cost effective to find shelter for the bike.


Inner tube blows up due to rim holes I've decided to cycle to work and got myself a new bike.

When the bike arrived I inflated the tyres to 80psi (20 below recommended) using a track pump. Instantly the inner tube blew up. I thought the one that came with the bike may have been poor quality. So I inserted a new continental tube and inflated it, and it too blew up.

Then I figured out the problem. The inner side of the rim has holes where spokes connect to the wheel. When I inspect the inner tube it seems to have small bumps on it corresponding to these holes. It seems when I inflate the tube to high pressure it tries to expand into these holes. It is exactly at one of these holes that the tube punctures and leaks.

I think the the rim should provide a smooth flat surface for the tube. But this is my first bike and I'm not very knowledgable. Is it common for bike rims to have this structure?

If not, what can I do to fix this problem? I'm thinking of filling up these holes with glue gun.

I figured out a solution. The thing that is supposed to stop the inner tube from expanding into spoke holes is called a rim tape. The tape that came with the bike is really flimsy. I'll purchase and apply a high pressure rim tape.

Hopefully that would fix the problem.

Update:
I've decided to go for a cotton rim tape as they're more durable than rubber ones. And after installing the tape, hey presto, the problem is gone.


What brand of frame do I have? Would anyone be able to help identify the make of my bike frame? There's no branding on it and I built it up custom using different parts. I've never been able to find out what the make is and am v. intrigued.

It's really light and is probably aluminium.
It's got a cut away on the seat tube.
it's got down tube shifters.
None of the tubes are round, all are odd shapes, quite thick.

Picture below. I can upload more is necessary.

From your photo I think the bike is a bitser, and without decals/names/markings its very hard to identify.

The front fork is clearly labelled Giant and has straight tines so its relatively modern.  Possibly a carbon or aluminium alloy fork, it doesn't look like a steel fork.  Fork is also painted completely different to frame, so they're not originally together.  Fork is also threadless at the top, which is quite modern.  The frame would have had a quill stem when new.

However the hoods and brake levers are 80s or possibly early 90s.  They're not combined brifters, the shifters are on the downtube which is completely 80s.

The horizontal top tube looks 90s when considering its aluminium alloy.  Thicker walled aluminium was used when it was a new material for framebuilding, and hydroforming wasn't possible so strength was added with bulk.

The rear wheel cutout in the seat tube is for aerodynamic reasons - it smooths the airflow a bit, but the main advantage was to permit a shorter wheelbase while retaining 700c wheels.

The road double chainrings are not a compact, instead they're quite close together in size.  Not sure what that implies, other than few hills.

Identifying steel is easy - touch it with a magnet (like an old hard drive magnet) and see if it attracts.   Aluminium or titanium won't attract a magnet.  To tell Aluminium from Titanium is harder - neither require painting.  Titanium will spark a lot, bright blue/white when touched with a grinder, and aluminium won't really spark at all.

If you can get to a bare piece of metal, apply a moist cathode (paper towel) to the positive-attached metal. 9v should do to get a slight tan tinge. 18v (2x9v batteries) will take you to dark violet.  Some of these requires taking off a patch of surface coating, so not a first option.

Heres a 1998 mongoose road bike that shares a lot of features with your frame's design.  This one is aluminium, and has the original fork still.


Magura MT7 on Commencal Meta AM V4.2 Race I would like to mount a set of Magura MT7 brakes on my Commencal Meta AM V4.2 (Race) with 200mm discs front and rear and a RockShox Lyrik Fork.

Which adaptors do I need?

Is there anything else to care about?

I got the answer from Commencal customer service :

MT7 with 200mm disc on the front without adapter
MT7 with 200mm disc on the back with +40mm PM/PM adapter. 180mm disc would not fit on the back because there is not enough space in the frame to place the caliber.


Are U-lock "wheel extenders" sold separately? I quite like the Kryptonite U-lock "wheel extender" idea - but I'm less attached to Kryptonite as a company - and even less so to the Messenger series of their locks, which is the only one that has this feature.

Are these wheel extenders available separately? I can't find them as a separate item on Kryptonite's website and don't see anyone else offering them either. Are they called generically something else?

Kryptonite does not sell that separately right now(source: am a Kryptonite distributor), but I'll bring it up to them, see if they are interested in offering it.


