Cycling UK Forum

Oops because I accidentally clicked on post on my phone before finishing.

What I was saying was whilst I can ride the bike ok it's not the ideal fit for me. As a result my long term plan is to replace it when funds allow but that point is not now. I'm hoping that this bike would last another year and get through another winter without having to spend a lot on it just to keep it road worthy/ safe.

Anyway back to the current task and do all of the sprockets need to come off before a can service the bearings on the hub on the drive side? I'm assuming yes because without removing the sprockets I wasn't sure how to get at the bearings on the drive side which are in the freehub? Also if I can buy a freehub extractor tool will the sprockets come off the freehub (are all the sprockets together called a cassette) with the unlocking of the freehub also release the sprockets or is there a stage that I'm missing to get the sprockets/cassette off.

Thanks again for all of the tips & advice!

John

Hi All,

Thanks for the additional update & advice and I'll start looking for a freewheel extrator tool to buy.

Following the message from recordacefromnew I think that they have got my bike spot on in the link that they've provided. I bought the bike secondhand and I wasn't sure what year it was new in but reading the spec on the link that they provided that appears to be my bike so it's actually slightly newer than I thought it was.

The only reason for mentioning the age above is it's potentially relevant to the extent of work that I need to undertake. The person I bought the bike from used it as an all year around commuter, they never did any cleaning or maintenance on the bike and it was kept outside all year around. Therefore it had already had a hard life by the time that I got it. I bought it in 2010 and not long after getting it a mobile bike mechanic looked it over at a Dr Bike session and replaced the rear cassette and the chain. Since then I've replaced the brake pads and cables. But apart from that it's not had anything done to it. I didn't get too much of a chance to use it at first because I had a 60 mile journey to work which I did by train followed by a short walk. However having moved just over 10 miles away from work it's now used on my daily 20 mile roundtrip whatever the weather. Therefore it's just completed a winters commute with all that the elements threw at.

I'm not sure if anybody will be able to tell from the poor quality photos that I've been able to upload but from this is anybody able to tell which parts can be reused once cleaned and which need replacing?

I read above that I need to check the condition of where the bearings to make sure that it's not pitted/ grooved. If it comes to the point of the hub needeing replacing I take it that the wheel would need rebuilding?

I'm just trying to work out how much all of this might add up. In an ideal world I was trying to keep the repair bill down. This is because the friend that I bought the bike from is quite a bit taller than me. Whilst I can ride the bike fine it's not the ideal

Anyway back to the task at hand

And this is the cassette including a photo of the tool that looks like it should go into the hole but it's too big.

Thanks,

John

Hi all,

Thanks again for all of the advice and I've not managed to get the cassette off yet but I'm still trying.

Before I go on with where I am now I didn't know whether it helps to say that when I mentioned that a ball bearing dropped out it fell out of the non-drive side.

Below I've tried to attach a photo of my quick release skewer if this helps.

Also there was a nut in the middle of the cassette and this came loose instantly and so I've taken a photo of that as well. I'm now left with a hole in the middle of the cassette and it seems like the Halfords lock nut tool should go in there judging by the shape of it but it's just ever so slightly too big and won't go in.

Thanks again for the help & replies!

John

Hi again,

Following my last message this is my next attempt at attaching photos of the Halfords tool kit, the tool labeled 'cassette lock ring tool' (which pulls into two parts), the cassette and the hub (sorry for the terrible photo of the hub but the camera just wouldn't take a good photo of it).

Thanks again.

John

Hi again,

Following on from the help above I'm afraid that I don't know who made the hub because it doesn't appear to have any writing on it at all. Brucey was spot on that there are a lot of Bontrager parts on the bike and regarding this job I'm not sure if it helps to know but the cassette is Shimano MF-TZ31.

I'm sorry to sound pretty useless but so far I'm pretty much stuck at the first hurdle so any extra help & advice will be great.

