Virtual Bike Workshop (1 Viewer)

[brianoak]

Excellent. I get to go to the petrol station and shoot water at stuff. How very manly.

Dont do that.
Power washing blasts all the grease out of hubs and freehub bodies.It will cause almost intstant problems in most cases.

 

[magicbastarder]

yep, nothing to shift that shit like petrol and a toothbrush. plus, you can then flame off any dirt left by igniting the remaining petrol.

lest i get sued, the second half of this advice is mere speculation and almost certainly wrong.

 

[flashback]

just so I am not being thick here, so you are talking about the indexing here for the gears?

This is fairly easy to fix.
There is a gap between each of the gears that the shifters know about. They will step the cable in and out that amount.
First drop the shifters all the way down so the chain runs on the smallest sprocket.
Make sure it is actually on the smallest sprocket.
(Your chain should be on your big ring at this point. )
Make sure there is not much slack on the cable.
Make sure the little wheely screw adjuster is not all the way in or out.
Click one gear up. The chain should neatly jump up. If it doesn't, tighten the wheely screw thing on the cable where the cable enters the rear mech.
Drop down, and try again.
It should be neat, and snap up.
Once you have the first one done, they should all be done.
Make sure that you can snap up and down, and keep micro adjusting the wheel till its quiet and neat.

And, yeah, cleaning the whole thing and using a light lube will make a huge difference.


edit... also, you should only use the smallest two sprockets with your big ring, and your top two with your little ring. Otherwise you are twisting your chain. the ratios overlap, you will have that ratio somewhere else, when the bike says it has 14 gears or something, its lying, it has about 10 usable ones.

 

[mr pharmacist!!!!1]

ive tried a few of the bike shops in town for a bmx but they only do kids ones.
is there somewhere around dublin that has a decent selection of bmx's?

 

[Space]

ive tried a few of the bike shops in town for a bmx but they only do kids ones.
is there somewhere around dublin that has a decent selection of bmx's?

Try this thread, there's a few shops mentioned.

http://www.thumped.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=52311&highlight=bmx

 

[mr pharmacist!!!!1]

Try this thread, there's a few shops mentioned.

http://www.thumped.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=52311&highlight=bmx

cheers

but that only makes me miss sexypornolady more.

http://www.thumped.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=833698&postcount=9

 

[redd]

what Flashback said.

^^ this should sort your problem, I wasn't sure from your post if the gear slipping is happening when your changing gears or when your cycling and they slip and the pedal just seems to move forward. If it's the latter your chain and gears could be worn. Hair Iron Madin pretty much covered this but another quick way to check this is to put the chain on the largest front chainring. Pull the chain away from the chainring at it's furthest point forward. you should only see the bottom of one or two teeth. if you see more or can see a whole tooth you'll probably need a new chain and cassette or gear block.

the only things i would add are that the adjustment screws on the derailleur (the two little ones beside each other) are just there to stop the chain derailing off either the smallest sprocket (bad) and the largest (really bad). A good way to get adjust these correctly is to flip the bike over and put it in it's highest gear. This should mean the gear cable is slightly slack. use the pedals to spin the back wheel. Carefully use your hand to move the derailleur all the way to the largest sprocket, if you can move it further the chain will derail and slip down between the sprocket and the wheel. Screw in the adjustment screw (some of them are marked H and L, I think it's L for the larger sprocket) you should feel it moving the deraileur towards you.

Once that's done spin the wheel up again and as your turning the pedals let go of the derailleur. it should scoot down the sprockets and stop on the smallest one. if it comes off altogether you'll need to adjust the other screw to move the derailleur away from you


i :heart: bikes!

 

[sarah]

cool and helpful thread... anyone have opinions as to the quality of these here velocity
rims? http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/velocity.asp

I'm looking at the ones with machines sidewalls which I'm assuming are for road bikes while the others are for track?...larve the colours! opinions appreciated.

 

[flashback]

Screw in the adjustment screw (some of them are marked H and L, I think it's L for the larger sprocket) you should feel it moving the deraileur towards you.

i was going to go there, but I didn't want to scare the hoopleheads.

That screw controls the upper and lower limit of the mechs reach. Like red said.
Also... well, for me, if you see any teeth on the big ring test, I need a new chain.
Also look for Shark finning of the teeth of the front ring.

both == buy a new chain / chain ring / maybe sprockets.

Emm. Sarah, so I dont really know about Velocity rims, I have ridden Mavic rims for years, including a fair number mentioned by your man.
Mavic rims are great. I have hockey the fuck out of them in races, hitting potholes dead on at 30mph and so forth, and they come back for more.
There is a huge difference in decent rims.

