Cycling UK Forum

25 mile pootle on the tandem with a lovely lunch in the middle and a pint at the end. Definitely calorie positive

Definitely the cable

My gear cable broke 50k into a 200k audax (mea culpa). I found the Gloucester Bike Project in Gloucester open (Saturday) and asked for a replacement. It was raining so they said to bring my bike in. I set about getting the old cable off and one of the mechanics spontaneously gave me a hand. After i...

The Shimano rotors come with figure 8 shaped lock washers and if you fit them maybe the torque need not be so high. These fellas on the left that say TOP on them https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/images/products/medium/36771.jpg I imagine most people just launch em in the bin, but I pity the fool that jet...

The best way to get decals on straight is to stick a length of masking tape where you want the bottom of your decal to be. Take a step back, check it's straight, check it's the same height both sides, mark where you want the decal to start and stop with more masking tape. Place decal, rub well to re...

It sounds to me like you've got a leaky caliper. The brake fluid has to have gone somewhere when it leaked and it sounds like it's gone on your pads/rotor causing it to squeal. One way to check is to clean the caliper as best as you can, let it dry then put some tissue paper behind the pads, squeeze...

And when you have your compact double with 11 speed 11-40 cassette you'll have almost the same gear range and exactly the same intervals between gears as my ancient 9 speed 48-38-28 triple with 11-32 cassette! Such is progress. Why did the 50/34 with 11-xx become so popular? I only got into cycling...

I reckon that frame is either anodised or cerakoted. *edit-noticed you said it was anodised* Not that it really matters for your purposes, you can't use either process to touch up, so you'd be using paint regardless. If I was you I'd use spray.bike, the rough matt finish that stuff gives is very sim...

Shimano GRX RX812 rear mechs can take up to a 42t rear cassette, I think they're compatible with all of the Shimano hydro disc levers? Certainly all of the 11s ones

Columbus Life chainstays I reckon

I think this sort of corrosion/blemishing happens under all kinds of powdercoat and it's only visible on the clear powdercoat frames. I don't think it will be as visible under the flame lacquer as the clear, the flame lacquer is close to rust in colour! I'm certain it would be a pain to touch up. Th...

Yup, the Token is Shimano spline. I have also never seen the 115mm version. This type of bottom bracket is a little sensitive to fitting, much like the Record/Chorus/Centaur units. If you tighten the left cup fully the bearings run a little tight. I usually fit them with threadlock and slightly less...

The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles by Jan Heine is one of my favourite bike books. Not exactly what the everyman was riding but some great examples of the state of the art 1930-65

This is very common with Italian threads, put threadlock on the drive side and if your threads haven't taken too much damage during the previous unscrewing events they might hold with threadlock. Check for damage on the threads of your BB and frame. If there's a lot of damage on the frame threads, y...

Most cheap freewheels do this. The sprockets will wear out long before the rest of the freewheel fails in my experience so don't worry about it. Much more likely to snap or bend an axle than for the freewheel to fail. Part of me says buy a better rear wheel with a freehub rather than a freewheel bec...