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Cycling 2018 (incorporating your own bike chat)

Started by Norton Canes, February 26, 2018, 11:09:22 AM

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Sebastian Cobb

Anyone know if Kona Paddywagon's are any good? Someone's selling one on gumtree in my size for £150, it comes without pedals (I'll bring my own for a test ride or checking the size) and they mentioned the back wheel clicks but it's been fine like that for quite a while, which suggests it hasn't been serviced much as usually that's just a strip down of the bearings, assuming they're a cone job.

buzby

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on May 30, 2018, 09:05:58 AM
Anyone know if Kona Paddywagon's are any good? Someone's selling one on gumtree in my size for £150, it comes without pedals (I'll bring my own for a test ride or checking the size) and they mentioned the back wheel clicks but it's been fine like that for quite a while, which suggests it hasn't been serviced much as usually that's just a strip down of the bearings, assuming they're a cone job.
The only negatives on them appear to be lack of rack mount bosses, it's fitted with 170mm cranks instead of 175mm, and 3/32 chain and sprockets/ring instead of 1/8th. Assuming it's the S/S flip flop hub you are looking it, they are Kona Rat Pack hubs which are sealed cartridge bearings

Sebastian Cobb

Cheers buzby, so it'd potentially need a new cartridge?

Rack mount isn't really a worry, the pannier I have is post-mounted and takes everything I need.

buzby

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on May 30, 2018, 11:50:29 AM
Cheers buzby, so it'd potentially need a new cartridge?
There will be a pair of them. Looking at this picture, it's probably not surprising if they have gone as they are relying on the outer seal of the bearing alone for protection. It's all very well keeping the 'track' look, but they could have fitted some kind of shield or cover in front of the bearing for added protection given the bike is mostly aimed at commuters. The likes of Joytech and Tensile fit bearing cover axle spacers on the flange ends of their flip flop hub axles for additional protection


To get them out you usually use a soft-faced mallet on the end of the axle to drive the first one out, then a bearing puller (or long punch) to get the other side out of the hub and a bearing press (or socket the same diameter as the outer race) to put the new ones in.

Annoyingly Kona don't put any service information at all on their website so I can't tell how they are fitted and they are keeping the sizes to themselves, but it will be etched into the side of the race and will be a standard size, so you won't have to go to Kona for them (the hubs are probably made by someone like Novatec or Chosen anyway)

Sebastian Cobb

Ah yeah, my create bike has what look exactly like cones pushed up against them to shield them.

Sebastian Cobb

Bought the Kona, much lighter and quicker than my Create. Nicer riding position for sure (although I haven't adjusted the saddle properly yet - it seemed 'about right') on my test ride so I just cycled it home.

I think the back bearing is gone, it only rattles when peddling but there is a bit of play on the back wheel; if you pick it up and let it freewheel it doesn't make the knocking (several per rotation) noise but it does sound noisy.

buzby

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on June 02, 2018, 04:55:08 PM
I think the back bearing is gone, it only rattles when peddling but there is a bit of play on the back wheel; if you pick it up and let it freewheel it doesn't make the knocking (several per rotation) noise but it does sound noisy.
Sounds like brinelling of the races if it gets worse under load, relatively common on sealed bearing hubs as they don't like side loads, especially if the grease has been contaminated or washed out by the seals being compromised. A single speed hub only has 2 bearings to provide lateral location too, compared to the 4 in a cassette hub, so the bearings will experience higher lateral loading.

TBH if it's the same hub as in the picture above, I'd be looking for a replacement rear wheel, or get the current one rebuilt with a cup & cone hub with some decent seals.

Sebastian Cobb

It looks quite similar. Are there not spacers that do a better job of sealing them? The ones on my other bike look exactly like cones and cover the bearings entirely.

buzby

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on June 03, 2018, 12:04:27 AM
It looks quite similar. Are there not spacers that do a better job of sealing them? The ones on my other bike look exactly like cones and cover the bearings entirely.
They are usually part of the design of the hub. the one in the picture has got what looks like a slotted locknut up against the bearing (probably to set the preload) so it would be difficult to get a spacer in there that covered the bearing without re-engineering the axle to move the preload adjustment outside of the spacer.