Steer Extender or Carbon Road Fork I am having neck pains a hour or so into riding, have been told I should try raising the bar height.

I have tried adjustable riser stems but cannot get on with them. The only other option is a Steer extender, but I have only seen Aluminium ones, and have read attaching this to a Carbon Fork would be dangerous.

Does anyone really know if this the case?

Or would anyone know of Steer extender in Carbon?

You said in a comment that you switched from a 100mm stem to 120mm, this made it worse so you went back.  I suggest you try an 80mm stem, maybe it will be even better.

As for raising the bars, you do have some options:

Get a high-rise stem.  There are plenty available, look for 25 degrees or even more.  Like this: http://salsacycles.com/culture/new_promoto_25_degree_stems
Try a riser road bar, like this: http://www.fullspeedahead.com/products/handlebars-road/k-wing-compact-handlebar/
Lower your seat.  This raises the bars' relative position, which may help.  Don't lower the seat too much though.
Buy a new fork.  Either get a longer steer tube which you can put more spacers on, or get a carbon-legs, aluminum-crown model which you can use a steerer extension tube in.


How stay fit enough to make moderately hard rides a couple times a month? When I have time I like to get my bike and canoe out and do a day trip.  Doing a mile or two is not hard but a good day trip is between 8 and 14 miles. When I started at the beginning of the year 6 miles was all I could do before leg muscle fatigue (and butt soreness) did me in.  Now at the end of the season I can just make 14 miles in 3 hours with a bit of walking the last few miles.  I did a 22 mile bike only trip last week with similar results near the end of it.  So I am guessing 1 bike/canoe mile =~ 1.5 or 2 bike only miles.

I usually bike/walk straight through as going down the river is much slower (2 or 3 mph) and getting to the planned boat ramp before dark is critical. The trails are mostly rail to trail and unpaved. Friction, wind resistance and towing an extra 100+ pounds up a gentle slope, are the major impediments. I find a casual pedal of about 5 or 6 miles an hour to be the most effective.

My scheduled exercise time is an hour, 3 mornings per week.  Which include free weights, elliptical and recumbent stationary bike (wife's choice for our home gym). I found several related questions they all pretty much say to ride about 2/3 of your hard ride a few times a week.  I am looking for a solution that will allow me to do a really hard 20 minute exercise that equate to a 2 or 3 hour casual pedal.

Related Questions

I wish to get fit, therefore should I have a heavy bike?

How can I improve my stamina?

Does spin class prepare you for a long bike ride?

How long does it take to be ready for a multi day ride as a newbie?

Training involved to ride 175 miles (281 km) in a day

Help for a 169 mile bike ride

Training Advice for Road Cycling

And because I am over 50-
Age-specific information for cyclists

The difficulty is you want specifically to train for endurance, but you want to do it in short bursts.

I'm not saying a few squats won't help a bit, but they won't do the job.  And trying to push too hard on a bike for a few tens of minutes might improve your aerobic capacity but quite possibly at the expense of your knees.  You also need to be in a similar geometry so the benefit of an hour or 2 of moderate pedalling on the recumbent while reading/watching TV will be limited.  However (almost) within your constraints that might be the best place to start.  Or drop the elliptical in favour of more bike time if you really don't want to increase your total time.

That's the fitness aspect; the soreness will only be dealt with by time in that saddle, or one very similar.  If the saddle suits you you don't need ages in it to keep yourself at a level suitable for spending 3 hours on it, but you do need to get on it every few days at least.

Anything you only do a couple of times a month will be hard, skipping anything over a week or two really hits your fitnesss for a specific task (a shorter figure even than that is often quoted, but in the context of an athlete's peak performance rather than something more casual).

I'd also suggest that particularly as you build up the long towing rides rather than walking at the end you take a decent break and ride again.  This will be tricky if there are uphills involved, in that case you might get away with a walk or 2 earlier in the trip.

One further suggestion given comments and other answers: switch one of your mixed exercise sessions per week to bike only from a month before your first ride/paddle trip to a week before your last of the season.


