Cycling UK Forum

Er Colin,
what's with the front mech - have you added a lower outer plate to make it down shift?

Near but not under a tree (help keep the dew off, but won't drip on you when it's finished raining), plus somewhere that catches the morning sun to help dry the tent before I leave. Its the morning sun which most determines where I pitch (assuming I have a choice).
Oh yes, as I have not resolved the camping seat issue, something to sit on (brieze blocks do fine, but not to carry around!)

I expect (depending on the weather) your garage is visibly dry but with damp air. Also, it the weather has been cold and it suddenly warms up, your tools may get condensation on them until they too have warmed up.
Go through your tool kit with WD 40 or GT 85 and a cloth and wipe everything. My work tools get stored in a dry garage and get used in all weathers outside, but they don't rust due to oily coating.
I expect Park assume their tools will be in nice warm workshops being used on nice bikes. If only they knew the garbage the shops in Oxford have to mend using their tools....

Check if the indexing is correctly adjusted (if the inner cable has stretched a bit, up shift will be poor).
While doing Colin's suggestion of oiling the cable (inside the section from lever to cable stop on frame where the slotted stop is), check each end of the outer cable. There is/should be a metal cup on the ends of the outer. If the longditudinal strands of the outer cable have started to push through the metal end cup, you need a new outer cable (or might get away with trimming the ends off?), but you would need new end cups as well.

If the mech has always shifted poorly, check its fitted on the frame in the correct position.

Thanks for the replies, I expect it will be a new bag. The existing one is so patched it matches the worst road in Oxfordshire through our village....
Incidentally, its not the toe nails, more the elbow (or hip) moving round and suddenly running out of material as the other half (or a bit of me) is resting on another bit, preventing it move with said elbow or hip.

What Swallow says is generally the case for the bike trade, x% on accessories/parts, but not on complete bikes. It might be the 1st person you spoke to was (how ever otherwise competent) new/Saturday staff? I don't specifically know what Bike UK offer.
Reduced/free accassories when buying a bike is one way to keep people happy.
Having sold bikes before, 10% off is a big bite out of the profit margin on a bike sale!

I've used sleeping bag liners for years - much easier laundry when using a down bag.
Polycotton is fine but bulky, silk very nice, light, very compact to pack, but er a tad fragile (esp if you toe nails have sharp corners.....).
For 2 (friendly) people, sewing 2 single liners to gether results in a very fragile liner (always getting strained/torn at the seams).
Does anyone have any solutions to this?, either a tougher material which is a compact as silk (not tried kevlar yet!), or some means to improve the silk (may be a strip or 2 of thin lycra, so the lycra stretch takes the stress out of the silk?).

Are your brakes totally off centre, or do you have to adjust them with the pads very close to the rim (which would explain your difficulty in unhooking the noodle, and pads rubbing on the rim). If you have the original paper instructions that came with the bike (when I sold Treks, they came with all the components instructions as well as Trek's own).
If you levers are like EF50 ones (couldn't find EF51s) :-

http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techd ... 609277.pdf

Then they are adjustable for V brakes and cantilever brakes (the adjustment is made using part no 4 in the diagram - usually a red piece of plastic wedged in the brake lever blade - pull the brake on the the plastic becomes visible). You want the cable nipple in the outer position of the brake lever slot ie further away from the lever pivot), with the adjusting block closer to the brake lever pivot. If you have it the other way round, its adjusted for cantilever brakes, not V brakes (linear pull brakes in the jargon).
If its adjusted for cantis, for the brake to engage before the lever reaches the bars, you have to adjust the pads really close to the rim, by really close I mean as good as impossibly close.
(FYI. Screw no. 9 is the one for adjusting between small and big hands, ie, lever reach).

