Bike designs which should be binned

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RickH
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Joined: 5 Mar 2012, 6:39pm
Location: Horwich, Lancs.

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by RickH »

The really simple solution to a QR, lawyers lips & adjustment is this.

To remove the wheel, once you have released the lever, hold the nut at the other end & turn the lever several complete turns enough for the QR to clear the lawyers lips (4 works for me). Remove wheel.

To refit wheel, fit it back in the dropouts. Grab the nut & turn the QR lever to tighten it the same number of complete turns. Let go of the nut, position the lever at the right orientation & close the lever.

As you have retightened the QR by exactly the same amount as you undid it when removing it you haven't altered the adjustment. It doent matter iff you do a couple of extra turns as long as you do the same number when removing & refitting. I reckon it adds less than 2 seconds to each step. And it still requires no extra tools, apart from a brain that can count & remember a single digit number.

If the extra time bothers you, you need to employ better mechanics in your support car! :twisted:
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
thirdcrank
Posts: 36764
Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by thirdcrank »

But the point is that lawyers' lips are intended as a solution to another problem. And it's a poor one. The idea that people who are irritated by this need to improve their own skills is bizarre.
mattheus
Posts: 5030
Joined: 29 Dec 2008, 12:57pm
Location: Western Europe

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by mattheus »

RickH wrote: 26 May 2021, 3:13pm The really simple solution to a QR, lawyers lips & adjustment is this.

To remove the wheel, once you have released the lever, hold the nut at the other end & turn the lever several complete turns enough for the QR to clear the lawyers lips (4 works for me). Remove wheel.
...
<... more steps that we didn't need to do before ... >
Rick,
Of course you are right - this method works and only adds a few seconds for those of us with
" a brain that can count & remember a single digit number."

If this was how QR had always worked, I expect we'd all be happy with it. The issue is that for many years there was a better way. Riders understabdably resent having to do this additional task.

Imagine adding this to other phases of life.
Sorry Rick, you can't come in the house now. You must turn round several complete turns enough for the sensor to pick up (4 works for me)
. THEN unlock the front door,
THEN spin round in the OTHER direction ...
jb
Posts: 1782
Joined: 6 Jan 2007, 12:17pm
Location: Clitheroe

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by jb »

A couple of minutes with an angle grinder & you can have lipless forks, a bit longer with a file. Can't say I'd get rid of mine the main advantage is not needing a spanner - you can also chuck away them useless springs if your not racing.
Cheers
J Bro
pliptrot
Posts: 701
Joined: 12 Jan 2007, 2:50am

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by pliptrot »

There was thread on here some time ago about someone who ended up with serious facial injuries after their front wheel came adrift. It was stated that this had happened because those "lawyers lips" had been removed with rather too much gusto and there was insufficient grip between the (relieved) drop outs and the QR. All I can say is that my custom made frames from UK builders don't have them. The big company frames do, and they are an irritant.
Stradageek
Posts: 1652
Joined: 17 Jan 2011, 1:07pm

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by Stradageek »

pliptrot wrote: 26 May 2021, 2:16pm I spent a lot of time as a youth YHA'ing with my father. I look back at his perseverance with SA 5speed hubs with wonder - they were unreliable and constantly slipped. He spent good money after bad on new internals trying to get them to work. No wonder the company failed. Sadly - as has often been the case - it took the Japanese to show the way with hub gears.
I have two SA 5-speed hubs ready to install, plus a variety of changers. I've heard all the horror stories but I like a challenge :D

I've gone as far as rebuilding both hubs (a Five Star and a 5S2) ask me again in a year or so and I'll let you know if it's been a disaster :?

I suspect the AW3 was designed by better folk
profpointy
Posts: 528
Joined: 9 Jun 2011, 10:34pm

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by profpointy »

MartinC wrote: 25 May 2021, 3:32pm
Debs wrote: 25 May 2021, 2:46pm The death trap front brake lever on the left hand side :evil:

All bicycles should have the front brake lever on the right - like they are on motorcycles. :P
Ah. So the rear brake should be on the left pedal too?
and the gears on the right pedal
profpointy
Posts: 528
Joined: 9 Jun 2011, 10:34pm

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by profpointy »

Debs wrote: 25 May 2021, 2:46pm The death trap front brake lever on the left hand side :evil:

All bicycles should have the front brake lever on the right - like they are on motorcycles. :P

