Cycling UK Forum

I measured the recess in the Gran Sport lever body into which the cable housing protrudes. It’s about 3.0 mm deep at the edge and 6.1 mm wide. However, the bottom (with the small hole for the inner cable) is bowl-shaped so that it’s deeper in the centre than the edge. May explain why old Campagnolo ...

I finally got some Gran Sport brake levers. They have a few scratches and blemishes on the outside but look like new inside. These levers haven’t seen many miles. Brand new hoods too, though not sure if genuine: https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/33/dyDRh1.jpg Like everything else I’ve seen of T...

In a 700C wheel, the SONdelux is fine for lights unless you expect to ride at very slow speeds, but it wouldn’t be my choice for charging devices while touring. The SON 28 would be better for that because it delivers more power at modest speeds. (Builds a stronger wheel too, because the flanges are ...

The morons as you call them with some justification are obsessed with how many grams a new pedal saves compared to its predecessor or a competing model. If that sum is in the high single figures it impresses the reviewer. Bushings, especially plastic ones, are lighter than ball bearings. Probably ma...

If Santa needs a pointer, the torque wrench kit that Wiggle is selling for just 25 quid is surprisingly good. The bits are hard and the wrench is convenient to use – a lot more convenient than the discontinued Park Tool beam-type torque wrenches that I now have instead.

Both bolts were still on the crank but I can't recall seeing the stopper plate and plate pin. Are these parts plastic? The plate is plastic with a steel pin. Brucey’s point (a), above, is why I grease the spindle splines before fitting the left crank. Shimano recommends this in cases where the join...

[…] I put the crank on and gave it some extra welly but nice and evenly on the two bolts. These two bolts: was at least one of them lying on the ground after the crank fell off? There is a “stopper plate” with a “plate pin” that, when fitted right, prevents the crank falling off even if the bolts g...

You’d be surprised how tight 5Nm is. You say that, but when I got a torque wrench I was surprised how light 5 Nm is. I was going far tighter than that with finger and thumb on an Allen key. Pwa had a similar experience: 5Nm isn't much and doing it with an allen key is risky. I broke a stem where it...

Torque wrenches may be faulty, can one easily get them calibrated? Sure, not that careful calibration is needed to beat gut feeling. Feeling by hand is quite accurate I think It’s not remotely accurate. Even the best mechanics are all over the place. That works for a Massey Ferguson, but lightweigh...

You end up with a force of 5Nm spread equally across the plate […] You’re using torque units to describe force, like Manc33 did earlier. If the clamp is the same size, there’s about twice the clamping force if it has four screws rather than two at the same torque. Of course there are a few gotchas ...

Darkman wrote:(assuming there are 4 [screws], one of our bikes only has 2).

Which in itself renders the concept of a torque value printed on the handlebar a bit daft, doesn’t it.

I recall trying to explain this a while ago. Where did this persistent notion of torque as clamping force come from, Manc33? As for the Chinese bar with the 5 Nm symbol, the number was probably pulled out of thin air or copied from a brand name’s installation instructions. Still, it’s probably about...

I’ve ridden a shaft-drive bicycle, possibly even one of those Arcades (Arcade is a French brand). It felt not only draggy but springy. Removing the springiness would likely come with an intolerable weight penalty.

There’s a lot to be said for chains on sprockets.

Thanks for the answers, all. It’s a shame they’re not all the same, but they give me a clearer idea of what’s possible. The car lives a couple of floors underground with no real light. There’s no mains power but I don’t think we need it. We typically use it every couple of weeks for a decent drive (...

mjr wrote:Rear light failures seem less common now that LED lights are widespread.

Yes, but, at least here in Paris, too often they’re not on because the car has daytime running lamps and the driver is too ditzy to turn on the night lamps. Shows how often they look at the speedometer!