Properly tensioning a belt drive with two tensioner The other day I had to replace tires on my bike.

Having recently switched to a belt drive + gear hub, I have looked at some on line tutorial on how to remove the rear wheel in such cases.

Problem is that the on line tutorial showed the case of a bike with only 1 tensioner while my bike has two, one on the right side and one on the left side, so once I mounted the wheel back and adjusted the tension of the belt (I used the app suggested by the belt manufacturer to measure the tension) I found that the movement was no longer fluid.

I suspect that I didn't properly balance the tension between the two side, but I have really no clue on how to do it.

How can I correctly adjust the tension of a belt drive with two tensioner?

To try and get the wheel perfectly straight you could try to fully loosen each nut on each tightener. Then put each nut back on its respective tensioner and whilst tightening count the number of turn on each side.

Make sure there are an equal number of turns on both sides. I usually do this by tightening one side first whilst counting number of turns, then tighten the other side. Make sure the nuts/quick release with which you tighten the wheel are not loosened too much, if they are the chain tension might increase quite significantly when tightening the wheel nuts/ the quick release (because in some cases the frame bends inwards resulting in a somewhat different chain stay angle which causes the extra tension).

Usually if the chain (not sure if this is the same for belt drive but it should be ) tension is too high you will feel the 'steps' in the wheel /freewheel/casette bearing when turning the pedals by hand (you will feel little bumps every so often whilst rotating the pedals by hand. This could also indicate somewhat worn bearings but chain tension definitely plays a role in it as well.

Another sign of the tension being too high:
Spin the pedals to make the rear wheel rotate (whilst the wheel is off the ground), release pedals and see if they stop turning immediately or if they continue to rotate with the back wheel (I am assuming you have a freewheel and are not using a fixed gear), if they do keep turning this can be caused by chain tension being too high (or bad bearings),  this could potentially also indicate misalignment of belt relative to rear cog (wheel not aligned with frame) so if your bearings are in good condition and chain tension is good the wheel might be misaligned.

Try loosening the belt a bit and see if it helps (if aligning the wheel didn't help, as long as the belt doesn't slip/run off the cogsyou shouldn't need you could also measure the 'stickout' of the threads of each tensioner using a caliperor other measuring tool and compare both sides and make sure they are (approximately) equal to try and align the wheel.


Front suspension on a cyclocross bike? Is there a reason why no companies are manufacturing front suspension for cx bikes?

Is it limited by the UCI rules?
Would weight mean it would offer no additional value?

I would like to know if a light weight, low travel (<80mm), skinny stanchion (<28mm) would make any difference to speed when off-roading. Comfort wise I imagine the difference would be huge.

I have seen a picture of Lemond racing with a Rockshox fork so definitely been thought of in the past for road bikes.

Cyclocross courses are (generally) too smooth and relatively fast to warrant the use of suspension. Sure, it might be more comfortable, but the added weight would only slow you down and leave you behind  your competitors on a typical muddy course.


Long back-rev for a coaster brake to engage? I have a brand-new bike with Sram i3 installed, which is a 3-speed gear hub  with coaster brake. The coaster brake has a good feel of modulation, but in order for it to engage braking, I will need to freewheel (not pedalling) for a bit (single digit meters?), and then I can engage the braking with a little back kick. If I pause forward pedalling immediately without coasting a bit and try to brake, I noticed I will need to back press almost half-a-rev before the braking is in effect.

Is this to be expected? Or if there's anything I need to do to tune the coaster brake for the situation to improve? I don't know if I can always manage to find some distance to prepare for the brake.

There is a front rim brake available though.

I have used plenty of coaster brakes and you do not need to coast before you can brake.
Move your feet till one of them has enough leverage when you start braking, change direction of movement and the brake engages.

If you need more time your brake needs adjustments or even repairs.
Braking should be as instant as it is with any other type of brake.


Does going faster always result in more calories burnt Say the same 5mile ride going at 5 miles per hour versus 10, 15 20 etc.  Even though the faster speed means shorter ride does it also always result in more calories burned?
I have the same commute looking to up the exercise somehow.

All other things being equal, yes. The increase in effort more than makes up for the decrease in ride time.
Consider two scenarios where one rides 20 km: first at 25 km/h, second at 30 km/h. In the first case, riding at 25 km/h takes 96 W of power, in the second, riding at 30 km/h takes 150 W according to this web page (using my own stats).
 96 W * 20 km / 25 km/h = 276 kJ over 48 minutes
150 W * 20 km / 30 km/h = 360 kJ over 40 minutes

Thanks to a lucky mathematical coincidence, kilojoules of work is almost exactly equal to calories burned. Some estimating tools treat calories burned as 10% above kJ of work.


Do helmets really lose their quality with time even if kept in package? A friend of mine, who works as a sales manager in a good bike shop advised me to never buy a helmet that is older than couple of years, and the best thing to do is to buy the current model line, when they arrive to LBS (like fresh bread). Neither he earns from my purchases at his shop, nor he insisted to buy there, and even recommended me a few models that they don't have, so there is no marketing bias in this advise. So the question is, whether a helmet really looses its quality even if it's stored in a bike shop?

A lot will depend on the construction of the helmet. For example the basic material in the helmet will be some sort of sponge or foam which relies on its texture to absorb sudden impacts; does this degrade over time? For example, a loaf of bread gets its texture from the tiny air bubbles formed while rising and proving, but if left to prove too long, the structure collapses, or, once baked, the bread will harden and not be as flexible.

So it might be with helmet foam; at least, that's the concern, in particular when subjected to sustained UV/sun light. It's certainly not been a concern that manufacturers have been quick to dispel.

But there is another side to this question, not just whether you should not buy an older helmet because it has lost its ability to do its job? Have the helmet construction methods moved on since that helmet was made, simply, are newer helmets better? Are they lighter, stronger, more absorbent, better value, more adjustable?

Many reputable organisations, e.g. the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, say not to worry

  Most manufacturers now recommend that helmets be replaced after five years, but some of that may be just marketing. (Bell now recommends every three years, which seems to us too short. They base it partially on updating your helmet technology, but they have not been improving their helmets that much over three year periods, and we consider some of their helmets since the late 1990's to be a step backwards, so we would take that with a grain of salt.) Deterioration depends on usage, care, and abuse. But if you ride thousands of miles every year, five years may be a realistic estimate of helmet life. And helmets have actually been improving enough over time to make it a reasonable bet that you can find a better one than you did five years ago. It may fit better, look better, and in some cases may even be more protective.

The Snell foundation concurs:

  Hair oils, body fluids and cosmetics, as well as normal "wear and tear" all contribute to helmet degradation.

Although I would hesitate to buy a helmet which can't stand up to sweat, this suggests that it is use that affects the longevity of the item, not its storage.

I'm not a scientist in this area, but while there might be evolutionary reasons in the helmet's construction to merit buying newer ones, just being stored for a few years probably won't be reason enough.

But as I asked in an answer to a related question, why are you planning on wearing it? If you're looking for a cheap helmet because you don't really want to wear it, then an old one will be fine, but if you're genuinely concerned for your safety and you really want something to do the best job, then should you be quibbling over the few dollars/pounds/{currency units} difference?


Why should I not coast while training (even after intervals)? A comment in this answer about building up stamina for a commute says not to coast, even after intervals.

Why not? How is coasting different from light pedaling with minimal load (which I'm assuming is the alternative for recovery)?

The reason (and I'm no medical expert) is that it acts as a gradual cool-down period after the hard exercise. During any exercise it is good to cool-down by still moving and exerting less effort. Keeping the muscles moving helps remove lactic acid from the muscles (which contributes to cramping) and keeps the blood flowing. Also sudden changes between hard pedaling and stopping can make your blood pressure change more quickly.  It is better to make gradual transitions.

Basically, for all the same reasons that you should cool down for a few minutes after any strenuous exercise. In intervals, you are just doing it over and over. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_down


Which size spoke tool. Currently size 14 I have this spoke tool. The number I use on this tool is 14. I use it on a hybrid mountain bike.

.

I want to get one which is easier to use but I do not know which size.

Here are the available sizes.
For 3.20mm/80 ga./0.127" nipples, black vinyl coated.
For 3.45mm/80 ga./0.136" nipples, red vinyl coated.
For 3.30mm/80 ga./0.130” nipples, green vinyl coating

My guess is the red one in the middle. Hoping for someone to confirm my guess.

Thanks you

Edit by Moz: Bounty offered for a conversion chart or link to one. Those numbers seem more or less consistent on the three of those tools I found, so somewhere there has to be a reference to the expected sizes (unfortunately theres +/- .1mm wear on the ones I have as they're old and cheap). The suppliers I've found all just say "fits all sizes" and don't list what the sizes actually are.

I found these sizes from various shop pages which are not worthy for linking here.

So in answer to my own question:

8G = ?
10G = 5mm
11G = 4.4mm
12G = 3.96mm
13G = 3.7mm
14G = 3.45mm
15G = 3.3mm


Pedal bearing stuck to the spindle I was changing the spindle for a longer one in three Crankbrothers pedals (Candy 1, Eggbeater 1 and 2). Two were wery simple, the plastic cap, the spindle nut and take down the pedal body with all the bearings. No noticable force required, one just takes the body down smoothly.

In one case, however, I am not able to remove it even with the maximum force of my hands and with some rubber mallet hits. I think the inner part of the enduro bearing is stuck to the spindle. Is there some reasonable way to solve this problem without destroying the bearing? Or could it be claimed as a warranty defect?

Although I may still quite well use the pedal in its current shape, I will definitely need to get the bearing out when the time for new bearings comes.

If you have a relatively big bench vice (or some other big clamps like woodworking clamps) you could consider making a DIY axle extractor to get the job done:

1)

Take a wooden beam (approx 4x4cm or larger size also good as long as it's manageable) and saw off a bit of approx 20cm. drill a hole in the middle which will fit the threaded end of the pedal axle through.

