Cycling UK Forum

+1

Thanks for the replies, unfortunately the bolt that hold the crank on is to short to do the job. It's a solid axle so will have to be a bolt. I think it must be a metric fine thread as I tried a std 8 mm bolt and it wouldn't fit. Not sure where to get hold of a fine thread bolt as the usual places I buy nuts and bolts only have standard threads. I'll Have to do a search on line for one.

After struggling for two hours I final removed the square taper bottom bracket on my bike. The reason it took so long was the tool kept moving away from the bottom bracket when I applied pressure to the wrench. I read that a solution is to pass a bolt with a washer on the end, through the tool and bolted into the end of the taper. This holds it all together while you apply force.
I had a sort through my box of bolts but couldn't find one with the same size thread. Does anyone know what the thread size is? I don't want to have the same trouble next time

Bleep, This has been a long and interesting thread and I think the prediction that all top to bottom range MTB will be in carbon will prove or disprove fears about CF. My kids have had steel and alluminium MTB's. We never paid a great deal for them, they were terribly abused, in typical teenage fashion, yet not one the frames broke. I think if CF low price bikes can stand the same treatment i.e. riding 3 up, left out in the rain, riding up kerbs dropped, on the floor and in our case riding along beaches, then the strength of CF as suitable material for frame building can't be questioned. At present we're not able to but CF bikes at the sort of the market price I'm talking about, so can't compare them yet. Even riders with CF bikes who say they treat their bikes badly can't compare to the ill treatment suffered by bikes in a teenagers hands.
I think CF frames are the best looking of all frame materials, certainly far nicer than alluminum with all those prominent welds. I'd certainly buy one when they are available at my sort of budget and only after some 'teenage destruction testing'

Brilliant! Years since I did the training and this video had me laughing and brought it all back, just hope I never have to use it.

Think you must be missing a thorn in the tyre, very hard to find sometimes. Had a similar experience and would have sworn after the first puncture there wasn't anything in the tyre. Second time I checked even more closely as it was in the same area as the first and found the smallest of thorns.

no compulsion as an individual but may be needed if out with a club ride.

Just fitted 26 X 1.75 Schwalbe Land Cruisers. Very pleased with them so far, reasonably quiet and roll well. No idea how long they will last but at just under £13 not too bothered.

NUKe: I measure the chain with a digital caliper. I agree it is a low mileage but a lot of my rides are over dusty tracks so I expect wear to take place quite quickly. I'm not sure about my chain line, would it accelerate wear if it was out?

Brucey: 'Peaky pedal stroke' I've not heard of this before and it could be the case. I take it it's when you apply greater pressure to part of the pedal stroke or is it when one leg is stronger? I'm not a powerful rider but over thousands of miles I guess it would add up. No way of knowing if this is the cause but it's another thing I hadn't considered.
Regarding hardness of sprockets, it's a shame Mr Shimano can't find a better compromise between strength and wear. Are there any alternative steels that could be used?

MickF: I do have 11T and my wife has 13T but it's the middle range teeth that are worn.

I have a bit of a puzzle, at least it is to me. Why do the sprockets on my bike wear faster than my wife's ones?
We ride almost exclusively together so cover same yearly mileage and over the same terrain.
I weigh about 83 Kg and she weighs about 65 Kg.
I have an 8 speed cassette and she has a 7 speed freewheel.
We use the same chains, KMC.
I tend to use more of my 8 sprockets, from about sprocket 3 to 8.
She changes gear much less often and uses just 4 and 5 in the middle and large chainring.
We arrive at the top of hills about the same time so I'd say we were using about the same effort.
This morning I've done the usual maintenance on both bikes: swap chain, clean sprockets and chainrings and found yet again that I need to scrap the cassette and chains on my bike. I use 3 chains on each bike and swap them over every 500 miles.I've measured the chains for my bike and they are at the limit of acceptable wear and the cassette is U/S. The sprockets on my wife's bike show some wear but quite minimal after six months and 2500 miles, likewise the chains so that doesn't make sense.
I've pondered over why the difference and can only come up with the thought that teeth on freewheels are harder than those on cassettes but I thought the wear was caused by wear in the chain so that doesn't explain it?
Any ideas? I hate not to have a reason and if I'm right about the hardness being better on a freewheel, then why

After having had a lot of trouble getting my last set of tyres on and off I've dumped then and fitted a set of Schwalbe Landcruisers. I'm pleased with the way they go on and off the rims, much easier than the ones they replaced. The downside is they seem to be like a magnet for getting stones lodged in the tread. I have a pet hate of noise from my bike and the click click of a stone is annoying. Sometimes they do fall out but after about 5 minutes I've had enough and have to stop and dislodge the stone. Does anyone else have a problem with stones lodging in these tyres? Will it get better as the tyres wear? or will I have to get treatment for my phobia

Awful story and a sad end to a life but I don't blame 'society' entirely. My mother in law has fallen out with all her old neighbours in the street that and doesn't speak to any of them. The area is in a part of London that has a constantly changing population so she doesn't know the newer arrivals. If it wasn't for my wife ringing two or three times a week it could happen to her. I think it's a problem if/when you get old and cranky, people start to avoid you

Does anyone on the forum have one of these and how easy are they to use? I'm thinking of buying one but when I look at the reviews on amazon they range from very good to very poor so it's hard to find out. I don't want to spend more than £200 and I'm not looking for anything other than a device that lets me plan a route on the laptop, then download it to the Garmin. Cadence, heart rate etc. aren't needed. I'm no whiz with electronic gadgets but get the hang of them in the end but I'm not an instinctive user
I do like paper maps but we don't always have the ones we want and the IGN 25K maps don't have any overlaps at the edge, this makes it harder to plan your route.
We were in Brittany last week and bought a map of the area so we could explore. When there we found we liked the area to the south more and guess what, our map ran out just where we wanted to go, this meant hunting down a shop and spending another €12 for another map. It's not the cost, just the agro having to keep getting yet another map. Any user information would be very useful.

Interesting that the used oil from these hubs is like a swarf soup, is this because of poor manufacturing?
When you consider that today's cars generally do not have a gearbox oil change specified in the service schedule so why a does hub gear, which surely must work at lower stresses and temperatures?
I was told that the reason car engines generally last much longer today than cars from 30 years ago was down to 3 things, new materials, closer tolerances in manufacture and improved cleanliness prior to assembly. Surely it must be possible to make a hub that just needs topping up with oil or grease or am I missing something?

al_yrpal wrote:

francovendee wrote:

al_yrpal wrote:I am becoming more confident about taking trains, a good way to extend your touring range even just for an overnighter. Early morning train, cycle to somewhere there is a campsite or decent b&b. Cycle back to train, home the next evening. A one pannier job

Al

I'd love to be able to use the train but the nearest station is nearly 20 miles away, there and back is close to what I'm comfortable with in a day, although I did manage a 50 today, 30 before lunch and 20 back home feeling a bit tired now but quite pleased with myself
I do day rides and over the years have pretty well exhausted new routes that I can cycle from home so forced to put the bike on the car and drive to a start point, not something I really want to do but it's the only way to see new places.

Its all flat in the Vendee anyway, and, its full of frogs. especially in the summer!

Al

Flat! Try telling my legs that. Agree with you about the frogs though, kick up a terrible row at night, no wonder the French get their own back by eating them