Broken spoke

[rareposter]

The derailleur says Shimano rd4500 these look easy to fit. If I bought a new/second hand one with the same code?

If you fit a new rear mech without sorting the underlying issue with the bent mech hanger, you'll be right back at square one.

In and of itself, the mech isn't difficult to fit - it just screws into the bottom of the mech hanger with the bolt that's included as part of the mech, 5mm allen key.

What is more tricky is setting it up properly to ensure it doesn't go shifting off into the rear wheel again.

There are a lot of video guides online (Park Tools is always worth a look) but if you don't know what you're doing, it has the potential to be an expensive mess, possibly a repeat of the mess it's already in...

[Riley26]

That's what I thought yes. It looks easy to fit does a new rear derailleur. However I didn't no it all needs setting up correctly as I don't no how to do this.

[rareposter]

As noted over the previous 3 pages, you need to decide how much money you can afford to spend on it and the bike needs a proper check over from a qualified mechanic.

You mentioned the left hand pedal falling off, the mech has also ended up wrecking the rear wheel and there's not really much telling what else could be wrong with it but trying to fix one issue without fully understanding it or knowing what you're doing is likely to lead to even more expense.

Those Allez are nice bikes but, like all bikes, they're not immune to poor maintenance, bad set up and general lack of care.

I get that taking it to a shop can be a lot of money up front. But buying half the right parts, fitting them half-correctly and riding a half-functional bike will - as you've discovered - lead to much more expense in the long term.

[Riley26]

Thanks wonder if the guy I bought it off had done some repairs to it and obviously not done correctly. Sure the pedal falling off was due to it being cross threaded when installed. Left hand side one

[jimster99]

Can I make another suggestion?

It sounds like you bought a lemon. Get another bike, and get it checked over by a friend who knows what they're looking for (or take it to a local bike shop before buying). For £50-£100 you can get a really nice ready-to-go bike and that's cheaper that it will cost just to REPAIR this one plus the likelihood it has other issues you haven't found yet.

For specific suggestions, I'm a big fan of Decathlon bikes & the Halfords-owned brands Carrera/Boardman as the best value for money that I've found. The Triban 500/520/540 (from Decathlon) and Carrera Virtuoso/Vanquish/TDF (from Halfords) are all great entry level reliable bikes and can be picked up for pennies second hand (be careful to not buy a stolen one though!).

Then with the current bike, either learn how to fix it up yourself (which will cost only the tools, the spare parts and your time) or more likely just cut your losses and sell it on as-is for a loss.

[Riley26]

Thanks yes. I don't think the current bike is strong enough for a daily commuter. I'm tempted to try learn how to fix myself. And use as a leisure bike.

[Brucey]

..... I'm tempted to try learn how to fix myself....

a word of warning; whilst most of us have learned out of necessity initially and got to be quite good (what with it not being rocket science and all), IME there are a few people who should never have a spanner in their hands, leave alone being allowed to work on their own bike

[Riley26]

Thanks I am mechanically minded and good with tools. I work in the construction trades

[rareposter]

It sounds like you bought a lemon.

To be fair, ANY secondhand bike can be a lemon and - at lower level - you run the risk that the bike you buy is simply not economically viable to actually fix up. I suspect this Allez might be in that sort of ballpark, especially given the breakages that have happened to it although, had the issues been picked up before they became terminal, then it wouldn't have cost a lot to resolve.

My golden rule with buying S/H is to strip the thing down completely. Clean it all up, identify any issues and fix them. It doesn't have to cost a lot, no-one is talking about putting a £££ electronic groupset or a set of carbon wheels onto it but there are some cheap and easy checks to run through before riding it.

Thanks yes. I don't think the current bike is strong enough for a daily commuter. I'm tempted to try learn how to fix myself. And use as a leisure bike.

The whole Allez range, right from the era of yours up to now, make brilliant commuter bikes. Fast, cheap to maintain, they'll fit mudguards and lightweight rear racks, the riding position is upright enough to be safe in traffic. My previous place of work, those Specialized Allez and the Trek equivalent were the mainstay of the staff commuter bikes. They'll last years with only basic care and attention to brakes, chain and cables and because the parts on them are relatively entry-level, they're robust and cheap to replace.

As Brucey alludes to above, fixing bikes is not especially complicated but it can require some very specific tools and a degree of mechanical know-how. It's fine not to have that - plenty of people go through their entire life doing nothing more than pumping the tyres up and that is absolutely not an issue either. So long as you know to take the bike to a reputable mechanic (be that a shop or a trusted friend who actually has the appropriate tools) and you're prepared to pay for that time and expertise.

[jimster99]

The whole Allez range, right from the era of yours up to now, make brilliant commuter bikes. Fast, cheap to maintain, they'll fit mudguards and lightweight rear racks, the riding position is upright enough to be safe in traffic. My previous place of work, those Specialized Allez and the Trek equivalent were the mainstay of the staff commuter bikes. They'll last years with only basic care and attention to brakes, chain and cables and because the parts on them are relatively entry-level, they're robust and cheap to replace.