2)

Buy a flat punch (link in previous comment) or make a DIY flat punch with sawed off screwdriver of the correct size and use it to press against the pedal's axle. The difficult thing would be to get the screwdriver or punch to stay perpendicular with the jaw of the bench vice whilst clamping down. a punch will make this easier since it has a bigger base but still it might be difficult. If you are ok with it you could consider drilling a small hole in the vice jaw to stick  the screwdriver in or a better option: take a block of aluminum or steel (or an old crank for example, and drill a hole in it such that you can use the block for a base for the screwdriver/punch to keep it parallel with the jaw of the vice.

3)

Place the pedal in between (with the pedal's axle (the side that screws into the crank) in the hole in the wooden beam) and the sawed off screwdriver or punch pressing against the other side of the axle.

then tighten the vice and the pedal's axle should be pushed out of the pedal.


How can I prolong the life of my bottom bracket bearings? I have a bike with Campy components. I've found I need to replace the bottom bracket bearings annually, which is expensive and inconvenient. I do less than 2000km per year on it, largely through winter and spring. They are sealed bearings, but not cartridge style.

Is this unusual? How long would you expect the bearings to last?

My bike shop says a lot of water and gunk get in the bottom bracket and just sits there, causing damage to the bearings. How does the gunk get in there? How would it get out? Should there be a drain hole somewhere?

EDIT: To clarify, I only ride on the road and sealed trails. So I'm dealing with water and silty/sand from the road/tracks only.

EDIT: The symptom that indicates the bearings need replacing is noise. I get a clicking or ticking in the bottom bracket and take it to the shop. It seems to be a noisy bike... I've also had to replace the rear freehub bearings a few times and other causes of noise. So I'm not usually sure enough to replace the bearings, but I take it to the shop and ask them to figure out where it's coming from.

Actually, IMO Hicks is right in the comments under the question. Now, had the problem been really that the BB is wearing out:

After you have been out in the wet, on returning to base (home), remove the bicycle's seatpost and turn it upside town. You will be surprised how much water runs out!

You might also want to try sealed cartage BB or external bearing BB. By the way, ordinary (not cartage) bearing are extremely inexpensive: 0.5 euro at my area.


Is this damage on the bottom bracket shell concerning? Viking lugged steel frame I was given this frame, it is a '80-something lugged steel Viking. I want to build it up but I don't know if this small crack in the bottom bracket shell will be a problem. It looks like the paint is peeling back a little bit and there is a bit of rust and maybe a small crack between the left chainstay lug and the bottom bracket shell. Other than this spot there are quite a few paint chips but the frame seems to be in good shape.
Does anyone with more experience with these old steel frames know if this needs to be welded or just cleaned up a bit and repainted?

From here it's hard to tell if it's a crack through the steel or just in the paint. You need to take it all apart and bead- blast the area in order to clean and inspect it. It's probably too hard to tell otherwise, through the rust and paint. If you don't have a bead blaster, perhaps paint stripper and wire brushes might be sufficient. If that crack goes all the way through the steel then you will probably destroy it getting the BB apart.


Is it really OK to hang a bicycle by the wheel from a hook? Does it not distort the wheel to have the weight of the bike hanging from just that one spot?

Is it OK for any kind of wheel?

I have nicer race-type wheels on mine.

[Edited to connect with Any detriment to hanging a bike by its front wheel? ]

Many bike shops, collectors, or racers hang their bicycles by the wheels.

The wheels are made to withstand the weight of the rider while going through road bumps. The forces of a hanging bicycle are way less than anything the wheels are designed for.

Some very deep aerodynamic rims (say, Campa Bora) might require some special hook with a wider seat.

Some people say to hang the bike only by the rear wheel to avoid stress on the headset or fork. This might be true for some particularly light built bikes. On a "normal" road bike, I wouldnt worry.

Also, on some aero front wheels with large distances between spokes, I would take care to place the hook near to, or between the spokes.

You have to take care not to scratch your rims. Use protective covers on the hooks, and dont hang a sandy-dirty wheel, or you will get sand on the protective cover, scratching the rims.

If you have to keep several bicycles, this is probably the most space-conserving way to store them. Hang them alternately by the front wheel and back wheel side by side.

If you have to hang only one bike, I propose hanging it by the handlebar, using a forked hook, or two hooks.

Park Tools have a cheap hook: http://www.parktool.com/product/storage-hook-machine-thread-450


Bicycle is harder to pedal when standing From a few days now, when trying to pedal standing, my pedals become very rigid and it sounds like if the brakes are dragging. If I sit down again, the noise goes away and it's easy to pedal again.
In fact, if I just try to apply more pressure to the pedals to go faster, the problem happens again.

I thought that the brakes were the problem so I adjusted them and I know they are not dragging.
The chain and gears are well lubricated.
I'm trying to fix this by myself so I can learn. Can you help me to figure out what the problem is?

Something is dragging as you pedal harder. The most likely thing is that your rear wheel is moving so that the tire drags against the chain stay when you apply power.

This is something that you'll probably need to troubleshoot when you're riding because it isn't likely to show up with the bike on a work stand. You might be able to make it happen by applying a standing load to the pedals while holding the front brake. To do this I'd want somebody holding the bars to stabilize the bike (and to help me look for what moves when I load the chain).

The interesting thing about what's happening is that you say the problem goes away when you ease up. If the problem is due to the tire rubbing on the chain stay then there must be some mechanism to return the wheel to its neutral location. The only thing that I can think of right now that might do this is a nutted rear axle where the nut on the right (drive) side is loose enough to allow the axle to move under load and then move back when the load eases up.


What is the quantifiable benefit of compressionless brake housing? If you had a compressionless setup (cable disc for example) that you measured gave you 100 braking units (whatever unit that would be) when the lever was maximally activated, what would be the number of braking units for a coiled housing setup?
E.g. it would only be 85 braking units because the housing absorbs the rest of the lever activation?
Does coiled housing have a linear response to being compressed, or once it's been compressed a certain amount does it effectively act as compressionless housing from then on, like a concertina of paper that you can't squash down any further?
Would the 'spongey feel' that people talk about be captured in these measurements, or is that something else on top?

It's about distance, not force. Coil housing is not at all impaired in its ability to transmit force once any distance between its coils has been taken up (so no to your second question.) On any rim brake that doesn't have egregious bends, the practical difference between compressionless and coil housing is marginal. It's a little stiffer and more responsive feeling, but the advantages of it are small and possibly outweighed by the increased fragility, installation hassle, and/or expense of compressionless. On a mechanical disc, or a rim brake system that forces egregious bends in the housing, it's a different story.
Total pad gap on a V-brake or dual pivot caliper is around 5mm. On a mechanical disc it's 0.8-1mm. Yet the lever throw powering both is the same; the needs of a brake lever designed for a human hand doesn't change between the two. This demonstrates that in terms of lever movement to pad movement, mechanical disc brakes run at about a 5 times greater leverage ratio, or mechanical advantage. You have a great big lever throw producing a very small amount of movement. That's how disc brakes are powerful despite a rotor being such a smaller circle than a rim. Mechanical discs can have problems with being difficult to set up in a way where the rider doesn't run out of lever travel, and since compressionless helps conserve lever movement by eliminating housing compression, it is good to use in this role and is often one of the main ways of helping out a bike that is having issues with the levers bottoming. This is often most pronounced on long continuous rear brake housing runs, which most disc bikes have.
The effect of coil housing creating wasted lever movement becomes much more pronounced whenever there are tight bends in the housing path, which will cause the gaps between the coils to open up and need to be closed again by the braking force. The helical nature of the individual strand path in braided compressionless brake housing mitigates this effect almost entirely in most cases on bikes. The same effect can sometimes be used to create good brake feel on bikes with brake routing that forces awkward bends.
It is worth pointing out that compressionless brake housing does have a dark side compared to coil. Coil housing, being made of thick steel, is a very robust design that is much more able to shake off or only be incrementally affected by damage, abrasion, kinks, and material degradation. Compressionless brake housing is something of a glass cannon in comparison; it's a bunch of steel wires that fundamentally don't want to stay together and resist the forces they're being put under, but are able to do so because of the standout properties of the layer of kevlar fabric that constrains them. The system is also wholly reliant on the right special ferrules being used to keep wires from pulling through. Compressionless brake housing is safe, more than reliable enough for bikes that are reasonably maintained, and not prone to failing suddenly when it does fail, but it is less age- and abuse-resistant than coil.
EDIT: As ojs pointed out in the comments, I had the part about the effect of compression being amplified 5x wrong, which I initially wrote. I've edited this answer to be something I can stand by, but see that it was likely accepted on the basis of incorrect reasoning, so I'm open to it being taken down or un-accepted as the answer, neither of which I can do.


I cannot find a barrel adjuster on my bike I tried to adjust the cable tension but there it litterally no way to adjust it on the front derailleur on a 22.5" GMC Denali 700cc Men's Bike

Generic photo from walmart.com

You might not have one. Check near the place where the cable exists the front shifter or on the cable, but on a BSO like this, you most likely don't have one.

Your options are to install an (inline) barrel adjuster or just do the adjustments without the barrel adjuster (which just allows for fine tuning, really -- you can do all the adjustments without it, but they will be finickier).


How to prevent my hub body from freezing? In the winter, as soon as its gets a little bit below 0°C, after 10-15 minutes the body of my rear hub gets frozen. This means the pedals/chain do not have any grip anymore on the rear wheel, the pleasure is over, and the walking begins. Peeing over the cassette helps for another 15 minutes, seriously, but I only carry limited amounts.

I use my bike in summer and winter. And try to keep it clean with water and soap (no high-pressure). But it is stored in my garage, where temperature is just above freezing point.

Any tips from preventing it to freeze?

Winterize your freehub body.  This kind of failure is common in colder temperatures and a hub acting like this should not be ridden.  In addition to the safety issue, you can destroy your freehub with partial engagement.  The freehub needs to be disassembled, the factory grease cleaned out of it and regreased with a winter weight grease.


What are the risks of fenders/mudguards? I've seen fender/mudguard descriptions that mention things like breakaway stays and discussions about the relative safety of metal vs plastic fenders, but I'm not getting what the concerns are.

Can anybody explain what the potential hazards of fenders are and how to mitigate them? The rainy season is coming…

I'm especially interested in full fenders on a road bike.

First, if you're using a conventional cantilever brake (i.e. with a yoke, not a link wire), you need a fender or reflector or something to avoid the yoke catching on the tire.

