French thread HS - Fool me once...

[PW]

I can only go by experience, we've been using them since around 2003 and no problems, which is more than I can say for some others. The previous longevity record holder was a Tange which I see is mentioned in despatches up thread.

[Brucey]

oh dear, I am in danger of more or less agreeing with something a little controversial JB has uttered twice in two days...

what are the chances....?

cheers

[pete75]

Don't worry too much. In the post I took my quote from he's attacking Stronglight products in general and implies their chainset design is no good either. The man is American and Stronglight are French. Many Americans seem to have a great deal of prejudice against France.

[Brucey]

the phrase 'cheese eating surrender monkeys' appeared to strike a chord at the time... hardly does justice to the French input to the formative years of the US.... but then hardly anything from that time which is accepted as 'fact' in US history classes bears close scrutiny either...

Left to their own devices, some folk over there would be using their 'derailers' (sic) to change gear, too....

BTW IIRC said cheese phrase was uttered first by 'groundskeeper Willie' in 'The Simpsons'.

-do I get trivia points?

cheers

[pete75]

the phrase 'cheese eating surrender monkeys' appeared to strike a chord at the time... hardly does justice to the French input to the formative years of the US.... but then hardly anything from that time which is accepted as 'fact' in US history classes bears close scrutiny either...

Left to their own devices, some folk over there would be using their 'derailers' (sic) to change gear, too....

BTW IIRC said cheese phrase was uttered first by 'groundskeeper Willie' in 'The Simpsons'.

-do I get trivia points?

cheers

Yep I suppose you get one or two

One of the more bizarre interpretations they have of their own history is that the Alamo was a fight for freedom. Texas wanted independence from Mexico because Santa Anna the Mexican president was abolishing slavery in Texas

[PW]

The Surrender Monkey phrase is popular in certain British military circles I'm familiar with. Especially after they threatened to pull out of Afghan not long back.
Stronglight chainsets are good stuff - mostly Sugino anyway. It's the bottom brackets and those steel 24t granny rings you need to stay clear of!

[fenderbender]

it looks like you have enough pieces there to have some spare parts when the roller bearings corrode (which is the other thing that happens with these bearings esp on bikes with no mudguards...

Re the shimmy; there will be a road speed (different for every bike) at which a shimmy is likely. I have a favourite hill which I use to test my bikes on; riding no hands the speed increases gradually and a shimmy can be provoked. Adding mass to the bike in various places can damp the shimmy or change the speed at which the shimmy occurs. Sitting up, leaning forwards, putting one hand on the bars etc can often stop the shimmy.

Shimmies can be more violent with flexible wheels, flexible frames etc. The other thing that can 'help' a shimmy to develop is if there is any out-of roundness, out of true-ness, or out of balance in the wheels; this can help to 'drive' a bad resonance.

If the roller bearing headset works and eliminates the shimmy, it'll be working like a steering damper on a motorcycle. I've had (on a normally sweet-handling bike) a 'tankslapper' at 90mph in 3rd as the front end lifted up on a bumpy road with a small crest; it was absolutely terrifying, and all I could do to keep the throttle pinned. A friend described my bike as 'looking like a startled whitebait'... After that, I became somewhat less worried about shimmies on bicycles...

Do let us know if you fix yours

cheers

Thanks for the tips and I've already given my wheels a much needed service!
Here's some good videos that illustration of the problems I'm experiencing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSNjpQPdrX4 , http://youtu.be/xODNzyUbIHo
As a avid readed of Bicycle Quartely and the BOB-forum I've been influenced by their often well thought trough arguments: http://search.bikelist.org/beta/TreeView.aspx?id=372571#372571
Not sure about the built in dampening but I do think the larger contact area and higher friction of needle bearing contributes in isolating the frame from vibrations in the fork. I'll see if I can source the right HS that also look as good as the A9 (still listed as having needle bearings). If not I'll just tighten the current one a bit and learn to live with the problem.