Search found 796 matches

by NickJP
28 Mar 2024, 8:11pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Tips for fitting tyres to WH-6800 rims?
Replies: 8
Views: 347

Re: Tips for fitting tyres to WH-6800 rims?

Are you starting fitting of the bead opposite the valve and finishing fitting the bead at the valve? If you do it that way, you can get the already fitted section of bead into the well at the centre of the rim all the way around, which makes it easier to get the final bit of bead over the rim wall. If you do it the other way around, then the valve prevents the already-fitted section of bead at that point from going into the well, making the tyre harder to fit.
by NickJP
27 Mar 2024, 5:36am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Broken Chain! I’m a complete amateur
Replies: 17
Views: 1028

Re: Broken Chain! I’m a complete amateur

Brucey wrote: 26 Mar 2024, 12:16pmSince then I have studiously avoided chain tool use on 9s and higher chains, except for shortening them.
I've had a Rohloff Revolver chain tool for many years. It has a tungsten carbide anvil that peens the end of the joining pin. After driving the joining pin through the chain and snapping off the excess length, you rotate that anvil in line with the pin, lock it down, and then apply considerable force to the other end of the pin to peen the end that's come through the chain so that it can't back out. Until recently, all Shimano chains used the joining pin, even 11s chains, but I haven't had anyone come back to me complaining of a failure at the joining pin after this treatment.
PXL_20240327_050447226.jpg
by NickJP
27 Mar 2024, 5:25am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Broken Chain! I’m a complete amateur
Replies: 17
Views: 1028

Re: Broken Chain! I’m a complete amateur

531colin wrote: 26 Mar 2024, 1:52pmUnless I made it up, wasn’t there an episode years back when a particular type or make of chain used to get cracks in the sideplates radiating out from the rivet? Wrong sort of steel or hardening process?
I've seen it on a few chains in the past few years. Here's one - this is a KMC, but I've also seen the same problem with other brands of chain.
BrokenChain.jpg
by NickJP
21 Mar 2024, 8:11pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Can you judge hub quality by how long the wheel spins freely?
Replies: 15
Views: 9056

Re: Can you judge hub quality by how long the wheel spins freely?

pete75 wrote: 12 Sep 2016, 7:38amDepends what you mean by quality. All else being equal a well sealed hub will not spin for as long as an unsealed hub.
Agree. I have a pair of wheels with Newmen hubs that use full contact seals on the bearings, and the seals cause the wheel to stop spinning more rapidly than a wheel with semi-contact seals. However, the full contact seals also do a better job of preventing contaminants from entering the bearing.
by NickJP
20 Mar 2024, 8:30pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: 8 speed chain on 10 speed chainset ?
Replies: 19
Views: 1023

Re: 8 speed chain on 10 speed chainset ?

Brucey wrote: 19 Mar 2024, 4:39pmSRAM have used a different chain roller dia. in their 12s stuff, so it is completely incompatible with everything else.
Only the flat-top AXS road chains use the larger roller, their 12s MTB chains still use the standard roller size.
by NickJP
18 Mar 2024, 9:29pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: 8 speed chain on 10 speed chainset ?
Replies: 19
Views: 1023

Re: 8 speed chain on 10 speed chainset ?

I just used vernier calipers to measure the inside width of Shimano and SRAM 12s chains: 2.1mm (that's slightly less than 11/128"). When I check some unused 8s chainrings in my spare chainring collection, the tooth thickness ranges from 2.0mm to 2.2mm. I know that some of these chainrings will work with the 12s chain, as I have that exact setup running on one bike, so if you measure with a decent pair of vernier calipers you should be able to determine if your older chainrings will work with a modern narrower chain.
by NickJP
18 Mar 2024, 1:04am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Re-using an old 8-speed Campagnolo wheel
Replies: 17
Views: 691

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

mattsccm wrote: 17 Mar 2024, 6:54amAh but those are Fulcrum bodies /wheels not older Campag . You have fitted one of those free hubs to a Campag , not Fulcrum, hub?
Correct. Campagnolo Record hubs that I had built into wheels myself. If you scroll down the Cycle Clinic link that I previously gave, it lists the Fulcrum/Campagnolo wheels/hubs that the freehubs fit.
by NickJP
17 Mar 2024, 3:41am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Re-using an old 8-speed Campagnolo wheel
Replies: 17
Views: 691

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

drossall wrote: 16 Mar 2024, 8:15pm It's not the hub proper, it's the body (the splined bit onto which the cassette slides). Campagnolo and Shimano have never made available bodies for each other's cassettes.
This is definitely wrong as regards Campagnolo. They make cassette bodies for Shimano cassettes that fit their hubs. I have two of them on Record hubs that I used to race on, but converted with the Shimano-compatible cassette bodies when I wanted lower gears than the largest Campagnolo cassette would give me.