As usual, Sheldon is excellent.

There are several types of fenders:

Downtube mudguards:

Seatpost fenders:

Both of these options sit away from the wheel, clipped on. They can't interfere with the wheel, so coverage isn't as good (esp. for water being thrown up by your front wheel hitting your feet). However, they can work on all bikes. They don't prevent your drive train from being covered in crud from the road (which reduces the lifetime of your parts) or water getting in your headset bearings. There aren't safety issues with these (they can fall off, but nothing should happen if they fall off; they can't jam in a wheel).

Full Fenders:

Ideally you want a mudflap on the front. These mount to eyelets on the frame and fork normally, and at the brake bolts (or reflectors or ziptie there). There are also a few clip on ones for this.  These prevent crud from being thrown up to your drivetrain and getting into the headset bearings.

The problem with full fenders is that something can get caught between the fender and the wheel or the fender can slip (esp. in the front) and jam a wheel. Then you crash. This is why you see fenders with safety release tabs so the fender will shear off in some way if something tries to get caught in the wheel rather than jam it and crash.


"Footprint" of the Park Tool PCS 9 stand I am trying to workout whether the park tool PCS 9 workstand would fit in my bath tub (it's the only place I can clean my bike). To do so I need to know how big the footprint of the stand is.

Could someone measure theirs for me?

Approximately it's the distances in this image along the red lines...

From the Park Tool support site, here:

  Base when open forms a triangle of 36” (92 cm) x  36” (92 cm)x 45”
  (115 cm)


Interrupter (cross) brake lever cable guide wedges? Interrupter brakes require the brake cable to angle away from the bar to meet the lever at the proper point as shown in the picture below. You can see the handlebar tape doesn't carry on closer to the center because if it did, and was wrapped tight, it would put a harsh bend in the cable. But it seems the right tiny bit of molded plastic to guide the cable off the bar right into the interrupters at the correct angle (shown in red on the left) would allow you to wrap the tape nice and tight right up to where the interrupter levers clamp on the bar.

Is there such a cable guide wedge thing? If not, has anyone made their own? It would be nice to bring the handlebar tape nicely finished right up against the interrupter clamp.

When I wrenched for a cross team we just taped over the housing. We also would position the levers further out (unless you're running narrow bars.) Keep in mind there's no need to pull the tape so tight that it would bend the cable housing. You want to pull the tape just snug enough so it doesn't slip. If you get to the end of the bar and let go of the tape it shouldn't unravel. If it does you likely pulled it too tight. Also no need to use so much electrical tape at the end. If you want a really clean look cut end of the tape at a 45 degree angle so it lies flat when you finish wrapping and hold it in place with a dot of superglue.


Looking to replace 700c tires with mountain bike like tires I have a scott sportster 55 2012 with araya 700c tx 733 tire rims. The bike comes with disc brakes , so there's a good amount of room above the tires on the front & back. Can I replace my skinny tires with some more mountain bike like? And what would be the sizes / types I'm looking for ? I'm new so any information is appreciated

Obviously, your tire needs to be 700c. Larger sized 700c tires (e.g. for mountain biking) are sold as 29" tires. In theory, any 700c/29" tire will fit on the rim. However, you want to match the tire size to the rim width to the rim you have (lest you have bad handling/rim failure by fitting a too big tire). As for the maximum size you can put in, it is also determined by the frame. You need a few mm of clearance (at least 3 mm) between the tire and the frame. You can measure your current tires clearance and use that as a rough guideline for the tire size you can go up to (even though two tires are marked as the same size, there will be some variation to the sizes, which can affect clearance).

It looks like the bike ships with 700x37 tires, which are quite large to begin with. If you want more comfort, you can try running a lower pressure. If you want knobs, I'd look at a cyclocross tire. There are tons of variations, but if you're on a clean road, you don't want too much knob since that just adds resistance, noise and reduces handling. For snow on the road, some knobs can be helpful.


Techniques for safely leaving a bike for 1-2 minutes in a safe-ish place In the last year, 3 of my friends got their bikes stolen by leaving them "just for a minute" in front of a shop "while watching them through the window".

Nevertheless, sometimes I do the same. Maybe I didn't plan to bring a lock, and need to jump really quick to somewhere. Maybe there is a security guard nearby, or a bank camera. Maybe I am just too lazy to to dig the lock out of the bottom of my backpack, and have exact change to grab a beer. Maybe there is nowhere to lock to in a 100m radius.

My question is how to increase security in these dangerous situations.

A friend shared with me, that he shifts into the lowest gear - that way if someone tries to ride away the bike, it will take him quite some time. On the other hand, something that I do, is lean my backpack against the bike or even strap them together. IMO this makes riding off with the bike a little more difficult, while risking my backpack along with the bike.

Conclusion:

Currently, the "derail the chain off the front chainrings" sounds most sane to me, because I can do it with my shoe, without getting oil on my hands. Still, carrying the lock on my waist, under the backpack belt, is the far best solution. Why do I even put it inside the backpack?

Firstly, these suggestions are only going to make it slightly harder to ride away with your bike. I've heard the most common thefts involve grabbing the bike or bikes and slinging them into the back of a van, in which case it doesn't make much difference.

But against the casual opportunist/errant kid...

Have a QR parts and remove them - saddle, pedals?, bars?
I use a small velcro strap to make parking easier. This goes around the bars and pulls on the brake lever on when parking, makes it easy to lean it up against a wall without it wobbling. This might stall someone not expecting it.
Derail the chain from the front rings.
Best of all, get one of those super-convenient rear wheel/frame locks as below:

As long as you've got your key with you - some of them stay in the lock when it's unlocked - it's easy. No more excuses!


Where do I get this part for my v brake? I lost small plastic "collar" part on the front v brake which goes around the spring and onto the post. Does anybody know where I can get another one?

You're probably not going to find this part without cannibalizing a similar enough brake arm.

The parts you can find replacements for without having a sacrificial arm for V-brakes (*) are:

Noodle
Boot
Mounting Bolt
Brake pads/cartridges

If you need to replace/repair any other part of the V-brake, you're better off (and likely going to be) buying a new one.

(*) for most V-brakes; check the service manual for your particular model, though even if it is serviceable, you're unlikely to find the parts.

That being said, you might be able to make a suitable replacement on your own for the part in question with a bit of PVC tubing or some other plastic tubing cut to size and shaped appropriately.


Did I choose the wrong size bike? I don't know much about bicycles, and I have relatively little experience with them.  I bike for fun, or to get around the city, not for sport.

Recently I bought a BTWIN Rockrider 340 mountain bike, in size M. My height is 168 cm.

After going out for a ~35 km ride, I found it somewhat uncomfortable and I got a back ache.  The handlebar seems too low.  It's much more comfortable and relaxing to just touch it with my fingertips instead of holding it properly, as I don't have to bend down that much.

How can I tell whether I got the wrong size bike for my height or whether I simply did not use the correct posture?

In the country where I am currently, exchanging the bike after such a ride is probably not possible, or very difficult, so it is really a last resort to try.  While I did try the bike before buying, the store was in the city, on a high floor of a multi-story shopping centre, so there was very limited space and I didn't realize the problem. While people on this site might not think much of this bike, for me it was a fairly pricey one, mostly having had second hand bikes before. Therefore I would really like to make sure that I did not get the wrong size, or otherwise correct the problem somehow.

I got this bike for getting out of the city and going to places inaccessible by public transport, mostly rocky dirt roads.

People tend to think of fit as something for which there is a single solution, i.e., a particular combination of frame size, seatpost height, stem length, and so forth, all of which will create the optimal size bike for them. In reality, it isn't that straightforward; proper fit can be achieved within a range of values. For example, I have a few different bikes which I ride. One is a road bike with a 58 cm frame (flat top tube), one is a more modern road bike with 53 cm frame (sloping top tube), and so forth. How is it that I can ride a collective 16,000 km on these different-sized bikes and be comfortable? Because I have adjusted the combination of frame size, seatpost height, and stem length within a range that works for me.

You can achieve the same; it's not difficult.

You may wish to consider this fit calculator to help you figure out what the ballpark range of values is for your body. You'll need someone to help you, but the numbers it gives you will be a decent starting point as you fine tune the fit of your bike. You can use them to do an informed adjustment (if necessary) of your seatpost height/length and likewise your stem.

In addition, you can find many videos on YouTube and elsewhere which can help to inform your process:

Correct saddle height for a mountain bike
Mountain bike fit
Etc.

Assuming that the people at the bike shop sold you the proper size frame, you may need to increase your fitness a bit, and then be sure the reach is appropriate, and the seatpost height. In other words, you may need to ride the bike a bit to get a better idea of what the real root of the problem is. 35 km may not seem like a long way, but for a lot of people it takes them some time to get comfortable going that kind of distance: time to strengthen their core, their legs, and everything else that can ache at first.

After some saddle time, I think you will have a much clearer idea of what needs to be adjusted.


How long should cycling shorts last? As a follow-up to "What should I look for in a good pair of cycling shorts?," how long should I expect a good pair of cycling shorts (regular or bib) last? I think that an estimate in hours or km would be more useful than months or years(?). Is there an objective way to know when I should replace a worn out pair?

Eventually, the material will thin out and holes will start to appear. Objectively, if people can see your junk, then it's time to retire the shorts (or, in colder climates, restrict them to winter-only duty under tights). The chamois will deteriorate over time as well, so if a pair of shorts isn't as comfortable as it once was, it's about time to throw it away.

As far as durability, I'd be very disappointed in any set of shorts that didn't last at least 5000 km.

Another note on care and feeding--make sure that the shorts never rub against anything abrasive (seat bag, velcro bits hanging off jacket, etc.) while you ride, as the material can wear through in an awful hurry.