Whilst I'm far too set in my ways to change, I actually think front brake on the left would be better, as it's cery hard to brake effectively when signalling to turn right. There was nasty downhill right turn on my commute, where you'd ideally want to keep your arm out but couldn't then risking being bit by cars behind who'd not appreciate you were slowing down

That said, I'm too old to change now, and as you say, the motorbike front brake is on the right
Stevek76
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Joined: 28 Jul 2015, 11:23am

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by Stevek76 »

I run all my bikes as front brake on left. Initially I switched because I change gears at a rate most would consider to be excessive and if I'm slowing or stopping for something I find it is far easier, particularly with brifters, for the braking to be on the side where the shifting up the cassette isn't.
hufty wrote: 23 May 2021, 6:02pm Mountain bikes with electric motors attached to them that make it easier for skill-free beer guts to destroy trails
These do have some use in allowing those getting on a bit to keep on or even start doing a sport they enjoy so, while tempting, I cannot quite support this :). It is unfortunate though that the vast majority of eMTB users appear to be complete pillocks with zero trail etiquette and a propensity to monster truck through various short cuts wrecking volunteer funded & maintained trails.
The contents of this post, unless otherwise stated, are opinions of the author and may actually be complete codswallop
colin54
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Joined: 24 Sep 2013, 4:34pm

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by colin54 »

External cam quick-releases, whilst we're on the subject, prone to seizing up and therefore not 'quick' at all.
Sheldon Brown has quite a lot to say about lawyers lips and quick releases here..
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/skewers.html
I knew about them being prone to seizure from experience, but didn't realise they provided less clamping force at the same time until I'd read this article.
Nu-Fogey
zenitb
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Joined: 7 Aug 2018, 9:59pm
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Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by zenitb »

rogerzilla wrote: 26 May 2021, 12:59pm The AW slippage problem is down to one of two things:

1. Badly adjusted cable (too tight in high gear, too loose in normal gear)

2. Worn clutch, worn planet pins and/or worn bores for the pins, allowing the clutch to squirm off the ends of the pins under high torque against spring pressure. This can only happen in the highest gear.

The cure for (2) is not to ride out of the saddle in the highest gear and to replace badly-worn clutches and pins (they are cheap and easily found).

AW hubs made since the 1990s (I think), and the alloy-shelled SRF3 and SRC3 (also BSR and BWR on Bromptons) are a No Intermediate Gear (NIG) design and cannot slip. They are excessively complex, though, and less reliable.
I dont disagree with any of this Roger but as a (young) user of the same AW3 hub gear from 1970 to 1989 my most common "false neutral" cause was not lubricating the gear cable. So when you pinged it into third the cable would not fully release all the way to the hub..giving the false neutral between second and third. Apart from that it worked flawlessly despite massive abuse in those 19 years and I would probably still have it if it had not then been stolen along with the bike. Fantastic low maintenance design ... and very underrated.
nomm
Posts: 414
Joined: 13 Oct 2015, 8:39pm

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by nomm »

Carbon - except maybe forks

Press fit BB

Internal cable routing

Semi integrated head sets

Hidden eyelet mounts for mudguards

Tubeless

Gravel bikes
rogerzilla
Posts: 2876
Joined: 9 Jun 2008, 8:06pm

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by rogerzilla »

profpointy wrote: 26 May 2021, 8:57pm Whilst I'm far too set in my ways to change, I actually think front brake on the left would be better, as it's very hard to brake effectively when signalling to turn right.
It's especially fun on a fixie without a rear brake, heading downhill :D
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squeaker
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Joined: 12 Jan 2007, 11:43pm
Location: Sussex

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by squeaker »

S2L wrote: 24 May 2021, 12:21pm I once rode a National 400 and admired this dutch carbon enclosed velomobile... a thing of beauty and fast as a bullet on the straight road... completely useless up the mild gradient out of Ironbridge going south... the rider was puffing and panting to crawl his way up this 4% slope, logging this 40 kg carbon creature
More like 20kg nowadays ;)
"42"
profpointy
Posts: 528
Joined: 9 Jun 2011, 10:34pm

Re: Bike designs which should be binned

Post by profpointy »

rogerzilla wrote: 27 May 2021, 1:59pm
profpointy wrote: 26 May 2021, 8:57pm Whilst I'm far too set in my ways to change, I actually think front brake on the left would be better, as it's very hard to brake effectively when signalling to turn right.
It's especially fun on a fixie without a rear brake, heading downhill :D
Mine was a fixie, but I did have front and back brakes
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