Sebastian Cobb

This is all academic because I noticed the hubs were a bit different but didn't give them a proper look as I found there's a bike workshop near me that'll rent you a stand and tools at a fiver an hour. Took the wheel off, looked at it and discovered they were cup and cone anyway. The guys that worked there seemed surprised at that. One of them was quite interested in the bike as they rode single/fixed bikes and liked kona's.

I took them apart, cleaned the copious amounts of grime out of them, the bearings didn't look badly pitted  so put them back together, still sounded rough. The mechanic gave me some replacement cones as one of them looked a little chipped. The play has now gone and it runs better but there is still a little rattle as it goes round, it seemed to be getting better towards the journey as the grease got everywhere.

One of the mechanics reckoned one of the cones looked slightly squint (I didn't remove them as the guy said you usually wreck them getting them out).

I'll see how it runs and maybe replace the cones and bearings totally in 6 months time or something. I meant to jot down the rim name but forgot.

buzby

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on June 09, 2018, 06:20:51 PM
One of the mechanics reckoned one of the cones looked slightly squint (I didn't remove them as the guy said you usually wreck them getting them out).
I prsume you mean one of the cups is knackered? If the cone was damaged and needed to be replaced I'd expect the cup to be shot as well, tbh. not something I''ve done for a long time (the rear axle on my old Falcon Rapier racer from when I was a teenager, IIRC), it was rather fiddly, using a long punch from the other side of the hub to knock it out, and then a brass drift my dad had made in work to set the new cup in place. The difficult bit is finding a replacement cup - Shimano for instance don't sell replacment cups. so you have to buy a new hub.

It does indicate that it probably hasn't got the original wheels on it though (as far as i've been albe to find out they have always had the Rat Pack sealed bearing hubs fitted, which I've discovered are OEM KK hubs) What type of seals (if any) are on the hubs it's got?

My carbon frame has arrived from Singapore, with the wrong headset. The top bearing that was supplied has the wrong angled seat to fit properly in the cup moulded into the headtube, so the top cap stood about 2mm off the top of the frame, and it clonked when you rocked the handlebars. I measured up the frame and it's a standard IS42/IS52 integrated tapered headset. The supplied the right lower bearing but sent an IS41 Cane Creek style top bearing instead of an IS42 Campagnolo one. After a bit of back and forth trying to explain this to someone who's first language isn't English I got a partial refund to buy the correct one (an FSA No.42 ACB).

I've just spent this evening making some internal cable stops for the rear brake cable. The frame just had blanking plates, and none of the generic ones I could find were the right size (It looks like Jamis use the same ones  on their high-end road bikes, but getting spare parts from them is like trying to solve a 3-2-1 clue). I found some on Kinesis' spares list for their Ti frames that looked like they might work and they came in today's post. I've had my files and Dremel on them (they are cast alloy) trimming about 1mm off around the edges and fettling them to fit the frame perfectly. This was basically an excuse so I could put off the horrible task of heli-taping the underside of the downtube and drive side chainstay.

Sebastian Cobb

Now I've paid proper attention I notice the front and back wheels are different. I forgot to snap the front but here's the back :


Unscaled:
https://i.imgur.com/4HqFOc6.jpg

I can't read that, let alone recognise it!

Here's the hub from the fixed side.

https://i.imgur.com/pwv3ul0r.jpg

Either way I'm happy with it. It's so light I think putting my krypotolock has added a third of its weight.

Thanks for your help buzby!

finnquark

My tatty, 4th hand bike got nicked last week, so I need a replacement. I know essentially nothing about bikes, so can anyone make any basic suggestions. I've got about £200-250 to spend, and need a bike for a 15 minute commute, getting around town, but also doing maybe 25-40 mile rides, say once a week. Having said that, I'd like to do some more cycling, so perhaps something that could do longer rides is needed. Also I live in Cambridge, so everything is very flat (I have no idea if this is relevant).

buzby

#73
Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on June 10, 2018, 02:47:13 PM
Now I've paid proper attention I notice the front and back wheels are different. I forgot to snap the front but here's the back :



I can't read that, let alone recognise it!
It's a WTB Freedom Tunnel Top rim, and the hub is similar to  the rear wheel from a WTB/Wheel Master Fixed wheelset:
https://www.americasbikecompany.com/WTB-Freedom-FX-FW-700c-p/x-wheel-wtb-fx-fw.htm
Kona used the Tunnel Top rim on the Paddy Wagon, so either is has been rebuilt with a different hub (looks like it might be a Quando, with no seals at all?) or the whole wheel was replaced with that WTB one because the rim matched the original front wheel (which may have been replaced too since).

