Search found 297 matches

by 22camels
12 Aug 2017, 7:51am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Unexplained clicking noise when riding over bumps
Replies: 19
Views: 5048

Re: Unexplained clicking noise when riding over bumps

Brucey wrote:a simple test would be to try a different rear wheel and see if the noise is still there or not...?

cheers


UPDATE: It is not the wheels! Tried friend's rear wheel (wrong cassette but enough gears worked) - noise still there. I do not believe it can be the front wheel either (noise has occurred when rolling the bike with front wheel lifted off the ground).

mig wrote:lifting the front end and getting the click makes you think it's the back end? what about the front fork dropping a little away from the stem if the aheadset is a tadge loose?


Lifting the front and getting the click combined with lifting the back and not getting the click, makes me think it's the back end. But yes I suppose your explanation makes sense.

What else can I try?
by 22camels
28 Jul 2017, 7:03am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Unexplained clicking noise when riding over bumps
Replies: 19
Views: 5048

Re: Unexplained clicking noise when riding (or walking bike) over bumps

[edited subject]

Thanks. I will try to find another rear wheel to test though it may take a while. I attach a pic of the bike below.

20170728_123046__1501220901_147.47.211.78.jpg


Could still be: rear hub, cassette, free hub, rear QR skewer, rear spokes, rear mech, front mech, chain, crankset, BB, seatpost.

Saddle itself - no (it happened with original saddle). Rear brakes - unlikely - doesn't appear to be any correlation between usage of brakes and subsequent click or lack of. Pedals - no. And it's not the mini pump.

Front end has seemingly been ruled out (no click when walking with rear end off the ground).

Reset time (after one click, it usually doesn't click immediately after, but needs a few minutes to 'reload') is suspicious.
by 22camels
27 Jul 2017, 6:16am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Unexplained clicking noise when riding over bumps
Replies: 19
Views: 5048

Re: Unexplained clicking noise when riding over bumps

So a little progress.. when wheeling the bike along and going down a curb (at the location in my daily commute where it almost always clicks)... it did not click when I lifted the back end of the bike off the ground, but it did click when I lifted the front end. This suggests it's something to do with the back end. Probably not headset related. I'll keep looking.
by 22camels
25 Jul 2017, 6:02am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Unexplained clicking noise when riding over bumps
Replies: 19
Views: 5048

Re: Unexplained clicking noise when riding over bumps

Thanks for the comments everyone. I will play around over the coming days and report back. I'm pretty sure it's not my shoe laces!
by 22camels
24 Jul 2017, 9:08am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Unexplained clicking noise when riding over bumps
Replies: 19
Views: 5048

Unexplained clicking noise when riding over bumps

Thought I'd try here as a last resort. Bike shop have inspected it many times but were unable to find root cause. Many bike noises are hard to pin down. This one is almost certainly harmless, yet annoying.

Basically whenever you ride off shallow curb, over a speed bump, or over some other unevenness in the road surface, hear a single 'click'.. it's hard to describe in words what exactly this click sounds like. Not every time, but most of the time. It happens even when walking with the bike, when you wheel it along and go over a curb.

Terrible video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6doSN ... h1eEk/view
(you see it happening over a large speed bump here, but it happens over much smaller bumps too)

Road bike, giant defy 2: https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/defy-2-2016

Noise occurs often (every few minutes when riding) but hard to consistently reproduce on demand. Which means bike shop guys actually have to go outside and ride it for 15 mins, something I'm not sure they have the patience for. I am currently based in South Korea so various language and cultural differences.. one guy in this shop speaks decent English but still.. unfortunately my Korean is not good enough..

Noise started as soon as I bought the bike brand new a year ago and has never really gone away. The shop where I bought it, a couple of times they did something that made it go away temporarily but it always came back. The most promising time, they said they had rebuilt the front wheel, that there was something with the spokes that was causing the noise, but it came back within a couple of weeks, and I am not convinced if that was really the problem.

It feels a little bit like a spring, in that if it clicks once, then if you try to get it to click immediately after, the click will be weak or absent, but if you give it 10-15mins to store up the energy.. it will click quite loud.

I am wondering if it's something with the caliper brakes.. or perhaps the mechs.. or the headset.. it's nothing to do with the pedaling action that's for sure.

Any bright ideas? I don't think any bike shop here will be able to figure it out..

Thanks!
by 22camels
9 Aug 2016, 11:47am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Riding to Heathrow and flying out?
Replies: 6
Views: 647

Re: Riding to Heathrow and flying out?

You can take the bike on the Heathrow Express (did this recently) and also I think on the cheaper but slower Heathrow Connect, possibly up to certain rush hour restrictions (check the website). I am sure that you can also pedal it all the way from central London to the airport, if you have a lot of time, and can find a nice route: http://cycle.travel/map?from=London%20P ... 3162807515
by 22camels
9 Aug 2016, 6:09am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Rice Cakes as a booster?
Replies: 10
Views: 838

Re: Rice Cakes as a booster?

rice cake on the other hand... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_cake
by 22camels
18 Jul 2016, 1:38pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: any recent news on getting russian visas?
Replies: 5
Views: 516

Re: any recent news on getting russian visas?