Find out where long distance/endurance riders stopped to sleep, from spot trackers? I'd like to participate in Tour divide.
One of the hard part is planning where to sleep.
Especially hard when you have to research those from abroad. (I'm from south korea)
I realized they carry a tracker (spot tracker) for safety purpose and it's broadcasted and you can see them online (http://trackleaders.com/)
Wonder if I could find out where they slept (it could be out in wild, or it could be a proper lodging) from the spot track info?
I'm aiming for the record (you dream big!) and wonder if there's a way to find out where those top performers slept. :(

If you look at the riders who do well in these events, of course they don't sleep much, but beyond that (and not wasting time*) they don't have so much in common though I can think of a few examples where the winner skipped a night early on and kept that lead. Some sleep sooner but shorter. Crucially they only sleep when they really have to, and know enough about what they're capable of to understand how much sleep to get, so:

Planning for a good spot isn't relevant (except basic safety) as you'll want to be too exhausted to care.
Trying to go as far as last year's winner before the first sleep takes no account of different riders or differing conditions (riding conditions e.g. headwind, and sleep conditions  e.g. shelter/not freezing).
Trying to go as long (time) might be better but you won't find that on a map and it still doesn't help with rider differences.
You don't want to nod off on a bike and wake up by crashing hard (though drifting off the road and waking up propped in a hedge seems fairly common).

Of course your sleep kit is inter-related with your sleep strategy - is it almost instant to use? good enough for every night but heavy? only fit for emergencies and catnaps?
Successful riders' own words probably help more than the data. A few examples I've come across that discuss the sleep aspect in some detail

Where there's a will by Emily Chappell (TCR '16 first woman).  Award-winning and recently released in paperback.
I've heard Ian Walker (North Cape 4000 '18 winner) talk about it, probably in this lecture
I heard an interview with Fiona Kolbinger (TCR '19 winner) but can't recall where.

*One I've heard in various versions - if you're not riding, sleeping, or eating you're wasting time.


Adding a larger chain-set to a mountain bike Can i replace a 24/34/42 MTB chainset with a 24/38/48 MTB chainset while still using the same 7 speed cassett, chain and shifters.
My old mountain bike from the 90s had 24/38/48 MTB chainset and when i stood up and pedaled on flat roads i could get to 40mpg while now on my 2019 29er with 24/34/42 MTB chainset & 12-32 7 speed cassett i struggle to reach 30pmg while pedalling like crazy
EDITED: So it appears, i have a Formula DC22 rear hub, not sure if this help anyone to tell me if a 11-28 cassette will fit on it. Trek say i need to buy a whole new back wheel if i want to change the cassette. Here are some images of back wheel and cassette.

Another option - change out your cassette to one with an 11-tooth smallest cog.
Per Sheldon Brown's gear calculator, pedaling at 100 rpm on a 42-tooth chainring and a 12-tooth cassette cog results in a speed of 28 mph.  Going to a cassette with an 11-tooth small cog, at 100 rpm that's 31 mph.  Getting up to 120 rpm results in a 37 mph speed.
And 37 mph on level ground is really fast on a bicycle - as in "speed reached in the final sprints in Tour de France stages" fast. 30 mph on a bicycle is fast, too.  If you're not struggling to reach 30 mph on a bicycle on flat ground, you should be riding in the Tour de France.  An average-size rider has to sustain a power output of 400 watts or so to go 30 mph - while riding an aerodynamic time-trial bike.  Sustained power output from cyclists who have never raced rarely exceeds 150 watts.
40 mph on level ground while riding a mountain bike with 26" wheels?  You would have had to have a 48-tooth chainring and and 11-tooth cog and be riding at 120 rpm to do that.
So if you hit 40 mph on that old 26" MTB, you should be able to hit almost that fast with your 42-tooth chainring on your 29er just because of the larger wheels - as long as you have a cassette with an 11-tooth small cog.
But at the end of the day, bigger gears do not make you faster.  The speed you can sustain depends mostly on how much power your body can generate.  The biggest limiter after that is how aerodynamic you and your bike are.


V brakes either too weak or rub I have just bought a used bike and the brakes were able to be pulled all the way to the handle.

However if I try tightening them even slightly they will rub against the wheels.

How do you fix this?

One problem that leads to this exact symptom is if someone installed V-brakes along with cantilever/caliper brake levers, or in the case of a multi-setting brake lever, has it set to the "short pull" mode.

You can get more detail on how to tell the difference from this question.

If it's an incompatibility between levers and brakes, it's usually going to be cheaper parts-wise to replace the levers. There's not really another fix.


QUIET Exercise Bike Under $300? I'm hoping you can help me! I moved to a place with little soundproofing and neighbors below and next to me who complain about noise at night. Due to my schedule I can only exercise nights indoors and I love cycling so I decided to get an exercise bike but it needs to be quiet.

Based on what I've learned so far, I want a belted spinner with magnetic resistance. I'm shopping on Amazon since I need to use their card for this but I'm having a hard time finding this combination. I'm willing to forego a spinner and get a regular upright but I don't want to sacrifice magnetic resistance or belt instead of chain.

Also, I'm short (5'2) so it needs to fit me and I don't care about consoles/programming options/etc. I never use them. I came down to these:

http://www.amazon.com/Sunny-Health-Fitness-Indoor-Cycling/dp/B002CVU2HG/

http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-140-Upright-Exercise-Bike/dp/B00275R1TY/

Or the 120 model.

Sunny reviews mostly complain about noise saying it's loud because it has pads for resistance and a chain drive where the chain slaps against the side of it or something but it's the only one I saw on Amazon in my budget that didn't have a lot of "defective" complaints.

Schwinn's reviews mostly complain about some kind of defect that causes you to not be able to pedal and a grinding noise right out of the box and needing get it replaced immediately for both models. I think the 120 is magnetic but don't know about the 140. Those problems seem worse to me than the Sunny issue but since I'm buying it to AVOID noise and prefer magnetic resistance, it ends up making this a toughy.

Unfortunately no place nearby has any bikes for me to try so I'm flying blind. Any thoughts on these bikes or any others you know of that would fit what I need for my budget? Even if it's not on Amazon, please let me know it and I'll research it and find a way to get it if I can. Also, I'm not interested in using a trainer, only standalone exercise bike. Thank you!!!

Assuming you already have a bike, have you looked into a trainer? Since you're not buying as much equipment, essentially just the resistance unit, you can get much better quality without spending as much.  I got a CycleOps Fluid2 and it's pretty quiet, and also folds down pretty small which would probably be beneficial in an apartment.  There's quite a wide range of them, and I understand that most of them are pretty quiet as long as you stay away from the cheaper "wind" trainers.


Max weight of child, for rear bike seats - why is it always (seemingly) 22kg? I had a rear child's bike seat on my old bike (which was stolen, boo hoo).  It was a Yepp Maxi and was the kind that sits on a rack, rather than being mounted to the seat post.

The maximum weight of child rating for both versions (rack mounted and seat-post mounted) is 22kg.  And, this seems to be the maximum child weight for all rear seats.  I don't understand how something mounted on a rack can have the same maximum weight rating as something attached on a diagonal bar to the seat post (which I'd be more worried about breaking) - surely it depends on how strong the rack is?  If the rack has a maximum weight of, say, 50kg, then I'd feel very confident about putting a bike seat on it with a 22kg child in it.

The fact that it seems to be 22kg across the board, which is slightly under fifty pounds, makes me wonder if this limit is set not due to any properties of the seat itself but rather due to some regulation.   I'm much less worried about breaking a regulation than I am about cycling along with my son and the seat falling off, or something.

I understand why we have regulations but often they are very "dumb" in the sense that they don't take other factors into account:  for example, maybe some tests were done with an average bike and rider and found that any greater weight at the back made the bike too prone to tipping backwards.  This wouldn't take into account the size of the bike (XL in my case) or the weight of the rider (100kg in my case), which might mean that the bike can hold a heavier child at the back without tipping.  This is pure speculation on my part, anyway.

Does anyone know why this limit seems to be so consistent across different makes and designs of child's rear bike seat?  thanks

While Criggie's answer explains the reasoning behind the limit, the reason why the official limit is almost always exactly 22kg is simple: that's the standard.

The 22kg limit comes from the European standard EN 14344:2004:

  This document specifies requirements for child seats for cycles, which
  are intended to be mounted on pedal cycles and electrically power
  assisted bicycles, in order to transport children with a weight from 9
  kg up to 22 kg (approximately 9 months up to 5 years) and who are
  capable of sitting unaided. NOTE Some European countries have special
  legislation for child seats for cycles. Compliance with this document
  may not meet this legislation.

So that's why it's always 22kg, and not 23kg or "approximately 22kg".


Changing Magura HS33 rim brake pads My brake pads have worn to the point where the lever can no longer apply full pressure, and there isn't much pad protruding beyond the pad mounting. So they need replacing and I want to do it myself rather than handing over to a workshop and losing the use of the bike for a day or two.

I think (from appearance) my rim brakes are HS33. Although my bike is newer the details match those seen in this company video on changing the pads:

The side with the quick release mechanism does indeed undock easily and can be quickly changed. However the other side (where the hydraulic lines arrive from the brake lever) lacks any quick release and I think he says at 0:44 to dismount the wheel to change the pad on the other side!? Is there really no easier way to get that pad changed? Would you ever want to change just one pad anyway, if not what does the quick release achieve if the next step is dropping the wheel out?

Yes the recommended way to change pads is open the quick release and remove that side of the brake, then remove the wheel to allow access to the other pad. You can refer to the official HS33 (or similar) manual, pages 21 and 19.

Another way I know of to be able to reach the non-QR side pad (or both sides if running without QRs which is arguably a stiffer setup) is to remove the screws and get it off completely, hereby undoing the adjustments made to get correct pad to rim alignment. Not a huge problem if you're used to setting up Maguras, but it does take a bit of a learning process.


What are these connectors? And how can I connect to them with my own stylish red hoses?

These are SRAM inline hydraulic hose connectors, an article on Bikerumor mentions these are supposed to be OEM only:

  We mentioned that the new Connectamajig will be offered for use with
  this, and it’s aimed at the OEM manufacturers to ease assembly line
  efforts. SRAM’s product managers were careful to point out that it’s
  not really designed to be a quick disconnect for travel frames, it’s
  primarily to make installation easier.

If you look at photo above, you can see the male part, so I'd look around for it. Also, if you are building a brand new Specialized out of the box, I'd try to connect their customer support or wherever you purchased the bike from for assembly advice.