Mountain bike tyre at road bike pressure Summary: A tyre that is 2.00 inches, or more, in thickness, that is designed to have a maximum allowed pressure or 7 or 8 bars, or 100-120 PSI -> does such a thing exist?
.............................................................................................
I've been obsessed for years about combining road bikes and mountain bikes into a single ideal bicycle.
I know about the options that already exist as compromises between road bikes and mountain bikes: hybrid bicycles (flat bar bicycles with tyres of intermediate thickness) and gravel bikes (road bikes that can go offroad as long as the terrain is not too technical).
But none of those options are good enough for me. I have imagined my own solutions.
It would take too much time to write all the details of the design that I have thought about here right now. I might write the entire design on this forum, but not right at this moment. For the time being there is one particular component that I think is the most crucial that I wish to ask about: tyres.
My design is not about compromise but about changing between "modes": a mtb mode and a road mode. The important detail is that I want a bicycle that is very good in those modes, not a compromise. So as an MTB I want to be a very good MTB. There's a lot of properties and components that affect the quality of a mountain bike, but for now, I'm focusing on tyres, so the more versatile the MTB the thicker the tyres are.
A thicker tyre is also slower on the road, especially if run at the low pressure that off-road-ing demands. So to create this swiss-knife of a bicycle, I have thought about this: a 2.00 or 2.20 or 2.30 inch tyre that I would use at 7-8 bars (100-120 PSI) on the road and 1-2 bars in the forest (15-30 psi). Good idea in theory, but does such a tyre even EXIST? That is my question.
Alternative related questions:
Can a MTB tyre be modified to resist 7-8 bars of pressure?
Can a tyre less than 2.00 inches (such as a gravel bike tyre for example) be made o be puncture resistant and not slide of the rim at small presure of 1-2 bars?

2.00 or 2.20 or 2.30 inch tyre that I would use at 7-8 bars (100-120 PSI)

Does such a tire exist?
No.
A little math...
The surface area of a torus is 4 x pi^2 x R  x r, where R is the large radius of the wheel and r is the radius of the tire here.
Let's put a 2.00 tire on a 29er rim...
4 x pi^2
  x 15" (approx radius of wheel at center of tire cross section)
  x  1" (radius of tire's surface)

= 592 in^2

Assume the tire surface area is only about 2/3 of that, or about 400 square inches.  (It's probably more...)
Pump that tire up to 100 psi and each of those 400 square inches of tire surface has 100 pounds of pressure pushing on it.
That's a total of 40,000 pounds of force trying to push that tire off the rim.
Even if the tire can hold, the bead of the tire will be pushing HARD against the rim, trying to tear it apart.
40,000 pounds of force for a 2.00 tire at 100 psi.  Pump a 2.40 up to 120 PSI and it's more like 50,000 pounds of force.
There's a reason why tires have maximum pressure ratings, and larger tires have lower maximum rated pressures, and it's not because higher pressure starts to increase rolling resistance.
It's because high pressures in a large tire are downright dangerous.


Fox Float CTD Evolution vs Fox Float CTD Performance What is the difference between Fox Float CTD Evolution and Fox Float CTD Performance? Except that one is most expensive and better? I mean real difference...

What's actually increasing the cost in performance fork is it's construction qualitiy. It's slightly better in terms of durability and a bit lighter. Depending on the year of make, performance may also include a new technology or system that the evolution (which is the basic lineup) won't have (thus making it more expensive). Think fox's lineup as this:

evolution -> sunday family ride

performance -> more intense riding

factory -> pro riding


Front disk brake squealing I know that squealing brakes are fairly typical questions but I have not found a solution yet.

My bike is a Haibike with Tektro Auriga Comp hydraulic disk brakes and in recent years I ride in southern Finland.

During past winter, my front brake started squealing a lot. This was pretty usual in wet conditions, so I didn't pay much attention and assumed the winter conditions might have an effect on it.

However, months on, I still have this problem and it is pretty annoying to wake up the whole neighborhood any time I need to brake.

Today I performed bleeding of both hydraulic brakes and also replaced the braking pads in both brakes. Rear works perfect, front feels the same as before - braking performance not so sharp as rear and squeals during hard braking and/or low speed.

One thing that's "special" in my case is that my rear brake has not worked for a year or two because I didn't want to bleed the brakes (and Finland is flat), so the front brake has definitely been used much more.

Now the first thing on everybody's mind will be brake pad contamination, but the brake pads are new and I paid extra extra care not to get them in contact with any dirt or oil.
I tried cleaning the disk with soap to make avoid any oil but no improvement.

Could it be that the disk is the problem? I read advices to make it a bit more coarse with a fine sandpaper, could that help?