I must have got about 15 Russian tourist visas over the past 15 years and I have to say little has changed. Most recently in April in London (UK passport). I am sure you can get it in Helsinki unless there have been some very recent changes, though in theory they can insist you apply in a country of residence or citizenship, this is unlikely. You will need a tourist visa support letter / voucher which you can obtain from travel agents for a fee (try asla.co.uk). It looks like the Finland applications are now also handled by VFS: http://www.vfsglobal.com/russia/finland/english/. You will need a lot of attention to detail. Also it's not cheap (approx. 100 GBP all in for a UK passport for the single entry 30-day visa). Good luck!
by 22camels
15 Jul 2016, 2:50pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Sri Lanka
Replies: 16
Views: 1293

Re: Sri Lanka

May I ask how the fork got bent? I fly with a Thorn Sherpa and hoping to avoid such hassles.

Wanted to go to Sri Lanka for a week at the end of August as am currently only a short flight away in South India, but doesn't look like I will have time now.. maybe in a few months.
by 22camels
3 Jul 2016, 2:39pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Best airline for bike travel - Lufthansa ?
Replies: 28
Views: 6544

Re: Best airline for bike travel - Lufthansa ?

Yes that's right - 23kg one bag max, so part of your luggage has to be packed with the bike unless you are going really lightweight. For a 4 pannier tour it would be a problem. It's not as good as the 30kg with no limit on number of bags offered by some other airlines.
by 22camels
3 Jul 2016, 7:55am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: lightweight shoes for panniers
Replies: 55
Views: 5666

Re: lightweight shoes for panniers

Yep SPD sandals are brilliant. I've been off the bike for a month now and been wearing the Exustar SS 503 every day (the cleats are still in). Perfectly good regular sandals.
by 22camels
2 Jul 2016, 8:44pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Best airline for bike travel - Lufthansa ?
Replies: 28
Views: 6544

Re: Best airline for bike travel - Lufthansa ?

CJ wrote:Don't be a skinflint. It's worth quite a lot to be able to tour your own carefully specified touring bike, rather than some over-geared, ill-fitting rental machine, so pay up and be glad of the service.


It depends on the routes you fly. Many airlines don't charge for the bike as long as it's within the checked allowance and long may this continue. There are often other good reasons for choosing one of these airlines, e.g. I much prefer flying with a full service airline than a budget airline. Most (all?) budget airlines charge. BA is often a good choice when flying to/fro the UK with a bike and they don't charge. Travelling in groups is more challenging. I guess if I were organising that I might prefer to go with an airline where you have to pay to add a bike to your reservation so as to have some reassurance they will take it rather than just turning up and hoping for the best. But that won't be possible on some routes.
by 22camels
26 Jun 2016, 6:34am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Best airline for bike travel - Lufthansa ?
Replies: 28
Views: 6544

Re: Best airline for bike travel - Lufthansa ?

CJ wrote:But when you've paid more than the price of a seat for someone to carry your bike, such a level of charging infers a moral obligation upon the carrier to take no less care of it than of one's own person! Pay cheap, expect shoddy.


I don't understand this at all. It's baggage handling company staff and other airport staff who take care of your bike from the check-in desk to loading it onto the plane at one end, to unloading it and taking it to baggage reclaim at the other (also if there is a transit). Most of the time as far as I am aware they don't work for the airline, and they handle multiple airlines' baggage. The airline matters only in so far as it puts restrictions to whether you can check in your bike at all, the total weight and number of pieces of luggage, how it is packed, and how much they charge you for it. Of course, if it comes out damaged or lost at the other end, then (correct me if I am wrong) I imagine the airline would be responsible and then how much you paid to carry the bike might make a difference.. but this is a 1% scenario.

I flew with SQ (Singapore Airlines) once but it was 4 years ago, it was fine, I wouldn't hesitate at all to fly with them now but hopefully someone with more recent experience will come along.
by 22camels
20 Jun 2016, 5:52pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Iceland trip notes
Replies: 12
Views: 1483

Re: Iceland trip notes

Hi musicdude,

You might want to start a new thread, with some more specifics of the kind of trip you are planning (Iceland? 2 weeks?) - more people would see it and be able to offer relevant advice.

There is definitely a learning curve with this nitty gritty of cycle touring logistics when you start out and there are more things to think about with a family of 4 than touring solo. I am still pretty new to it myself and a lot of it is quite specific - what works with regard to say bikes on buses in Iceland and flying to Iceland will be different compared to going to some other country.

I think Iceland requires more advance planning than most other European cycle touring destinations. Here are some links to get you started:

http://www.hjolafaerni.is/images/storie ... 15-net.pdf
http://www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/iceland.shtml
http://www.masterlyinactivity.com/ivan/iceland.html
http://members.ziggo.nl/erens/iceland.htm
http://www.fjallahjolaklubburinn.is/english
https://www.easyjet.com/en/terms-and-co ... s/bicycles

With storing the bike bag - if you have one you would like to keep for future trips, you can stay at a guesthouse near Keflavik airport on the first night and ask them to look after it for you (you may also need to stay there the last night). I had a cheap CTC plastic bag which I got rid of after I arrived (though I could have carried it around because it's only 0.7kg in weight). I knew I would be able to buy another similar plastic bag from the Iceland Air desk in the airport for the return trip for not too much money.

Good luck!
by 22camels
20 Jun 2016, 4:34pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Favourite Welsh mountain climbs? (On-road)
Replies: 18
Views: 1890

Re: Favourite Welsh mountain climbs? (On-road)

I imagine you'll get lots of replies, but I'll start off with Gospel pass on the NCN42, allegedly the highest road pass in Wales.

gospel-1.jpg
gospel-2.jpg