I suspect the Cane Creeks and Tektros are the same (look identical in the links).
Having seen Cane Creeks and Dia Copme in the flesh, Cane Creek (/Tektro) have really chunky hoods (good for large hands) and the QR feature, Dia Compes no QR, smaller hoods.
Based on hand size, I would have gone for Cane Creek, but I went for the Dia Compes as they have a metal hood body. Cane Creek has a plastic body, visions of disaster if the bike fell heavily (ridden or not) and landed on the lever blade.
You will need a cable adjuster somewhere - inline cable adjusters (M Part (Madison) or Jag Wire), or noodles with adjusters on the top.

I have occasionally seen unbranded cheap Tecktro V brake levers copies on cheap Raleigh and Viking racers - used on sidepull calipers.....

There is or was a Fender Blender owned by a now defunct organisation in Oxford, which they ran on the back of an extra cycle. The last time I saw it, the "pedal powered" fender blender was being converted to front wheel electrical assist to help you get it to its destination

As already mentioned, if you can flex the wheel sideways, tighten all the spokes. Also check the rear hub QR is tight (!). Do you feel or hear the rubbing (if you only hear it, are the brakes a tad tight/close to the rim?).
If worried about the frame, clean it, then check thoroughly for cracks. If the frame is polished with a laquer finish, scratched/peeling laquer edges can look like cracks. cracks tend to be really thin, often wiggly. Scratches wider, straighter.

I once had someone complain their 1980s Raleigh racer rode fine up hill, but was wobbly and barely controllable down hill. Having checked frame alignment, wheels true/tyres no bulging, I leant the bike against the wall, said all looked fine, and that it looked like a good solid old Raleigh. As I said this I put my foot on the front gear, giving the bike a sort of reassuring nudge with my foot, only to find it nudged more that it should have. The RH chain stay was broken behind the BB. Riding up hill, the chain tension kept the fracture together. Riding down hill, the back brake pulled the fracture apart.....
Diagnosis can be rather a black art sometimes!

I've fitted quite a few Weldite Cr Mo solid rear axles (also available in QR) and they don't come back bent/broken. The Cr Mo ones (approx £7 or so?) have a slightly yellow finish. The cheaper (non Cr Mo) Weldite ones with a silver finish are definately worth avoiding having seen one decidedly the worse for(terminal) wear after 2 weeks commuting. I think there is a choice of 3 lenghts for the solid ones, getting the longest is the easiest way, give you a bit of leeway with positioning in the middle (same amount protruding beyond the wheel nut).
Most LBS should stock/be able to order them as they are available through quite a few trade distrubutors.
They come with cones/spacers/nuts etc, which avoids problems if the thread is slightly different to the original (usually metric vs imperial).
Sometimes there are issues with the dust covers/cones. If the dust covers mount on the cone, screw new/old cones back to back (if cover can be mounted either way round) and slide/tap cover across to new cone. Easier than removing then trying to tap cover onto new cone.

Try Puky bikes - some thinking LBS stock them , or try https://www.pukyonline.co.uk/puky-bike-age-6.html.
If you are not in a hurry, go to Netherlands/Germany where they make proper kids bikes, hub gears, dynamo, prop stand/ mud guards etc. - might be encumbered with the cultural clash of back pedal brakes of course!

The one summers suggests (SJS) I expect won't be long enought to get under the fork.
In the past I have got round this by using Cat Eye front fork mounting reflector brackets (they are thick enough not to fail through metal fatigue unlike all others, despite the long lenght from rear to front). The lamp end needs twisting round for the lamp mounting - use vice + adjusrable spanner. Problem is they are rare as hens teeth (I only got mine from scavenging while working in a bike shop). They are a tad chunky as reflector brackets go, so tyre - mud guard clearance might be an issue. The section round the lamp mounting hole is a tad wide, needs grinding off a bit or a spacer needs putting between the bracket and the F light (try mounting and you will see what I mean).
As most forks have a hole front and rear on the crown, I see no problem in drilling through from rear to front, then the SJS B+M bracket summers suggests would bolt on the front. Those brackets are serious bits of metal (cast or forged), so will not break.

Lovely bars, I have a pair (not for sale) - I have never seen another pair. Probably why they are not made any more!