Firstly, with the rear wheel off the bike, I've removed the quick release. At this point a ball bearing fell out which I'm taking as perhaps not a good sign. Also the grease that you can see on the quick release skewer looks very dirty. At this time seeing as the bike has just done a full winter all weathers daily commute I'm think it'll be best to take the cassette off and give the hub a service.

However I've got stuck straight away, as predicted by natural ankling, because I can't get the cassette off. In terms of bike specific tools all that I am armed with is a Halfords Essentials bike maintenance tool kit. On the box it says that the kit includes:-

* cone spanners
* cassette lock ring tool
* chain whip

Therefore I hoped I'd have all that I need however either I don't understand how to use the tools, which being a complete maintenance novice is a distinct possibility, or I've not got the right tools for the job. I've watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to remove the cassette and on the videos it said use a cassette removal tool and what they had looked like a skewer coming 90 degrees out the side of a spanner that they inserted into the freehub (I'm guessing to hold it) before they used the chain whip to hold the cassette before undoing with the spanner. I don't know if I'm viewing the videos correctly but that seemed to be what it looked like.

However the cassette lock ring removal tool in the Halfords tool kit doesn't look like it has a skewer on at all. I'm going to try and attach a photo and fingers crossed that works. I thought that the part I have from this kit might lock into the cassette but it's too big and doesn't fit into the cassette. Then I thought maybe I might be able the lever off the first part of the cassette (sort of like a cover) but either this doesn't come off or it's corroded on after a full winters use.

I'll do my best to attach some photos and any advice will be gratefully received because I'm completely stuck at the moment.

Thanks,

John

p.s. I've tried to attach photos but it says the file size is too big so I'll have to try and see if I can figure another way to upload photos.

Hi Natural Ankling, Georgeoftours, tim-b & Brucey,

Thanks for all the advice which is much appreciated and very helpful.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to look at this last night owing to my son having picked up & stomach bug and needing looking after so the bike has been pushed back to a weekend job. Unfortunately I don't know anybody who is technically minded when it comes to bikes so I'm on my own there but I'll look at both the Park Tools and Sheldon Brown pages

I will take a look at the hub and report back regarding what type of hub it is and if I can figure out how to I'll attach a photo. Some of the components on this Trek 7.1FX are Shimano but not all so I'll check to see if there are any identifying marks on it. Do hubs normally have the manufacturers name written on?

When I first got home from work last night, just before my son started to be unwell, I did quickly get to look at the rear wheel, which is currently off the bike, and the axle does seem to have some movement in all directions and is this normal or part of a sign that the hub needs a total strip down and reassembly?

Thanks,

John

Hi Brucey,

Many thanks for the quick reply!

Apologies if I now ask some stupid questions but I’ve never before tackled anything more complicated than changing brake pads and cables.

If I remove the rear wheel can this repair work to the hub be done with the spoke & rim plus cassette still attached to the hub?

Also will this require the hub to be stripped down and repaired?

Sorry if these are stupid questions but I’ve never done anything like this before.

Regarding the tools that will be required somebody got me a very basic Halfords toolkit at Christmas and so I’m keep my fingers crossed that when I get home tonight and check it hopefully it has the right spanners.

Thanks,

John

Hello All,

First of all I'll start by saying that despite cycling for many years I'm a complete novice when it comes to maintenance so for starters I'll apologies if what I go on to say doesn't make sense or if I use the incorrect technical terms. Despite having no maintenance experience I’m keen to start trying to learn how to maintain my own bike rather than always having to resort to a fully-fledged cycle mechanic. However in saying that I’m happy to support my LBS where necessary and so if I can’t fix this myself that’s where I’ll head but I’d like to try before admitting defeat.

My problem started just after fixing a puncture on the way to work this morning. Having got a puncture on my rear tyre this morning I changed the tube and went to set off again but the bike immediately felt very strange indeed. It felt as if the rear brake was being sporadically applied and there’s a sort of knocking noise coming from the rear wheel.