Also, I have to say that the new Shimano XT, and Ultegra hubs are deadly too. If you are getting decent rims, you might as well get a decent hub.



edit/// here, Lance Armstrong went through a chain etc a week...

when he was training.

The mind boggles.


edit//// 2 here, if you are buying Rims and hubs and things, you are going to have to have someone lace them up for you, and build them. You have someone in mind?

 

[Space]

Brianoak does it, wheels like.

 

[flashback]

Right. I am sure Brian can for example.

Unless you have built wheels before, you'd be well advised to get someone to do that for you Sarah. Its not really something you can do with no experience.

I think we used to charge 30 quid for a build.

What's cool when you get a new wheel is the crackles it makes when its bedding in.

Get stainless steel spokes too.

 

[redd]

cool and helpful thread... anyone have opinions as to the quality of these here velocity
rims? http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/velocity.asp

[FONT=&quot]I've never used them myself but nearly every second bike at the Cycle Messengers World Championships at the weekend had them, so i guess they're pretty reliable. they're supposed to be pretty tough and relatively lightweight and they look deadly.

The ones with Machined sidewalls are for brakes without for track or uberhip brakeless fixie riders i have heard talk that you can use a brake with the non machined ones if you use brake pads designed for carbon rims but i don't know the science behind that.

would you be using them for a road bike or a singlespeed / fixie? if it's the later you can get a ready built set on ebay with decent enough formula hubs delivered for about €215, might be cheaper that ordering all the parts separately and getting a shop to build it[/FONT]

 

[brianoak]

Like flashback,I never heard much about Velocity rims.
I always rode mavic both off and on road.
I have a cheap set of cosmics on my road bike at the moment and they are awesome.Was taraining in the Phoenix park last week and it was more like riding off road than on with the state of the roads.wheels held up well though.

 

[Hair Iron Madin]

yep i've also used mavics for years machine walled for brakes and those designed for disc brakes and they're tuff as nuts.

as for the bmx question. i bought my adults(big child ) bmx in cycleways last year. its a specialized its a tiny bit heavy but takes a battering which is handy for dublin streets/trenches. they've got a small selection based on models they stock in shop (specialized and i think mongoose)

http://www.cycleways.com should list them

it would be good also if people could list online places to buy parts and bikes. i wholeheartedly recommend these guys;

www.chainreactioncycles.com based in belfast

bought a bike frame, groupset, rims, disc brakes, hubs etc off them for years and as well as often being cheaper than shops here (no surprise there) they offer free shipping to the republic, always deliver on time and promptly too. they're great to deal with over the phone as well. oh and they also stock bmx bikes and parts.

 

[redd]

chainreactioncycles.com are great, nice selection of tools and parts a bit focused on mountain biking and the newest equipment but if they have it they have the best prices and free postage to Ireland and the UK so they're usually the first place i check.

one of my favorites for hard to find stuff especially for older bikes is St John Street Cycles in England http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/ they have a massive selection and have been really helpful with any queuies i've had.

 

[Space]

Another place to check for bmxs is the board room run by some friends of mine based outta greystones:

http://theboardroom.ie/

 

[mazzyianne]

If anyone is interested in starting a real life bike workshop there were suggestions of having one in seomra spraoi. However any bike enthusiasts involved so far are too busy/underconfident to get it started.
Anyone up for it?

 

[Pedronimus]

IK have a question folks,
i've had 2 double punctures in the last week, are those armadillo tyres worth the money money? i don't care if they make the ride rougher, I just wanna get to and from work without glueing patches.

 

[classic seanc]

IK have a question folks,
i've had 2 double punctures in the last week, are those armadillo tyres worth the money money? i don't care if they make the ride rougher, I just wanna get to and from work without glueing patches.

Never tried them, I seem to be remarkably fortunate with punctures, but I've heard from a fair few people that they're the most effective of all the anti-puncture solutions.

 

[rettucs]

IK have a question folks,
i've had 2 double punctures in the last week, are those armadillo tyres worth the money money? i don't care if they make the ride rougher, I just wanna get to and from work without glueing patches.

I got some of the dutch ones on my hybrid that I cycle in and out of work on. I've never had a conventional puncture with them (long story).

and I don't notice the ride being that much rougher. Suppose I'm just used to it now.

Seanc, don't tempt fate. You know you're due a glut of them now.... Have the puncture repair kit and the levers to the ready.