Cycling UK Forum

rjb wrote: ↑6 Jun 2023, 6:28pm ..... You could dispense with the ball bearing cage as it allows you to add more loose balls. If your current races are brinelled then extra loose balls can help extend its life as not all the balls line up with the pits in the races. It's only the lower race which takes a pummeling.

That is a very tempting idea given the amount of time I have spent fixing bikes recently rjb - and the lazy part of me is sorely tempted!! The guilty part of me feels I have left this far too long already though and should be going for a longer term fix

You don't recall what headset you bought for your Discovery do you? Did you source something specific or was it just a run of the mill generic thing you put in?

My current tandem headset has had an increasingly hard life for the last few years. The fork race looks worn out and brinelled to me and although the balls are in good condition, and the steering is still surprisingly smooth I feel a replacement (of this 14 year old component) is well overdue!!!! (I am not sure if someone overtightened the headset at some point or whether its road shock that has pummelled this budget headset)
Giving the hammering the tandem now gets (two or three rides a week on potholed roads) I was considering something chunky like the heavy FSA Pig. However I know there are many forum members on here with more experience of this than me so wondered what recommendations people have ?

Its a basic (but solid and stable) Viking tandem with a standard 1 1/8" aheadset arrangement.. Ideally this would be something reasonably priced, robust and easily servicable but really I will listen to any recommendations...

Cheers

George

You can get most of your hand onto these.. just grab and turn ?

Jdsk wrote: ↑19 May 2023, 3:56pm There's an arrow on the magic link for CN-LG500:
https://si.shimano.com/en/pdfs/si/0159A ... 06-ENG.pdf

Jonathan


Screenshot 2023-05-19 at 15.57.09.png

Johnathan it makes sense that the new Shimano quick links for an HG-X chain have directional arrows, because the chain itself is directional. My KMC links were not directional, I guess because KMC 10 speed chains aren't.

The "LG" in LG500 is LinkGlide so it looks like as part of the general Cues "make it easier for the bike shops" thing they are going to ditch the "special pin" and go for what everyone has voted with their feet for .. the quicklink. I wonder if the LG500 linkglide quicklinks work with the HG-X chain ? You would have thought not.. especially if LinkGlide is supposed to be an overall more robust system for e-bikes. Given I have a tandem, and LinkGlide is supposed to be more robust, and that LinkGlide has official Shimano supported quicklinks ... I can see the direction I am being pushed in

Cheers

gregoryoftours wrote: ↑21 May 2023, 5:58pm I'd suspect 'generic' quick links bought from eBay. Have you tried with proper branded ones, either Shimano, kmc or SRAM bought from a reputable seller?

Yes they are KMC branded Gregory but dont have directional arrows. They just say 10spd on both sides.

cyclop wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 3:44pm The quick links are only to be fitted the right way round,I,m assuming you did this ok ?

Cyclops thanks for that - I didn't realise this so it's quite possible I put them the wrong way round. I am off to check the quicklinks I used now..presumably they are marked such??

I teamed up with my visually impaired stoker here:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/1656859641194681/

(We now ride together at least weekly)

Charlottes Tandems will lend you a tandem at zero cost..they have friendly and competent volunteers accross the whole country and will put you directly in touch with your local helper

http://charlottestandems.weebly.com/

keyboardmonkey wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 6:56am

tim-b wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 6:12am Shimano does say, "HG-X chain is not compatible with other road 10-speed systems" unless you're using other MTB components, of course

When you push the pin out you'll have noticed a narrow metal "washer" on the end of your chain tool. That pin is now waiting to fall out because you've removed the peened end that was holding it securely, hence lockable quick links or the special Shimano pin

I’ve read that. And yet I’ve also seen Shimano stating that the HG-X chain is suitable for 10-speed Road triples, specifically 4703.

Some related discussion here mixed up with other stuff:

https://road.cc/content/forum/parts-que ... ted-300955

Re the OP’s situation, I would be tempted to ditch the compromised HG-X chain and fit a non-directional chain such as a regular HG.

Shimanos E-bike chain looks quite expensive but it looks like they have finally seen sense and ditched the impractical "special pin". I know this means new block and probably shifter as well but it's possible this will be a better long term bet..particularly for tandem use. The LG in the part number below refers to LinkGlide .

owainlister wrote: ↑16 May 2023, 7:52pm Recently bought one for a LEJOG trip. Thought I was reasonable with tech until I encountered this. There do not appear to be any basic instructions available for this over complicated unintuitive piece of kit. For example what to do when you finish a ride to clear it before you start the next ride so it doesn’t continue the previous one. Using Komoot and the garmin apps. Gobsmacked something so expensive comes without decent instructions. Can anyone help.

To finish a ride you press the bottom left button. This should the show a big red square (i.e a stop icon) on the screen. This APPEARS to both stop RECORDING a ride AND to stop navigating a ride.

