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

SmartinMartin

Hi, looking for a bit of help. I'm stripping down a 1940s Raleigh high nelly, and it's been straightforward up till now. The problem is with the handlebar stem where it's connected to the forks. I've opened top and bottom of the fork tube and removed the ball bearings, and I've unscrewed the 8" expander bolt and tapped the inner wedge nut out, but the handlebar stem is stuck tight inside the fork stem. Before I use force can anyone tell me am I missing something else that needs to be unscrewed? Thanks in advance, please see the photos below:

Glencarraig

SmartinMartin wrote: »

Hi, looking for a bit of help. I'm stripping down a 1940s Raleigh high nelly, and it's been straightforward up till now. The problem is with the handlebar stem where it's connected to the forks. I've opened top and bottom of the fork tube and removed the ball bearings, and I've unscrewed the 8" expander bolt and tapped the inner wedge nut out, but the handlebar stem is stuck tight inside the fork stem. Before I use force can anyone tell me am I missing something else that needs to be unscrewed? Thanks in advance, please see the photos below:

Probably just seized with rust. Try a bottle of Coke, no better man for separating rusted parts

Type 17

If you’re sure that you’ve freed the wedge plug that the long bolt is screwed into, then it can only be rust that’s holding it. Not too bad as it’s steel stuck in steel - an alloy stem stuck in steel forks is a real curse.

SmartinMartin

Thanks folks, that's what I was hoping for. Wd40 and brute force with a bit of heat it is so.

CrowdedHouse

FWIW I find the Tec7 version superior to WD40

Type 17

If you’re twisting hard, be sure to secure the forks at the crown, rather than by holding the blades, or the front wheel - old style thin forks like this are easy to bend through twisting forces like in this scenario.

SmartinMartin

Yarra I use the term Wd40 in a generic way, I've several different types in the garage. As for bracing the forks, yes I'm keeping that in mind thanks, I'm going to sit them down over a thick plank and twist that way.

magicbastarder

do i remember seeing a video where the steerer tube has actually expanded inside the fork tube from being overtightened?
i may be thinking of a completely different system, mind you.

SmartinMartin

magicbastarder wrote: »

do i remember seeing a video where the steerer tube has actually expanded inside the fork tube from being overtightened?
i may be thinking of a completely different system, mind you.

I think I definitely have that problem on the second bike. Cannot get the expander bolt to budge.

Flaccus

Have rotors and pads with only a few hundred km on them. Replacing rear rotor (as damaged). Should I replace pad at same time. Has very little wear I reckon but thinking might be easier to bed everything in nicely with new pads. Commuter bike. Ta.

doozerie

Type 17 wrote: »

If you’re twisting hard, be sure to secure the forks at the crown, rather than by holding the blades, or the front wheel - old style thin forks like this are easy to bend through twisting forces like in this scenario.

I had exactly that happen to me a few years back when dealing with an alloy stem stuck in a steel fork steerer. Lots of penetrating oil, lots of leverage, and a reassuring amount of sideways/rotational movement became obvious after a few minutes.

Took me a while to realise that my forks were breathing their last, fork blades akimbo, the stem itself hadn't budged at all. Moved onto the hacksaw after that, dug a shallow grave for the forks.

doozerie

Flaccus wrote: »

Have rotors and pads with only a few hundred km on them. Replacing rear rotor (as damaged). Should I replace pad at same time. Has very little wear I reckon but thinking might be easier to bed everything in nicely with new pads. Commuter bike. Ta.

I'd remove and check the pads and decide based on the amount of visible wear. Unless they are badly worn, or worn unevenly, or show obvious signs of either contamination or damage, then I'd continue to use them.

It's usually quick enough to swap in new pads anyway so if you decide to keep the old ones but try a test ride and decide they are not working well, you could swap in new ones then.

magicbastarder

i'd keep the pads if they're reasonably new. i've taken mine off multiple times to clean, and do you think i keep track of which is the inside pad and which is the outside pad? that's a no.
basically, every time i clean the bike, i've a 50/50 chance of basically replicating a full brake pad change.

S_D

Hi all, I need help! I have a Zipp 900 disc, and noticed the free hub(188 hub) was loose, so decided to take it off, check it out, seemed ok (I think) , i cleaned it with de-greaser , popped some dry lube on the little pawl sockets, (Didnt lube anything else) popped it back together, tightened it up(not overly tight just so theres no play) but it feels very stiff and doesnt spin very freely! Maybe im being paranoid but am i missing something? I guess my main question is...how does one know when the free hub is worn and need replacing? (and I made sure to put it back together lol)

Ray Bloody Purchase

Spotted this hole in my tyre. there's a bit of a bulge in it. Will i be likely to have a blow out soon with it? I dunno if i should cycle it home tonight.

Type 17

Shouldn't blow out, but may enlarge over time and/or the tube may eventually wear on the edges of the hole and you'll get a puncture that way.

A tyre boot is a medium-term solution, but the tube eventually wears on the edge of them too...

Ray Bloody Purchase

Type 17 wrote: »

Shouldn't blow out, but may enlarge over time and/or the tube may eventually wear on the edges of the hole and you'll get a puncture that way.

A tyre boot is a medium-term solution, but the tube eventually wears on the edge of them too...

Cheers, i got new tyres at the weekend. Going to fit them tomorrow.

smacl

Ray Bloody Purchase wrote: »

Cheers, i got new tyres at the weekend. Going to fit them tomorrow.