See, for example, https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/products/c ... alloy-axle.
by NickJP
13 Mar 2024, 4:35am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Noisy freehub - quieten with grease?
Replies: 35
Views: 1582

Re: Noisy freehub - quieten with grease?

Valbrona wrote: 12 Mar 2024, 5:48pmGrease pawls and they stick.
Use a 50/50 mixture of grease and oil. I started doing this after finding the suggestion in the cassette body service instructions for the Phil Wood hubs on our tandem, and have found that the same mixture works fine on all the other brands of freehub I have tried it on. The mixture quietens noisy freehubs to some extent and doesn't cause the pawls to stick.

Step 4 in these instructions: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0378/ ... 79ea79.pdf.
by NickJP
28 Feb 2024, 6:16am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Replacing fully concealed cables
Replies: 33
Views: 2706

Re: Replacing fully concealed cables

A while ago I read this article: https://www.bikeradar.com/features/tech ... le-routing. The totally hidden cable seem to be almost universally reviled by the mechanics who have to work on them.
by NickJP
24 Feb 2024, 10:14pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Rims with decent braking surface thickness?
Replies: 120
Views: 12210

Re: Rims with decent braking surface thickness?

Pebble wrote: 24 Feb 2024, 8:36amI don't think rims last long at all, esp the rear, couple of winters, and for me with my vintage bike '126 OLD' I have to rebuild the rear wheel as they are not available off the shelf.
I use the Mavic 119 rim, I keep buying the same one as I know it will fit my hub and spokes, but could there be a better rim to use ?
According to Damon Rinard's Spocalc spreadsheet, the ERD of the 119 rim is 604mm. Look for something with the same ERD within a millimetre or so.
by NickJP
24 Feb 2024, 3:43am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Rims with decent braking surface thickness?
Replies: 120
Views: 12210

Re: Rims with decent braking surface thickness?

Brucey wrote: 25 Feb 2019, 7:14pmSomewhere I have a pair of Mavic Module 3 rims from BITD. These rims weigh about 520g , are 22mm wide and have brake tracks about 2mm thickness. C'mon Mavic, you know you can do it......stop foisting your current crap on us!!!
Yes, I still have unused MA2 and Module 3 rims to build into wheels when needed. When Mavic replaced those models with whatever model replaced them (can't remember what it was), I didn't think much of the replacements, and went round the better local bike shops and bought several pairs of the older model rims.

Velocity still offer some of their rim-brake rims with unmachined sidewalls, and Grand Bois sell nice unmachined rims as well.
by NickJP
22 Feb 2024, 8:10pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Are there any modern cranksets that aren't goppingly awful?
Replies: 41
Views: 3503

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

pwa wrote: 22 Feb 2024, 7:34pm
scottg wrote: 22 Feb 2024, 5:40pm rene.jpg

https://www.renehersecycles.com/product ... ts/cranks/
Made for the Japanese and American markets.
Interestingly, those are a bit too retro for my tastes. The crank arms look like summat off a steam engine. I prefer mine more smoothed off and rounded, ala Campag circa 1990 for example.
The main problem with those Herse cranks is that they use a unique bolt circle with no 3rd party suppliers of chainrings, and when they're out of stock of a particular size (which seems to happen not infrequently), you're toast if you need that size of chainring.
by NickJP
21 Feb 2024, 9:31pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Are there any modern cranksets that aren't goppingly awful?
Replies: 41
Views: 3503

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

cyclop wrote: 21 Feb 2024, 7:15pmWhat a relief.....I thought it was just me.I hate the damn things,well,the look of Shimano at least.I like the ease of removal to clean,even though the bearings are not as durable as old style 3 piece cranksets with recessed bearings.There must be some nicer 2 piece designs out there?
Sugino OX look OK. They use the same 24mm axle size as Shimano cranks. And BETD still make the nice looking Middleburn RO2 cranks, that also use a 24mm axle.

Here's a Sugino OX 801 I installed on one of my wife's bikes and an RO2 on one of my bikes:
IMG_20180102_144900.jpg
IMG_20180822_163836.jpg
by NickJP
18 Feb 2024, 5:47am
Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
Topic: Swytch - apparent tiny battery capacity?
Replies: 23
Views: 4831

Re: Swytch - apparent tiny battery capacity?

I converted my wife's old commute bike using the Swytch kit with 180Wh battery. When she takes that out on a 60km ride that we do every Friday, that has about 500m of climbing along the way, she usually has about 40% battery remaining at the end of the ride. However, as an experienced cyclist, she really only uses the battery assist when climbing, and rarely uses anything more than the lowest power assist level when she has it on.