How to significantly lower HR[avg] while improving performance output On my Saturday's ascent race I was riding 181bpm HRAVG and saved some power for the last km where my HR peaked at 190 (which is my highest ever recorded HR at my 37 years or age). I felt rather normal at the top, no fatigue or extreme oxygen deficiency. Just normal very deep breathing with high frequency for about 20 seconds and I was fine. the way I usually breathe on the doing it 100% races.

This is the data from my Garmin of this ascent race.

  I should point out that my calculated HRMAX is about 182bpm although in reality it's clearly 190 (as the upper data shows). I suspect it's even higher, but anyway. I was obviously pedalling at 95-100% HR for about 50 minutes. That's surprising to me. This to me may be a good indicator that my HRMAX is closer to 200bpm rather than 190 which would mean I was peddaling at 90% HRMAX most of the time. Can anyone confirm this reasoning?

Anyway.

As I've heard some of the others were riding well below 170 bpm HRAVG but had much better time than me. I suppose this is due to larger heart volume, larger lungs therefore much better oxygen efficiency. Since my heart rate increases quite rapidly I suspect my heart volume is rather small(ish) so it has to speed up faster to deliver the needed O2.

I wonder how can I improve my performance? What kind of training will lower my heart rate while keeping the same performance level. I suppose lowering my HR by 10 bpms would give me enough room to improve my performance by more than 10%.

First off, understand that HR drops as you age, even if you stay in good physical shape.  Older riders will tend to have a lower HR.

In addition, HR drops as you become better conditioned to high-output activity.  Basically, as you suggest, the capacity of the heart and circulatory system increases so that sufficient oxygenated blood can be delivered to the muscles at a lower HR.

Also, as one trains, the muscles develop more anaerobic capacity, so they need less oxygen, and they develop more glycogen storage capacity, so they need less blood sugar.

Others probably have more specific suggestions based on research, but basically to train the circulatory system (and muscles) you keep repeating the conditions where you want it to perform.  Some accommodation occurs within a few days (mainly in the form of hormone levels and blood volume), while full accommodation probably takes 6 months or so of every-other-day full-out rides.


Will electric heaters degrade bicycle tires? Is it safe to store bicycle tires near electric heaters? I'm wondering if the heat will degrade the rubber somehow.

More specifically, I'd like to store my bike near the electric baseboard heaters in our apartment.

It depends on a lot of hows including (but not limited to) close, hot, long, and manufactured.

Most well manufactured tires that are mounted and aired up will mostly suffer from air loss.  As the tire and tube heats up, the pressure rises and the tendency to leak a bit of pressure over time will be exaggerated.  Tubeless setups utilizing juice may see that juice evaporate/dissipate quicker.  Tire/tube setups that were recently inflated to max pressures in much colder environments may actually blow out (happened one time when I left a wheel in front of a sunny window).

If you are talking about storing your bike along side a baseboard heater or similar, you are probably going to be ok short of actually leaning the tires directly against the heat source.


Using hub-dynamo for both lights and charging, with priority on lighting I currently have a Supernova E3 Pro powered by a Shimano hub generator, and I would like to add the ability to charge USB-powered gadgets. My main concern, however, is that simply wiring up a charger in parallel to the lights would result in dimmer lighting at slower speeds (I already notice a decrease in brightness going up a steep hill when I'm tired).

Is there any way to wire things up so that the lights get priority, and charging only occurs when there is excess power available? Perhaps by using some circuit that would only provide power to the charger when the dynamo voltage exceeds a certain point?

I suspect you will find that most of the chargers that run off hub dynamos take this into account. For example, http://www.thinkbiologic.com/products/reecharge-power-pack in the (pdf) manual say:

  The ReeCharge is charging when the green light on the side of the
  ReeCharge is lit. NOTE: The green light is only on when the wheel
  rotates fast enough to provide the ReeCharge with a current for
  charging.

In your position I would buy one of the charging setups and see how it works in practice. If there's a problem, you will need to add a voltage sensing switch. Either way, you need to buy the charger so there's no harm buying it.

A voltage sensing switch is easy enough to make, either using a zener diode or just a voltage divider into the gate of a transistor. http://www.instructables.com/id/Voltage-Controlled-Switch-1/ is one example (but without a bigger transistor on the output that will not handle the current your charger uses). I would go with the simpler approach of buying a power transistor that can handle the 500mA your dynamo puts out, the 15V or so maximum it's likely to put out. Use a variable resistor to work out what voltage divider ratio I need to make it work, then substitute a pair of resistors in the final version. That's 3 components and it should be easy enough to put them in heat-shrink or epoxy to make them weatherproof. You'll probably pay as much for the connectors as the components :)


Spokes stick out of nipples when rebuilding wheel I'm having issues with the nipples the spoke threads are sticking out. I want to tension the wheel but when I tighten the nipples the spoke treads come out from top of the nipples before the wheel is tensioned completely.

Edit: Related to, and following on from Could I use a front rim to build a rear wheel?

It seems the spokes are too long. Two possibilities I can think of:

a) If the rim had been built into a front wheel before, and you are using the same spokes, it's possible that the rear and front hubs have dimensions different enough that the recommended 2 mm margin of error on spoke length is insufficient. The main variable affecting spoke length (besides the ERD, but here I'm assuming the rim stays constant) will be the flange radius (1 mm less means about 1 mm less on radial builds with a smaller difference the more crossings you have), but a big difference in the flange offset from the center of the hub can have a significant impact as well. Use a spoke calculator.

b) you're doing a different number of crossings. This will affect the the required spoke length bigly.


Play between axle and bearing inner ring Got new 'low' cost wheels with noticeable rattling in both of them. Thought cartridge bearings had an excessive play. Turns out there is some play between bearing inner ring and axle.

Lock nuts were quite tight. After undoing the non-drive side nuts and and tightening them finger tight the play disappears. After tightening the quick release skewer the wheel seems like it's not turning freely enough.

Then after tightening the round nut against the lock nut when the skewer is tightened everything seems fine, but after removing the wheel lock nut is completely loose. Could it be due to loose low quality threads on round nut and lock nut?

Don't have much experience with cartridge bearing hubs as I got these due to partially cracked rims on old wheels and was tired of adjusting the cup and cone type ones.

Probably some of them have bearing sleeves like these (the picture is unintelligible).

Regarding to bearing preload, don't know why spring loaded bearings like these aren't used in bicycle hubs.

I know this type of hubs a Open Bearing hubs. You can have a "basket", a sort of ring that holds the ball bearings in position, and just ball bearings sticked with grease.

The way the axle sits on them, fully asambled should be like, from left to right: LockNut(quick release if you have one),dropout,Counter-Nut, Cone,hub, Cone, Counternut, dropout, locknut.

So, your problem is that you have play, but when you mount the wheel it goes stiff.

For this problem you have to tight the CounterNut and Cone, together on one side. Then tight the other cone, just enough so you don't have play and runs smooth. Grab a thin wrench, if you have a cone wrench will be better, hold the cone with it and then with a second wrench tight the counternut.

Don't overtight the nuts, as a cheap axle is really easy to stripe. If the nuts keep loosing themselves get some preassure washers(the spiky ones) and put one beteween the cone and the washer.

cheers.

EDIT: Probably the black thing is just a dust seal, which makes seem like a sealed bearing.


Does one replacement automatically require another? I need the chain, chain set and cassette replaced on my road bike - does this automatically mean that the bottom bracket must also be replaced?

The short answer is no, it shouldn't. Only if it's worn out too.

With regular cleaning of the drivetrain 1 cassette usually lasts 3 chains and 1 chainring usually lasts 2-3 cassettes, assuming you replace the chain before it's too late.

Bottom brackets have no direct relation in terms of wear to the above components, but it rather depends on the following factors: quality, weather conditions, how often was it powerwashed, the terrain you ride on, your pedalling style and if it's a serviceable unit, then how often was it serviced.
A Shimano Hollowtech BB should last between 10 to 20 thousand kilometres.

Signs of a worn BB: The crankset is properly installed, but it's still loose. Clicking sound with each pedal stroke. Roughness when turning the cranks.

My personal advice: If you're worried about the BB being worn, but it doesn't have any signs, order a new one and store it in the closet until the old needs replacing. It should be an easy job to replace ( if you have the tools, otherwise take it to your LBS) and there's no need to do it together with the crankset.( Removing the crankset is 1-5 minutes, so it won't add that much extra work, but you save money and help the environment.)


Is cycling behind a truck a bad practice? Sometimes on a highway outside my city, Nairobi, I have been passed by fellow cyclist cycling behind trucks. As much as it is similar to holding onto the back of the track this is different since you are basically pedaling either faster or slower to keep up with the speed of the truck while watching its brake lights and indicators just in case it brakes so that you can brake too.

One time I tried this when I was on a fairly steep climb with a relatively fast truck. It was fun trying to maintain my speed up the hill and towards the end the truck was accelerating. I was so obsessed with keeping the pace on my road bike till I passed the place I was to branch off the highway by like 3 kilometres. When I narrated this to a friend a fellow cyclists he laughed at how I had managed to cycle at 40 kph for over 30 kms. Though I didn't feel the strain immediately but there was an effect later and I had to keep practicing daily to remain fit though these days I just do 25 kph.

But my friend warned me that if I was going far and the truck accelerated faster and left me behind or it branched off too soon than my destination I would be exhausted drastically battling with the wind. Anyway personally I feel like I can cycle behind a truck as a way to train. I don't know what others here on this platform would advice me on this.

It is really dangerous to follow a large vehicle closely. It is possible behind a directeur sportif in a passenger car which is smaller: you can see through it, and the driver is a cyclist who knows you and knows about you.
You cannot see what is coming in front of the truck. If they choose to brake hard, watching the brake lights will be of no use; you have simply no chance to brake so fast as many cars can (the truck can be unloaded or transporting light goods). You do not see what kind of obstacles or potholes are coming, how the truck will avoid them, and so on.

Note that I was assuming a road bike without any front suspension fork.
Ride On says "Cars will generally stop faster than bikes due to their more efficient brakes and lower centre of gravity," and they indicate a bicycle stopping distance of 31.5 m from 40 km/h. However, take into account that this is from a prepared rider who knew he had to slam the brakes, not just noticing a brake light. A passenger car will stop at something like 26 m.
Even for motorbikes it is dangerous, and the stopping distance can vary with the experience of the rider by a factor of 2. [1, 2]
And of course, even a car tailgating another car will often crash into the preceding one. The two-second distance is often required by law. That is 22 m at 40 km/h and 28 m at 50 km/h. That is not compatible with drafting behind the vehicle in many, if not most, traffic rules.