I'm happy for any hints, thanks!

Presuming you were thorough with your cleaning and the rotor was left with no residue of any kind (I achieve this on rotors I suspect of being oil or greased contaminated by either using brake cleaner or by finishing with alcohol if I'm using detergent/soap), and also presuming the front caliper isn't having a fluid leak that's causing oil to immediately contaminate the system even after cleaning (pull the pads you just installed and check everywhere for oil, particularly behind the back plates where the pistons contact), it sounds like a lot of the symptoms of the front rotor being glazed.

A glazed rotor is caused by overheating and will cause both noise and diminished power. There are ways of sanding down and breathing new life into them, but just replacing them can often make more sense, especially on a basic one with some years of regular use on it anyway. You could do a simple test and swap your rear onto the front, assuming they're the same size.


Can big drop-offs and rocky descents be handled by 29er with 120mm Looking to buy the new Whyte T-129s. Other bikes I've looked at (Trek Remedy, Orange 5, Lapierre Zesty) have 140+mm of travel whereas the Whyte only has 120. Will this be an issue for riding off large drops and over rocky descents? In other respects (fit, looks, spec, price) the Whyte seems fine, but concerned as to how capable it is going to be.

A 120mm 29er with Trail geometry would allow riding down large drops and rock descents and the shorter travel will also allow for sharper turning radius than a longer travel bike.

There are a number of 120mm 29" bikes have been designed in the last few years to have a trail orientated geometry that is more progressive than that of 29" XC bikes (such as the Whyte T129 and the Specialized Camber EVO). They are designed for similar riding that you'd expect on 140mm/150mm 26". 29ers do not need as much travel as the wheels allow for a lot more compliance over rocks and roots. The ride won't be twitchy like an XC bike but it will be closer to the feel of a hard tail than an all mountain bike.

29" wheels may suffer more with more aggressive riding but this has to be balanced with the other advantages of wagon wheels. If stock wheels need replacing you can get a sturdier set to suit your riding.

I wouldn't recommend a 29" if you were expecting to do any big jumps.


QR vs solid axle for freewheel hub I've heard a lot of folks complaining about freewheel hubs getting bent axles.

I have a rigid BSO with a solid rear axle that I occasionally pound on local trails.

I've never gotten a bent axle. That said, I only weigh 145 so maybe that's not saying much.

Anyhow, I have a friend who doesn't weigh much more than me (maybe 160) who has gotten TWO bent axles. He never rides off-road, and his bike is nicer than mine.

He has a QR rear axle.

Is this a legitimate reason to avoid QR's on freewheel hubs? Has anyone bent a solid axle?

This is not a 'legitimate' reason to avoid quick releases.

Just like anything in life, there are low and high quality offerings, and there is good and bad luck. Your friend either has a low quality wheel or bad luck. The bar for quality on a BSO is pretty low, so even if his is nicer than yours, it might still not be high quality.

All my wheels besides the coaster-braked wheels have QR axles. I weigh 200 pounds, beat up my bikes and I've never had one bend.

This collection of bikes includes a tandem. It has QR wheels. If anything is going to put a QR axle to a test of strength, the tandem is going to be it. And it is fine. Many vendors of tandems equip their bikes with QR wheels. They're all fine.


How do I know what nut to get for training wheels? We got a dynacraft kids bike for my daughter off facebook market, but need nuts to attach the training wheels. The ones we have don't seem to be threaded right or something (won't tighten all the way without becoming loose again, like the threads are slipping).
I've looked everywhere online but can't find anything saying what kind of nut it should be. How can I go about figuring it out? Dynacraft won't let me contact support without a serial # and I see no serial # on the bike anywhere.

The other answer is functional, but buying tools to check threads is going way beyond what someone needs who just wants to put training wheels on a bike.  Assuming you are in a North American country, head out to the nearest hardware store (Ace, True Value, etc.) or home improvement store (Lowes, Home Depot, etc.) and bring the training wheels with you.  Its possible that the threads are destroyed on either the nut or bolt.  The employees at these stores are always helpful and can find exactly what you need, or sometimes see issues that you can't.  If employees aren't there or not helpful, there are usually nuts and bolts in the hardware section you can use to test out different sizes for fit.


