Cycling UK Forum

Once you have fitted those extra links check the top jockey wheel isn't contacting the cassette teeth.

I have occasionally used compressionless brake cable but I have predominantly used spiral bound brake cable from various manufacturers over the last 30 years and the quality can vary a lot - even within the same brand. What really does make a difference to the feel of any set-up is the care take when fitting, especially with regard to cutting the outers to length. I see so many machines with excessively long cable looping forward and out from the levers and then again from the cable stop on the frame to the caliper. I turn the bars to maximum then measure the outer needed (likewise for the gear cables). When I have all the outer sections I need I grind the ends flat so the whole end face of the coil is taking the compression force and there is no chance of the end of the coil being out of shape or raised away from the ideal position - all to easy to do even with decent cable cutters.
I can perfectly understand the science behind using compressionless cable but in practice they can be flawed. The last set I was given to fit were so inflexible as to be useless for concealed cables on drop bars. Another set would bend ok but the inners wouldn't run smooth like that and I suspected the outers were ovalising under the strain of the curve.

Where is the raised ridge? I can't tell from the photo if it is nearer the tyre bead or the spokes. Either way it's likely to be as a result of wear from the brake block. The blocks are usually not deep enough to cover the whole depth of the braking surface. (This is because on cantilever and v-brakes the block prescribes and arc as it moves towards/away from the rim. With many rim/tyre combinations the tyre sidewall can bulge out enough so that the 'passive' brake block is in a position where it rubs the tyre sidewall).
So the raised ridge is probably the area of rim that isn't worn by the blocks.

However it isn't 100% clear that whether the spindle was greased or not would have altered the outcome.

No, but in a lot of cases a dry axle would have caused enough bind that owners could have suspected something wasn't right.
With a greased axle the whole assembly rotates freely and the first time you suspect things are not right is when play develops because the axle has been worn away.

The trick with old adjustable cup bb's was to thread in the adjustable cup just a bit too far. When you tighten up the lock ring it effectively pulls out the cup a small amount which, if you have judged it right, gives perfect adjustment. It's a fine one to judge as the quality of the bb and cup threads have some say in the matter.
Same with lock nuts on a hub axle - if they both move equally freely on the axle, that is.

1.5m as the crow flies. 3m by foot.

Thats metres, by the way. I work from my outhouse at home!

I think we are going off at a tangent here. The point was to make people aware of that potentially costly scenario whereby you end up forking out for a whole new crankset rather than a BB at 1/4 of the price. The bike in question was given to me to investigate the clunk from the BB.
And here is a photo of the damage:

We know that the soft wears the hard, but may speculate whether the bearing's nylon cup would have worn a step in the axle even quicker had the latter not been greased...

It's possible, however an attentive owner would probably have noticed the additional friction caused by a binding bearing and a tight interface between axle and nylon bearing retainer. The problem with the greased axle wasn't noticed until the wear ridge was bad enough to feel the clunk of the axle moving off-centre on that side. Up to that point it was rotating quite freely - well, as freely as a hollowtech axle can, that is!

That looks so similar to the old LX/DX/XT mechs from the 90's
I am a big fan of them. they work on anything with a precision and silence that put most modern stuff to shame. I fit and replace a lot of front mechs these days and finding one that is 'right' can be a nightmare. One guy wanted to change his gearing so I suggested he substitiute the 34 tooth middle ring for a 36. I then had egg on my face because the front mech simply wouldn't shift on to the big ring. They are soooo fussy.

Well in the case of Shimano Hollowtech crank axle it's definitely 'not'.
It goes against the instincts a bit but the story is this:
I was given a bike for attention because the bottom bracket was 'loose'.
It had Shimano Tiagra cranks in apparently good order but they did have a bit of play when you pulled the crank ends alternately. Suspecting the BB cups were worn I took the cranks out. The left hand BB cup was seized solid which was surprising because the cranks had spun freely before. I inspected the axle and was amazed to see that, because it had been greased on assembly, it had been free to rotate within the failing, reluctant BB bearing. The loose feeling was because the nylon cup of the BB bearing had worn a step in the crank axle!

Get out there and check you have dry axles. If you don't you run the risk of forking out for a whole new crankset AND bottom bracket.

I wonder to what degree the TT course contributed to the risk of such an occurance.
Back in the 90's my local 10 mile course used a roundabout junction above the M20 motorway for the turn. I was very uncomfortable about the risk potential then and there is no way that I would ride such a course now that I am a bit slower and traffic has increased hugely. I was a member of a Cornish Club some years before and two of my team mates had been hit by vehicles exiting the A30 dual carriageway on a similar TT route. It seemed to me a very likely incident given that a very large proportion of motorists using the exit slip roads had driven for 10's of miles and possibly multiple hours. During that time they had witnessed and made adjustments themselves for hundreds of maneouvers by large tin boxes but never once seen a bicycle. It is not at all surprising that they may quite easily fail to notice a narrow piece of flesh on a short metal stick approaching them as they slow for a give way junction when they know they are minutes away from a well earned caffine or alchohol enriched beverage.
The previously mentioned A30 course has seen competitors riding alongside the central reservation on one very long gradual right hand bend in an attempt to shave precious seconds from their times. Similarly I know of riders who rode the inside line on the turn on the M20 junction course. The former is insane the latter has a degree of common sense in as much as it removes the rider from a dangerous position at the top of slip-roads. different as they are, they are both the same and contrary to the highway code.
I do not mean in any way to remove blame for such impacts only to emphasise that the safety or otherwise of a TT course lies in the hands of everyone who uses it. Appreciation for the highway code is only part of the story. The attitudes and mindsets of the road users are just as instrumental in road safety and so too is the ability to mentally put yourself in the position of the other road users.

Aparently the frame isn't as bad as I thought. The discolouration around the joints is the remains of the original paint finish. He removed the blue/white fade effect paint just recently.

It might be tricky to use in a situation like this but Alum solution has the surprising property of dissolving steel

That is incredibly spooky timing because I was just reading about this a few hours ago as a result of researching the history of the North Yorshire coast!

I have waved a white flag now and it's going back to it's owner.
He needs to take it to an engineer who can drill it out and re-thread the ally to take a larger fixing. I have also told him to get the bonded joints checked out.

I appreciate your concerns and agree with you. Steel everyday for me. However, it's not my bike and the owner is very attached to it, hence him asking (lowly) me for help.