Cycling UK Forum

With regard to aluminium axles I have ridden thousands of miles on the old Mavic 501 with the screw on blocks carrying fairly heavy loads and never had any trouble with them. Those hubs had far more length of unsupported axle than modern hubs.
Also can anyone explain why a solid axle is more prone to bend than hollow quick release one. I have been told it's because the QR compresses the axle but on a solid one the nuts stretch the axle, is this a reasonable assumption.

I would suggest that the lever would start on the outer small cog and then click up to the largest and you would restrict the derailleur from going any further so you will not be able to access the spare clicks. If you do it the other way you will be able to access two more clicks on the way down to the small top gear cog and would then have to click up the two spare clicks before the third would start moving the derailleur. one click being one gear change.
Hope that is reasonably clear as changing down to the smaller cog is actually changing up a gear and changing up the cassette to the larger ring is actually changing down a gear.
Or just buy a campag 10 speed derailleur and a cassette with shimano splines and campag spacing.

Could I ask what trike you have ? Trykit deals with what are generally called racing trikes not the shopper type trikes from Pashley and similar places . No offence intended to Pashley who produce some wonderful products.
the website '''on3wheelsmyfastform.org'' may also be of interest and you would likely get an answer to any question you post.

Jeff Booker at Trykit.com is you man. Have a look at his website to give yourself a taster of what he is capable of.

I have to agree with Brucey on the choice of stainless bolts. the plated ones do not seem to have ant rust protection in the allen key bolt holes, neither do crank to square spindle bolts.
Stronglight ones are now in Stainless and have allen bolt holes to both sides, so doing away with that odd fork spanner, which I could never find and had to resort to large screwdriver, or anything that would wedge the thing enough to stop it turning.

I will agree with you all that defend the Shimano hub in general, it's just that I put my faith blindly into this particular model of hub without reading any reviews. Your experience PhilD 28 certainly is testimony to their durability and value for money.
I have sent a Warranty claim form and await an answer. They will probably want it back and may just replace the hub or may decide otherwise.
So unlikely to be available for a dissection but will bear your request in mind Brucey should it be available.

I have a frame in 853 frame tubes and stays,also a Thorn Raven Sport in 853 conical tubes, these tubes taper internally towards the bottom bracket so I am informed, the stays are 725.
The two bikes are built for a different purpose, one for lightweight riding(racing but not with my legs and lungs) and the other for tour type riding. A similar comparison would be 531c and 531ST.
631 is the updated 531 and 725 is a stronger steel again. a bespoke frame builder would as part of the design process offer advice on the most suitable tube for you needs but if you decided on 725 over say 631 he would be likely to order a thinner wall tube in 725.
I would suggest that as 725 is stronger than 531, to arrive at a frame to do the same job, 725 could be thinner wall gauge and so would be a lighter frame.
A good 531ST frame is still in my opinion a good choice for load carrying and robust duties and their geometry would be for that purpose so it's never going to be a racer.

Some years ago Shimano had a batch of chains that suffered from a side plate snapping. They did not do a recall on the product but would replace it under warranty.
A bit like the Improved XT hub that I have unfortunately have had built into a wheel recently.
This practice is not confined to Shimano but all Company's especially large ones weather the storm of a product not fit for purpose. ie. Cars, Electrical goods, etc. etc.

Thanks all for your information. The bottom line is that this hub is RUBBISH and I have decided to cut my losses and go with a sealed bearing hub.
I cannot have this unreliability factor hanging over me when miles from home or on a tour. All shimano freehubs seem to suffer from no or poor weather seals but do function for respectable mileages and do not seem to fail as drastic as this XT.