The eyelets/braze-ons on my bike's seat stay are on the inside, not on the outside. Which Rear Rack will fit it, if any? I have a Trek X1 Cyclocross bike and I want to get a rear rack for my bike. I went to a bike shop and none of limited rear racks they had would fit my bike. The reason was because the eyelets or braze-ons on my bike are not on the outside of the seat stay as typical for a bike, but are on the inside. The second picture shows what I mean. Does anyone know which rear rack will work without adding any attachments? Much appreciated!

Most racks that use the common stainless flat stock type upper struts can be made to fit. Planet Bike Eco, Topeak MTX, and many more. Getting them on will require reworking the struts. Usually one must flatten the twisted end of the strut and put the twist back in further up to snake them in on arrangements like this without interfering with the brake cable. I always use a vise to do the flattening, dummy it up, figure out where the new twist needs to be and mark it, then put it back in the vise clamped at the mark and use an adjustable wrench to do the twist.

Tubus and the many racks that copy their strut design can usually work by flipping the strut carriers in opposite from normal, which means they then have to be accessed with a ball-end tip only. But it depends on whether they have a clear shot at that point, because the aluminum rod type struts they use shouldn't be bent around.


Will slightly loose bearings result in damage? I just overhauled some cheap bmx hubs. I installed new bearings and cones. Now I'm trying to get the hubs adjusted so that the bearings will last as long as possible.

I had always thought that leaving bearings even a tiny bit loose (be it bb, pedal, or hub) was one of the cardinal sins when it came to maintaining a bike. But reading this from Sheldon Brown put that in question:

  If nothing you can do will eliminate both the binding and the play at
  the same time, it is better to adjust a little loose and accept a
  slight amount of play then to have the hub bind

This is the situation I'm in. Is a little bit of bearing play a legitimate option? Will my bearings wear down more quickly if they are slightly binding or if they are slightly loose?

A bearing that is adjusted too tight can actually seize completely. This happened to me once. I overhauled my front hub and tightened the bearing cones too much. Result: a front wheel that plain stopped turning at some point.

Too tight adjustment will exert more pressure on the cones and cups, and will probably wear out the bearings faster than too loose an adjustment.

For proper adjustment, the Park tool website has good instructions: http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/hub-overhaul-and-adjustment


Replacing disk brake pads with multi-tool only During my cycling week I only had my multi-tool with me. Back home and intending to replace the brake pads, I realized that I have to use pliers if I want to unbend the end of the cotter pin without scratching the brake saddle and/or my fingers.
Is it feasible to replace the cotter pin with a "multi-tool-friendly" or even a tool-free retaining pin? E.g. one with a pin clip.

Some models of Shimano calipers do use a pad retaining bolt so what you've pictured should be viable. I would make sure the bolt's diameter is small enough so it has a little play in when through the pad and caliper holes. The pads shouldn't move around at this point, but like with a pin, a thinner bolt will allow some play which maybe necessary for proper function. If they bind, it may prevent their return to the ready position, the spring may not open normally and rub the rotor, etc. Leave a little play like the system is designed with.
There are few designs of pins that may work well, even a safety/diaper pin of sufficient size.  This design of retaining pin is made to remove by hand, or you could use an Allen key from your multi-tool through the loop of the pin to generate more pulling power.  It will have to have sufficient length so that the secondary arches will fit over the raised area of the caliper that has the hole the pin goes thru.

Here's something designed to hold parts or fasteners in the event they've come loose.

Here's a link to this product and description.
I don't feel using the Shimano provided, common cotter pin is absolutely necessary and options exist that will work just as well.


Toothed plastic cup on bottom bracket got sheared off - still removable? I messed up. I wanted to switch out the bottom bracket on my bike. When I tried to do that the toothed cup on the left side (non-chain side) sheared off. The entire thing is now plain with its housing.

edit says: The other side is also not removable as the teeth got - for lack of a better word - destroyed when I tried to unscrew it. Didn't even apply that much force.

Is there a way to remove it without damaging the frame of the bike?

For reference: The 'destroyed' toothed cup you can see in this picture is what I'm talking about. In my case the cup is made out of plastic (I guess, based upon the fact that before it tore off some teeth got shredded).

This is the other side where the cup has been sheared off:

edit says: By the way, this is the tool I have been using in combination with a socket wrench:

EDIT/FINAL

Sorry it took so long but the bottom bracket is finally out. The cup that had the destroyed teeth was easily removed by combining a spanner and a wrench with the tool.