As Brucey alludes to above, fixing bikes is not especially complicated but it can require some very specific tools and a degree of mechanical know-how. It's fine not to have that - plenty of people go through their entire life doing nothing more than pumping the tyres up and that is absolutely not an issue either. So long as you know to take the bike to a reputable mechanic (be that a shop or a trusted friend who actually has the appropriate tools) and you're prepared to pay for that time and expertise.

Thanks for this. Very interesting. What is the Trek equivalent? I will add the Allez to my list of "bikes to try in future" (although I have imposed an absolute ban on buying any more bikes until my currently enormous stockpile of projects is processed).

IME there are a few people who should never have a spanner in their hands, leave alone being allowed to work on their own bike

While true, I taught myself to do a lot of basic maintenance the last few years with the aid of parktool youtube, RJ The Bike Guy, GCN and of course this forum and I reckon if I can do it, anyone can. I've obviously also made many expensive mistakes (e.g. stripped crank, stripped starnut, greased disc brake pads, etc etc)! But you live and learn and I haven't repeated any of them (yet) plus using cheap bikes as practise makes it less expensive!

[Riley26]

Thanks so I can't give the hanger/derailleur easily. I just need to figure out how to set it all up properly. Which is likely what the guy did wrong I bought it off

[Riley26]

I had a look at a video about adjusting/setting a derailleur up. Is it strange that my gears worked ok. Before it started bending in to the wheel? It mentioned something about it being able to go in to the wheel if the gears aren't set up correctly. Thanks

[rareposter]

I had a look at a video about adjusting/setting a derailleur up. Is it strange that my gears worked ok. Before it started bending in to the wheel? It mentioned something about it being able to go in to the wheel if the gears aren't set up correctly. Thanks

The problem is that the bike can be set up correctly but then the rear mech (and/or the hanger) can take a knock, maybe without you even being aware of it. In transit, bike falls over when leant up, some wear and tear in everything like cumulative bumps and bangs...

Eventually, something like a twig caught in the mech or a heavy shift or a bounce through a pothole can be enough to push it over the edge and into the wheel.

There's a good video here from a great workshop called Mapdec Cycle Works who really specialise in high-end and precision mechanics, often with excellent explainers of why they're doing what they do, how they fix certain issues etc. In this one, they've got a bike that's been left in a shed for years and just needs a refresh so it's a full strip and rebuild. They pick up some issues along the way, explain how they're fixing them and then give a cost breakdown at the end (spoiler, it comes to about £340 all in).

https://youtu.be/yNsGPAjD3jQ?si=Uo08NtOWk5ZeM1DM

For reference, that is pretty much what I'd do to any half-way decent S/H bike that I bought. Obviously it's overkill for a £30 kid's bike or an absolute hack / pub bike but for anything that I was buying for a heavy-use purpose like commuting, I'd want to be 100% certain that everything was working perfectly.

I can do a lot of that work myself although for specialist stuff like headset and BB that required specific and expensive tools, I'd take to a shop but it's a nice example of how £340 up front (while very expensive) can also save a whole raft of issues further down the line. That one-off payment is basically ensuring that you have a bike that's as good as the day it came out of the factory.

[Brucey]

.....IME there are a few people who should never have a spanner in their hands, leave alone being allowed to work on their own bike

While true, I taught myself to do a lot of basic maintenance the last few years with the aid of parktool youtube, RJ The Bike Guy, GCN and of course this forum and I reckon if I can do it, anyone can. I've obviously also made many expensive mistakes (e.g. stripped crank, stripped starnut, greased disc brake pads, etc etc)! But you live and learn and I haven't repeated any of them (yet) plus using cheap bikes as practise makes it less expensive!

fair dos, we all learn from our mistakes. The modern bicycle is commonly blessed with a rear wheel that is, IMV, nowhere near strong and durable enough. Manufacturers strive constantly to cram as many sprockets as possible at the back, seemingly unaware that the wheel is already hovering on the brink of collapse. Recently, SA introduced a range of rotary-shifting hubs, which is fine, save for the fact that the. shifting gubbins takes up about 14mm space on the driveside, thus making the wheel dish about the same as a derailleur wheel. They have therefore casually discarded one of the key advantages normally found with IGH's.

I have come up with a design which can be used with a number of 3s gears. The converted hub is smaller, lighter, and more efficient than any prior hub gear. It can also be fitted with any number of sprockets, but I think 7 is probably enough, giving 21 gears in total. The revised hub features rolling element bearings on the planet gears for the highest possible efficiency. It also has the RH flange in steel, and the LH flange in Al alloy, for strength and lightness The flanges are ~90 mm apart, giving an incredibly strong wheel, with very low dish in 135 mm form.

A commuting version would have 12 gears, almost uniformly spaced, and a chaincase. Unlike most other bikes, it will be possible to change the rear tyre without disturbing either the chaincase or all the wheel mountings.