MojoJojo

Quote from: finnquark on June 10, 2018, 06:58:16 PM
My tatty, 4th hand bike got nicked last week, so I need a replacement. I know essentially nothing about bikes, so can anyone make any basic suggestions. I've got about £200-250 to spend, and need a bike for a 15 minute commute, getting around town, but also doing maybe 25-40 mile rides, say once a week. Having said that, I'd like to do some more cycling, so perhaps something that could do longer rides is needed. Also I live in Cambridge, so everything is very flat (I have no idea if this is relevant).

I'm not really an expert (I'm posting mostly to clear the new/edit bug), but I think looking at a single speed might be the way to go. At that sort of price you're not going to get great components, but a single speed has less bits so you'll get better ones. And Cambridge is flat.

jobotic

I think B-Twin make good value well built bikes. Admittedly I've only bought a kid's one but I was impressed with what we got for the money compared to other shops. They get good reviews.

How about this? You get gears but not many. there's a drop bar version too.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-100-flat-bar-road-bike-id_8500949.html

Sebastian Cobb

@buzby (mostly). Do you know anything about Falcon Tour of Britain frames? They use Reynolds 500 tubes.

There's a 25 inch one on ebay at the minute (will have to get it clarified if they mean top bar or post to crank) that'd be an alright fit for me I think (I'm around 6'3). I'm planning on swapping it out with my current single speed as the frame is too small and heavy, then I can upgrade parts as I go eventually ending up with 2 bikes again.

I kind of want an 80's Peugeot though, although they're a bit more expensive and I've been warned off them as some of them use mad french threads.

buzby

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on September 07, 2018, 09:59:59 PM
@buzby (mostly). Do you know anything about Falcon Tour of Britain frames? They use Reynolds 500 tubes.
It''s a replica of the the Banana-Falcon team bikes from the early 90s, like the one Chris Walker used to win the 1991 Milk Race:

There was a range of them - I think the 500-tubed one was the entry level one. There was a 501-tube one above it (the 501 and above versions didn't have the mudguard eyelets and had a second set of bottle bosses on the seat tube). Falcon made decent frames and had a good reputation My first road bike when I was 13 was a Falcon Rapier, which despite being a gas pipe special wasn't mega heavy and rode really well. It was also tough as old boots too, as it held up to my eventual 17-stone bulk.

The one on ebay looks like it's either been partially stripped or refinished (the replica team decals are missing from the yellow areas), and the rust iinside the bolt hole on the rear brake bridge looks a little worrying. As new it would have had Rigida rims, Shimano Tourney 14-speed groupset with indexed downtube shifters, a Stronglight crankset and Weinmann brakes (with lever extensions) - not all that different from my Rapier. Here's a similar one that was on gumtree in Chesterfield last year:


Quote
I kind of want an 80's Peugeot though, although they're a bit more expensive and I've been warned off them as some of them use mad french threads.
i've always lusted after an ANC-Halfords Peugeot as ridden by my childhood hero Joey McLoughlin, though most of the ANC-Halfords team bikes were actually built by Brian Rourke and Terry Dolan (Cougar) and badged as Peugeots so had no worries about French threads.

Sebastian Cobb

Hmm, I'll see what it's looking like towards the end then. Cheers!

What about BSA frames? I've seen a couple of them that look ok go quite cheap but know nothing about them.

buzby

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on September 07, 2018, 11:29:46 PM
Hmm, I'll see what it's looking like towards the end then. Cheers!
It's probably fine bit I just get slightly nervous seeing any interior rust on thinwall Reynolds tubing.
Quote
What about BSA frames? I've seen a couple of them that look ok go quite cheap but know nothing about them.
BSA's cycle divison was taken over by Raleigh/TI in 1957, and shortl yafterwards they also took over Carlton Cycles. All the regular lightweight Reynolds tubing frames (i.e. not custom-made team bikes or 753-upwards tubing frames, which were made by Raleigh's Special Projects division at Ilkeston from 1974) of the Raleigh group brands were built at Carlton's Worksop factory from the early 60s onwards (in 1980 the Carlton factory was closed and Worksop's Lightweight operations were moved to Nottingham).

