Cycling UK Forum

Thanks for the diagnosis Brucey. Ordered myself a freehub replacement - a ‘b’ match is all I can get because the original was titanium on an XTR hub and the replacement is an XT so probably going to be steel. Not complaining as the hubs are from around 2007 so all credit to Shimano that they’re not ...

I've been getting some nasty noises and occasional slipping from a freehub body so I opened it up for a look. One of the pawls feels a little 'lazy' even after all traces of grease were cleaned away so maybe the spring has lost of bit of power. The other possibility is wear on the ratchet serrations...

reasonably durable and very repairable, where other wheels may not be either of these things This tends to swing it for me these days. If you damage/wear out part of a hand built wheel it tends to be a whole heap easier to fix it than a factory built one. Broken a spoke? A few pence if you're happy...

Could I ask you if your 9 speed set-ups, DA and Ultegra, were double or triple? All doubles I’m afraid. I’ve never got on with tripples as I find the middle to inner shift so troublesome. The 9 speed shifters were bought back when I could ride at a respectable pace on 53x39 but these days I survive...

Mine was new and it wasn’t ok. Its substantial error was in the other direction though. As a lockdown project I built a calibration jig as featured elsewhere in this forum. Now the Park gauge is a useful tool but the supplied calibration table may as well go in the bin.

Glad to have been of assistance, even if that does mean you are lusting after some DA levers a little more now. You won't realise this but your discussions with Brucey around a year ago into brake cable pull ratios, BB7 disc brakes and NSSLR helped me greatly - now you know why I don't have those 10...

The more we discuss this the more i start to think that not only are the ST6510s not the same as DA, they're also more significantly different to the ST6500s of which I'm familiar. Provided they've maintained the good functionality of the ST6500s - and you should be able to check that now - that is ...

Ultegritis was a chronic but non fatal condition that started with the little plastic name plate making an irritating little rattle as you rode over rough (ie all UK) roads. Unfortunately it would then spread to the main brake lever which would make a much louder noise as it vibrated on our delightf...

Not sure if that has been said about this comparison, but if it has I disagree. I had 2 sets of Ultegra ST6500 (Mk 1 Ultegra 9 speed with the clipped on name plate rather than the screwed on one in ST6510) and while they all worked admirably they never felt as positive as the ST7700 Dura Ace levers ...

Most people won't be old enough to remember when kids' bikes came with a device to stop the handlebars turning all the way round; but thats whats needed. (Last seen on the Raleigh Twenty, I think) There was one on the Frog bike I just sold on Ebay on behalf of a friend. A bike which confirmed the e...

+1 for KMC X chains. Re the 20 year lifespan - if you subject it to a similar use and/or have the same tolerance of a worn drivetrain then no reason why not. Alternatively if you change the chain more often you could benefit from a more efficient drivetrain and further delay costly and potentially m...

Are you sure your existing chainset is 24-34-44? I don't believe they were regular rings on a Shimano chainset in that era, and hence if that is what you have the mech may not have been optimised for that setup anyway.

I have a couple of 559 Ryde Zac 2000 SEs (both with eyelets) and looking back at my notes I have the ERD recorded as 535mm for the rear and 536 for the front. They were bought at different times - initially the rear to re-rim a wheel where the brakes had worn through and later the front to build a h...

Thank you for these replies on the merits or otherwise of the eyelets - makes sense now so I shall not worry. I had noticed that many DT rims come supplied with washers so in that instance they are presumably recommended but the supplied ones should at least be the optimum shape. Interesting that Br...

Last time I built any wheels, quality rims all seemed to still come with eyelets in them. Now I’m looking into a new pair this no longer seems to be the case. Do the nipples gall into the rim as you approach full tension? Should I plan to use washers in the rim to avoid this? And more generally, why...