Creaking whilst pedaling (BB)? I am having this creaking issue for months now it happens whilst pedaling and gets worse with more force.
I've checked the headset, the handlebars as well as re-greasing and reinstalling the pedals and check torque on cranks. Now I am afraid that it would be the bottom bracket that went bust.
I noticed that there is a slight creak when i compress the front brakes and press on the pedals with my legs. coming from the BB area (Bike is not in motion) Could it be the bottom bracket?
FYI: I have done 2500 km on the bike when I bought it used. and this is an alu frame if it helps. shimano rs500 threaded BB.
EDIT: I might have fixed it. Culprit is the derailleur hanger rubbing with the grit and grime with the frame. Regreased it and seems like no creaking when i step on the pedals hard :D

Solved. rear derailleur hanger is the culprit.


Crankset compatibility: Specialized Stout XC vs. SRAM GX 1000 GXP I need to replace the crankset on my Specialized Rockhopper 29 Expert (year 2017) due to damage. I would prefer not to replace the BB to minimize the cost/effort.
The original crankset is described by Specialized as:

Specialized Stout XC, 2-piece 2x10, 24mm spindle, anti-corrosion
hardware``

and the BB as

BSA threaded, external bearing, 73mm width

I have concluded that since most of the drivetrain is SRAM (except of the rear derailleur weirdly), the crankset SRAM GX 1000 GXP would be a suitable replacement since it features 24 mm spindle, has the same 36/22T, the same BCD, setup and looks generally similar on pictures (yeah, I know).
Unfortunately, it fits pretty well, except of one minor detail - the shaft seems a bit too long and there is couple mm wiggle space left when I install the left crank. I have since learned that the BSA threaded is something else than BB30 that the SRAM GX 1000 GXP apparently features, even though they have the same radius. I am very confused by all the different parameters to watch for.
What I want to ask - is there an adapter for this? Or simpler - what should I buy that will fit the BB? Or is this is a lost case and I need a new BB? I do not really feel a need to upgrade the 2x10 setup and just want to fix the bike.
Thanks for help!
Edit: I have found here that the Shimano and Sram Threaded BBs differ. Since my spindle is 24 mm all the way, it is probably compatible with the Shimano system. Would e.g. COMET MODULAR CRANKSET work on my bike better then?

The parameters involved are as follows:

Your frame’s bottom bracket shell, which is BSA threaded.
The spindle type, which is where you ran into trouble. Shimano specifies a 24mm diameter spindle. SRAM’s GXP is a 24mm spindle that tapers to 22mm on the left crank. I don’t know if there’s a substantive reason for this, or if it’s just to avoid any patents that Shimano had on its Hollowtech II system.

The FSA crank you linked appears to have a 24mm spindle, so this should fit as is. Some companies may make spacers to adapt a Shimano BB to a GXP axle, but I can’t remember who does off the top of my head.
BB30 is a different bottom bracket shell standard entirely. It is one of the press fit BB standards. Many press fit BBs are made to take 30mm axles, but 30mm axles are less common in threaded BBs (but it is possible, and BBs are made for that purpose).


Gears on left are inverse to gears on right? I have a target bike, so I already know some things may be off from real bikes. And I'm aware I should get a real bike if I wanna do just about anything.

On the left side of my gears (the ones that "fine tune" what gear you're in) the bottom has an L at the bottom and an H on the top. On the right side gears, I have a 7 at the bottom and a 1 at the top.

Logically, it would mean my left side goes up in gear the more I twist it towards high, and my right side does the opposite, and goes towards lower gears when I twist in the same direction.

Is this correct? The manual doesn't say anything, and I honestly don't feel a difference when I do this, so I'm unsure if it's the opposite or if it's all in my head.

Sorry if I am unclear.

Don't stress about having a Target bike. If it meets your needs it's all good.

I think the answer to your question is - yes, you are right. If "H" is at the top on the left side and 7 is at the bottom on the right side then they are inverse of each other.

On the left side if you twist toward the "H" (High range) the front derailleur will shift the chain onto the large chain ring. Twist the left side to "L" (Low range) and the shifter will move the chain to the small chain ring.

On the right side if you twist toward the "1" the rear derailleur will move the chain toward the large gear and toward "7" will move the chain to the smaller gear.

Shifting should be done while pedaling.
This guy shows a bike shifting gears in his video
https://binged.it/2U02q6t

People have different strategies for using the gears on their bike.
I like to leave the left side in the low range and shift only the right side. I move to the high range when going down hill.


Rear hub loose after several days in the car Hi all – I'm a bike newbie here with what is hopefully a minor problem and would appreciate some help diagnosing what went wrong before I try to fix it myself / bring it to an LBS.

I packed a road bike on a several day car-trip recently. I removed both the front and rear wheel but didn't disassemble any further than this. The car was pretty fully packed, but I made sure to not put any substantial weight on the (aluminum) frame, especially not around the drivetrain and the forks. The wheels were stashed in the back row of the car. (There may have been some pressure on the hubs sitting between the front seats and the back row seats.)

Upon reassembling I find that my rear wheel hub has a few millimeters of wiggle room when the quick release hub is fully tightened. (This seems to convert to about 1cm of wiggle at the rim.)

The bike was basically in tip-top shape before the ride—no issues at all with the bearings beforehand. No major impacts or anything; it just sat in a car for two days.

What might have caused this issue? I can go ahead and tighten the bearings / have someone else tighten the bearings, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything more serious first. I'm also just curious as well!

If it's relevant, I ride a Specialized Allez Comp with AXIS 2.0 wheels.

I suspect that somehow you've loosened the locknuts while disassembling, and possibly days of vibration have allowed a the nuts to migrate along the thread.  Totally a guess.

The fix is simply to readjust the bearings correctly, and then make sure the locknut is cinched down onto the cone to prevent movement.

If your wheelset has sealed or cartridge bearings then this supposition goes out the window, and something else is wrong.


Problem with changing to high gear on the front derailleur on my new Bianchi Spillo Rubino Altus Rigid It's a 24 speed bike with 3 gears on front (Cranks PROWHEEL 48/38/28T) and 8 on the rear. I rode it today and when I was moving the front gear to 3 to move the chain to the large ring I have to press the shifter hard and it does not always work. Sometimes when I move it from 1 to 2 that also does not work.

Can you suggest what might be wrong and how to fix this.

You need to adjust your front dérailleur/cables/shifter, there are multiple tutorials for this on the internet if you are mechanically inclined and have basic tools.

Or you can pay for your LBS (local bike store) to fix it for you.

I have used this youtube video for good effect a few times:

Mind you, with top of the line brand new components it is much easier than potentially old and rusty equipment.


Can the Tensioner Spring go Bad on a Rear Derailleur? My bike chain has been "skipping", so I've gone through the obvious:

I replaced the chain
I replaced the smallest cassette cog, which was showing significant wear

After my replacements I noticed what the real problem was. Every once in a while, rather than the chain being pulled into the valeys of the rear cog, a chain link land on the tooth, and will not roll into the cog's valley and engage. Each subsequent link of the chain will land on a tooth. When the last engaged link begins to leave the valley, all the disengaged links will be snapped back into engagement by the rear derailleur.

What's going on here? Is my rear derailleur's tensioner spring just too old?

The tensioner spring is designed to keep the entire chain under tension, even after it passes the crank.  So, the symptom of a too-weak tensioner is slack in the chain between the crank and tensioner.

It sounds like the distance between chain links is not quite the same as the distance between valleys in your sprockets.  This is not unusual if you replaced a very worn chain (because the sprockets would have worn to match the old chain).  It's also not impossible that the sprockets are worn not quite enough to match the old, worn out chain, yet still worn too much to match the brand new chain.  You may need to replace the rest of the sprockets in the cassette.


Can a cyclometer be used with any bicycle? I just want to know if a cyclometer can be used on any cycle or just on those made for racing or touring. Thanks for your answer in advance.

The cyclometers I have owned counted wheelrevolutions by impulse of a circular lever on the cyclometer itself, most often mounted on the front fork. The impulse was from a solid peg mounted to a wheel spoke.

I have not seen such a cyclometer in the past 25 years.  Bike computers perform the similar functions, as well as others, depending on specific models.  Most bike computers operate from magnetic sensors which can be mounted or adapted to almost any cycle. Some feed the data from the sensor to a head unit mounted were it can be seen by a wire. In a few cases the supplied wire is too short to reach from a sensor (generally for pedal revolutions) to the head unit or alternative smart phone or watch read out unit.


Alternatives for front shifting for small hands I'm looking into a hopefully short-term solution for my daughter's small hands for shifting the left/front. Current setup is Shimano Sora with triple on the front. She can shift the right side fine, it's just the front/left. We've already had the shop add the shims to bring the shifter levers closer to the bars, but that's not really the problem. The problem is that her hands are to small/weak to overcome the resistance of the derailleur spring (going from smaller chainrings -> larger...going large to small is no problem).

I'm trying to avoid changing out the whole drivetrain, and I want to retain as much of the existing gearing that she has.

Ideas I had:

SRAM double-tap. Probably not viable as I believe it is double-only, and I think I would also need to use a SRAM front derailleur as well since the cable pull ratio is different.
Shimano TT bar-end shifter. Not sure these are available for triple?
Downtube shifter(s). Not sure about this one as the frame has an oversized downtube and no standoffs for shifter mounting.

You could run a bar end or downtube shifter in friction mode to accommodate a triple.

You can run a sram shifter with shimano FD, but they only work for double as you suspected. For the most part, FDs are dumb, it's mostly just the shifter that has all the smarts.


End of brake cable touches tire On my Trek Domane SLR the end of the front brake cable touches the tire. It makes an enerving sound and I am a afraid it destroys my tire. I thought about using some tape, but that is not possible because of the moving brake arm. Is there any possibility to push the cable to the side without renewing the while cable?