The BSA brand tended to be used as a 'budget' brand for Raleigh, and Carlton became a premium brand (i.e. BSA<Raleigh<Carlton) so BSA-frames were basically badge-engineered Raleighs with slightly cheaper components than the Raleigh equivalents from the early 60s onwards (Raleigh pretty much owned every other old Brutish bike brand you can think of by then - Rudge, Sun, Sunbeam, Triumph, Humber, Withworth).

Bobtoo

BSAs, and other Raleigh brands except Carlton,  were supplied to shops that weren't approved Raleigh dealers, and I think they were all gas pipers.




buzby

#81
Quote from: Bobtoo on September 08, 2018, 09:53:58 PM
BSAs, and other Raleigh brands except Carlton,  were supplied to shops that weren't approved Raleigh dealers, and I think they were all gas pipers.
As well as the Nottingham-made gas pipe BSA Tour de Frances and Tour Of Britains that were sold through the likes of Grattan catalogue, Worksop were making BSA-badged versions of the 531-framed, Campagnolo-geared  Raleigh Competition 12 and the semi-531 framed Prima well into the 80s - there's a couple of BSa-badged Comp 12s on ebay now, which is what I expect Seb was asking about.

Dex Sawash

Should I grab this Motobecane tandem (junk rack at bike shop next to work)




Brian Freeze

Yes to the tandem. I've only ever been on one once but we had a right giggle.

buzby

Quote from: Dex Sawash on September 18, 2018, 11:12:30 PM
Should I grab this Motobecane tandem (junk rack at bike shop next to work)



Can't see the pic at work, but if you know someone who is willing to be the stoker then grab it by all means. Depending on the vintage you might have problems finding spares though due to French thread standards.

Dex Sawash

Looked a little closer this AM. TA cranks,  Atom rear drum brake hub. Not shockingly heavy. Brakes work and it goes when you pedal it. A set of tires may get it going.

buzby

Quote from: Dex Sawash on September 19, 2018, 01:51:40 PM
Looked a little closer this AM. TA cranks,  Atom rear drum brake hub. Not shockingly heavy. Brakes work and it goes when you pedal it. A set of tires may get it going.
I can see the picture now - it's a Motobecane Inter Club, which for some reason seem to have been quite popular in the States and Canada. If I had to guess i'd say early to mid 80s, so probably French threads everywhere (if it's any older than that it might even have Swiss-threaded bottom brackets for extra obscurity points).

The Atom drum brake hub (which is usually set up as a drag brake for descents to avoid overheating the rear rim and popping a tyre) appears to be a bit of a weak point - like all freewheel hubs the unsupported freewheel side of the axle will bend under load, and this then prematurely destroys the bearing cups. The axles and cups are an odd size and thread and are unobtainium,, but apparently Grimeca made similar hubs for mopeds and the spare parts for those can be adapted to fit if necessary.

Dex Sawash

I brought it round to work and freed up the deraileurs. It has a city bike permit on the mudguard that expires 1981 (Lexington, dunno if that is Kentucky or North Carolina or other) Might pop a set of tubes in and see what happens.

doppelkorn

Forgot about this thread! Anyone doing the North West CX league this year?

Buzby, have you ever TT'd up near you? You in a club? Did a few 10s this year up around Cheshire and above. Twice turned up only to find the events cancelled...

buzby

Quote from: doppelkorn on September 20, 2018, 09:18:43 AM
Forgot about this thread! Anyone doing the North West CX league this year?

Buzby, have you ever TT'd up near you? You in a club? Did a few 10s this year up around Cheshire and above. Twice turned up only to find the events cancelled...
CX - I like watching it on TV, but I have OCD regarding keeping my bikes clean so the idea of riding through mud gives me the horrors.

I've never TT'd, though one of my regular routes takes me round the D10/1 course (on a weekday evening it's usually just as the riders from whichever of the local clubs is running an event are warming up for their runs). I'm not a competitive rider, I just aim at an average speed over one of my usual routes and try to at least not go below it. I don't get on well with the 'club mentality' (for any type of club, not just cycling) and have pretty much always ridden on my own.

There's a group of blokes at work who do training rides but I can't be bothered putting up with the inevitable macho hardman bullshit goes with it.