The other side - the one with the sheared off bit - was more stubborn and in the end a heat gun, a screw driver and a hammer were necessary  to get it out.  It was done by heating the cup up without damaging the frame or the bowden cable guard and then hammering the screwdriver into the inside of the cup in a way that unscrewed the cup. The thread of the frame into which the cup was screwed got damaged slightly.

Since Nathan's answer got the first cup out, I'm going to mark his as my answer.

From the look of it, the drive side teeth may yet offer some hope.

The first thing I would do is get some penetrating oil in the threads to maximize your chances of being successful before the teeth get destroyed completely. Apply it around the outside and see if you can get it to weep in, and you can use your BB cable guide's mounting screw hole to apply it from the inside. I use Finish Line Chill Zone and I'm very liberal with it and I recommend this approach as the cold shocking and thermal contraction/expansion seems to do a lot to break up corrosion and get oil worked in. Let it soak 24 hours and then clean and de-grease the outside where the tool will be engaging.

It's not clear whether you're dealing with corrosion here. If you're confident you're not you can skip that step, but it does look to me like the drive side teeth are offering you one more go, whereas doing this once all the teeth are completely gone is one of the more truly difficult things I've come across working on bikes, so making the most of any remaining attempts would be wise.

You need to rig up a way of holding the tool on to the splines tightly. If the spindle is hollow, you can use a quick-release skewer for this, and potentially some washers depending on what kind of tool you're using. Otherwise get a suitably long M8x1 bolt and some washers. Get the tool as lodged into the splines as you can. Tap it in with a hammer or use the quick-release/bolt setup. Then use a long adjustable wrench on the tools's wrench flats. Make sure you're going the right direction, clockwise to loosen the drive side for most bikes.

If that doesn't work, you're probably looking at needing to smash or ram the cartridge through the plastic cups or something similar.


Mating Brifters and MTB drive train and disc brakes - Marriage or Divorce Looking to buy a Salsa-Cutthroat equipped with SRAM Rival brifters; a 1X drive train (11-42t rear cassette RAM Rival long cage deraileur); SRAM GX 1000 crankset; and SRAM Rival Hydraulic Disc Brakes.  The problem is my old legs need a 2X drive train.  Can I convert the above system to a 2X by adding a front deraileur, double chain ring (38-24t), and second brifter or is converting to a 2X much more involved?

You will need to buy a complete groupset. The SRAM 1x drivetrains have an optimized geometry where the upper pulley is moved slightly to the back. Furthermore the 1x drivetrains from SRAM can't compensate for the chain movement to the side caused by a shift with the deraileur.

As you can see in the links the Rival 1x deraileur is completly different to the Rival 22 deraileur.
https://www.sram.com/de/sram/road/products/sram-rival-1-rear-derailleur
https://www.sram.com/de/sram/road/products/sram-rival-22-schaltwerk-wifli-mit-mittlerem-k-fig

I think even the shifters need to be changed as I am not sure if the use the same pull ratio. The 1x road drivetrains are derived from the MTB stuff.


Upgrading crankset to 48 tooth I need to change my crankset and bottom bracket, is is possible to upgrade to 48 tooth from the stock 42?
The front derailleur is shimano Alivo and has a clamp. It could be moved up to a higher position to accommodate the bigger crankset.
Will the upgrade work? Or will I have to buy a new derailleur?

Thank you for your valuable responses, I will stick to my stock 42 tooth option. The risk of damage/danger is higher that the merits of high gearing at the top. Presently I am able to use the total gear range without any problem. I don't want to mess with the usability of the system.

What you need to do is look up the total capacity specifications of both your front and rear derailleurs.

For a front derailleur the total capacity is just the largest difference between the largest and smallest chainring tooth counts the derailleur can handle.

The total capacity is for a rear derailleur is the largest (difference between the largest and smallest chainring tooth counts) + (difference between the largest and smallest rear sprocket tooth counts) the derailleur can handle.

If the crankset with larger rings exceeds the front or rear derailleur capacities, it will not work, however, Shimano's specs are quite conservative, so you may get away with a couple of teeth over the specified max numbers.

You can look up Shimano derailleur specifications here: https://productinfo.shimano.com/#/

Another concern is chainstay clearance. Larger rings may hit the chainstays, especially as you are thinking of rings that are on the large side for a mountain bike.