You should also check that some or all of whatever caused that cut isn't still in the tyre or you'll very likely get a puncture on the way home.

cletus

I currently have a three speed shifter with a two ring crank set.

I'd like to set up the front derailleur to remove the ghost shift I have, question is, should I set the middle shift position to be the inner ring, and the top shift position to be the outer ring, or should I set the bottom shift position to be the inner ring, with the middle shift set to the outer ring?

Or does it matter?

Or should I leave well enough alone

magicbastarder

how are you going to remove the phantom shift? by playing with the limit screws?

cletus

magicbastarder wrote: »

how are you going to remove the phantom shift? by playing with the limit screws?

That's what I figured. Set the inner ring as you would normally, then use the h limit screw to prevent third shift, or vise versa, depending on advice here

magicbastarder

i've never done it before, but one thing i'd consider is that if you set 'big ring shift' on big ring - which at first seems sensible, if you do shift down to the phantom small ring, which the derailleur can't do, you'd be introducing slack into the cable. i can't remember exactly how much, but i suppose there's a possibility that based on the bike, this might allow the cable to slip out of the runner on the bottom bracket cable guide?

cletus

Thanks, hadn't considered that. Are there any issues, do you think, with the other option? As in if I have the middle shift position set to the outer ring, will shifting up again put undue stress on the cable?

The reason I was thinking of doing this is because with the current set up (as it came from the shop) I need to make the ghost shift to prevent some chain rattle at the derailleur. It's not the biggest deal, if I come from the inner to outer ring, I just give one last push on the shifter

Type 17

cletus wrote: »

...I need to make the ghost shift to prevent some chain rattle at the derailleur. It's not the biggest deal, if I come from the inner to outer ring, I just give one last push on the shifter

Are you sure that your shifter isn’t simply a double with a trim-click, (which allows to to cross-chain without rubbing the derailleur cage)?

Cee-Jay-Cee

Ray Bloody Purchase wrote: »

Spotted this hole in my tyre. there's a bit of a bulge in it. Will i be likely to have a blow out soon with it? I dunno if i should cycle it home tonight.

I have a tyre with a similar cut. The tyre had less than 50km on it when it was cut, so I removed it (from the front) put gorilla tape on the inside of the tyre over the hole and filled the hole on the outside with Loctite rubber glue and put the tyre on the rear. Its been perfect ever since and I have done close to 1500km on it to date.

cletus wrote: »

Thanks, hadn't considered that. Are there any issues, do you think, with the other option? As in if I have the middle shift position set to the outer ring, will shifting up again put undue stress on the cable?

The reason I was thinking of doing this is because with the current set up (as it came from the shop) I need to make the ghost shift to prevent some chain rattle at the derailleur. It's not the biggest deal, if I come from the inner to outer ring, I just give one last push on the shifter

If this is the case, then i'd just leave it as it is and treat the 'ghost shift' as trim.

cletus

Thanks for the reply lads. Guy in the shop told me it was a triple shifter (but Halfords...). Wasn't aware of trim shifter.

I may just leave it as it is, so

Eamonnator

cletus wrote: »

I currently have a three speed shifter with a two ring crank set.

I'd like to set up the front derailleur to remove the ghost shift I have, question is, should I set the middle shift position to be the inner ring, and the top shift position to be the outer ring, or should I set the bottom shift position to be the inner ring, with the middle shift set to the outer ring?

Or does it matter?

Or should I leave well enough alone

I have done this my "going to the shops bike".
It's an old bike, 20 years old with Shimano XTR shifter.
The shifter has the window to tell you which ring you're in( never understood why it was needed)
I set the high and low limit screws on the the front mech, shifted the mech to the small ring position and adjusted the cable accordingly, so there was no cable slack. Shifting to the middle position brings the mech perfectly to my outer ring. Shifting again meets resistance, so shifting is impossible.
I didn't realise until you brought it up that there could be a problem.

cletus

Type 17 wrote: »

Are you sure that your shifter isn’t simply a double with a trim-click, (which allows to to cross-chain without rubbing the derailleur cage)?

Had a look at the spec sheet for my shifter (Shimano Sora R3000), and you are indeed correct, type 17. Its a double shift with trim.

Thanks again for the comments, much appreciated

magicbastarder

noticed a creak, presumably from the BB, in the last week or so, and today spotted there's a little bit of play in the cranks.
am going to bring the bike around to the LBS tomorrow; it was there about 18 months ago to fix a similar creak and they spotted that one side of the BB had become slightly loose (it's an english thread BB, so a bit like pedals in that one side is righty loosey); they charged €15 to regrease and tighten it and it's been fine till now.

so the decision tomorrow - pay a professional €15 to sort it for me, or buy the tool and do it myself but have to learn how to do it along the way, and probably make mistakes?
i know which i *should* do, but what should i do, is the question.

cletus

magicbastarder wrote: »

noticed a creak, presumably from the BB, in the last week or so, and today spotted there's a little bit of play in the cranks.
am going to bring the bike around to the LBS tomorrow; it was there about 18 months ago to fix a similar creak and they spotted that one side of the BB had become slightly loose (it's an english thread BB, so a bit like pedals in that one side is righty loosey); they charged €15 to regrease and tighten it and it's been fine till now.

so the decision tomorrow - pay a professional €15 to sort it for me, or buy the tool and do it myself but have to learn how to do it along the way, and probably make mistakes?
i know which i *should* do, but what should i do, is the question.

I may be new to the cycling thing, but the answer to "should I buy a new tool?" is "always"