It looks like it's been cut too short so can't be tucked out of the way.  But you may be able to cut it still shorter and use a smaller end cap/ferrule, or just part of one, or a blob of glue to stop the end fraying.

Bending the cable may work too -- you might not have enough length but a sharp bend away from the tyre might work.  Use longnose pliers.  This stopped my front derailleur cable irritating my leg, for example.

You're right to want to fix it -- metal rubbing on tyres isn't a good thing.


Cycling distance per day I am a software engineer and live in Dhaka in Bangladesh.

My office is 7km far from my home.
I am planning to commute to my office by bicycle every working day.

Is this reasonable plan?
 This is my route

When I decided to get back in biking around 2 years ago (After not being in a bike since I was a teen) this was around the same amount of distance I had to pedal. My bike was a Schwinn Ridge Al mountain frame with slick tires and during the first week I couldn't complete the commute for more than 2 days in a row. After the second week it became a lot easier and since then I commute by bike almost everywhere within 20Km. 7Km is quite a small distance but depending on your current fitness you may need to bike only 3 out of 7 days the first week (With resting in between). After that it will became really easy for you.

I checked your route using the Google Streetview and found there are a lot of bicycle taxis out there, which suggests these roads are plenty used by bikes and you should have no problem with traffic speed, but be very careful with the basic cycling safety measures. Sticking to the same traffic patterns should help to make things safe enough, but you may want to ask fellow cyclists for tips.

If you already own a bike, give it a try on any free day! That will let you have a better understanding of what will be required.


How to build a Camping trailer, and riding across country with it I'm trying to build a camping trailer for my vintage Schwin Le Tour. I want to ride my bike across country and camp in this the whole way. I was wondering if anyone has done this before, and if anyone has tips for building one! Id really appreciate it!!

I haven't built a bike trailer but used a B.O.B. Yak for a trip from the UK down through Europe.  It was a great trailer and we were able to fit a large 2-man tent in there plus other stuff.  We also had front and back panniers.

See here:  http://www.bobgear.com/bike-trailers/yak

I now use a Burley D'Lite with 2 toddlers in it.  Even though you could fit more stuff in it than the B.O.B. I would be wary of getting the centre of gravity too high.

See here: http://www.burley.com/page_308/dlite-p308

The thing to bear in mind is that these companies have researched the handling, aerodynamics, load bearing, etc which is something that you'd need to consider.

For touring I'd say the Yak is the way to go as it is designed and built specifically for this use.

Edit: Also, bought trailers come complete with the things you need to attach it to your bike.


What is the optimum location / offset of a derailleur hanger vs axle? In my particular case, I would quite likely be using something like a GoatLink so I can use an 11-40t or 11-42t cassette on a home-built recumbent tadpole trike (so, single rear wheel). I'd like to use it with a triple crankset. Are there any reasons for me NOT to just add the derailleur hanger in about the location it would be with the GoatLink installed?

How far behind and below the axle center should the derailleur hanger threaded hole generally be? Either in a general case, or for large range cassettes in particular.

What are the downsides of it being too far down or too far back? I would have to guess that as total distance from hanger to axle increases, that shifts to/from the higher gears (smaller tooth counts) would be "less crisp". Maybe ground clearance as it moves too far down? Maybe not enough chain around the circumference of the cogs as it moves too far back?

Note on the rear of the Goatlink, there is a lump which should sit on the original rotation stop.

Shimano includes these diagrams in their rear derailleur documentation:

(source: peterverdone.com)


Bike making random noises after being lubricated I bought a second-hand bicycle two weeks ago. Everything seemed to work like a charm; smooth rides; no noises whatsoever. However, lately I decided to oil it. I think that I put excessive amounts of oil in the cassette and derailleur.  I used Liqui Moly 1613 MoS2-Rust Remover.

Right after the lubrication, the bike started to make a random noise while coasting. The noise is random, it doesn't appear periodically, but it is there and it kicks in let's say several times in a 1 minute span. It sounds like cracking joints (bones), but a little bit more intense and sharper. Nonetheless, the ride was still smooth.

I didn't have the chance to ride it again after the first trial after the lubrication.

I hope you can give me some insights regarding the possible problems my bike might have. Can it be just because of the excessive lubrication? Is there any risk if I continue riding it like that, given that the ride seems super smooth still?

Edit:

I rode the bike after I came back from vacations, and the noise is not present anymore :).

First, what you have is a bike with derailleur gears. The derailleur itself is the mechanism that moves the chain onto one of several sprockets mounted on the rear wheel hub to achieve different gear ratios. The sprockets can be referred to as a sprocket cluster. Many people also call it a cassette (although that properly refers to sprockets mounted in a particular way).

The sprockets themselves do not need lubricating, only the chain does. Excessive lubrication can be dangerous if oil gets on the tires, braking surfaces on the rims (or discs on new bikes) or brake pads. It also tends to make a nasty mess, getting on the frame, wheels, legs and clothing.

What I would do is give the bike a good clean, using a degreaser product to remove the excess oil on the sprockets and chain. There are decent citrus based ones available that work well and are not expensive. There are many Youtube videos out there that will show you how to properly clean a bike including the sprockets and chain (example below).

Buy some bicycle chain specific lubricant and re-lube the chain. Bike chain lube may seem expensive but it lasts a long time because you only need a drop on each joint in the chain.

From you description it's hard to say what's causing the noise, but it seems likely it's connected to the freewheel ratchet mechanism if it only occurs when freewheeling. I doubt it is due to excessive oil on the sprockets. If you are not mechanically inclined I'd have a good local bike repair shop check the rear wheel. Even if the noise isn't dangerous it's super annoying for a part to break on a ride and leave you stranded.


What makes a cassette mountain bike vs. road bike? I'm in the market for a new cassette for my road bike and I frequently see cassettes listed as mountain bike or road bike. Since they're usually interchangeable and can be used on either type of bike, what makes manufacturers designate them as one type or the other?

Road typically has a smaller range.  A road bike will typically come with a short cage derailleur.  Where a mountain will typically come with a medium or long cage derailleur.   Yes the mount on the freehub is compatible.  It is about the range capacity of the derailleur.


How do I make a MTB shifter fit on a Road dropbar? I'm about to buy a MTB, since we don't have cyclocrosses here in my country. I'd like to have a road dropbar, but can't spend money on a road shifter like tiagra sti. I know the mtb handlebars are thinner than the road handlebars. Is there a way to make, say, a deore shifter on a road drop handlebar?

I'd recommend trying out some bar end shifters. You can get indexed ones for a few different gearing combinations. There are some ultegra bar end shifters on amazon for around $75usd. However, you could probably score some used ones cheaper via ebay. These are like what come on the surly cross check in the stock configuration.

You could mount regular rapidfire shifters on the top center part of the drop bars.  It might take some widening of the clamp to get it to work.  There is a thread on MTBR about an experience like this.


Identify this shaft driven bike for me I can't identify the manufacturer nor the year it was produced.

It has a serial number on the frame, just above the front fork, something like 93042829 or so what (peculiarity: the numbers are engraved head down).

So, can anybody help me, please?

Looking at the integrated shaft and the style of bike it could be from Arcade. I can't see the bike in their current catalogue, but that's hardly surprising. Maybe if you contacted them directly they could help you out.

This is the key part of the only shaft drive bike in their 2016 range:


Tires for 28' city bike (622x19C) to reduce rolling resistance? I've got a simple city bike that needs some new tires. The bike has been fairly hard to ride lately, and I would like to speed it up a bit. The rims are 28' 622x19C, the current tires are 47mm or 1.75' according to the imprint (although 47mm = 1.85').

It feels like the rolling resistance is too high, compared to similar bikes with thinner tires. Now I've read that thinner tires should have a higher resistance in theory (because there is a larger contact area in rolling direction). But my feeling from comparing several bikes (not MTB or racing, but very similar ones with differnt tires) is that thinner tires feel faster and seem to have less resistance (probably because thick tires have a larger contact area perpendicular to the rolling direction - think of a car tire as the extreme case). Note when I say "thinner", I don't mean like a racing bike, but 37 or 40 mm instead of 47.

So, how to decide what tires to put on the bike? Will thinner tires (optimally inflated) reduce or increase the percieved resistance?

Or do you think I've just been riding with too low pressure all the time, and the current tire size is fine? If thicker really = faster at optimal pressure as they say, maybe the thicker tires also tempt people to use not enough pressure? Otherwise I can't explain my gut experience that the thick tires feel slow.

I have replaced 2.0 (50mm) Schwalbe Marathons for 1.35 ones, and that made an ABSURD difference in my roling resistence. I was feeling burnt out by commuting, and since then I started to feel "exercised", getting to destination much faster and/or with less effort.

Then I got a bike with 700x23 tires, and THAT is good, concerning speed and low effort.

The only thing I think is very important: these skinny tires work fine, even with not-ideal road condition, if the bike has a more performance-oriented position (a firmer grasp on the handlebar - which is lower - , less weight on the saddle). If you take a more upright citybike (the first bike I described), the extra speed gained from thinner (not skinny) tires can make the bike too uncomfortable if road condition is not good.

I have also heard those theories about "balloon is the new fast", but that seems very non-scientific, since the "studies" never describe the parameters that varied versus those that remained constant, not to say other methodologic steps. As for me, narrower is obviously always faster (which doesn't mean always better).

Hope this helps!

(by the way, I think 32mm is a good number to try)


Bike seat tube is messed up I was testing my seat and as I was sitting on the bike on the highest level of the seat post.
My seat post came off and bent my seat post, so I ordered another, but now my seat tube doesn't allow my new seat post to fit in even though I bought the same size.
I got a wrench and made my seat tube bigger and finally it fit but now my seat clamp doesn't fit.
Now I ordered a 34-point-something seat clamp which finally worked but now my  problem is my seat clamp isn't tight enough.
My seat goes left and right and when riding for a long time my seat goes down. Is there anything I can do?

My seat tube used to be 28.6 after this incident my old clamp didn't go back in, so I got a 30mm seat clamp but that still didn't work.
So I bought a 34.9mm seat clamp as I thought maybe if I get a bigger size and then really tighten it down it might work as I don't know my bike seat tube size, Then the seat tube in the frame was out of shape.
Could you give me advice on what clamp size to get?
I just bought 2 clamps 28.6 and 31.8 hope one fits.

