the 'there's no such thing as a stupid question' bike maintenance thread

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118409982#Comment_118409982

Cheers, appreciate the offer.

68 lost souls

Front wheel was jumping a small bit on breaking and discovered a small dent and raised spot on the braking surface where it must have taken a bang. Smoother it out as best I can but a little worried about the small chip out of it. Thoughts on this and if I need a new rim/wheel

cletus

I'd imagine it's small enough that it won't make any difference. What thickness is left on the braking surface? The pads will do a fair job if evening it out over time

nicksnikita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118412987#Comment_118412987

I'd second that

68 lost souls

That’s what I was hoping to hear. I think there’s a decent amount left still on the braking surface. Light file and sand brought down the raised edge and didn’t seem to affect braking too much today. Thanks again

jimm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118413375#Comment_118413375

Isn't that a wear indicator on the rims braking surface?

I.E. when it's worn away and no longer visible, the wheel is not safe to ride.

Dilbert75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118414131#Comment_118414131

If it were just an indentation, it could well be that, but the post described a "raised spot" which wouldn't correspond to the wear indicator.

68 lost souls

Yeah no it’s not the wear indicator. On these rims There’s a line around them which is the west indicator. This was definitely a bang as the material which had filled that spot was raised up and I could feel the breaks hitting it every rotation until I cleaned it up.

pretty sure on the tyre you can see some signs of the same bang as the rim as it’s a bit scuffed there

cletus

This is sort of a cross between a stupid question and Today I Did Something...

Shifting on the rear derailleur is off a little in some of the middle cogs. Figured too much slack in the cable, maybe, so threw the bike in the stand, chain on smallest cog, took out the slack and wound in the barrel adjuster.

Cue much feckacting around, as I tried to fettle the gear changes. Most of the difficulty is in moving back to the smallest cog.

Watching the derailleur as I shift, it seems the derailleur is slow moving outboard. I'm thinking it may need to be taken off and cleaned.

Other than a new cable, has anyone got any suggestions or comments?

stevencn88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118480501#Comment_118480501

I had a "slow" moving derailleur recently. New cable didn't completely solve the issue (it did improve a bit) but a good cleaning and a new cable had it shifting like new.

07Lapierre

Disconnect the cable from the derailleur. Place the bike in a stand and turn the pedals. Assuming it does, move the derailleur manually and confirm that it moves up to the largest sprocket.release the derailleur and let it bring the chain back onto the smallest sprocket.

holed the bottom of the jockey pulley cage and move it side to side (towards the spokes and back) it should feel quite rigid. If it feels loose or floppy, you may need a new derailleur. If it feels ok, hold the cable and move the shifter lever and confirm it’s operating correctly. If it feels “knotchey”, it could be a frayed inner cable wire.

Wildly Boaring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118481157#Comment_118481157

Another job for when I get a chance. Old bike not happy shifting through them right

hesker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118480501#Comment_118480501

How old is the cassette and chain

cletus

Cassette is on the bike from new, so about 1500 miles on it. Chain was replaced a little over a year ago, there's about 760 miles on it. Checked it with a chain checker, it's close to 0.5 stretch, still a way off 0.75. It's 9 speed Sora, so should be a bit of life in it yet. I think it's most likely a sticky derailleur/cable combo issue, so I'll start with the cheapest option 😁

magicbastarder

so I'll start with the cheapest option

ignoring the problem?

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118482421#Comment_118482421

Well, I'll ignore it for tomorrow morning's cycle.

Then I might take off the derailleur and clean it ( or maybe I'll just have a cup of tea, depends)

DaveyDave

How often to people replace inner and outer cables? Think I'm due a full replacement as the brakes don't pull very smooth. Also think the factory cables could do with being a bit shorter to tidy up the front of the bike. I don't think it's very cheap to get a full replacement in the bike shop though even with rim brakes and basic internal routing.

Wildly Boaring

Not very often.

I've to do the back brake annually main bike. Gets a light rub where it comes out from frame.

From the above seems I may have to do rear gear cable on old bike.

Never done front cable or outer on a bike.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118382786#Comment_118382786

Just to follow up on this one, I got some expert advice, which found it to be a drop of paint, that scraped off fairly easily. Very curious that it had got there during manufacture and hadn't been noticed by anyone, including myself.

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118481157#Comment_118481157

No play in the cage, and the derailleur returns to the smallest cog when released, and not connected to the cable.

I'm thinking that I might have inadvertently caused the issue myself. When I was initially taking slack out of the cable, I opened the cable clamp and pulled the cable tight, then tightened it back up.

It could be that I was over enthusiastic, and that in 'neutral', as such, the cable was pulling inboard, preventing me from fully releasing the derailleur.

I'll check it out tomorrow

loyatemu

How often to people replace inner and outer cables?

I've had my road bike 12 years now and I've never replaced a single cable - gears and brakes all still working fine (Shimano 105).

My hack bike, I replace them as required which is usually at least one cable a year, but it lives outside, and is a piece of junk. It also has the rear cables running open along the top of the top tube which seems a bad design (actually the road bike has them running open as well, but along the underside of the tube, don't know if that make a difference)

CantGetNoSleep

I've got a Shimano CS-HG-700 11-34 (11 speed) cassette on the way to me. This is 105 equivalent for 11-34. I'm a bit confused looking at the Shimano website about freehub compatibility as I know it is one of those rare cassettes that works with both 10 & 11 speed Shimano.

I want to fit it to a normal 11-speed freehub body - do I need a spacer?

MojoMaker

Check it will work with your RD as well.

Paul Kiernan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118504643#Comment_118504643

Yes you will! But I think it will come with it.

Edit - yes, it does come with the 1.85mm spacer. See here for HG800 which is the same.

Rosahane

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118504643#Comment_118504643

Any harm asking where you got it? I want to get exactly the same.

Also, does anyone know where to get the best comparable front 36 tooth chainring? The person from whom I bought the bike had replaced the Praxis Albs 50/34 with a single 36 tooth which works perfectly for my elderly cycling. The one on it is a Hope and it doesn't have a chain guard. Does this mean I need a "Narrow Wide" type?

CantGetNoSleep

Thanks all for the replies

@Rosahane - got it on Bike24, was over 50 or even 55 euros though but that seems to be going rate for a 105-level cassette these days, they were much closer to 30 three or four years ago

nicksnikita

FSA Gossamer BB30 crank removal issue:

The retaining ring (left hand thread) is lost and the self-extracting left side crank arm won’t self-extract without the ring in place.

Rebuilding a friends bike and he sourced a new retaining ring but the diameter is too small. The one we need is approx. M27 or M28.

Been to all lbs within reach to no avail

Maybe someone here has a spare I can borrow or buy? Happy to cover postage and post it back to you after using it to remove the crank if that suits.

Cheers, Nico

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118480501#Comment_118480501

So, I took off the derailleur, stripped it, cleaned it, and reassembled, took off the cassette and cleaned it, put in a new inner shift cable, replaced some sections of the outer (I had zero interest in removing and rewrapping bar tape), and finally, cleaned the chain while everything else was off the bike.

Result. Shifting through all the gears, nice clean changes, no ghost shifting, no double shifting.

I've no idea which of the things I did above fixed the problem, but it's probably a combination of all of them

CianRyan

A nice, clean machine of any kind is just my kind of thing. Beautiful!

nicksnikita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118512816#Comment_118512816

Sorted with a hammer and a length of metal bar