Search found 2682 matches

by mig
26 Mar 2024, 12:42pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: how slow do they get?
Replies: 17
Views: 1090

Re: how slow do they get?

Galactic wrote: 19 Mar 2024, 2:49pm
Mike Sales wrote: 19 Mar 2024, 12:59pm My grandfather ran a bike shop (it got him out of the pit).
I remember his first test on a flat, Woods valve tyre was to deposit a gob of saliva on the valve opening. A leaking rubber would be betrayed by a bubble.
I appreciate the OP didn't say which valve his inner tube has, but I am triggered by the very thought of a Woods/Dunlop/Blitz valve. They seem to regularly develop slow leaks that are practically impossible to source or prevent. Now any inner tubes with that kind of valve get no second chances from me. Whip 'em out and replace with a tube sporting a 'proper' French/Presta/Sclaverand valve.

(And why do the damn things keep turning up on my fleet? I'm plagued by them. Whenever I rescue a bike from the skip it seems to be fitted with them. My partner also seems to enjoy bringing Dunlop-valved inner tubes home, triumphantly showing me that she too is capable of procuring spare parts for the bikes.)
it's a presta valve and the thing is still holding some air........
by mig
26 Mar 2024, 12:40pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Broken Chain! I’m a complete amateur
Replies: 17
Views: 1005

Re: Broken Chain! I’m a complete amateur

what 'sort' of broken chain?

you were riding along and it quietly separated somewhere along its length?

it physically snapped in use?

there was some sort of malfunction of the gearing resulting in a tangled chain, rear mech, chainset type of combo and the chain came apart in the resultant melee?
by mig
22 Mar 2024, 11:03am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Is this terminal?
Replies: 50
Views: 2496

Re: Is this terminal?

looks like a pinned joint between the seatstay and the dropout. affected by some apint/powdercoat coming off it but not 'cracked.'
by mig
19 Mar 2024, 10:26am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: how slow do they get?
Replies: 17
Views: 1090

Re: how slow do they get?

dunno..!! haven't properly investigated as yet.
by mig
19 Mar 2024, 10:16am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: how slow do they get?
Replies: 17
Views: 1090

how slow do they get?

two weeks ago i spotted that the rear wheel of my work bike had a visit. hey ho - the first for many a long year. decided to use up a new tube and fix the old one later.

swapped it out, pumped it up and hey presto, back on the road.

the problem with the old tube was less easy to find so inflated it to about 35psi and left it hanging in the shed. two weeks later it has lost pressure but not so much! have never had anything nearly as slow as that....is this a record? :D
by mig
19 Mar 2024, 10:09am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Re-using an old 8-speed Campagnolo wheel
Replies: 17
Views: 688

Re: Re-using an old 8-speed Campagnolo wheel

slightly alarming to read that campagnolo 8 speed stuff is regarded as 'ancient.'

i won't tell my summer bike :wink: (due out soon hopefully.)
by mig
18 Mar 2024, 3:19pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Re-using an old 8-speed Campagnolo wheel
Replies: 17
Views: 688

Re: Re-using an old 8-speed Campagnolo wheel

Brucey wrote: 18 Mar 2024, 10:43am IIRC Miche do sprockets (into the 30's IIRC) to fit campag freehub bodies. Not that it isn't especially difficult or challenging to make your own, but they also do various width spacers, so you can build up miche cassettes to be compatible with almost any modern indexing system.
IIRC ambrosio(?) used to do a replacement cassette where each sprocket used a slightly larger splined fit and the cassette came with spacers and carriers to suit. I mention this because IIRC this system was quite popular BITD,(so there is lots of campag 8s stuff out there), the system supported larger sprockets (which don't tend to wear out) and you could use as many ( or as few) of the special sprockets as you want. Given how useless (for touring) the smallest sprocket in a standard cassette is together with how easy it is to add a sprocket at the other end of the cassette it wasn't exactly surprising to see how many people ran basically standard cassettes but without the smallest sprocket and with an added larger one.