No apparently not. There is a post for Shimano LX rear hubs, which is a bit dated at 2010 but seems to indicate the LX are better than XT. Seems everything is better than XT from what I can glean now with hind sight.
Thanks to you Brucey as well. I will try to be patient and wait if I can get a freehub under Warranty but the long term reliability issue will still be there. You are probably right about the pauls chipping as it sounds correct and the bits to jam the hub have to come from somewhere.
I am not a fan of cup and cone hubs but allowed price in this instance to rule my decision. I may decide to remove the hub and send it back for a refund which is an option with Chain Reaction and have a sealed bearing hub, one recommended by my LBS. The loss for this mistake will amount to about £50 to £60 for the labour and spokes. Buy cheap buy twice wins again.

Ignore my posting as I now realize what you want to do. I got carried away when I read of the towing dolly and Mini's.
Really impressed by the down hills speeds you and others achieve but think I will give it a miss.

Having recently had a set of 26 inch road wheels built with the Shimano XT780 hub the cassette freewheel has seized solid. A total mileage of about 200 miles has been done on the hub and to say I am disappointed would be an understatement.
I purchased the hubs on line but the supplier only has 32 hole replacements and not 36 like I have so if they ask for the complete hub back under warranty I have a problem there.
A complete hub is £34 approx. and a cassette freewheel only is about £44 from the importer? I need to get the bike up and running asap.
Reviews seem to suggest, that I would be throwing more money away on a poorly designed product and that I should cut my losses and have a sealed cartridge bearing hub fitted.
Anyone had a similar experience with these hubs,or am I just unlucky as so many other people who review them seem to have been.
Apart from the fact that I could have had a nasty accident as it jammed solid going down a steep hill I had to ride it home like a fixie which was an odd experience on a derailleur bike.
Having no confidence in your bike is not a recipe for a happy ride.

I would suggest that it is not practical to tow anything as light as a Trike behind any vehicle at any reasonable speed to keep up with modern traffic conditions. It will bounce all over the place at the slightest bump. Even with suspension it wont have the weight to keep it from doing so. A car towing dolly is a different proposition as the towed car has weight that makes its suspension work. Just observe small trailers when empty bouncing all over the place.
Also would the wheels and tyre be capable of handling speeds over and above what they are designed for. we hear tales of cyclists doing 50mph down hills but most are fisherman's tales and if true was probably over a very short distance.

Cyril Haearn's statement unfortunately while theoretically logical is not use to people having to travel to work to make their way in the world and Grandad refers to his grandchildren as being like 99% of the population. They are adults in their own right and any parent or grandparent will be proud to know that their younger generation are in work or seeking work and are prepared to look outside of their locality for work. So many lack any get up and go. Like so many in rural areas I had to travel to school and work and eventually had to move closer to work.
On a similar subject the transporting of goods that can be obtained locally just to save a few pounds is scandalous. As a proud Welshman I find the fact that the Hafod Eryri centre was roofed with Spanish slates, to satisfy some Eu tendering rules I believe, makes me feel sick.
This is repeated throughout the country with good from North passing the same goods from the South on opposite lanes of the motorway. This is what is called "value for money".
The fact that apart from motorways we are still dependant on roads that originally where dirt track lanes and the investment on a national level to cater for the car when it is stationary is deplorable. Not always possible but could be done and then keep the roadway clear without restrictions. Traffic calming is another issue but I do not believe my presence on a bike calms the drivers.
I usually try and avoid thinking about the volume of traffic, I do not cycle on roads I enjoyed not that many years and do not see any long term future for safe cycling on them and if I'm honest like the ctc now I feel like a charity case rather than a proud cyclist as I once was.

Most of the streets in our villages and towns seem to have the width that should be available to Cyclist taken over by residents parking. While I appreciate the difficulty for some properties a considerable number of streets have rear access and others have a neglected area to the front of house that could provide parking. My own daughter who actually has a drive and ample parking leaves her car on the road and she is also a keen Cyclist.
There are several roads on my way home that I have up hills that I am constantly having to put in a greater effort that need be or risk the complete wrath of impatient drivers.
Personally I have always placed a high importance on living in a house with off road parking but some families do not have any qualms of leaving several cars on the road even when they have their own space to park.