Cycling UK Forum

There is a spray used by plumbers which when sprayed over a pipe cools the water in the pipe enough to freeze it (and stop it flowing). Never used it, but it may be available at DIY shops.

Directions of rotation to undo which are quoted a few posts above sound correct - the undoing rotation direction should be the same direction as the crank rotates when you pedal (so if the crank seized in the BB it would undo the BB shells rather than suddenly lock up).
Same thing with pedals, if they seize up they should undo from the crank arms. All about safety if your feet are tied into the pedals.

CORRECTION
Mike’s post below gives correct hands of threads

Just a thought - one end of the BB has a LH thread, the other a RH thread. I always look at a new one to check which is which. Easy to get it wrong and be tightening it!

Simple - slit the old grips with a sharp knife and throw away.
Fit new / better quality grips like Egron or much cheaper copies from ebay that clamp in place so are easy to remove in the future and which are more comfortable to use.
The old grips will probably have started to rot so why reuse?

I also always fit them to straight bars - as well as giving another hand position I can lean forwards to put more weight over the front wheel if standing up when pedalling up a hill, or I can be a little more aerodynamic when sitting on the saddle and riding faster.
To reverse the question, why not fit them?

I have also found that in very hot weather that bare alloy ones can help keep my hands cool.

If cycle numbers are reducing it means either:
- we need more cycle routes to encourage more cycling
OR
- there is no point in funding new cycle routes as numbers are reducing.


If cycle numbers are increasing it means either:
- we need more cycle routes as there are more people cycling
OR
- there is no point in funding new cycle routes as cycle numbers are increasing without having to spend out on new routes.

Policy makers can make statistics say what they want.

Not sure this is in the right section but it is written to show how the French seem to have a positive cycling policy (or better weather?)

I travelled through Toulouse earlier today from the train station to the airport for 20 minutes on the shuttle bus and had a great view of the city.
I was amazed by how many were cycling.
The roads seemed wide, with a lot of cycle lanes marked in green at junctions and cycle tracks along canals and away from the main road we were on.

- at the train station were a group on touring bikes with panniers
- I saw a stretched bike with the father pedalling and 2 kids in seats in front of him
- at least one working cargo bike with a large box
- many local bikes with panniers (carrying shopping?)
- uber bike riders doing deliveries
- hired step through ebikes
And of course a range of other bikes carrying people around the town, interspersed with the occasional escooter going awfully fast.
All seemed to be riding in typical French style - no sweat or oily trouser legs!

It all looked very relaxed and a city I would happily ride in.
How do we get UK like this?

‘The situation now seems that the lever moves the FD a bit too far out when changing up from inner to middle, thus pushing it past the chain ring when on small cassette cog, and I think that’s why the problem occurs.’

Am I miss-understanding this? It sounds like you are using the inner chainwheel right down to the smallest rear cassette cog and only then changing to the middle chainwheel……so the chain-line will be very crossed….. and likely to give problems.

Better to change to the middle chainwheel while the chain is on a larger rear cassette cog and only use the smallest rear cassette cogs with the larger chainwheel so that the chain-line remains straighter (and there is less chain wear).

You might have a look at Tom Allen’s web site - Google ‘Tom’s Bike Trip’ - as he has been using the latest 8 speed Shimano sprockets with a 2 speed crankset to get a wide range of useable gears. Sorry I can not be more specific about the details.

This may help others.
About a month ago my bike developed a clicking noise. It seemed to happen on the downstroke of the RH crank. Nothing rough on the pedals, quiet at cruise but a clicking noise whenever I increased power.

I checked the shimano pedals. They were pretty old (20 years?) and the RH one had some play so I thought that must be the problem and fitted some newer pedals.
No improvement.

Seat tight. Same noise standing up or sitting down,

So I stripped out the BB. It had done 3500 miles but the bike is often ridden on wet roads and there was a little rust on the outside face of one bearing. The BB felt smooth enough with no play and I managed to remove one end seal and pushed some grease into the bearings……and then discovered a couple of the bolts holding the single chainwheel to the crank were loose (Rohloff gearing). And the noise went away. But only for a few days.

Today I finally sorted it out. I have a bag on my rear rack with bungees at the top which tighten using a plastic drawstring. This plastic drawstring was hanging down and could swing and hit the alloy rack, and would do so on every RH power stroke……

I hope this helps someone else if they get an annoying clicking noise.

Thanks for the links Slowster.
I am happy about chainlines but I was surprised to see from one of your links that different width Shimano BB axles can have different symmetries. I had assumed that all BBs kept the pedals symmetric to the frame so that a longer axle would move the chainline (and RH pedal) out and the LH pedal out by an equal amount.

Hi Colin,
The ebike has a rear wheel hub motor, but it does have crank sensors, so as you say it is unlikely to be correctable…..I do intend to go and look at others at the shop and see if they are all the same though.

Apologies if this has been already covered, but I could not find anything using Search.

What sideways offset in the cranks is ‘normal’?
It is a rainy day so I have measured up the 3 bikes in the household to see how central the cranks are to the frame. As an easy distance to measure with digital callipers I have measured from the end of each crank to the nearby chain stay with the crank pointing towards the rear wheel.

On the three bikes in the house:
- Thorn Sherpa - unknown history but I have changed the BB and crankset in the past year.
RHS 12.5mm / LHS 16.5mm - so cranks offset to left by 2mm

- Oxford Bike Works Rohloff Tour - original parts.
RHS 21.9mm / LHS 20.4mm - so cranks offset to right by 0.75mm

- My wife’s Econic One ebike hybrid - original parts
RHS 26.3mm / LHS 11.4mm - so cranks offset to right by 7.5mm!!

Any thoughts?

The reason why I asked what the wheel size was, was incase you were going to 650 rims instead of 700Cs to get the same wheel OD but more with rubber. Is that option possible?

What is your wheel size?
For a comparison I use 26” wheels with 1.5” (38mm) on the back and 1.75” (45mm) on the front which give me more comfort over bumps.
The 35mm tyres you propose do not sound very large - have you checked to see if they will fit on your existing rims?

Photo was on the West coast of India, South of Mumbai by a few hundred miles, at Guhagar.
Bike is a Giant Sierra.

The bike’s 3 x 7 gearing was a bit limiting on range - the lowest gear with an 11-26 cassette was not low enough. The bottom bracket height was high - which gave good pedal clearance but it also meant the bike was a bit difficult to get onto as the saddle was so high above the ground!
By comparison the Thorn Sherpa I am putting together for a trip this winter has 3 x 9 gears with an 11 - 32 cassette, a more stable steering geometry and a lower BB height so that I am not on tip toe when stationary. Otherwise the bikes are very similar.
The Thorn cost me £350 - I have spent about £50 on it for new bearings, plus a few spares that were luckily sitting on the shelf, and my comfortable Brooks saddle.
So is £400 considered as cheap or expensive for a bike to tour on?