Having stopped I noticed that the rear wheel seemed loose and if you get hold of the tyre/rim there is quite a lot of movement whereby you can wobble the wheel from side to side. The bike is a Trek 7.1FX hybrid (circa 2004 ish) that I bought second hand and it has quick release wheels. My first thought was that maybe I didn’t get the wheel into the dropouts quite correctly and so I loosed the quick release and tried to check if the wheel was on the frame correctly and it seemed to be ok. I then thought that perhaps I hadn’t tightened the quick release correctly so I tried to tighten it again and it did seem tight.

I’ve just been searching the forum because I’m sure that a while ago I saw somebody post a video clip of their rear wheel which wobbled from side to side and I have a vague recollection that it mentioned a problem with the hub. However I entered the word ‘hub’ into the search function and it hasn’t brought up any results.

In the end this morning I abandoned my ride to work because I was quite close to home and got the bus instead. However I’m going to start taking a look when I get home from work tonight and so any help/thoughts/advice will be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the long message and thanks in advance for any replies & help!

John

Hi Walthamcity,

I see that you also have your eye on a bike from either VSF or Genesis for your commuter bike.

I'm not quite there with my saving yet but I'm getting there and because I tend to keep my bikes for a long time I want to make sure that I make the best decision that I can on a bike that will both serve the needs of my commute, other riding requirements and also be long lasting.

At the moment I'm still not sure which one I pick and I'm sure that they'd all do the job well but it's hard without either a crystal ball or the opportunity to try various bikes for a say a month in some varying conditions over your commute which should be the one to go for.

John

Hi [XAP]Bob,

Thanks for your message and that's a good point because if I do need to upgrade the light to take account of the unlit rural sections of my commute I could sell on the B&M Lyt to go towards funding a higher spec light.

Cheers,

John

Hi Brucey,

Thanks for the thoughts and tips about the Alfine 8 and maintenance.

If I get one of these bikes I'll have to look up some more advice on Alfine 8 maintenance as well as look for some videos if there are any. I'm intrigued about you mentioning about adding a lube port.

Cheers,

John

p.s. I also should have mentioned, just in case it led to any confusion, that in respect of the link I included to the VSF T-500 it's not the step through frame version that I'm considering.

VSF make the T-500 in two versions including the step through frame and it's only a photo of the step through that is on the manufacturers website but there's a photo of the other version on this website.

http://blog.chrisbikes.co.uk/2014/02/vsf-fahrrad-manufaktur-t500-alfine-8.html

Thanks again for any thoughts and advice!

John

Hi MikeF,

Thanks for your message and I definitely agree that I should buy the one that I find best to ride but all 4 bikes are, to varying degrees, relatively difficult to find in stock in a bike shop but I will try if/when I can.

With respect to my height I'm 5'11''. Regarding a safe place for the bike whilst at work it's okay because the bike storage is at least out of public view but you can never say never because you can either be unlucky by having your bike in the wrong place at the wrong time or just have someone determined enough to steal your bike and so I don't want to say it'll be 100% secure.

Also I should have mentioned I wondered if anybody had any views on the Shimano Alfine 8 IGH for all weather use all year around. I'm hoping that it'll be suitable for my year round commuting needs but there seem to be a couple of horror stories that you can read about hubs failing but then with any part whereby enough of them are sold there will be some which fail and it's perhaps more likely that people who have a bad experience to talk about will write about it on the internet as opposed to someone who has not had any trouble. I'd pretty sure that a Rohloff hub would be more reliable than the Alfine in the long run but a Rohloff is out of my price range.

Thanks,

John

Hi Valbrona,

The majority of the bikes use will be on my commute so that's definitely the area of focus to get right. I just wanted to know that the trailer towing with a drop bar bike is doable and safe.

Therefore thanks to Merry Wanderer for the comments about trailer towing. It sounds as if as long as I get the bike fit right towing a trailer should not be an issue with a drop bar bike.

Cheers,

John