Cycling UK Forum

I'm not sure why there are apparently two possible positions for the RD relative to the hanger. the Shimano manual seems to be silent on this, however the illustration in the manual matches the way I have installed the mech (see photo above).

The RD bracket (the piece that attaches the RD to the derailleur hanger) has two positions. It looks like you have installed yours in the wrong position. If you take the RD off you will see the the RD bracket has two projecting lugs on it. Both of these lugs should be above the derailleur hanger so that the RD bracket inclines upwards from the horizontal and not downwards as you have it. I only know this because I had the same problem.
Would post a picture if I could work out how to do so.

mattsccm wrote: ↑27 Jun 2021, 3:42pm Get both sides into the middle of the rim. Two levers close to each other and take small bites.

I have found with tight tyres that it is easier to only pop one side of the tyre off the rim and then push it into the centre, this seems to give a bit more space to get tyre levers under the bead.

I don't have any empirical data to answer your question, but I do have both rim brake and disc brake bikes. In my experience your question is largely academic as I have found in practice that the limiting factor governing braking performance in the wet has been the available friction between the tyre and the road! Both types of brake will easily lock the wheel in the wet if one is a bit heavy handed on the brake lever, so I suppose that the amount of braking force available from either type of brake must be that same in this instance.

Stupid question! Rode it of course!!

I seem to get more close passes when I'm in normal clothes riding to the shops on my utility bike. It might be that when I'm riding the road bike with my lycra gear on I'm faster and therefore not holding the traffic up for so long, and therefore may be not perceived as an object to get around as soon as possible.

I'd be very wary about using any hand-signals to motorists that aren't in the highway code as they may be misunderstood and in the worst case could make you blameworthy if an accident resulted. I have encountered similar problems to the ones you describe, I generally try to control overtaking traffic by my road position, but avoid making sudden swerving movements, especially outwards away from the kerb. If I can see that an overtake may put me or oncoming vehicles in danger then I will move out to make it difficult for the traffic behind to pass, moving back in again when the danger has reduced. A element of judgment is required as you don't want the following traffic to get the impression that you are holding them up unnecessarily, so if you have a long line of traffic behind and there is no safe way for them to pass you after a period of time then it may be worth pulling in to a safe stopping place to let traffic go past.

I'm not sure if I was ever what would be termed an "alcoholic", though for a period of my life I think I drank far more than was healthy. It started at university and went on through most of my working life, I found things stressful and seemingly alcohol helped (it didn't really). After a couple of health scares I decided that I needed to cut right down. I tried giving up completely, but found that hard. What I did find that worked was to get away from routine situations that encouraged me to drink, e.g. coming home from work late and "needing" a drink, which happened on a regular basis, so decided to stop working late, changed my job, and when I came home from work made sure I did something different like for example, going for a walk, bike ride or to the gym, anything to break up the routine and switch off from work without having a drink. The other thing I found that worked was the realisation that I didn't actually need to drink alcohol in order to relax in social situations.

Wouldn't it be easier to fit specific disc brake forks?

I've got toe overlap on 2 of my bikes with mudguards fitted. I don't find it a problem, just have to remember not to pedal when cornering sharply. The times I actually have to manoeuvre around a bend tight enough to cause potential for toe overlap to occur I find are very rare and it's easy to position the pedals to that there's no clash. If I do need to pedal and corner sharply (ironically this usually occurs when travelling on a piece of "cycling infrastructure", e.g. cyclepath bridge ramp), I can get round by pedalling short strokes instead of complete rotations. One other solution is to unclip (if using clips) and move your foot back on the pedal whilst making the turn.

Thanks everyone for the replies and suggestions. I'll have a look at the chainring to see if I can identify which one is fitted.

peetee wrote:How worn are each of the chainrings and the chain?

Bike, and hence the chainrings, has done about 15,000 miles. The chain has done about 1,500 miles. Chain ring looks ok. Only other thing is that I recall that the middle ring was replaced at about 7,000 miles with a Shimano branded replacement due to some damage incurred. Is it possible to get the chain ring relative position wrong when re-assembling the crankset? I don't know what the correct technical term is but there are chain catchers on the chain ring, is it possible to get these in the wrong place?

Thanks for replies. I just went to check the derailleur alignment and it seems to be pretty well spot on and about 3mm clearance at the closest point when it passes over the big ring. The chain rings are the standard ones that came with the the crankset (pretty sure that they are 30,40, 50). May be I just have to go up to the middle chain ring trim position (that's what I seem to do to get it to change), but I would have thought that it would change up to that position in the first place and then click back to re-trim for lower gears.

I've got Shimano 105 triple (10 speed) on one of my bikes. I'm finding that it's a bit messy when changing up from the smallest front ring to the middle. I don't think it's anything to do with the cable tension as I've tried to adjust this to solve the problem but it hasn't. At present if anything I think I may have too much cable tension as there is a bit of chain rub when using the smaller end of the rear cassette, although this can be trimmed out with the shifter lever. The front does change up but I usually have to move the shifter until it clicks and then release it and then shift up it up a bit more to get the chain to move up. Anyone got any clues?