Anyone with a welding set and half an ounce of brain power pretty much has the World at their feet here, I reckon. Whilst it isn't even slightly tricky to weld HG type steel sprockets together so they are strong enough it is tricky to get everything to stay concentric and sufficiently free of distortion. However, if you can manage this, there is nothing to stop you from rebuilding any worn campag fit cassette using shimano sprockets, any size.
Marchisio i think.
by mig
14 Mar 2024, 8:51am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Tourer for gentle off-roading?
Replies: 145
Views: 6691

Re: Tourer for gentle off-roading?

who / what establishes wheel size in the first place?

slowly adopting a standard from BITD?
by mig
12 Mar 2024, 1:55pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: "Plus" vs breaker for fairy protection
Replies: 16
Views: 959

Re: "Plus" vs breaker for fairy protection

one thing that i have noticed in the past few years are increasing amounts of screws, drill bits, powered screwdriver fittings, nails etc simply dropped into road side gutters. if walking i often pick up several within a mile. i'm sure that there weren't nearly that many in the past. disposable tools? careless people?
by mig
11 Mar 2024, 12:53pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: "Plus" vs breaker for fairy protection
Replies: 16
Views: 959

Re: "Plus" vs breaker for fairy protection

UpWrong wrote: 11 Mar 2024, 12:15pm
531colin wrote: 11 Mar 2024, 12:00pm I don’t think I’m imagining it, I think I have seen ( on here) a photo of a nail not just embedded in a (rear?) tyre, but also piercing the rim. That implies to me a lot of force.
Yes, the screw put a hole in the rim tape and with the tyre deflated I can believe that iit would quickly have damaged the rim if I hadn't stopped immediately. I wonder if the screw had been there for a few hundred years, sealing the hole it created and only becoming apparent as the tyre gradually lost pressure with subsequent rotations.

As you say, rather different from the usual piece of flint, glass or a thorn.
that's quite a while for it to be lodged..! :wink:
by mig
8 Mar 2024, 9:26am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Fill that hole
Replies: 60
Views: 4030

Re: Fill that hole

MikeF wrote: 3 Mar 2024, 7:40pm Filling potholes is "sticking plaster". It should not be needed in the majority of cases - the road should be resurfaced so that potholes do not occur. In most cases noting the section of road that's failed should be what is reported, and not pinpointing the exact position of potholes. There are several reasons why potholes occur. Many are caused by utilities just back filling a trench and resurfacing the backfill, leaving the road with a mixture of surfacing and base that wears at different rates.
very much so. i have reported several potholes in recent weeks and they have been attended to. the problem being that it is usually in the order of "wellying in half a bucket of tarmac" and the hole re-appears sometimes in days especially when there is so much rain.
by mig
7 Mar 2024, 9:03am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Belts and chains
Replies: 23
Views: 1311

Re: Belts and chains

what is a typical price for a belt?
by mig
6 Mar 2024, 12:38pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Belts and chains
Replies: 23
Views: 1311

Re: Belts and chains

does your current bike have decent mudguards with a lengthy front mudflap?

do you clean the chain regularly?
by mig
4 Mar 2024, 3:29pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: SKS Rennkompressor rod washer replacement, how?
Replies: 6
Views: 354

Re: SKS Rennkompressor rod washer replacement, how?

i have both a rennkompressor pump (a red one with a leather retaining strap for the handle) and a silca. the latter has a simple, push on chuck and is far easier to use than the SKS - the head of that is far too big and tends to flop out of line with the valve causing sealing issues. the pumping action itself is fine though.
by mig
23 Feb 2024, 9:17am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Are there any modern cranksets that aren't goppingly awful?
Replies: 41
Views: 3497

Re: Are there any modern cranksets that aren't goppingly awful?

in pure engineering terms, to take the forces involved, what would be the best shape? something that doesn't taper at all?

does the orientation a square taper 'hole' make any difference? (it did BITD when i broke a chainset side crank as the stoker of a tandem to find the replacement....er.....was differently oriented to the left hand side. bah! :roll: )