What’s happened here is that you have expanded the diameter of the top of the seat tube, in the process it looks like you have made some small cracks on the top edge, and created a number of burrs. That’s why the original seat post clamp will not fit anymore.
The larger clamp obviously does not work as its diameter is too large to clamp down on the tube with enough force.
Given that there is a reasonable length of seat tube above the top tube, I’d say that this is rescuable by carefully cutting the deformed area away. Removing 5mm from the top of the tube and smoothing the area below to remove burrs may be enough. The slot in the back of the tube may also need to be extended to allow the seat clamp to compress the tube.
No offense meant, but given that you’ve made a big mess of the seat tube with your own efforts, I’d enlist the help of experienced bike mechanic, who will also be able to assess whether the seat tube can be cut back safely.


What bottom bracket is this and why does it have a lockring? After watching some videos I'm pretty sure that the BB on my bike is a three piece square taper type.

After a short search I couldn't see any any videos or articles on how to remove a BB which has the 20 groove cups (?) and a lockring.

The bike is Pinarello Lungavita single speed. I bought it second hand and I cannot find any info on what the BB is.

Would you be able to figure out what BB it is and what the locking is for?

It's probably a cup and cone bottom bracket with the splined tool interface rather than wrench flats or pin holes. Most recent ones are like this, I believe as a function of what tools now make up the standard arsenal at bike factories. Or it may be a cartridge BB with a lockring, which have existed but aren't common. In either case, you remove it by loosening the lockring and then removing the cups.


Are unicycles more, or less, efficient than walking? (or are they just for fun, entertainment and exercise?) There are various sizes and shapes of (pedalled as opposed to electric) unicycles.
It is possible to buy them with large wheels, supposedly for road use.

Image still sourced from

Question
I imagine that the lack of a freewheel mechanism, having to brake by back pressure and the effort of balancing mean that they are inefficient and require constant effort. Also there are no gears for going up or down hills.
Does travelling by unicycle have any advantages over walking as a mode of transport? Would level city roads be most suitable? Does it ever become easy and/or completely subconscious with practice?

With a competent rider, a unicycle is far more efficient than walking. As evidence of that consider for example:

World 24 hour distance record on a unicycle : 453.6 km
One hour unicycle record : ~30 km
Record unicycle time on Karapoti Classic race : 4:11:43 (50 km off-road MTB ride with ~1500 m of climb)

These feats are all well beyond anything anyone could complete on foot.

For comparison

24 hour walk (on a track) 216.621km by Claudio Sterpin (Italy) on 19 Oct 1986 in Milan
24 hours walk (on the road)  228.930km by Jesse Casteneda (USA) 19 Sep 1976 in Albuquerque
1 hour walk 15,577 metres by Bernardo Segura (Mexico) 7 May 1994 in Fana

24 hour ride (indoor track) 941.872 km by Christoph Strasser (Austria) 14–15 October 2017 in Switzerland
24 hour ride (road) 915.39 km by Ralph Diseviscourt (Luxembourg) 11 July 2020 in Luxembourg
1 hour ride (track) 55.089 km by Victor Campenaerts (Belgium) 16 April 2019 in Mexico
Record time in Karopoti MTB  2:07:57 by Anton Cooper from Woodend, New Zealand in 2014.

 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cycling_records#24_Hours_record and http://www.karapoti.co.nz/files/3915/8322/1936/20_Fastest_Karapotis_03.03.20.pdf no times found for walking the route.
It appears that in terms of distance-covered-in-time, or time-to-cover-distance, unicycling is very approximately twice as efficient as walking and half as efficient as bicycling.


Entry level bike for 140kg rider - what features to look for and what to avoid? I am a fairly large person (140kg). 7 years ago I used to bike quite a lot (I would go everywhere every day on the bike). Back then I weighed much less (I also was much younger, now I am 20 years old).
I am looking to buy an entry level bike (is around 250 euros but I can go higher, which is a decent sum in Romania).

My question is: what should I look out for in choosing my bike in order to be sure that I am buying a bike that will last me for some time: what parts that tend to be most affected my the users' weight should I check, what dimension for the tires (I am 1.90 m tall) etc.

I will mainly use it to go on normal, asphalt, roads, so I don't require something that is sturdy from that point of view. I plan on using it almost as much as I used the bike back then.

You should buy a touring bike. Whereas a regular road bike can accommodate a person weighting 100kg, a touring bike can accommodate a person weighting 100kg and also 40kg of cargo. So, without cargo, a touring bike will accommodate a 140kg person.

Needless to say, avoid those low spoke count wheels and select 36-spoke wheels. There is absolutely no reason to choose 32 spokes unless you really have to. Less spokes than 32? No way! (Although I have to say you can get away with 32 spokes on the front wheel, but I don't see the reason for making such a strange choice.)

Unfortunately, such quality bikes cost starting from about 1000 EUR, not about 250 EUR. The one I have has been built myself from the Long Haul Trucker frame: http://surlybikes.com/bikes/long_haul_trucker but I wouldn't recommend building a bike yourself unless you really want to learn how bikes work.

I don't believe you can find a decent touring bike as new costing only 250 EUR, so your only options are to increase your budget or to look for used touring bikes.

If you find your seat post slips due to your high weight, buy a big honking seat post clamp: http://surlybikes.com/parts/small_parts/constrictor

If you find the spokes don't stay tight, first have a competent mechanic adjust spoke tension and true the wheel, and if that doesn't help, buy some good quality rims and have new wheels built. The wheels I built myself use these rims: https://www.rosebikes.de/artikel/xtreme-sari-t-19-r-28-atb-felge/aid:46903 ...that absolutely can withstand a 140kg person, provided that the spokes are tight. Unfortunately, they don't seem to offer a 36-hole variant anymore (I bought them when 36-hole variant was offered), so that may necessitate making the strange choice of 32 spokes. Use DT Swiss Alpine triple-butted spokes in the 2.0mm variety if you need to have a new wheel built.


Can a new chain significantly improve the riding experience? If yes - what else can? I am a casual commuter (in average 2 days per week, 30 km per day), on a generic bike which I bought a few years ago.

Yesterday I took the opportunity of having the bike reviewed and the chain and back cassette was changed (the technician said I am lucky to have gone so far and I believe him).

Coming back home after the repair was a new experience: significantly faster and easier.

My first question is whether an old vs new chain can change the riding experience in a significant way. I am trying to weight this vs a placebo effect (though I felt the same way this morning).

If the answer is "yes", than I would be keen on changing/fixing other elements which would help me. I want to keep the bike and the breaks are good (this is something I take care of since my life directly depends on them). Are there other parts I should explore changing/improving?

Note: I do not want to turn my bike into another bike, I am happy with the basic parts as they are. It is rather some elements which need periodic change (chain in the example above) or simple fixing which I am trying to locate.

In other words the V-breaks are great, even though changing to disk ones could be much better. The frame is heavy but never mind - I will not switch it to a carbon one. On the other hand if making sure that [something] is tight is important, I would make sure it is tightened. The whole question arose when I saw that enormous difference after just changing a chain (and some other basic adjustments I do not know about, but they were just adjustments)

The one substitution that will probably give you the most bang for your buck is better tires. High-quality tires roll with much less rolling resistance, have better grip, weigh less, and roll over small imperfections more easily. And if you're riding on tires with knobby treads, but only riding on the road, tires with minimal/no tread will ride much faster and smoother.

Keeping your drivetrain clean and properly lubed will also make a noticeable difference.

Making sure your bike fits you will make a big difference, and you may want to get new handlebar/stem/saddle to achieve a good fit.


How to release brakes to install front tire So, 21 yo mountain bike w/o quick release brake system.  Reinstalling a front tire that was repaired but confused on easiest/simpliest way to release brakes so the fat 'ol tire can be seated.  I do realize I can deflate the tire but wanted to learn another method.  I don't want to create a mess by going at it w/o a bit of guidance - any help would be most appreciated

The intended method is to unhook the cable from the far cantilever in the photograph. Hopefully the straddle cable end fitting has a wedge-shaped bit sticking out of the back of the calliper, as visible on the far left here: .
Squeeze the two brake arms together, and pull on this wedge, and lift the metal cylindrical part out of the slot. If there is no wedge shaped piece, push the cable into the caliper to free it. Some straddle cables have a piece of metal on the cable to help you do this but I can't see one in your photo.
There is video and pictorial explanation here: http://www.madegood.org/bikes/repair/open-a-cantilever-brake/


What is causing the chain skip after chain replacement? I have a road bike that was converted to single speed with a single sprocket on the read wheel and a single chainring.

I had a 3/32 chain which worked perfectly fine. However after many kms and apparent chains stretch I decided to replace the chain.

I replaced the chain with a single speed 1/8 chain which I assumed would work perfectly, given that there's a single sprocket and chain pitch is standard.

  All modern bicycle chains are made to the “one-half inch pitch” standard, meaning from rivet to rivet is nominally 0.5 inches. The sprocket teeth are cut for this same one-half inch standard to accept bicycle chains. However, this does not mean all makes and models of chains are interchangeable. source

Since I replaced the chain, the chain skips on the rear sprocket due to what appear to be misalignment which compounds after a couple of revolutions and then skips.

I tried adjusting the chain tension but that doesn't seem to help.

Hypothesis to explain the problem:

The stretched chain had deviated from standard pitch and caused the sprocket (which is relatively old) to match it through constant wear.

How reasonable is that? Should I just replace the sprocket? Could the problem be elsewhere?

Yes, the stretched chain wears the chain ring and sprockets to match its pitch. It's recommended to use a chain gauge (such as this one by Park Tools) so you can replace your chain before it's stretched enough to do significant damage to the rest of the drive train. If you do let the chain stretch too far, you'll need to change the cassette/rear cog and/or chain ring(s).

The teeth of new chain rings have a mostly symmetrical profile; worn ones acquire a characteristic "shark fin" shape that's steeper on one side than the other and quite pointy at the top. On a one-by or single-speed bike, that's pretty easy to identify; on a bike with front derailleurs, be aware that the chain rings tend to have several teeth with funny profiles from new, to aid with shifting.