EDIT; The same button starts a ride. This puts a green triangle on the screen (start icon) and starts RECORDING (but not NAVIGATING) a ride. To start navigating a ride you have to go into the menu system and select a .gpx file. In then gives you the option to start recording the ride at the same time (without having to press the bottom tight "start" button)

Confusing? Yes.

owainlister wrote: ↑16 May 2023, 7:52pm Recently bought one for a LEJOG trip. Thought I was reasonable with tech until I encountered this. There do not appear to be any basic instructions available for this over complicated unintuitive piece of kit. For example what to do when you finish a ride to clear it before you start the next ride so it doesn’t continue the previous one. Using Komoot and the garmin apps. Gobsmacked something so expensive comes without decent instructions. Can anyone help.

I have the 530 and agree the UI is a disaster. My main issue is that the two main functions it has (Navigating a ride for you and recording a ride for you) overlap and its never really clear whether stopping and starting one function (say changing to a different route) effects another (eg recording you whole days ride). I suspect the functions are written by two programming teams who don't talk to one another. None of the Garmin instructions I have read address this key issue and I have used "trial and error" to work out what you can and cannot do. Not convinced the other vendors are any better though.

On a positive note Garmin Connect on your phone is nice and seems to communicate well with the phone. I open a gpx file on my phone in Garmin Connect and I can send it to the 530 in seconds (via bluetooth)

If you post your 530 queries up here I will answer any I can from my (limited) experience with it!

tim-b wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 7:40am

peetee wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 7:09am Are quick links considered suitable for the level of power transmitted through tandems and, by association, e-bikes?

Some are suitable for eBikes, look for the eBike series tag, e.g. https://www.kmcchain.com/en/series/ebike and https://www.kmcchain.com/en/product/con ... 2-12-speed

Very useful info Tim!!

peetee wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 7:09am Are quick links considered suitable for the level of power transmitted through tandems and, by association, e-bikes?

Agreed PeeTee...to some extent our tandem has similar requirements to an ebike. Two fairly strong cyclists pushing a heavy bike up hills puts a lot of strain on the drivetrain.

For the people who take Shimano's statements as gospel, Shimano dont currently have a groupset they approve for tandem use so thinking outside the box "comes with the territory" of tandem ownership.

This is one of the reasons I am interested in the Shimano Cues groupset longer term. Ebike components promise longer life and might take the "double load" a bit better than the current Shimano solo offerings.

gxaustin wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 12:07am

keyboardmonkey wrote: ↑16 May 2023, 11:41pm

zenitb wrote: ↑16 May 2023, 8:28pm
Either way I have put a new cassette and chain on now and have eschewed the Shimano "hardened pin". I simply sp[l]it and joined the chain in the traditional way by drifting one of the chain pins almost all the way out to split and then back in again to rejoin. Everything has been sweetness and light ever since with slick changes at the rear...

I'm not convinced that this is a good idea with a modern chain, zenitb.

Thats just what I was thinking

Well seems ok so far. We could see how it goes I guess ..?

I converted my tandem to a 10 speed Shimano LX setup at the rear (but retained 24-36-46 SPA/SJSC rings/chainset at the front).

Everything was fine at first but my tandem gets hammered over winter and I had some front chainring issues (loose bolts jamming the chain between chainrings, chain jumping off the big ring, chain jamming in the bottom bracket etc, now all resolved). This meant I broke the chain twice, and was forced to repair it "on the road" with generic quick links I bought on ebay.

I subsequently had lots off issues where at various chain angles the chain would jump sprokets at the rear and careful analysis on my garage servicing stand stand showed this was always happening as one of the two quick links went through the rear cassette.

Now as you may know, the HG-X chain is asymmetric, and my emerging theory on this is that my generic quick links different side profile makes them the first to jump off the cassette in any marginal chain angle scenario.

Either way I have put a new cassette and chain on now and have eschewed the Shimano "hardened pin". I simply spit and joined the chain in the traditional way by drifting one of the chain pins almost all the way out to split and then back in again to rejoin. Everything has been sweetness and light ever since with slick changes at the rear. I am now taking spare 10 speed chain segments with me rather than quicklinks.

I have blamed the quicklinks (workman? tools?) but I suppose an alternative theory is that the snapped link wasnt the only link affected and links nearby could have been very slightly twisted and my retention of the (invisibly twisted) links caused the bad shifts?

Quicklinks have been fine on my other HG (not HG-X) bikes, including my Shimano 105 11-speed setup, so I was wondering if anyone else has had this sort of hassle with them ? Or have they been fine for you? I am keen to learn from others experience on this one ...

pwa wrote: ↑20 Apr 2023, 4:44pm A great way of ensuring toe overlap with the front wheel? I once did the exact opposite, moving the cleat further forward, to get rid of overlap.

Thats a very good point pwa .. not mentioned in the verndors article... so this may need more than just a bent metal pedal adaptor to work safely !!!