Cycling UK Forum

fatboy wrote:I use brifters so ramp and pinless won't work for me.

From my experience they work fine. In the late 90s I raced on a bike equipped with Dura-Ace 9-speed, but I felt that the 53t chainring was bigger than I needed in the Masters 5 category, so I replaced it with an unramped/unpinned 49t ring, and didn't notice that the front shifting was any worse.

And I presently have one bike using SRAM Force 22 shifters and derailleurs, but the chainset is an NOS Shimano Deore touring from the early 1980s that is running rampless/pinless TA Cyclotouriste chainrings, and no problems with the front shifting there either.

mattsccm wrote:Thread hijack following the last post. I have mixed road and MTB SRAM at the back. Does it work at the front? 10 speed double front mech needed with top pull for small-ish chain rings you see.

I have used both Shimano 2x10 XT FD-M786 and SRAM X9 2x10 front derailleurs with the SRAM road shifters, and they both shifted without any problems. This was using either 42/29 or 38/26 chainrings.

If you want lower than 11-34, Sunrace make an 11-36 11s cassette (http://www.sunrace.com/en/products/detail/csrx1) that fits an 8/9/10 speed cassette body and works fine with the Shimano 105 7000-GS or Ultegra 8000-GS derailleurs. I have that setup running on our tandem. I have also seen reports that those derailleurs will cope with an 11-40 cassette without any problem (see, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP_SEN3DPoI), but haven't tried that combination myself.

Another possible avenue for road shifting and wide range cassettes is that SRAM still have compatibility between road and MTB components for their "exact actuation" stuff, so, for example, Force or Rival 11s road shifters combined with X9 or GX MTB 2x10 rear derailleurs will shift perfectly across 11s cassettes, and those derailleurs gobble an 11-42 MTB cassette without any problem.

Samuel D wrote:Perhaps the heat in Paris has weakened the adhesive in the joint? It was 30°C yesterday and I’ve ridden in temperatures over 35°C several times in the last few weeks.

I doubt it's that, as I have a couple of pairs of the same model handlebars, and in the Australian summer they quite frequently get ridden in temperatures over 40°C.

Firstly I'd check the tightness of the stem clamp on the handlebar, and if that isn't the problem, I'd second the suggestion of using a wicking retaining compound. Something like Loctite 290 - apply one drop each side where the bars enter the sleeve, reef down on each side of the handlebars a few times to help work the compound into the joint, and leave for 24 hours to fully cure.

You could do a search on the 650B forum for people's experiences: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/650b.

TRP make the HY/RD calipers, which use a cable from the lever to caliper but are hydraulic internally, so you can use your existing levers and still get automatic compensation for pad wear. https://trpcycling.com/product/hyrd/.

I haven't used them but they seem to get a pretty good rep - eg: https://road.cc/content/review/85499-trp-hyrd-mechanical-interface-hydraulic-disc-brakes.

I've hung my touring bike by its front wheel many times on trains in Europe without any problem. But I've always hung the bike up myself, and my front rim is a bit stouter than an Open Pro.

You could always use the Nitto Technomic stem, which has a 225mm long quill and comes in extensions from 50mm to 100mm. Or if that doesn't give you enough rise, Nitto also make the Technomic 280, which has a 280mm long quill:

I've used many different ones over the decades, but now that I wear a helmet pretty much any time I'm riding, I use the Cycleaware mirrors, which attach to the side of a helmet with double-sided tape. If you don't want the mirror there for a particular event, it's about a two second job with a screwdriver blade to detach the mirror and arm, leaving just the ball joint in place on the helmet:

I setup a flat bar road bike for my wife last year using the SRAM 10-50 12s cassette and a single 34t chainring. It seems to have been pretty much an unqualified success. She's had it on some quite long rides and up and down some big mountains, and hasn't complained that the gaps between gears are bigger than she would like.

Medrad wrote:Has anyone else experienced broken spokes on the drive side of the rear wheel?

A friend of ours recently purchased an Orbea Gain Road, and had to take it back to the shop after a few weeks when the rear wheel broke a spoke. He commented that when he took it in, there was another Gain Road in for service for the exact same reason.



I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my Pixel 2 using hovercraft full of eels.

SRAM eTap aero setup with blips will do what you want. I presume Shimano Di2 would allow the same, but I haven't set that up in that way. A fairly substantial cost for either.

Velo-Orange have a threadless unit that expands as it's tightened. Don't know if this is what you've already tried or not: https://velo-orange.com/collections/bottom-brackets/products/grand-cru-threadless-bottom-brackets.

A loosening headset isn't a problem that should be happening, with either threaded or threadless headsets. I've been touring for more than 40 years on bikes with threaded 1" headsets - my present touring bike still has a threaded 1" fork, as does our touring tandem, which is now over 30 years old - and I have never had a problem with any headset loosening. And most of the touring over the decades has been with either front panniers only or both front and rear panniers.

Here's my present touring bike, which carries most of the load up front, and the headset hasn't been touched in at least a decade and is still perfectly in adjustment - it's one of the Shimano sealed bearing 1" threaded headsets, which are unfortunately no longer made.



If you haven't already had it done, I suggest that you have the head tube and fork crown faced, to ensure everything is properly square. Explanation of the procedure here:

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/head-tube-reaming-and-facing
https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/fork-crown-race-cutting-and-facing

Brucey wrote:Note that once the wheel is built, there is another few hundred kg squashing the hubshell and this can affect hub bearing adjustment too. Nonetheless I echo the sentiments about hub setup; it is almost invariably terrible as the hubs come out of the box.

I keep a couple of fat washers that I slip onto the end of axles so that I can clamp a quick release onto new unbuilt cup and cone hubs to check the bearing adjustment. Normally, for the bearings to feel perfect with the QR clamped on the axle, there needs to be some very slight amount of play that can be felt with the axle not clamped.